1 SAMUEL 16:1-13 MOVE FORWARD IN PURSUIT OF GODS HEART2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Move Forward In Pursuit Of Gods Heart

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

So 1st Samuel chapter 16 is what we'll be looking at this evening as we continue to work our way through the book of 1st Samuel and continue to discuss the subject of pursuing God's heart. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 13 this evening and so let's take some time right now to read through that passage and allow the Lord to begin the work that he wants to do in us. So 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse 1 says...

Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.

But the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint for me the one I named to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Verse 6. So it was when they came that he looked at Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees.

Verse 11.

And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all the young men here? Then he said, There remains yet the youngest, and there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. So he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for he is the one.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

Here we are entering into exciting chapters of the book of Samuel as we begin to look at the life of David. And David is going to be the focus as we move forward, although Saul will still be in the picture for a while and Samuel will, you know, kind of be around in the accounts here and there. Really, the focus is shifting to David and David will become David.

a great king, a great man of God, and one who is going to be prominent throughout the rest of the scriptures. It's been suggested by many that aside from God, David is the one that is mentioned the most in the Bible. At least a thousand times David is referred to in the Old Testament and the New Testament. That's

It's more than Abraham. It's more than Moses. It is a significant portion of the scriptures that are talking about David, his life, his ministry, his descendant, Jesus, of course. But it ties back to this man, David. And so we're heading into that exciting time. But before we really dive into the life of David...

1 Samuel 16

And so here in this passage, it's no exception that we have before us a great example in Samuel as he carries out the Lord's instructions to anoint David as the future king of Israel. I've titled the message this evening, Move Forward in Pursuit of God's Heart.

Move forward in pursuit of God's heart. And this is an exhortation, I think, that is appropriate for us to consider as the Lord spoke to Samuel and he calls him to move forward. He was kind of living in the past for a little bit and kind of, you know, stuck and paralyzed by the failure of Saul and the things that had happened. And

God says, okay, enough crying. That's appropriate. But now that's over. You need to go forward now. There's still new things in store. There's still things that I want to do. And God is going to call Samuel forward into the will of God and the plans of God for the things that lay ahead. And I want to encourage you this evening to be considering your own life. If there is anything that has maybe kind of got you stuck.

and you're stuck in a place that you have been for a while, and perhaps God wants to call you out of that and move you forward in pursuit of his heart.

I have this quote from Dave Guzik that I shared at the end of the message two weeks ago when I was in chapter 15. And it's just been kind of resonating. And so I wanted to share that again as we get started this evening. In the closing out of Saul's failure last week, David Guzik said, Saul was full of fire and zeal when it came to his own will, but not when it came to the will of God.

And there's just something about that line, that sentence, that just makes me stop and think. It resonates. It causes me to consider. And I would ask you to consider as well. Because I think it's so easy for us to be like Saul, full of fire and zeal. You remember when the vow was broken that...

he involuntarily placed upon his whole army about not eating for the whole day, right? And then when he found out that it had been broken, I mean, he was ready to put to death his own son. He was full of fire and zeal regarding his own word, regarding his own will.

But then when God says, here's what I want you to do, go do it, he's like, yeah, okay, I did most of it, but I didn't really feel like it that much to do everything, so I didn't do everything. But I did most of it, and hopefully that's good enough. And you see that contrast about how passionate we can be about what we want. And so...

and lazy and not really pursuing the heart of God where we are pursuing our will but not God's will. And so I want to encourage you this evening to be just seeking the Lord and asking the Lord to show you if there is any areas where you are all on fire for your own will but it's keeping you

in the past. It's keeping you stuck in a place where God wants you to move forward in pursuit of his will. And that's not going to be easy necessarily. That's not going to be, you know, automatic, but that you would have a fire and a passion for the will of God more than you have a fire and passion for what you want and what you desire and your plans. And so here we have a great example in Samuel about how to move forward in pursuit of God's heart.

And that begins in verse 1 with point number 1, and that is, let go of things when God does. Here's step number 1, how to move forward in pursuit of God's heart. Well, we need to learn to let go of things that God has let go of.

Looking again at verse 1, it says, Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons. We begin this chapter with the Lord challenging Samuel with a question. How long are you going to mourn for Saul?

Now again, we saw in the previous chapter that there was mourning for Saul by Samuel as well as God. It was clear. God was grieved. He says, I regret that I've made Saul king.

He said that several times. He made it very clear. This really broke the heart of God, the disobedience of Saul and his behavior as king. God was grieved. God mourned. And Samuel, as one who is pursuing the heart of God, he was affected deeply as well. And he mourned all night when he heard about what Saul did. He was in weeping and mourning as well. They were both grieved, God and Samuel. And so the mourning was appropriate. Right?

