Trust in God

We have been spending the last few weeks looking at what it means to “Be Holy” or to become holier. We have focused on how God is with us and is worthy of us worshipping and following him. You can find the previous episodes on our You Tube Channel.

This week we focus on trusting God. Our scripture comes from 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13. The words will be on the screen.

34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

Please pray with me…

Trusting God in times of difficulty or struggle can be one of the most difficult things for us to do. We decide that we do not have all the answers and that only God has the right answers when we have the faith to trust in him. There also may be times that God decides we are ready to help him serve those around us.

Samuel has shown over and over again his ability to trust and obey. He developed that special connection with God from the first time he spoke to him. He seems to be able to flash back to that moment and continue to follow the ways of God.

I don’t know about you, but I struggle at this way more than Samuel. I will be doing good and suddenly I receive a message from God or something in my life goes awry and suddenly doubt begins to creep into my relationship with God.

(Transition)

Samuel is really struggling in today’s text. The part our scripture for today didn’t include is a fall out between the first human king of the Jews, Saul, and his spiritual advisor, Samuel. Up to this point we have had Saul listen and follow the ways of God by trusting the voice of Samuel.

This time Saul is told to do something, and he doesn’t do it and then makes an excuse on why he didn’t do what he had agreed to do. This leads to a conversation between Samuel and Saul in which Samuel says to Saul

‘“You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.’ 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.’”

Just like last week when the people asked for a human king, I would believe that Samuel felt like a failure. He was the spiritual voice, but it seems that his voice did not rise above the world when it came to king Saul.

We can fall into the same trap. We can get so wrapped up in the world that we forget that we have a God that has all the answers. That can lead us in the best way to the best place for us to be.

We instead will often end up letting those around us change us. The desire to please the world becomes our guide. The easiness that we sometimes find in the world can lead us into not being the person that God desires for us to be.

This is why Jesus says that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus wants his audience and us to know that no matter what you do in the world if God is not a part of it than its not going to prevail long term. God wants to be a part of our endeavors. God wants to be the reason we do what we do.

(Transition)

Our scripture has God call out Samuel. He basically tells him to quit whining, get out of bed and go and serve me. Sometimes even the greatest of prophets and religious leaders need a kick in the pants to get moving.

God desiresto motivate and help those that are followers of him get moving. You maybe going through a tough time right now. God may have given you some time to mourn whatever it may have been that you have lost or to fight whatever battle that you are fighting.

He also might be desiring for you to get moving again. God may be attempting to lead you right now into a new chapter of your life. Or it may be like the case of Samuel, you may be asked to do something you have already proven to God that you can do.

God led Samuel to Saul, and he now plans on guiding Samuel to the next Jewish king. We need to remember that Saul is still alive. Samuel wants to make sure God knows that he might have rejected Saul, but Saul is still in power and won’t like it if he hears Samuel is already picking out a new king.

God doesn’t care about what Saul may do. God wants Samuel to be willing to do what he is asking for him to do. He is to go to Bethlehem and find the family of Jesse in order to find the Jewish people a new king.

This reminds me of a man named Ananias. Jesus has already ascended into Heaven. Stephen,the first martyr of the church has already died. Another Saul has been persecuting the church and has travelled to Damascus to arrest some of the people that were still following Jesus.

We have Jesus speaking to and eventually blinding Saul as he is about to enter into Damascus. Saul is told to go and meet a man named Ananias who will return his sight. Ananias is listed as a “disciple” of Jesus.

God tells him to go and meet Saul and understandably just like with Samuel he basically says to God, “have you lost your mind? are you unaware of who this man is? He is going to kill me.” Sound familiar doesn’t it.

God lets Ananias know that everything is going to be fine. He doesn’t specifically say that to Samuel. The Lord tells Samuel what he is to do. God seems to believe that Samuel should know that God will protect him.

We should also have the expectation that God will be there for us. God will remove obstacles that get in our way. God will allow for the circumstances to play out in such a way that we will be successful in what the Lord wants for us to do. We need to be willing to trust in the Lord.

(Transition)

God not only told Samuel what to do he offered to him the way in which he was to discover the new human king for the Jews. He lays out for him the plan he is to take to lead him to discover who that king will be.

Samuel listens to God and follows his commands. This leads him to meeting Jesse and his sons and preparing them for what is to come. We have Samuel meeting the oldest son and assuring himself that this is the man.

But God points out to him that his assumption is incorrect. Samuel is focusing on the wrong attributes that God needs to make a good king. He says to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature.”

We need to be careful that we don’t get a head of God. We spoke a couple weeks ago about the damage of making assumptions and how assumptions can lead us down the wrong path. We are to trust that God knows the way and choose to follow the path he has designed.

(Transition)

The Lord cares more about our heart than he does about our physical appearance. He cares more about our relationship with him than he does about our ability to look good in front of others. I think I am proof of that.

The sons of Jesse are before Samuel when God tells him that they are not the one who will become the new king. This confuses Samuel since God told him who to see and that one of his sons would become the king.

This leads Samuel to ask the next question, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse says, no, but dismisses the youngest son of being a possible king. He views his son as only being a person who could lead sheep.

God had others plans and when David is before Samuel, he tells Samuel that David is the one he has chosen to become the new king. We have the least likely candidate becoming the one who God has chosen to become the next king for his people.

We might be surprised of who God would choose. We might be shocked that God would choose someone like Paul who had persecuted the early Christians before becoming one of his apostles. He may choose fishermen to become his disciples and early leaders of the church.

He might choose you. You may believe you are unworthy just as I did or within scripture we are like Moses. God doesn’t care what we think. God will attempt to lead us into deciding we are going to trust him and follow him down the path he has for us.

(Transition)

We end our main scripture with the Spirit of God falling upon David. Samuel’s mission accomplished he moves on from that project. This should point out to us that God may give us short term or long-term ways to serve him.

My time is about up here. Pastor Tom will begin moving the church forward using the gifts that he has been given. God has a plan, and we are to trust in the plan that he has for us individually and as a church.

Our first reading points out that God is our creator and while we are here on earth, he has given us the Holy Spirit to serve him. Therefore, we are to trust him and “walk by faith not by sight.” Just like in the case of Samuel, what looks good may not be what is best.

We have to trust that God is at work in our lives and in the lives around us. We have to trust that God is guiding us as a church towards a better way to serve him. Our first reading ends reminding us that “whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”

Our desire should be to please God during our time on earth. Paul faced the possibility of death often. That led him to say in his letter to the Philippians “it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full et courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Let us desire to follow the example of Samuel and Paul. Let us trust in God and allow him to guide us through our life journey. Let us ask for him to help us be the individual and church that he desires us to be.

Let us pray…