That's Enough

Sunday, March 9, 2008
Read 1 Samuel 16:1 through 17:58.

(16:1) Finally, the LORD said to Samuel, "You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel." (NLT)

WOW... there's more in this text than a couple of paragraphs could address. Did you notice that God makes decisions differently than we do (16:7)? He isn't swayed by outward appearances, and that's a good thing for us. Like David, many of us have been the last picked for the kickball game, if you catch my meaning. But all of that changes as God applies His presence and power.

We need to see David's encounter with Goliath in that light. From the beginning this battle was the Lord's. He had prepared David using his past experiences (17:34-37) and He would be David's primary weapon now (17:45-47). And please don't make the mistake of attaching luck to how David killed Goliath. Shepherds in his time had to be adept at warding off predators with very little weaponry. Considering the speed with which he hurled that stone, plus its precise accuracy, this wasn't luck. It was God partnering with an available, prepared vessel to make a lethal combination. David may have been last, but God made him far more than least.

I'm even tempted to write about how God gave Saul over to the direction in his sin he had been pursuing. For the rest of his days he was tormented by a spirit "that filled him with depression and fear" (16:14 NLT). But out of all of these observations I'm going to be faithful to the one that hit me first: God had to finally tell Samuel to stop mourning for Saul. This turn of events grieved Samuel as deeply as a death in our families might grive us. As a matter of fact, The Message paraphrased version of Scripture has God asking Samuel, "So, how long are you going to mope around over Saul?"

Saul's fall from God's favor radically impacted Samuel. It struck him on a personal level. Have you ever been this personally affected by the sinful failure of someone else... particularly a fellow believer? How would you describe what you felt? And why do you think God was so insistent on Samuel leaving his grief behind?

Please feel free to address any of the observations mentioned here, but too often have I read and overlooked this one.

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.
Jan Glidewell