But there comes a time when the mourning is no longer appropriate. And God says to Samuel, how long are you going to mourn? It's good that you mourned. I mourned. So good job, Samuel. But that season is now over. And you need to not be just paralyzed by this failure of Saul and this thing that has happened. God tells Samuel, there's more that I want to do. There's more that I have in store for you.

God tells Samuel, we're not going to live the rest of our days in mourning and defeat. My will for you is not that you would be paralyzed by the past, just stuck there because of that incredible failure of King Saul. How long are you going to mourn? How long are you going to stay here in this condition?

Now, for us, as we consider these things, it could be a mourning over some type of failure or mistake or issue, or it could be anything else. It doesn't have to be an issue of mourning, but there are those times where we get paralyzed and stuck in this one condition. And the Lord would speak to us and say, look, I don't want that for you for the rest of your life. How long are you going to stay there in that place? How long are you going to stay there in that condition? There are times when...

Moving on is the right thing to do. There is the appropriate season for mourning. There is the appropriate season many times for those things that we get stuck in. But the problem becomes when we continue in those conditions beyond what the Lord has appointed for us. Samuel was grieved over Saul. And it caused him to be stuck in this place where he was just in perpetual mourning.

And God says, I've rejected him from reigning over Israel. How long are you going to be pining over this? How long are you going to be repeating this over and over in your head? Now, this is some important stuff for us to consider. Now, we have people in our lives that we wish they were in a different position. We wish they were in a different condition. We wish they were responsive to the things that we shared and the things that we said. And

And here God is calling Samuel kind of out of that and saying, it's time to give up on Saul. This is a little bit hard for us to think about and consider, but God's saying, I'm done. I'm not trying to salvage this kingdom anymore. I'm not trying to work this out. I already know how all that's got, that's all covered. It's time to shift gears and to do something new.

When Jesus sent out the disciples in Matthew chapter 10, he sent them out to preach the gospel, to share the good news. Two by two, he sent them out. Go into the various towns and villages, he says, and share the gospel. Stay, whoever opens up their home to you, stay there. But Jesus also tells them in Matthew chapter 10, verse 14, whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

Shake off the dust from your feet and move on. If they're not receiving what you have to say, if they're not receiving the message, well, there's an appropriate time for putting up with resistance. There's an appropriate time for sharing and ministering even when it's not being received. But then we also need to recognize there comes the time where, well, it's time to shake off our feet and

And move on to those who will listen. To those who will receive the word that is being shared. Now we need to be careful not to give up on people too early.

There's a balance. But at the same time, we need to not be stuck in this same position continually and forever. That's not what God wants either. That there is the appropriate time to move on. And we need to allow the Lord to direct us. Like he's speaking to Samuel and say, okay, I've got something new for you now. You've been stuck here trying to do this same ministry for a really long time. I want to do something different.

You've been stuck here in this condition, in this situation. You've been stuck here. You've been caught up in this and you've been trying and you're in this cycle and you're staying there and it's time to move on. God is saying, look, I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm going to do something different. It's so hard for us many times to let go of things. I don't know about you, but I like that expression. God is doing a new thing.

When I was young, there was that song by DC Talk, New Thing. You know, not new thing, but new thing.

I was like, yeah, God's doing a new thing. It's like a peppy song. It's like, yeah, cool, God's doing a new thing. But I don't know if you're like me, but if you get excited about that new thing, that's cool, and it's exciting because God's doing new things. But sometimes we forget that also letting go of the old things are not that easy. That if God is doing a new thing, that means the old things are passing away. When all things become new, the old things are passing away, and that can be difficult for us.

And we have to learn to let go of the things that God is letting go of. God is letting go of Saul as king. I've rejected him from being king. So Samuel, don't stay in this perpetual condition of mourning over Saul as king. I'm going to do something different. I'm going to do something new. Now, let me throw a curveball at you guys. Now, this is just hypothetical, but just hopefully to kind of get us thinking a little bit.

What if God wanted to shut down living water? I think we would all be, I'm safe to say that we would all be sad and mourn over that, right? I mean, it's part of our life. It's part of our spiritual life and well-being. But, but,

understanding that God can do new things and that means that old things pass away, what if God wanted to shut down living water? If that would take place, if God wanted to do that, there would be some of us who would be stuck in a condition of mourning.

