Throughout history people have looked for role models to look up too, to follow, they aspire to be like them. Some superhero. They will do anything just to be like them.
This world is desperately in need of models worth following, people of integrity, whose lives inspire us to do better, to climb higher, and to stand taller. This has always been true. But so often, people choose the wrong role models to follow, to be like. We are going to look at today the people’s choice of a role model and God’s choice. Why they are different, what qualities God looks for and briefly God’s methods of training his choices.
Reading 1 Samuel 8:1-5 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba.3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
Samuel had been chosen by God to lead the people of Israel; he is now an old man, he was the last of the Judges. The people of Israel had heard stories about the days when Israel was a great nation, how Samuel had subdued the Philistines and judged the land wisely and well. But most of people living knew nothing of this personally. All they saw was an old man who had appointed his sons to judge Israel. But this was not a good decision and had been a mistake. 1 Samuel 8:3But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. Samuel’s sons were dishonest, took bribes and perverted justice.
The people of Israel were disillusioned with the situation. They needed some to look up to, to follow, aspire to and so they come to Samuel with a request. 1 Samuel 8:4-5 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
The people of Israel demanded a king like the Philistines, Moabites and Jebusites. These nations choose people that were tall, dark and handsome. The people of Israel wanted to choose a king the same way. Their choice was Saul. Saul was dark, tall and handsome. They saw a man head and shoulders above the rest; a warrior and they thought that he’s the man for the job.
Saul became king at the age of 40. Though he started well, after a very short time he lost his humility, became hot-tempered, depressive and a murderer. So much for the people’s choice! Now the people of Israel drift far from God under Saul’s rule, and to make matters worse they become totally disillusioned with the leader the have chosen.
But God had a plan. Even though the people had rejected Him, He hadn’t rejected them. God was preparing his own man, His own choice. A man after his own heart.
1 Samuel 13:13-14 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.
The man after God’s own heart is David! There is more written about David than about any other biblical character. Abraham has fourteen chapters dedicated to his life, and so does Joseph. Jacob has eleven. Elijah has ten. But there are sixty-six chapters dedicated to David and some fifty-five references to him in the New Testament.
David was born ten years after Saul became king. Saul was disobedient to God and sinned against Him so God had rejected Saul as the king and He spoke to Samuel. 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Now the LORD said to Samuel,"How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons." 2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." But the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say,'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you." 4 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said,"Do you come peaceably?" 5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him!" 7 But the LORD said to Samuel,"Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 8 So 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 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here." 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!" 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
On the surface, there seemed to nothing about David that would have impressed God. Nothing of his outward appearance caused Him to say. WOW, that’s my man! David didn’t look any different from any other Jewish boy his age. Samuel simply said, “He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and handsome appearance.” That is the only physical description we have of young David. He was nothing more than a shepherd, and a very young one at that.
Even Jesse, David’s own father, didn’t even think of including him until Samuel asked, “are these all of your sons?” Then Jesse replied Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep. And suddenly, this young nobody, a boy even his own father forgot about, became somebody. And God saw this boy and said in effect “You have what I’m looking for, a young man. You are the future king of Israel”. David became a great poet, musician, mighty warrior, a national statesman, and distinguished himself as one of God’s greatest men.
In battle he modelled confidence and courage. In decisions he judged with wisdom. In loneliness, he wrote with transparent vulnerability. In friendship, he was loyal to the end. Whether a humble shepherd boy or an obscure musician before King Saul, he remained faithful and trustworthy. Even in his promotion to the highest position in the land David modelled integrity and humility.
But as we will shall see in further studies on David, he (like us), was anything but perfect. Having earned the public’s trust and respect, he forfeited it all in a brief season of sensual pleasure. Then as the consequences of his sins cuts in, we discover another side of the man’s makeup – lustfulness as a husband, weakness as a father, and partiality as a leader.
This far from perfect man nevertheless lived a life with certain strengths and qualities worth emulating. In a world that desperately needs good roles, David is one worth following. David was a man of passion and destiny.
So why did God choose David? Before we answer that we should ask ourselves what kind of people does God choose?
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
William Berkley in his commentary on this chapter said this God has chosen the world’s insignificant and despised people and nobodies in order to bring to nothing those who amount to something, so that nobody may boast in the presence of God.
The Apostle Paul was saying to the Corinthians You won’t find any impressive people here! Why? So that no one can boast before God. The things that influenced people in that day were brains and beauty. Actually, iIt is the same today, When we look for people to admire, when we choose our role model, our heroes, we are often swayed or impressed by things that are cause for boasting. We want the beautiful people, the brilliant people, and the successful people. The superficial continues to impresses us. We still don’t seem to understand God’s ways.
