A Heart for God
1 Samuel 16:1-13
16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long
will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel.
Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite,
for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 Samuel
said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of 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 Invite Jesse to the
sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me
the one whom I name 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 He
said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify
yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified 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 now before the Lord.” 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 does
not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then
Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. 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 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before
Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of
these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons
here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the
sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down
until he comes here.” 12 He sent and brought him
in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said,
“Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13 Then
Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers;
and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day
forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Let us begin today’s message by looking back at the history
of Israel up to this point. During the years leading up to the life of Samuel
the Israelites were ruled by a series of Judges of which Samuel was the last
one. Unfortunately, over the course of about 300 years they began to stray
further and further away from God. Their priestly leaders, who were charged
with the spiritual welfare of the people, were essentially becoming obsolete. The
people stopped coming to be cleansed and refused to turn from idols. The
priests were still in good standing with God; it’s just that the people no
longer sought God so the priests were no longer an effective means of
mediation.[1]
So Samuel’s role became one of prophet, the voice of God to the people, instead
of a judge. The first seven chapters of 1 Samuel tell the story of Israel’s
plunge into disarray. It is at one of the lowest points of the nation’s history
that the people begin to request a King, like the other nations around them. Up
to the point they were led by God through leaders like Moses and then governed
by the judges, but God was their “King.” They had already turned from God, but
this was a self-serving request by the people. Basically, they believed one of
them could do a better job of leading the nation than God himself. Samuel was
not too happy about this request. In chapter 8 we read, “Then all the elders of
Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and
said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for
us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6 But
the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.”
Samuel prayed to the Lord, 7 and
the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all
that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me
from being king over them. 8 Just as they have done
to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking
me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now
then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them
the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” So Samuel warns them that a
King ruling over them is not what they want but they insist anyway. Aren’t we
like that sometimes? We insist on getting our way with God. We might pray over
and over for something we want, and we might even try to convince ourselves
that it is what God wants, but ultimately, it is our will we are seeking, not
God’s. The Bible tells us that God grants Israel’s request and Saul is chosen
as their leader. The next few chapters tell us about the reign of Saul. There
are examples of times when God instructs Saul on what to do and he does it.
Then there are times when Saul alters God’s plan in order to accomplish
something for himself. The final straw, if you will, is when Saul refuses to
completely wipe out the Amalekites, a nation that has gone against God’s people
ever since they came out of Egypt. From that point on God rejects Saul as
Israel’s king. However, Saul is not immediately removed from power. That is
what makes Samuel’s next task so daunting. This is where out passage for this
morning picks up.
We read that Samuel is instructed to anoint the next king of
Israel. Notice how the chapter begins. God is asking how long Samuel plans to
grieve over Saul. Remember Saul isn’t dead yet, Samuel just knows that God is
no longer with him. I imagine his grieving is probably both for Saul and also
for the people of Israel. So now God wants him to go and choose the next king
before the current one is dethroned. Now some of you are sports fans I know so
perhaps you have heard the term that has become popular over the last few years
known as “Head Coach in Waiting.” This has been used as a way to hire a top
notch assistant by promising the head job to him when the current coach
retires. This is generally used when the current coach is nearing retirement
but that date has not been set. In spite of all intentions to the contrary,
there has to be a sense of tension as one guy waits for his turn and the other
guy is holding on, maybe too long, to his. That tension certainly exists
between Saul and David later on so Samuel’s reluctance to be a part of this is
understandable. Nevertheless, Samuel after protesting for fear of his own life,
agrees to go to Bethlehem to anoint this son of Jesse as the Lord requests.
Even the elders of the town fear that something is wrong when they see Samuel
coming. Verse 4 states “…The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, ‘Do you come
peaceably?’” When Samuel states that he is there to sacrifice with Jesse and
his sons there must have been an audible sigh of relief.