For a long time. That would keep us from moving forward in what God has for us. That would keep us from going forward into the new things that God wants to do. And we would need to learn to let go and move forward with what God wants to do. It's kind of a similar situation that Samuel is facing. I mean, this is the king saying,

that he had anointed and God had used him to establish his kingdom, you know, there in Israel. And God's saying, I'm done with that. You need to let that go. That was, you know, really important to you and you were an integral part of that. But that season is done. There's a new season in store. And before you can experience that new season, you have to learn to let go of that old season.

And this can be applied to ministry. It can be applied to a lot of things. There are those things in our lives that can paralyze us. You know another thing that paralyzes us? Sometimes just the wish that things were different can paralyze us. We can spend a lot of time in mourning just wishing that our personal situation was different than it was.

I wish I could bench press as much as I used to be able to bench press. I wish I could do as much as I used to be able to do. I wish I could go everywhere that I used to be able to go. I wish I could spend as much as I used to spend. I wish I could make as much as I used to make. And sometimes we're just so unwilling to let go of those things that I wish I could do. I wish I could be. I wish things were different. And it can get us in this place where we're stuck sometimes.

And God wants to call us forward to let go of things when God does. As I was thinking about this, it reminded me of that time in my life where I was...

Walking with the Lord, but there was a lot of practical ramifications of the season of my life where I wasn't walking with the Lord. And so one of those practical ramifications was my truck was impounded and I had to walk everywhere I went. That was back when I was living with Will and Rebecca over off Rimpa and Magnolia. And

And for that season, I walked to church from their house, not because Richard wouldn't give me a ride if I asked him, but just as I knew I needed that time with the Lord to help sort out my life and get things together. And in the midst of that,

Having this traumatic event happen to me, maybe you wouldn't think it's traumatic, but it was traumatic at the time. My truck was impounded. It was a lot of humiliation and humbling that went along with that. And

I remember walking to church one day. I think there was like an event one weekend because it was like a Saturday and a Sunday that I walked to church. And on the Saturday I walked to church and as I was walking down the sidewalk, there was a little baby bird that was on the sidewalk as I was walking down the street.

And I saw this little baby, like just little tiny baby bird. It was just sitting there, just kind of like hobbling around a little bit. And so I looked at the bird. I thought, wow, that's interesting. And then I looked up and there was a nest up above. And so, oh, wow, the bird fell out of the nest or tried to fly. Or, you know, I heard stories about birds flying

you know, pushing their young out of the nest, you know, to kind of teach them to fly. And so I was like, oh, maybe that's what happened. And so there's this little bird and it caught my attention. I thought about it for a few minutes and I just kept walking to church. Well, then the next day I was walking to church again. I come to this same spot and I see a little baby bird crushed. Someone ran it over with a bike or stepped on it or something happened. I don't know what.

But there was that little bird that I just saw the day before, crushed there on the ground. And the Lord spoke to me very clearly at that time. And he said, look, Jerry, you can let the failure, you tried to fly, you fail, you messed up, everybody saw, you know, your truck was impounded in front of everybody, everybody knows, you know, you're miserable with your money and you have all kinds of issues to deal with. And you could, you tried to fly, it didn't work, here you are on the ground,

You failed. You could just stay there. But if you do, you're going to be crushed. And the Lord told me, Jerry, you've got to get back up in that tree and you've got to jump out of the nest again and try to fly again. And if you don't get back up and try to fly again, you're going to get crushed. You're not going to survive this spiritually. The Lord wasn't threatening me physically, but He was saying, look, this is your condition. Yeah, it's hard. You failed. And yeah, here you are on the ground. But if you just stay there...

It's not going to end up well for you. And in a similar way, here's Samuel. He anointed this guy Saul. He set him up as king and now he's failed completely and he's just stuck in this place of...

I did this. I did the best I could and it didn't work out and it failed. And God's saying, I understand that. And the appropriate time of grief is there and that's good. But now it's time to move on because, well, if you just stay here, you're going to be crushed. And you need to get back up, Samuel, and it's going to be time to do something new for me.

I like what Pastor Dave Guzik says about this. He says, Surely Satan wanted Samuel to remain trapped in mourning over the tragedies of the past. He wanted Samuel stuck there, unable to move on with the Lord. But there are times when God tells us to simply move on. And it can be really difficult. And it can be really painful for us. But we need to learn to let go of things when God does. And sometimes it's just time to move on. To just cut the ties and

And go and venture out into, I'm not just talking about randomness. God's going to give Samuel specific direction and instruction. And so it's time, though, to respond. And sometimes we're just holding on to this and we're wanting to pursue the heart of the Lord, but you can't pursue the heart of the Lord if you're holding on to things that God is letting go of.

