The Last One Picked

"THE LAST ONE PICKED"

How many of you ever remember being picked for some sports team while in school? There’s always the last one or two left that must be picked. And the last pick always felt like dirt…

But there was also someone in the bible that was the last one picked. There was one in the bible who, though he was not the first option, he proved to be the right choice.

There are some of you who feel as though your one of those “last picked” choices. In every area of your life. You feel as though you’re Nobody’s First Choice. Everybody seems to be chosen ahead of you and you’re always “THE LAST ONE PICKED…” Well, I want to share with you today the upside possibilities of being, not the first, but “THE LAST ONE PICKED.” I desire to show you tonight what can happen when GOD PICKS THE LAST ONE…

Now then, there’s always a First pick.

We find the people wanting a King.

1st Samuel 9:

1: Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

2: And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

Saul seemed the likely choice to be King. He was, “A Choice Young Man.” Saul was Preferred over all the others. He was, "A Goodly.” He was Good Looking. "He was higher than any of the people.” He was Tall! Man, you talking about making the right pick… Here’s Saul, the apparent, “Total Package.” (He had it all)

But the first one picked had some unseen qualities that contributed to his downfall.

Saul was told by Samuel, that the Lord God would have him to go down to enemy and “Kill All!”

1st Samuel 15

10: Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,

11: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.

12: And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.

13: And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

Saul had not. Saul was told to kill everything and didn’t do it…

Let’s read on… (Verse 14)

14: And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

Can you imagine a kid telling his mamma he hasn’t had any more of the pie, with chocolate all around his mouth?

This was the same scenario between Saul & Samuel. Samuel heard Sheep & Oxen, while Saul was telling him that he had killed everything! So Samuel knew that Saul had not done what God had commanded and enquired of it…

15: And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Saul done what so many others do when he got caught, he “Blamed Someone Else.” Did you know that there was an annual “Blame Someone Else Day?” It’s on the first Friday the 13th of each year. (Although I’m certain most folk have the date mixed up.)

He said; “They done it to sacrifice the animals unto God.”

16: Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

17: And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

Saul was no longer the man he once was with God. Before Saul seen himself as something special, God blessed him. Once Saul started believing in his own strength, then it was his favor was weakened. When we get to the point that we think WE got it, WE’VE had it…

18: And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

Samuel asked of him, “Didn’t God tell you to destroy everything?”