But God says’ that not the way I make my choices. God chooses nobodies and makes them some bodies.
That, in a nutshell, is the story of the life of David. Taken from a lowly shepherd boy, the least of the least and promoted to be king. (But not overnight!)
When God scans the earth for people He wants to use, He certainly is not looking for perfect people, because there are none. What He is looking for are people with the same qualities that David possessed.
Today we are going to look at three of these. The first quality David had was:
Spirituality
In 1 Samuel 13:14The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart. What does it mean to be a person after God’s own heart? It is someone:
ü Who says what’s important to God is important to me.
ü Who says what burdens God burdens me.
ü When God says I want you to do something we do it.
ü When God tells us to stop doing something in our life, we stop it.
A spiritual person is someone who is sensitive to the things of God. God is looking for someone whose heart completely belongs to Him. It is a person who longs to please Him in their actions.
Question – Does God find such people here at Oasis?
Humility
When God saw David He saw a person with a servant heart, a young boy that was faithfully keeping his father’s sheep.
Psalm 78:70 He also choose David His servant. And took him from the sheepfolds.
Psalm 89:20 I have found David my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him.
The bottom line is that when you have a servant’s heart, you’re humble. You serve faithfully and quietly. That’s David. God looked at David in the fields faithfully serving his father, faithfully keeping the sheep. And God approved. God is looking for faithful servants. As God looks around this room today He is looking for faithful people.
A humble person doesn’t care about who get the glory. A servant’s goal is to make the person they serve look better, more successful. They do not want the person they are serving to fail. They want to get the job done. And make the master look good.
Remember that while David’s brothers were off fighting the Philistines (for their own glory), David was all alone keeping the sheep.
Integrity
God is looking for spiritual, humble, servants who have integrity. Integrity is so important and so lacking today. Psalm 78:71-72 From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. 72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. David shepherded them with the integrity of his heart.
Integrity is what we are when nobody is looking. When no body else sees. Today, we live in a world that says make a good outward impression, that’s all that matters. Make it look good when people are watching.
But God is not impressed on the outward but in the inward. 1 Samuel 16:7 For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart
He is looking for integrity. He is looking for inward qualities. Inward qualities take time to discipline and cultivate.
As we continue to study the story of David we will see God’s method of training His servants. David’s training ground was lonely, obscure, monotonous and real. Briefly touch on these today.
God trained David in solitude. He needed to learn life’s major lessons alone before he could be trusted with responsibilities and rewards in public. Many nights he sat alone under the stars, in all seasons. Solitude was one of the ways God trained young David for the throne.
God chooses unknown, unseen, and perhaps unappreciated person. It is in obscurity that character is built.
David was faithful in the menial, insignificant, routine, regular, unexciting, uneventful daily tasks of his life. Tending sheep is not the most rewarding jobs.It is in these times when we learn to be men and women of God, with no one else around, when nobody else notices, when nobody else even cares.
David was not just sitting on a hilltop gazing into space, composing music on his harp and teaching sheep to do tricks.
1 Samuel 17:34-35But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Where did David get such courage? He learned it when he was alone with God. He was a man who learned responsibility when nobody was looking. When he came to face Goliath – it was no big deal for him. David had killed a lion and a bear when no one was looking. He rolled up his sleeves and fought for the sheep. He had been facing reality long before he fought against Goliath.
Somehow we have got the idea that getting alone with God is unrealistic that it’s not the real world. Getting alone with God is where we discover how to be more responsible and diligent in all arrears of our life.
David may have lived centuries ago, but there are things that we can learn from him.
Firstly, it is in the lonely places and in the little things that we prove ourselves capable of the big things. If we want to be a person with a large vision we must cultivate the habit of doing the little things well. The test is not how well I do in public on a Sunday, it is how I do when there’s nobody to check up on me, when nobody is looking.
Secondly, that when God develops our inner qualities. He is never in a hurry. Alan Redpath put it this way. The conversion of the soul is the miracle of the moment, the manufacture of a saint takes a lifetime. It is in solitude, obscurity, monotony and reality that we become, like David, a person after God’s own heart.
God help
Article by Robin Baker
Robin is the Senior Pastor of Oasis Christian Centre Redditch
(Author: Robin Baker)
God And his people
Imagine a people who have just experienced freedom from four hundred years of bondage, not only have they witnessed a sea open up before them, but then that same sea closed up over those marching out against them. I think they would have been happy (Author: John Martin)
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