The Forgotten Shepherd

Introduction

Context

Chapter 16 opens by describing the climate of tension in which the prophet Samuel was living because of the poor government of the rebellious King Saul. From the very first verses, we notice that Saul’s rebellion had caused Samuel deep sorrow.

The word mourn, referring to Samuel’s state of mind, does not simply mean to be sad; it carries the idea of grieving deeply, as one grieves for the dead. On at least two previous occasions, Samuel had already wept because of Saul: 1 Samuel 8:6 and 1 Samuel 15:35.

But now the Lord says to Samuel, “Enough!”

Application. And perhaps God is saying the same thing to us today: Enough crying, because I am about to do a new thing. As in Joshua 7:10, there comes a moment when God calls His servant to rise again:

Joshua 7:10 NIV

The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?

Key Word

The dominant theme of these verses is God’s choice. In verse 1, the Lord says to Samuel, “I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” A more literal rendering could be: “I have seen among his sons a king for myself.”

This idea appears several times in the chapter with different shades of meaning: God provides a king, God chooses a new leader, and God reveals to Samuel the one He has selected.

God’s vision is not passive. He does not simply look; He sees with purpose and acts according to His will. God sees, provides, and selects.

Application. Just like Samuel, we also need to begin seeing what God sees. We need to see how God provides, how God chooses, how God prepares, and how God consecrates. When we begin to see what God sees, even our emotional condition begins to change, because we realize that God is still working, still choosing, still preparing a new chapter for our lives.

Seeing as God Sees

God had told Samuel that He had seen a king among the sons of Jesse. But when Samuel saw Eliab, he immediately thought: “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed.”

Samuel was ready to open his horn of oil, but the Lord stopped him and said, “This is not the king.”

The book of 1 Samuel strongly emphasizes the theme of choice:

Israel chose the ark instead of the presence of God, and disaster came upon the nation.

Israel chose to have a king like all the other nations, and another disaster followed.

But now, in this chapter, it is not the people of Israel who must choose. It is Samuel—the spiritual leader, the man of prayer, the prophet consecrated to the Lord. Surely Samuel would choose the right person.

But no. Samuel was about to make the wrong choice, a choice that could have created another tragedy for the people of Israel.

The lesson is clear: when it comes to your choices, let the Lord choose.

As Isaiah 11:3 reminds us, true discernment does not judge merely by what the eyes see or what the ears hear. Your life is safe only when it is guided by YHWH:

Isaiah 11:3 NIV

and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

Sermon Outline

In 1 Samuel 16, we see the Lord Who sees, chooses, and provides. We see Samuel, who must learn how to see and choose according to divine standards. But we also see someone who does not see, does not remember, and forgets: Jesse.

Jesse, the father of David, forgets to call his eighth son to the sacrifice. Jesse did not think David could be useful for Samuel.

Therefore, he emphasized that David was young (“the youngest”), that he was busy (“he keepeth the sheep”), and that he was lowly (keeping sheep was considered a lowly task). These three features, as far as Jesse was concerned, surely would exclude one from the anointing honor. Jesse’s answer implied that Samuel need not bother with David, for David was not available and would not qualify for any anointing if he was available.

John G. Butler

David was not considered, not involved, and not invited.

But God had not forgotten the forgotten shepherd. God had not forgotten the anointing reserved for David.

And I believe there is oil waiting for someone this morning.

Regarding this forgotten shepherd, I want to consider four aspects:

In the fields

Tending the sheep

The Anointing 

Any Result?

N.1 - In the fields…

1 Samuel 16:11 NIV

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.”

David was in the fields. The fields were the place where David had been relegated and forgotten. Yet in that very place, God was preparing His servant.

Infact, in the fields David learned courage, because there he defended his flock from dangerous animals.

1 Samuel 17:34–35 NIV

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.

Still in the fields, while contemplating the creation of God, David composed beautiful Psalms:

Psalm 19:1 NIV

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

In the fields, God forged both a warrior and a worshiper.

Application

David was prepared for the throne because he worked in the fields. Those forgotten places, those hidden places, those places where David was confined, became the place of preparation.

Like David, perhaps you also find yourself in a forgotten place. Yet it is precisely in the place where you spend most of the hours of your day that God sees you.

It is in that place that God is calling you to be courageous. It is there that God is teaching you to cultivate an attitude of worship. It is there that God is training you to depend on Him.

The fields were very different from David’s house. In the fields there was no oil of anointing. There was no prophet Samuel. There was no public recognition. And yet, in the fields, David experienced the presence of God.

Perhaps you also work in a place that feels very different from the church. Maybe in that place you are not allowed to openly praise the Lord or pray. But what if I told you that God sees you in that very place?

What if the place where you are now is the place God wants to transform into a place of redemption, praise, divine encounters, and victory?

Ruth and Boaz

The story of Ruth reminds us that no field is forgotten by God.

While Ruth was gleaning, Scripture tells us that she “happened” to enter the field of Boaz. But that field was special because its owner did not separate his work from his spiritual life; he joined them together.

In Ruth 2, Boaz comes into the field and:

blesses his workers — Ruth 2:4 “Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” they answered.”

notices the new woman — Ruth 2:5 “Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?””

offers protection and help to Ruth — Ruth 2:8 “So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.”

Your workplace should not hide you; it should prepare you.

In your workplace, you can experience forgiveness, extend grace to someone, be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, bless others, and restore those who are suffering.

The fields should not, and cannot, hide your faith. The fields serve to prepare you.