The only way to pursue the heart of God and stay up to date and in line with what God is doing is to be holding on to what God is doing and not to be holding on to the things that God used to be doing, the things that God used to have us involved in or the failure that we don't want to let go of, that it's hard or painful. We don't want to experience that again. And so we're holding on to things and it's keeping us stuck and paralyzed in this place.

And so we can't really pursue the heart of God as much as we want to and as much as we would say that we love God, but we can't move forward because we're holding on and we need to learn to let go. How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Another commentator says, the prophet Samuel had not yet been able to reconcile himself to the hidden ways of the Lord.

That's why the Lord had to tell him this. I have rejected him from reigning. How long are you going to? Because he's still wrestling in his mind, like, how is this going to work? And how is this? This is the king now, and this is what's happened, and I don't know what God is doing, and it's dark, it's hidden, I don't understand it, and I'm just torn up over it. And God says, I know, I understand. Again, good, you grieved while I grieved. That's in line with my heart, but...

Now it's time to move forward. So we need to learn to let go. Now, quick side note, not directly found in the text, but I would also say as much as we need to learn to let go of things that God is letting go of, when God wants to patiently persevere,

with some situation that that also means that we need to be willing to patiently persevere with that situation or that person god is not afraid of a long process and we'll we'll look at that and dive into that a little bit more next week as we continue on looking at david but david here in this chapter is anointed king but it's like 25 years before he's actually on the throne of israel

God's not afraid of a long process. And sometimes the process of the things that God wants to do is going to take a long time to play out. And if God's willing to wait a long time for things to work themselves out, well, then, well, we have to be willing to wait a long time for those things to work out. God had rejected Saul from being king, but the process of removing him took that 25 years. So we need to be good with that.

that taking the 25 years, even though I want it over with, you know, I want it fixed. Let's move on. Okay, I'm going to move on. Okay, let's move on. And then, oh, letting go doesn't mean it's done and out of my life forever. You mean there's going to be a 25-year process of, okay, I've let that go now. Now that's going to be worked out over the next 25 years. Well, yeah, that might be. And so as we are pursuing the heart of God, we need to be content with what God's content with.

And sometimes that means letting things go. That means sometimes putting up with things for a really long time. But in either case, we need to be willing to let go of things when God does. We'll see in the coming chapters that Saul is going to attempt to hold on to his reign. He knows God has announced to him several times already, your kingdom is not going to last. But Saul is going to do everything that he can to hold on to his kingdom. And again, that's just sometimes how we can be, trying to hold on to the way it was, to what we want,

And listen, if the way it was and what we want is not what God wants, you cannot pursue the heart of God and hold on to that. It's hard for us to face. But again, the reality is that there are different seasons in life. You think about Israel under the cloud in the wilderness, right? They would set up camp. And I'm just imagining, there's no actual accounts of this, but I'm just imagining, you know, me being the lazy guy that I am. I get camp set up.

I get everything set the way that I like. Okay, I'm comfortable. And then all of a sudden the cloud starts to move. I'm like, oh man, I just got things the way that I wanted them. And now the cloud's moving. I got to pack up and there would be real temptation for me to just say, you know, I'll catch up later. I'll catch up when I'm ready. But it's just, I'm tired of moving all the time and I just got things settled. And you know, sometimes there's different seasons in life.

And when we would prefer to just like, I just got things set. I'm just going to camp here for a while. God might be saying, you need to let go of that because I'm letting go of that. And so many times like Saul, we can try to be holding on. No, no, I just, I like this. I want this. This is what I've been trying to get for a while. And again, you can apply this to all aspects of life. But one to just consider for a moment is think about John the Baptist, right?

John the Baptist is really interesting because his ministry from the get-go by design was meant to be temporary. And so many times in our lives, especially as we think about things regarding ministry, we have this idea, we have this kind of mentality, like this is the new normal, this is the new forever. But you know there's a lot of times that God is going to call you into something, like John the Baptist, and it's just meant to be temporary. It's not meant to be for the rest of your life. It's just meant to be

Well, until the Lord does something new. And then there's that time, there's that season where he must increase and I must decrease. And John the Baptist knew how to let go of the things that God was letting go of. I mean, John the Baptist had a popular ministry. It was successful. It was great. But it was by design temporary. There are different seasons in our lives. And we need to be able to follow the Lord from one season to the next season.

To not try to make this season or the last season go longer than God intends. But to be willing to let those things go.

