A New Focus for a New Year
1 Samuel • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Well, here we are beginning another new year. I don’t know about you, but it seems like they are coming faster and faster.
This is a time when many people make “New Year’s Resolutions.” The problem with resolutions is that after about a week or two, or maybe after a couple of months, most of our “resolutions” fall by the wayside, and we don’t think about them until the next “New Year” roles around.
This morning, I want us to think about a new (or maybe a renewed) focus for this New Year.
We are going to get back to our study in the book of 1 Samuel, so if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 16.
In the very first verse of 1 Samuel 16, God gives Samuel the prophet a new focus.
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
First, “How long will you mourn for Saul?” In order to get a new focus for the new year we need to stop looking at the old! Or to put it another way, stop bemoaning the past.
God tells Samuel, that He had rejected Saul—so there was no use for Samuel to mourn over him. So many times, I keep mourning over things that God has rejected!
Instead, Samuel was to fill his horn with oil and get ready to anoint a NEW King over Israel!
The new king that God had chosen was one of Jesse of Bethlehem’s sons.
But Samuel has a problem. Fear is keeping him from doing what God told him to do. Look at verse 2.
But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
Samuel’s response—I can’t go, because Saul will kill me!
God had even planned for this objection and for the problem.
Samuel is to take a heifer with him, and tell the people that he had come to sacrifice to the Lord with them.
Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
All Samuel has to do is invite Jesse and his family to come to the sacrifice.
God will point out the son he has chosen.
But when Samuel arrived at Bethlehem, there was a different problem.
Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
When Samuel arrived, all of the elders of the town are afraid—they “trembled when they met him.” They were afraid that Samuel had come to pronounce some kind of judgment upon their town.
So they want to know whether he is coming in peace or for some other reason. Remember, Samuel is the one that killed Agag the king! So no doubt Samuel’s reputation and the stories of this great prophet were known to all of Israel, and many were somewhat afraid of him!
Samuel gives them his response in verse 5.
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.
Samuel came in peace.
He came to sacrifice to the Lord with them.
So they were to consecrate themselves—that is make them ceremonially clean before the Lord God.
Jesse and his sons were invited to the sacrifice, so they too were to prepare themselves in order to present themselves clean before Yahweh.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
Samuel saw Eliab and immediately thought that God would choose him!
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 people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
But Eliab was NOT God’s choice for king.
God tells Samuel that appearance or height are not what is important.
God looks at the heart—it is your heart and my heart that matters!
Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”
No not Abinadab!
Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.”
God didn’t choose Shammah either.
Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but God didn’t choose any of them!
Can you imagine Samuel’s frustration. After all it appears that all of Jesse’s sons had passed before him, and God rejected all of them. So Samuel asks a question:
So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
Samuel asks Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
Jesse answers, “There is still the youngest. He is tending the sheep.”
Scholars often discuss why David was not there, and what that means. Many scholars believe that Jesse really did not value David very much. He is the youngest and is treated more like a hired hand or a slave than a son. Perhaps that is what David meant when he wrote part of Psalm 27.
Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.
David may not have been valued as highly as his brothers by his father, but God valued him.
According to Chuck Swindoll, more was written in the Bible about David than any other character: 66 chapters in the Old Testament plus 59 references to his life in the New Testament.
Adam Sachar called David: “the most human character of the Bible.” Yet his own father did not think he should be present at the special sacrifice with the great prophet Samuel.
Samuel tells Jesse to send for him, and he says nothing else is going to happen until the youngest son arrives.
So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
So they go get the final son!
He is described as “Glowing with health.” The Hebrew term is often translated “ruddy” but it probably means he had a dark reddish complexion.
He was said to have a “fine appearance” this actually refers to his eyes—David had attractive eyes. This may suggest that he was a straight forward honest person.
The part translated here “handsome features” talks about his looks—he was a good looking lad!
When David walks in, Samuel is gold, “Get up and anoint him—this 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 powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.
So Samuel obeys God, and takes some oil from the horn, and anoints David.
Notice that this is done in front of ALL of his brothers (and in front of his father—although that is not clearly stated).
The Spirit of Yahweh came powerfully upon David.
And Samuel returns to Ramah.
This idea of God’s Spirit coming powerfully upon David is set against what happened to king Saul. Look at the very next verse.
Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.
The Spirit of Yahweh came powerfully upon David—but the same Spirit of Yahweh departs from Saul, and an evil spirit is allowed by Yahweh to come and torment Saul.
So What?
So What?
Here we are at the beginning of 2023—another New Year. This year I want to challenge us to change our focus and see if we can’t focus on what God says is important.
In our passage today we see that we need to:
Focus on the future rather than on the past. God is on the move today, and He wants us to join Him where He is working!
To do this we need to stop “mourning” about our past. There’s no doubt that many of us have things in our past that have deeply hurt us—but mourning the past will NEVER accomplish what God wants to do in our lives from now on!
We need to focus what God is doing, not on what God has rejected!
When God has a plan—He thinks of EVERYTHING! There is nothing that has escaped His view!
We need to remember that God ALWAYS looks on what is inside! We get all wrapped up in the outside appearance, but God is far more concerned about what is going on inside of us!
And finally, we need to remember if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior then we have the Spirit of Yahweh in us—and that is the same powerful Spirit of God that empowered David!
And that means that you and I need to guard our hearts so that we don’t open ourselves up to evil spirits that an torment us!