N.2 - Tending the sheep

1 Samuel 16:11 NIV

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.”

When Jesse introduces his eighth son, he emphasizes one detail: “He is tending the flock.”

The word tending does not only mean watching the sheep. It means being fully involved in the responsibility of caring for and protecting the flock.

David was committed. David had not abandoned his responsibilities. He had invested his life into that flock.

Application

God has not forgotten, and will never forget, those who serve faithfully. God remembers those who do not forget their responsibilities.

Throughout Scripture, God often calls people while they are busy serving:

was tending the flock —Moses  Exodus 3:1

was threshing wheat —Gideon  Judges 6:11

was plowing —Elisha  1 Kings 19:19

was among the shepherds —Amos  Amos 7:14–15

were fishing —Peter, Andrew, James, and John  Mark 1:16

was at the tax booth —Matthew  Matthew 9:9

God often calls people while they are being faithful in ordinary jobs.

So serve the Lord. Be committed to what you are doing.

If God has called you to be a student, commit yourself to study.

If God has called you to be a husband and father, be the best example for your home.

If God has placed you in a season of hidden service, dedicate yourself fully to that season.

Because God will not forget you. At the right time, He will call you into His service.

David was not only in the field; he was faithful in the field. And when God looked for a king, He chose someone who had learned how to care for sheep before caring for a nation.

Illustration. Ted Engstrom once shared a simple illustration. He found an old flashlight in a drawer. When he tried to turn it on, it did not work. The batteries had leaked and damaged the inside. The point was clear: batteries are not made just to sit in a safe place; they are made to be used and give light.

Then you can apply it: In the same way, God did not create us only to be comfortable and safe. He created us to shine, to serve, to love, and to put our faith into action.

N.3 - The Anointing

1 Samuel 16:13 NIV

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.

Verse 11 is a brilliant stroke of narrative strategy and design. The narrator makes Jesse’s household wait, and makes the reader wait, for the arrival of David. The story waits, just as Israel has waited.

Walter Brueggemann

Everyone was waiting for David. But more than David, they were waiting for the anointing that had been reserved for David.

And I hope we also are willing to wait for the anointing of God.

The anointing was indispensable for the task David would have to fulfill: leading the people of Israel.

Samuel did not come with a crown in his hand. He came with a horn full of oil.

Years would pass before David would be publicly recognized as king over Israel. Yet the anointing was essential and came first.

In addition to this first anointing, David would be anointed with oil two more times:

When he was recognized as king over Judah:

2 Samuel 2:4 NIV

Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah. When David was told that it was the men from Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul,

When he was recognized as king over all Israel:

2 Samuel 5:3 NIV

When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

And although there was a season when David lost the kingdom and the crown, David never lost the anointing.

Application

God has not forgotten your life. He has an anointing of the Holy Spirit prepared for you.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit comes before the assignment, before the title, before the position, and before the crown.

If you have already experienced this anointing, know this: there is still oil ready to flow over your life.

Like David, we do not want the anointing to be a single, isolated event in our lives. In every season, we desire the oil of the Holy Spirit to come upon us again.

The Church in Acts

In the book of Acts, Luke reminds us several times that the church experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit repeatedly.

The church was filled with the Holy Spirit more than once, and individuals such as Peter, Paul, Stephen, and Barnabas were also described as filled with or full of the Spirit.

God has not only remembered you; He has prepared for you the anointing of the Holy Spirit, accessible in every season of your life.

The anointing is not some mystical something out there. The anointing is the presence and power of God manifested.

Rodney Howard-Browne

And even if one day you were to lose the crown, make sure you never lose the anointing.

N.4 - Any Result?

1 Samuel 16:13 NIV

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.

After Samuel anointed David, Samuel returned home. And the “forgotten shepherd” continued his life almost as if nothing had happened.

David continued to perform his humble duties as a shepherd. He was still underestimated by his father and despised by his brothers.

But the text gives us a detail we must not overlook: “From that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.”

Externally, nothing seemed to change immediately. David did not receive a throne that day. He did not move into a palace that day. He did not wear a crown that day. But internally, everything changed. The Spirit of God came powerfully upon him.

Application

It is legitimate to ask God this question: “Lord, what is the use of You remembering me, my prayer, my calling, and my life, if the circumstances around me remain exactly the same?”

Verse 13 gives us a clear answer: God is not always interested in first changing the circumstances around you. Sometimes He is first interested in changing and empowering you.

God would eventually change David’s circumstances, but He would do it through a David filled with the Spirit of God.

In the same way, God may not immediately touch your problems or change the circumstances in which you find yourself. But He will work in you. He will empower you. He will strengthen you. He will prepare you.

The true result of the anointing is not always an immediate change around you. Sometimes the first result is a powerful change within you.

God did not forget David. He filled David. And through a Spirit-filled David, God would eventually change a nation.

Conclusion

The story of David reminds us that no place and no occupation can hide us from the eyes of God.

God can use places, circumstances, and seasons of hiddenness to prepare us for a future ministry for His glory.

David’s field was not his prison; it was his preparation.

David’s service was not wasted; it was forming his heart.

David’s anointing was not optional; it was indispensable.

David’s result was not first external promotion, but internal empowerment.

Let us not forget: the anointing is necessary for service, and it is accessible to all who ask for it and desire it.

Finally, when God remembers us, it does not necessarily mean He will immediately change the circumstances around us. It means that He begins a particular work within us.

God has not forgotten you.