Even if we were super important or popular or successful or it worked out really great or it's things that we're really hurt by and so that's why it's hard to let go. Whatever the case may be, we need to be willing and looking to pursue the heart of God even if it means letting go of those things and moving into the new season that God has in store for us. So moving forward in pursuit of God's heart is going to involve letting go

of the things that God is letting go of. Well, moving on to point number two, we'll be looking at verses two through five. And point number two is discuss your concerns with God so that you can obey him. Check out verse two. And Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. But the Lord said, take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. So God gives instruction to Samuel.

All right, it's time to get up, go, you're going to anoint the next king. And Samuel has a question. He raises his hand, he says, Lord, can I ask a question? How can I go? If Saul hears about this, it's the end of my life. We already know he's not right with you, Lord. We already know he's way off. So if he hears about me going to anoint someone else as king, I mean, that's treason. Saul is not going to be like, oh, no problem. We want what the Lord wants.

Samuel is pretty perceptive here because, again, we'll see in the coming chapters what lengths Saul will go to to try to preserve his own kingdom, even throwing spears at his own son. If he hears, I'm going to anoint another king, I'm dead. How can I go? Now, this is, again, a good example for us. And that's why I made the point, discuss your concerns with God, because Samuel here is not asking a question as an excuse to not go.

He's asking a question as to clarification to help him go. Sometimes we ask questions to try to get out of stuff, right? I think Moses would be a good example of that, or a bad example, a good example of being a bad example. But in Exodus chapter 3, when God calls Moses, Moses asks the question, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?

Who am I that I should be used in this way? And he goes back and forth. He has this discussion with the Lord. But in that discussion, it's clear he's trying to get out of what God wants him to do. He's not asking questions to help him do what God wants him to do. He's asking questions to try to get out of what God wants him to do. So much so, he says in Exodus 4, verse 13, Oh, my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send.

Lord, just use anybody else. I don't even care who you use. Just anybody else. Just use somebody else. I don't want to do what it is you're asking me to do. And so all the objections and questions and discussion that was going on with Moses and the Lord before that was leading up to this final admission that I really don't want to do this and I wish you would just choose someone else. But Samuel wasn't having a discussion with the Lord like that. He was just asking, how do I do this?

Because this is going to be life-threatening to challenge the throne of Saul. I mean, that's going to be dangerous. If I'm going to be going into this new area of ministry, if I'm going to be reaching out to this person, if that's where you're leading me, Lord, how do I do that? Because there's some dangers. How do I go about this the way that is wise and safe?

And so God gives him instruction. He says, take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Verse 3, then invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint for me the one I name to you. And so God gives Samuel some instruction. Here's how to go about this, Samuel. Now, there's a side discussion that could be had here. I'm not going to get into it, but I'm just going to throw it out there to mess with your mind for the rest of the evening. Did God instruct Samuel to lie? No.

Just make up a story, Samuel, and use that as a cover for what I've really sent you to do. And I would suggest, no, he didn't instruct him to lie in that sense, but he gave him some very practical instruction. He says, look, here's how I want you to do this.

Hold a sacrifice. Now a sacrifice in those days, well not just in those days, but by God's design according to the Old Testament, it was depending on the sacrifice, but most of the sacrifices were a feast.

It was a time to gather. It was a time to celebrate. And a piece of the animal sacrifice would be burnt on the altar, but the rest would be cooked and consumed by a group of people. And so what God is instructing him to do is to kind of throw a party, have a festival, have a

feast and offer a sacrifice to the Lord and sit down with the community and celebrate what God has done and what God is doing and celebrate the Lord and have this feast together with the Lord. And so God tells him how to do this, how to go about it. Here's a wise way to approach this. Schedule a party. Schedule a feast.

Have a good time of gathering together. And in the midst of that, God says, I'll show you what you'll do and you'll be able to anoint the one that I'm sending you to. Verse 4. So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

So here we find Samuel. He has some questions about what God wants to do. Okay, you want me to let go? You want me to move on? You want me to anoint a new king? How do you want me to do that? That's pretty dangerous what you're asking me to do. He got his clarification, but then notice at the beginning of verse 4, so Samuel did what the Lord said. He had his discussion with the Lord so that he could do what the Lord said.

He got the clarification he needed. He got the direction that he needed so that Samuel could do what the Lord said. And that's a big difference than having a discussion with the Lord to try to get out of what the Lord says. And sometimes we have those discussions as well. But to move forward in pursuit of God's heart, God's going to ask us to do some different things, some challenging things, some dangerous things perhaps, some questionable things perhaps.

