From Shepherd to King Nov. 4/5, 2017
Scripture: 1 Samuel
16: 1-13
Well once
again we find ourselves in the middle of this journey known as the Story. And I don’t know about you,
but hearing these ancient stories all over again has been good for my soul.
It’s reminded me a lot of the nature of faith- the good stuff and the not so
good stuff. And lately we’ve been talking a lot, as least it seems to me, about
the not so good stuff. But today it’s going to get better. Not because we’re
introduced to a flawless character, but because we’re given a glimpses into the
heart of that God. And that’s always a good thing. So let’s get started.
It’s been a rough go of things for
nation of Israel. You would think that once you have God’s promise, that once
you experienced the blessing of God, you would be satisfied. But that’s not
necessarily the case. As we learned last week, it’s far too easy for us to have
wandering eyes and compromise our values and our particular way of doing life.
Even though they had what God wanted to give, the Israelites wanted more, so
they asked for a king. But that first choice, a man named Saul, didn’t quite
work out. He brought more chaos than community; more trouble than hope. And God
decided to rip the Kingdom from his hands and give it another candidate named
David.
King David has become one of the
most recognizable names in all of Scripture, for reasons both positive and
not-so-positive. When David’s name is
brought up in conversation, there are usually three stories that come to mind:
his triumphant battle over the mighty Goliath, his treacherous affair with the
beauty Bathsheba and the wonderfully-affirming designation given to him by God
(a man after my own heart). For these
reasons (and the fact that he was a great poet and musician, think Psalms), King David has become for us a
man with great qualities worth emulating, but also a man with great failures
through which we learn more about living in relationship with God. And that’s why today in The Story we turn to David’s story.
Interestingly
enough, David’s story begins in an unassuming fashion. He’s a shepherd boy who
comes into play only when God rejects his predecessor, King Saul, and God says
“no” to his seven older brothers. And to
understand the significance of David’s role in this story, we must first
understand the ways of King Saul and the decisions that led to his demise. From
the outset, Saul was the obvious choice for such an important leadership
position. He had all the right skills
and all the right looks. When he stood
in a group of people, he was head and shoulders taller than the rest. What better man to be king than one who was
an imposing figure to the rest? He was a
handsome man and came from a rich family line.
Good looks. Good height. Good wealth. Everything about Saul had “king”
written all over. But for several
reasons, King Saul eventually fell out of favor with God. Though he had all the tangible qualities you
would want in a leader, he lacked something far more important- he lacked a
heart that was fully open to God. You can never overestimate the importance of
the heart.
Late
Wednesday evening, the Houston Astros won the biggest prize in all of baseball-
The World Series. That must feel good for the citizens of Houston right now.
After Hurricane Harvey, they needed a good pick-me-up. And now they’re
champions. We’re accustomed to hearing about the Yankees or the Red Sox
claiming the title of best in baseball, but this year, it was the Astros- The
first championship in their organization’s history. And leading the way to
their success was a small-statured second-baseman by the name of Jose Altuve,
all 5’6’’ of him. Altuve doesn’t look like
a ballplayer, and if you Google his name, you’ll find him described in the
following ways: unlikely, anomaly, indistinguishable, long shot, “not supposed
to exist.” In fact, he was cut by the very same Astros team during a trying
because they said he was simply too short. The little guy who was once thought
to be too short is now a world champion and be might be named the MVP of the
entire league in just a few weeks. Good thing the Astros gave him that second
chance. Had they not, they would’ve overlooked someone with the heart of a
champion.[1]
Time and
time again, Scripture bears witness to the fact that God’s best work isn’t
always through the people with the best skill set, but instead through people
who have the right type of heart. What does that heart look like? Quite simply,
it looks like hearts that are full of obedience. And obedience begins with the recognition
that God is good and so are God’s ways. It’s about the understanding that God
really does have our best interest in mind, and that following God leads to
good and abundant life. And that’s what Saul lacked. He had all the right
skills, yet Saul never could get his heart in just the right position. He had a
difficult time letting God be God, and that became his downfall.
Saul’s heart
problems are well documented in Scripture.
He grew impatient with God’s timing and moved ahead before God was
ready. He built a monument to himself
instead of God. He would fulfill God’s
orders but then tack on something else to those orders, thinking he was simply
doing God a favor. All of these issues
and more led to Saul’s royal ouster, but the one flaw that sticks out the most
is Samuel’s terse word to King Saul in chapter 15, a word that speaks volume
about Saul’s condition and a word that we need to hear: “Though
you are little in your own eyes…”
We worry so
much about the issue of pride (and rightfully so) because pride is a negative
trait that separates us from God. But sometimes we worry so much about becoming
prideful that our reaction swings the pendulum too far and we end up with this
false sense of humility. We start saying things like, “I’m not called to do
that; I’m not gifted in those areas; I don’t think I could ever go there. I
can’t.” And we become so convinced that
we are the wrong person for the job that even if God wanted to make us the
right person for the job (which he usually does), we probably wouldn’t let him.
This was Saul’s biggest heart issue. He had a false sense of humility. And his
low view of himself affected his view of God.
When it comes to gauging our
usefulness for God, we should never throw skill out the window. Skill is important.
That’s why God has uniquely gifted you and me to carry out his purposes and
fulfill our particular callings in this world. Psalm 139 says that YOU are
fearfully and wonderfully made. You’ve been called by God. You have a purpose,
and God has a plan for you, and God will equip you to get the job done, even if
it means fighting a giant with a sling instead of a sword. God will give you
the skills you need. God will give you the ability to be who he was created you
to be. But here’s what God wants from you: the
type of heart that is willing to give God permission to do whatever it is that
God wants to do.
We’re not told why God bypassed the
first seven sons of Jesse to be Saul’s successor. The only information we’re
given is that Samuel has apparently paid too much attention to outward
appearances, whereas God has been paying attention to what cannot be visibly
measured: the heart. And David’s heart caught the attention of God. Maybe his heart was cultivated out in those
quiet fields while tending sheep. Maybe
it was during those years of waiting- because it wasn’t until he was 37 that
this young, anointed boy from Bethlehem would take the throne. Whatever the
case, God saw a young boy with a heart willing to be constructed and
reconstructed over time. David won’t be a perfect king- far from it. He won’t be a sinless king or a king who
avoids precarious situations, as we’re going to learn next week. But David will be a king who responds to God by
the continuous yielding of his heart.
And when God grabs hold of a heart that is fully yielded to him, you
better hold on tight, because God has a way of making MVP’s out of nobodies.
Your heart is of vital importance
to God. It’s that sacred space where all the important decisions of your life
are made- decisions that have the capacity to draw you deeper into God’s
presence or the capacity to drive you further away. That’s why God pays so much attention to
what’s happening on your inside. And
that’s why it’s so important that you and I also pay attention to what is
happening inside of here. (point to heart)
John Wesley had a question that
helped the early Methodists pay attention to the intangibles of faith: How is it with your soul? I’ll reframe the question just a bit. How is it with your heart? Your heart can
either point in the direction of God, a direction where giants are conquered
and giant sins are forgiven, or your heart can point right back to yourself,
where self-limitation and self-understanding bear more influence than even the
voice of God. I’m not sure what you need to do today to turn your heart in the
direction of God, but I guarantee you it will be the best decision you will
ever make. Your name might not go down in history like David’s, but you will be
someone whom God uses to build His kingdom- and that’s a great legacy. Amen.
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/jose-altuve-baseballs-unlikeliest-superstar/542139/
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