After God's Own Heart

Scripture

1 Samuel 16:1–13 KJV 1900

1 And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. 4 And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. 7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. 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 brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

INTRODUCTION

If you spend enough time reading the Bible, one of the things you start to notice is that it never flatters its heroes. It tells us the complete truth, good and bad, about everyone we meet. This is one of the reasons that I don’t believe the Bible was written by mankind for mankind, for it rarely shows us in a good light. A true and fair light, yes. But always a good light? No.

However, it is in showing us the good and the bad, the victories and the defeats, the triumphs of character and the complete lack of character (often about the same person within verses of one another!) that gives us a wonderful glimpse into the grace and mercy of God. For God chooses to use the imperfect, the weak, the selfish and the flawed to accomplish His plan of salvation. You don’t read about perfect heroes. You read about men and women who are scoundrels and liars and sinners, who show tremendous strength of faith along with immense amount of failure. You know, people like you and me. We read about these heroes of the faith in the Bible and, if we are honest, in many ways it is like reading our own autobiography. This will be very true as we look at the life of David.

And here is the truth we need to know and believe if we are going to fully engage in a study of David, King of Israel: God isn’t looking for perfect people. He is looking for men and women who truly have God’s interests at heart. And David was just that man.

In fact, David was such a man after God’s heart that more has been written about him than about any other biblical character. Abraham has about fourteen chapters dedicated to him, and so does Joseph. Jacob has eleven and Elijah ten. And David? Sixty-six, not including fifty-nine references in the New Testament.

The Lord, God of creation, is a God of transformation. In the beginning, God transformed chaos into order by taking a formless void and creating sea, land, sky, sun, moon, and stars. God sent his son, Jesus the Christ to change the world by establishing the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit moves in our lives and transforms us from rebellious, self-centered people into disciples of Jesus Christ, who have a living and dynamic relationship with God.

What is astonishing about the transformation that God is causing to occur is that God is working in partnership with men and women in order to accomplish it. After all, God is the God of all creation. God spoke and it came into being. God could say, “Transform” and it would happen. For some reason, however, God has chosen to use his creation to bring about the transformation and establish God’s Kingdom.

Our story today is David’s call and his anointing to be King of Israel. This story illustrates the idea that God works most effectively with people who have a pleasing heart to the Lord. As people who want to participate actively in the transformation and establishment of God’s Kingdom, it is important for us to understand just what a pleasing heart to the Lord is.

Our story begins with Saul, the first King of Israel. In verse 1, we read that the prophet Samuel was grieving over Saul. Saul had been anointed King by Samuel, and he was the hope of the people, but he turned out to be a man who did not have a heart pleasing to the Lord.

• Saul was a victim of his own pride. The Greeks call it hubris—a pride that harms a person and brings down their down fall. Saul became self-centered, and also drew away from his relationship with God.

• Saul was impatient and rash. In 1 Samuel 13:8 we read that instead of waiting for Samuel the prophet/priest, Saul sacrificed an animal offering to the Lord.

• Saul didn’t obey. Obedience is a core element in faith. Saul disobeyed the Lord on several occasions and followed his own leading.

Before God rejected Saul He already had such a man in mind. So in search of such a man, God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse. Did you hear where he went? Bethlehem. Not Jerusalem. Not London. New York. Not Washington D.C. Not the place where the Tabernacle was, but a little village of a place outside the noise and crowds of the leaders and shakers. Bethlehem.

The heart is the real you, the inner you. It’s your thoughts and mind, your feelings and emotion, your will and drive. It’s the full you, the real you.

That’s the "you" which the Lord sees. We can put on appearances. We can play to the eyes of others. We can fool them for better or for worse. But the Lord sees the heart of the matter. He knows the real you. He knows your heart. That’s what we want to think about this morning as the Holy Spirit leads us to reflect on the lives of Saul and of David.

So you and I need to examine our inner self: our thoughts, our attitude, our emotions, our will, our motive, our drive. Yes, that’s all involved in that word "heart." Are you an "eye" Christian, concerned about what looks good in the eyes of others more than about where your heart is? Do you just go through the motions of being a Christian? Are you doing it because that’s what you’re expected to do, that’s what your parents did, that’s what makes you look good? Do you try to strike a balance between looking like a good a Christian on the one hand and being too religious on the other hand, as if too much of God’s Word or following his will too closely is a bad thing? Do you figure, why strive and strain too hard to do what God wants since "I can just ask for forgiveness when I get caught anyway"? Don’t follow the path of King Saul.

"From that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power" (1 Samuel 16:13 NIV). The Holy Spirit changes us at the core. He changes hearts. Consider some of the effects the Holy Spirit worked in the life of David. When faced with the hostile giant Goliath, David declared to him, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied"(1 Samuel 17:45 NIV). He trusted in the Lord.