And it's appropriate for us to ask God questions. Some people I know are afraid and fearful about asking God questions. But asking God questions is not the same as questioning God and challenging God. But asking God questions and having a discussion with Him about what it is that He wants and how He wants you to go about the things that He's putting upon your heart, that's appropriate. So discuss your concerns with God so that you can obey Him.

And do the things that he has called you to do. I like what Charles Swindoll said about this. He says, what does it mean to be a person after God's own heart? Seems to me it means that you are a person whose life is in harmony with the Lord. When he says, go to the right, you go to the right. When he says, this is wrong and I want you to change, you come to terms with it because you have a heart for God.

Whether we thought differently before or not, when God says something new, to be a person after God's own heart means, okay, Lord, I'm going to be in harmony with you. You're changing direction. Okay, I'm going to change direction. This thing that I've been holding on to for so many years or seasons or whatever, and you're saying, okay, that's wrong and you want me to let it go. Okay, I'm going to have to come to terms with that. I'm going to have to learn how to let this go

I have some concerns. Can we discuss? Can we talk about how you want me to do this? Because there's some challenges to this. But I want to go forward. When you tell me to go right, I want to go right. When you tell me to let things go, I want to let things go. We need to move forward in pursuit of God's heart. It's going to involve letting some things go. It's going to involve some things that are very concerning. So have that discussion with God so that you can obey Him in the things that He's placing upon your heart.

Moving on to verse 6 and 7, we have point number 3, and that is learn to look at things through God's perspective. As we seek to move forward in pursuit of God's heart, we need to learn to see things the way that God sees things in order to pursue His heart. We need to be able to recognize what His heart is, His perspective on the things that we're facing. Verse 6, it tells us,

So it was when they came that he looked at Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. Verse 7, but the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees. For the Lord looks at the, I'm sorry, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Verse 8,

So as Samuel now goes, he has this feast, this sacrifice. He invites the community. He invites the family of Jesse. They sit down and as they're engaging and practicing this feast, he interacts with Jesse. Jesse has a number of sons. The Lord already told him one of his sons is going to be the king. All right. So Jesse, present to me your sons. And he brings out his firstborn, Eliab.

And Samuel sees Eliab and he goes, whoa, that guy's better looking than Russell. He is fit to be a king. He's tall. He's good looking. He's strong. I mean, surely this is the Lord's anointed. That's what Samuel thinks. Eliab looked like a king. Now, rewinding a little bit, remember that's the reaction that the people had to Saul as well, right? He looked like a king.

And people were convinced that Saul was a king. He was heads and shoulders above everybody else. That's a kingly guy. And Samuel is falling into that trap again. What he sees right in front of him is something so impressive. He says, wow, that must be the king. And God corrects Samuel. And he says, you're looking at things wrong. Don't look at his appearance. You look at his appearance and you think he's set to be a king. Don't look at his physical stature. You're impressed.

By his stature, so you think he's a king. But don't look at that. God says, because I have refused him. We need to let go of the things that God is letting go of. We also need to not grab onto the things that God is refusing. And to do that, we have to look at things through God's perspective. God explains to Samuel, the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward. Man looks at the physical. And he's explaining that this is our natural tendency. Samuel, this is your natural tendency. You're impressed by the physical nature.

But I'm looking at the heart. And you need to look beyond the physical and beyond what's immediately and natural for you to conclude, to look beyond that and to hear what I have to say on the matter. You know, there's that old saying, and maybe you don't even recognize it anymore because it's not really relevant.

don't judge a book by its cover. Right? And back in the day, that used to be really relevant because you were like going through the bookstore, going through the library, and you look at the cover of a book, you're trying to figure out, is this worth my time? And the saying was, don't judge a book by its cover.

Kim and I were just discussing this recently because, well, we were listening to an audiobook. And we got into the book and it was way more interesting than I expected. I thought it was going to be some, like, scary book, you know, all kinds of fearful things. And I wasn't that excited about listening to it. And all of a sudden, as I got into it, I was like, whoa, the actual content of the book is way different than the summary that they gave you to entice you to read the book or listen to the book, however you want to word that. But...

That's such a natural tendency for us, right? We see the cover of the book. We read the summary. We come to our conclusions. We make determinations. We judge the book by its cover. And that's what Samuel is doing with Eliab. He's judging the book by its cover. It looks really good. That's a good book. Kingly book. And God says, no, no. There's the contents of the book that I'm more concerned with. And understand it's

It's possible for you to catch yourself and not judge a book by its cover, to reserve judgment until you get into the content. It's possible, but it's not natural. It's not the automatic thing. And that's what God is saying to Samuel. He says, don't look at his appearance. That's going to be your tendency, Samuel. You're going to tend to look at his appearance. You're going to tend to evaluate things the way that you evaluate things.

