Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, "Do you come in peace?" Samuel replied, "Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord." But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The Lord has not chosen this one either." Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, "Nor has the Lord chosen this one." Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The Lord has not chosen these." So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
1 Samuel 16:4B-13
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Early in Chapter 16, we see the Lord motivate Samuel to get over his disappointment of Saul, giving him specific guidance as to what he was to do. Through the Lord’s actions, we learned that the Lord doesn’t expect us to linger and prolong sadness or despair or disappointment but to turn to Him for the peace, comfort and strength to move on and get back on our feet again. As Chapter 16 of 1st Samuel continues, we see Samuel do just that.
You’ll recall that the Lord told Samuel to go to Jesse of Bethlehem with his horn filled with oil because he was going to anoint one of Jesse’s sons…the one that the Lord had chosen to replace Saul. Samuel was apprehensive at first because he was fearful that Saul may try and have him killed but the Lord reassured him all would be well…that He would show Samuel what to do once he got to Jesse. And with this, Samuel was on his way to carry out the Lord’s will.
As this chapter continues, we see Samuel arriving in Bethlehem and causing a stir among the town elders who “trembled when they met him”, afraid that this well known messenger of the Lord was coming with bad news for them. So the elders probed Samuel asking, “Do you come in peace?" and had to be relived when Samuel told them yes. Samuel further gave them the purpose for his visit for he said, “…I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me." Sacrifices were holy sacraments and required all who participated to be prepared for the occasion. Samuel ensured Jesse and his sons were “consecrated…and invited them to the sacrifice.” One of them would be revealed as Israel’s new king.
When they arrived at the place of sacrifice, Samuel took a good look at all of Samuel’s sons and began to predict who the Lord had chosen. Scripture tells us Samuel “saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.’ " But Samuel was wrong because the Lord spoke to him saying, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Samuel’s attempts at prediction were fruitless because he was making his choice based on what he could see. And this was far short of what the Lord could see…for as we see, the Lord can look into he deepest parts of a person…and see what resides in a person’s heart.
Question: If the Lord looked into your heart today, what would He see? Would He find you worthy of selection to a higher purpose in His service?
Back to the scriptures. We know that Eliab isn’t the one selected and so the process continued with Jesse calling his son Abinadab to “pass in front of Samuel” only to have Samuel tell him, “The Lord has not chosen this one either." Shammah would follow only to be told he wasn’t selected either. By the time he process had concluded, “Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel” but the Lord rejected all of them. Now the Lord had told Samuel that one of Jesse’s sons had been chosen and so this led Samuel to ask, “Are these all the sons you have?"
Well, it’s no surprise that there was still a son left…one that Jesse didn’t bring to the sacrifice. We learn that this son was “the youngest" and was “tending the sheep." And so Samuel tells Jesse, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives" and Jesse has his youngest son brought in. Scriptures tells us “he was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features”.
No sooner does the youngest son arrive that the Lord says to Samuel, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one."
So we read where “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed (Jesse’s youngest son) in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power”. Israel had a new king…King David…who would end up in the genealogy of the King of Kings…our eternal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Earlier in 1st Samuel, Samuel delivered a stern message from the Lord to Saul, who was king of Israel at the time. He told him:
"You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's command." 1 Samuel 13:13-14
Indeed, the Lord had sought a man after His own heart…and He did so because He looks at the heart when He looks at His people. David’s heart was obviously turned to the Lord in such a way that he was an easy choice for the Lord. And perhaps, we get a view into David’s heart more than any other man in the Old Testament as we read the wonderful Psalms that he composed in our bible.
Yes, the Lord looks into our hearts and so we had better prepare our hearts properly so He will be pleased with what He sees.
So how do we do this? How do we ensure that the Lord will be blessed and pleased by what He sees when He peers into our hearts?
Jesus, His Son and our Savior, gave us the answer in His Sermon on the Mount. For He said in Matthew 6:21:
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
In saying this, Jesus cautions us to make sure we treasure the right things in life because whatever we choose to treasure will be the thing that ends up in our hearts. And as Christians, Jesus would exhort us all to make Him the one true treasure…now and forever.
You see, if we make Jesus as our one and only treasure, then it’s Jesus and Jesus alone who will be in our hearts. And we know that when Jesus is present anywhere, Satan cannot be present as well because Jesus and Satan cannot possibly co-exist together. Place Jesus in your heart and Satan will not be able to have a place there.
Further….when we make Jesus our treasure and place Him and Him alone at the center of our hearts, then we will embody everything that is in Him…and as a result, our lives will begin to be a total reflection of Him. Thus, God will see everything He would ever want to see in us when He looks inside because He will see His Son.
So what are we waiting for? Why are we allowing our hearts to be turned away from the Lord? And why would we want to treasure anything more than Jesus?
Friends, let us all today vow to move forward boldly in the name of Jesus, making Him our sole treasure and thus filling our hearts with everything that is in Him. For Christ is soon to be born in a manger in Bethlehem…and I pray in our hearts as well. Let us embody these words from the classic Christmas carol, Joy to the World:
Joy to the world. The Lord is come. Let earth receive her king.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing.
And heaven and nature sing.
And heaven and heaven and nature sing.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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