When King Saul tried to hunt him down, David hid. On two occasions when he could have killed Saul, he refused to raise his hand against the king, the Lord’s anointed. Rather he trusted the Lord to remove Saul at the right time and bring him to the throne.

When he was told that he could not build a temple for the Lord but that a son from his own body would build a house for the name of the Lord and reign forever, King David believed. He praised that Lord that through his family line the Savior would come and reign forever. He trusted the Lord to keep his promise.

Even when King David resisted the Holy Spirit and committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and arranged for his murder, the Holy Spirit brought David to repentance through the words of the prophet Nathan. David confessed, "I have sinned against the LORD" (2 Samuel 12:13 NIV), and he trusted the good news from the mouth of the prophet, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die" (2 Samuel 12:13 NIV).

And when King David had to flee Jerusalem because his son, Absalom, had orchestrated a coup d’état, he left it in the Lord’s hands whether the Lord would bring him back or not. He trusted the Lord.

God "saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior"

Titus 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

the Bible, is God’s book of promises. Jesus said, "The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life" (John 6:63

John 6:63 KJV 1900

63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Through the word the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts. Through the word the Holy Spirit speaks God’s saving promises.

Through the word the Holy Spirit plants trust.

For after Baptism the Holy Spirit brings the word to our hearts through our head. The Holy Spirit uses our minds to understand the word, to know what the promise is saying so that we trust what our God says. Without the Holy Spirit our reason would reject the promises as foolishness, but the Holy Spirit open our minds. He enlightens us through these same words of promise so that we believe.

If you want the Spirit, use the word. If you want to be David and not Saul, use the word. A good place to go in the Scriptures is to the Psalms. God used David to write many of them. The Holy Spirit will use them to work trust in your heart. For through the word the Holy Spirit changes us to the core so that we do much more than simply an outward practice of Christianity.

He changes our hearts, the real you, the inner you, your thoughts, mind, emotions, attitude, will, and drive. God knows your heart. He knows how to keep you trusting his promises. No matter what Goliath you face, no matter how bleak the future may seem, no matter how horrible the sin that torments you, the Holy Spirit is fervently calling to you through Baptism and through God’s word. Hear his promises. Trust them. They will not fail.

Closing

To be spiritual means you make God’s thoughts your thoughts, God’s priorities your priorities. What is important to God is important to you. What burdens God burdens you. When He says, “Go right” you go right, you don’t say, “Why?” A spiritual person decides to follow God knowing that God doesn’t need to explain Himself to anyone. A spiritual person is one whose heart is sensitive to the things of God.

2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV 1900

9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”

God is looking for men and women who are completely dedicated to Him.

A spiritual person is a man or woman who longs to please God. They know going in that loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength is not going to please every one of their friends or all their family.

When the seventh son appears and Samuel still has no instructions from the Holy Spirit, he begins to think something is wrong. So he says to Jesse, “Hey. Are you sure these are all the sons you have?” Seven sons because seven is the number of perfection. This was the perfect lineup. Who could ask for more? Well, Samuel asks for more. And Jesse, scratching his beard says, “Oh yeah. I got one more. Forgot all about him. He’s the youngest and all he’s good for is tending the sheep.” The eighth son. Of course he was the eighth son, for the number eight is the number of completion, of superabundance, of a new beginning. PIANO SCALE. Of course when David does appear the Lord says, “This is the one; anoint him.”

You see, even when your family forgets you, even when your dad doesn’t invite you to the party when the greatest prophet of our times comes to your house, God remembers you. We see two things taking place here: God doesn’t forget who you are, and God sees what others don’t.

The world is all about having the right look and sufficient degrees and who you know that makes you popular and acceptable. Of course, this attitude isn’t something new. When Paul was in Corinth, he knew he had to teach both Jewish and Gentile Corinthians. The Jews there were looking for a miracle, for a sign that proved he had the power of God. They wanted the same thing from Jesus. The Greeks, however, were looking at surface impressions.

When the whole world is enamored with power, beauty, strength and royalty (even Americans, who left England, were caught up in the last royal birth), it takes a humble spirit to answer the call of God. Everyone in Israel was going to compare little David to big Saul who stood head and shoulders above everyone else. But God makes His choices differently from the way people make their choices. We chose the rich and famous to be our friends because it might make us into somebody admired by the world. But God chooses nobodies and makes them into somebodies.

To be a person after God’s heart, you need have an honest, real spirituality, you need to be humble with who you are in God’s sight, and you need to have integrity of heart. And these things don’t happen overnight. Alan Redpath said, “The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.” When God develops people after His own heart He is never in a hurry. It is a life-long process. Are you in it for life?