You're going to tend to do the math like you like to do the math. You're going to tend to organize and categorize the way that you like to organize and categorize. But here's the thing. The way that you tend to do it is not necessarily the way that God looks at circumstances and situations in your life. I like what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. He says, "...from now on we regard no one according to the flesh."

He's talking about the Great Commission, the Ministry of Reconciliation. He's talking about the work that God has done. He says, look, it changes everything. We don't look at people the same way anymore. It's not about what their occupation was. It's not about the ways that we used to evaluate people, the ways that we used to evaluate their worth, their value, the time that we spend with them. It changes everything about how we relate to people.

It's the next verse in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 that he says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. People that we would have never related to because of where they were, who they were, what they did. He's saying, look, we're all new in Christ. We don't evaluate people that way anymore. Everything's changed because of Christ. Because we look at things through God's perspective.

Instead of our own, instead of our natural tendencies, instead of what we were trained or taught to look at things through our upbringing or our education. Not that all of that has to go out the window, but at the same time, that is not the things and the standard by which God evaluates things. I would ask you to think about it this way. You have Saul.

And we saw very clearly as Saul became king, it wasn't just that the people wanted a king and they asked for a king. That did happen. But God also selected them a king. God chose Saul as well as God chose David. Radically different kings. Radically different hearts. But God chose both of them to be the king for Israel. God chose both Saul and David, I would say it this way, for their potential.

Saul had the potential to be a great king. He had the opportunity. He even started out good. When he started, he was little in his own eyes. God even says that. He started out in humility and he ended in great pride. He had potential. And God chose him even though God knew where Saul would end up. Even though God knew the end of the story, God still chose Saul to be the king of Israel because of the potential that was there.

I would suggest God chose David for the same reason. Not because David was going to be flawless. We know David goes on to commit great sin for the potential. God doesn't choose in a way that eliminates an individual's choice. God could have made that choice ahead of time. Okay, I already know how Saul's going to turn out, so I'm not going to choose Saul because I know how Saul's going to end up. I know Saul's going to fail. It's a little bit of a mystery to us why God allows things to play out in real time. But he likes that. He lets things happen. He chooses people first.

And he gives them opportunity to choose whether or not to participate and to what extent to participate with his plans. And that's important for us to consider, that we need to learn to look at things through God's perspective. God chose you, God chose me for our potential. There's great potential God sees in you. We need to learn to look at things the way that God does. And when we're evaluating situations and circumstances and the past and the future and the choices that are ahead,

We need to catch ourselves when we're looking at these things through our own natural tendencies and not seeing what does the Lord see in all of this? What is it that God is saying in all of this? Pastor Dave Guzik says it this way, Samuel needed to know his natural inclination to judge only on outward appearance, but he didn't have to give into it. He could seek the Lord and seek God's heart and mind when he looked at people.

And so that's the thing that we need to consider as we want to move forward in pursuit of God's heart. We're going to have to learn to look to God and say, Lord, how do you see this? And the way that you see it is probably going to be way different than the way that I normally see it, naturally see it, automatically see it. And recognizing that and catching that will help to clarify that.

What it is that God wants to do as we move forward in pursuit of his heart. Well, finally, finishing up with point number four in verses eight through 13, point number four is wait for God to reveal his will and then take action. So in verse eight, it says, so Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by and he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one.

Verse 10, thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And so it kind of skips ahead in the passage and doesn't give us every son by name, gives us three out of the seven, right? But in real life, Samuel had to live through all seven sons by name being brought out, presented to him. While this one was brought out, the Lord says, nope, that's not the one.

Then the next one's brought out. No, that's not the one. And I could imagine being Samuel being like, Lord, couldn't you just tell me? This would be really efficient if you would just tell me it's David. Just tell me it's David. We don't have to go through this whole process. But one by one, one by one, nope, one by one, nope, one by one, nope. At the end of the seven sons, he says, the Lord has not chosen these. Now, here's the thing to consider, I think, in this. Be careful about your logical conclusions, right?

to the things that are unfolding before you. Notice that Samuel didn't get to son number seven and say, why bother asking God now? It's obvious this is the chosen one. This is the last son. Here's what I know. God told me one of his sons is going to be king. The first six sons brought before me, the Lord said they're not the king. Son number seven, why even ask? I already know this is the one. It's a logical conclusion because as far as Samuel knew at that point, Jesse had seven sons.