Verse 6 begins the process that Samuel was sent to do in the
first place. It is also at the heart of today’s message. “When they came, he
looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before
the Lord.” When they came in, so at this point no one has spoken, no
interviews have been given, no references checked, just a first impression and
already Samuel has concluded that surely this is the man I am to appoint. How
must he have looked? He was tall, handsome, physically fit, perhaps facial
features that reflected some amount of wisdom. After all, he was the first of
seven sons about to pass before Samuel so he surely had a few years on him and
was by all accounts a perfect specimen for a king. Yet verse 7 goes on to tell us
what Samuel is missing. 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 does not see as mortals see; they
look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Not
only is Samuel surprised that this isn’t the one, I would imagine that all
those gathered were shocked. Have no fear; however, Jesse has more sons to
present before Samuel. As each one approached and each one was rejected there
must have been questions swirling around everyone’s head. When finally the last
one in attendance gets rejected Samuel questions Jesse. “Are all you sons here?” I don’t believe that
Samuel knew there was one missing from the feast; I just think he knows God
sent him to anoint a king, a son of Jesse, and God certainly would not have
sent him only to reject each one. So Jesse tells him there is one more but he
is keeping the sheep. How should we look at that? Someone had to keep watch
over the sheep so the responsibility falls to the youngest. If the purpose of
this gathering was to anoint a new king then surely this young boy wouldn’t be
the one anyway so just let him stay out with the sheep. Now if this isn’t my
younger brother’s favorite Bible story then I don’t know what would be. Here we
have the oldest son being presented as the logical choice to be the next king
only to be rejected. And the youngest son, almost as an afterthought, left in
the fields while the rest of the family enjoys a feast and sacrifice actually
being the chosen one. Samuel tells Jesse to send for him and that “…we will not
sit down before he comes here.” When he does arrive and is brought in the Lord
said, “‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one’13 Then
Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers;
and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day
forward.” One thing about verse 12 intrigues me. David is described as ruddy
and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. A description like that almost goes against
what I was thinking. When we hear someone say God looks on the inside, we
assume that means the outside must be something not worth looking at. This
description, however, does not show that. Upon further review, it does make
sense to me though. Handsome wasn’t what God was looking for. If it was then
Eliab would have fit the bill and this process wouldn’t have taken so long. It
only proves that it was David’s heart that God saw and was pleased.
So God looks on the heart. The question posed by the title
of the sermon is, “Do we have a heart for God?” What exactly does that mean?
Let’s start with this example. I was watching Big Bang Theory the other night.
If you are not familiar with that show it is a very funny, though perhaps not a
church appropriate, show. One of the characters, Sheldon, has a mother who is a
Bible believing Texan and is not afraid to express that in the company of
others. Anyway, Sheldon’s roommate, Leonard, had just given poor advice to a
friend about how to treat a girl who he had recently been in a relationship
with. Leonard’s goal was to appear to be giving good dating advice to a friend
when all the time he was actually giving what he thought was bad advice so the
date would fail and he would get another shot at dating the girl himself. When
he verbalizes his regret over his actions Sheldon in classic form states, “For
what it's worth, my mother says that when we deceive for personal gain, we make
Jesus cry.” It probably isn’t too much of a stretch for any of us to think back
to a time when we intentionally gave bad advice. What makes it difficult for us
mortals is that we can’t see the heart like God can. Sometimes our outward
actions look the same but the inner intent might be totally opposite. For
example, let’s say you have a friend who asks you opinion on a new dress. You
answer the dress looks great. Now, let’s suppose that you really don’t think
the dress looks good, but that is how you answer. On the one hand she is your
friend and she just spent a lot of money on this dress, she’s real excited
about it and you don’t want to hurt her feelings so you tell a little white lie
and say the dress looks good. Perhaps that is a noble thing to do. It’s just
your opinion anyway. Maybe others will think it looks good. You are looking out
for your friend’s feelings. On the other hand, let’s say you know the dress
looks bad but you know if you say it looks good she will wear it out that night
and look ridiculous making you look better. On the surface the comment is the
same, but underneath the outward expression is an inner motive that might
escape your friend, but not God.
We have to be careful when we make preconceived judgments on
outward appearance. Have you done that lately? Any thoughts like these ever
creep into your mind?
- She’s beautiful so she can’t be that smart. She just gets her way because she looks good.
- He’s black, white, Hispanic, Asian, etc…so he can’t be smart, must not be able to run fast or jump high, is taking American jobs, can’t speak good English so must be illegally here. You fill in any derogatory comment you want in here.
- He is Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or even Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. so…
Make no mistake; we all make judgments on first impressions.
You know the expression, “You don’t get a second chance to make a first
impression.” That whole first impression thing works both ways. Sometimes our
initial evaluation of someone is very positive only to find out later that
inside the person is really a mean person. Other times we get a bad feeling
about someone only to find out later (after we take the time to get to know
them) that they really do have a good heart. Regardless, what is usually the
first impression; the physical appearance. That is why we wear our best suits
to interviews. When we walk in the door the evaluation has already begun. It is
natural human instinct to look on the outside first. After all it is literally
the first thing we see. That is why Samuel thought he had the next king when
the first son came in. But God sees all. The challenge for us is two-fold. We
have to be careful not to look at others and base our impression of them solely
on that of appearance. Take the time to get to know that new co-worker or neighbor.
Perhaps you will find that they have a heart of gold. But not only that and
maybe more importantly, we need to make sure that when others see us, they see
a reflection of Christ in us. The only way that happens is for us to seek God
from the inside out. We need to develop our heart for God. If we do then the
rest will take care of itself.
Let us pray.