He didn't get to the seventh and say, okay, I don't even need to bother asking God. Now, I want to be careful and say, look, God has given you a brain and he expects you to use it. But at the same time, God doesn't want you to use your brain so much that you stop looking to him for the instruction and direction that he wants to give. I would suggest to you that we are regularly going to face apparent contradictions in life between what God has said and the things that we actually see.

That's going to happen a lot. It's going to happen a lot that we come to the end of the seven sons and go, well, the Lord told me there was seven, or, you know, one of these sons was going to be, and now I'm at the end of the sons. And so how could that be that I'm going to anoint one of these sons as king when there's no more sons to anoint as king? That happens regularly in our lives because God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight. And God has ways and things that we know nothing about. Elijah was there saying, I'm the only one left. And God says, I have 7,000 more. And

There's ways and things that God has in store that you know nothing about. And so Samuel here, again, he's a great example for us. He doesn't just make a conclusion. Okay, this must be what God wants because this is the last son. And so let's go forward. No, instead, verse 11, Samuel said to Jesse, are all the young men here? And he said, there remains yet the youngest. And there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him for we will not sit down until he comes here.

He gets to the end. He gives God opportunity. That was the last son. Okay, Lord. Now Samuel's trying to figure out. He told me one of these was going to be the king. There's no more left. Jesse, are you sure you brought me all your sons? I would say it this way. The point, wait for God to reveal his will and then take action. That word wait, I'm going to offer an alternative definition. Wait really means explore. Explore.

To wait on the Lord really means to explore what is it that the Lord has for you. It doesn't mean to just sit there until God gives you the name David.

But to explore, is it this sun, Lord? No. Is it this sun, Lord? No. Is it this sun, Lord? No. That's all the suns. Is there another sun? It's an exploration. Lord, is it this? Is it this? It's a seeking out. I always like what Paul said in Romans chapter 1 when he writes to the Romans and said, look, I really want to be there. I really want to go visit you. And I'm making a request if by some means at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.

Paul says, look, I was praying. I was asking God, can I go now? No. Can I go now? No. Can I go now? No. Can I go now? I'm trying to find a way in the will of God. He's exploring the will of God. Not just, you know, sitting there not doing anything. Waiting is not like sitting there not doing anything. But it's testing the waters. And is it this Lord? Is it this Lord? You want me to do this? How do you want me to go forward? And

And so we need to do that, to wait for God. We're testing the waters. We're asking God. And then when he speaks and brings confirmation, then we need to take action. Verse 12. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ready with bright eyes and good looking. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is the one. So it wasn't a logical conclusion that Samuel came to. It was the Lord spoke as he explored, as he waited on the Lord.

Verse 13, Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. And we'll pick that up next week and talk more about David's side of this and what the Lord did in David as he began this work. But here as we take this last look at Samuel, we see this great example of moving forward in pursuit of God's heart, which means letting go,

Letting go of things when God is letting go of things. Letting old seasons die. Letting new things begin at the expense of things that once were. Relationships that once were. Activities that once were. And letting those things go so that you can move forward into the new things that God wants to do. And there's going to be some concerns. And so discuss those with the Lord so that you can obey. Not to try to get out of it.

so that you can obey God and do the things that he's laying upon your heart. It's going to require that you learn to look at things through God's perspective because it's not going to make sense. It's not all going to add up and it's not going to be what you automatically expect. It's not going to fit your normal calculations. It's probably going to be different this new season, this new thing. But look at it through God's perspective. Catch yourself when you're just relying on your own resources and let God show you what he sees in the situation at hand.

And as you explore those opportunities waiting for God to reveal His will, test the waters, see what God has, and when He brings that confirmation, go forward into that new season and do what it is that God wants to do in your life. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us that You would help us to learn this lesson

from this great example that you've given to us in Samuel, a man after your own heart, a godly man, one who knew you and loved you and pursued you and yet was human and held on to things longer than he should have perhaps and was mourning for a longer period than you had appointed and

Yet as you call him out of that, he responds. And so, God, I pray that you would help us to follow that example. As you speak to our hearts, as you call us out of old things and into new things, as you call us forward to take steps of faith, I pray that you would help us to be responsive to those calls. I pray that you would minister to our hearts about all of these things, Lord, that we would be able to pursue your heart, letting go of anything, any weight, Lord, that slows us down, that holds us back.

any old pain or failure or difficulty, Lord, anything, that we would move forward to be right in the center of your will, right where you want us to be, and in the midst of the work that you want to do. So help us, Lord, to keep up the pace with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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