The Lord
Looks at the Heart
I Samuel 16
May 7, 2000
I. The Lord Looks at Samuel's Heart vv. 1-5
- Paralyzed by disappointment and sense of failure
- Grief at Israel's loss, the welfare of the nation, Israel's security
- Obsessed with grief and blame
- Fear and anger due to loss of status and position (v. 2)
- Perhaps even struggling with attitude toward Yahweh
God's call for action:
(1) Why grieve over the unchangeable?
(2) Why live with an attitude that life will not ever change or get better?
(3) Why sit still when it is time for action? (Specific instruction given in vv. 1-3).
II. Presumption Even Among the Godliest vv. 6-11
- A "look" will not detect true spirituality (v. 6)
- External qualities do not matter; the heart is the issue; man looks "with respect to the eyes."
- Man-centered qualities fall short ("heart" points to the essence of character).
- Admittable limitations on man (v. 7).
- The godly must see their limitations lest they presume to take God's place.
- The kingdom is safe only in Yahweh's hands, not even in those of his godliest servants.
- A reminder of who still reigned as Sovereign over Israel.
- Jesse's presumption that his youngest son had nothing to offer - exposed...he presumed both on God's wisdom and His ways.
None of this offers a stern rebuke, rather a powerful reminder: the Lord is Lord. He often "stands human logic on its head" (Davis 31). He is never a slave to our forms and preferences. His ways are not our ways.
III. Called and Equipped vv. 12-13
- God's choice may not fit human molds.
- The anointing pledged oneself to the ones anointed: here Yahweh delegated himself to equip David. "When someone was anointed at God's command, it meant God obligated himself to (for example) the king" (Davis 31).
- When the Spirit comes, the trouble begins (Davis 32)...e.g. Mark 1:10-13 with Christ, now with David the conflict begins, not due to sin but due to sonship, not for God's displeasure but his discipline (Davis 32).
- The Spirit rested on David but departed from Saul: one prepared to lead, the other to only dismantle; one builds unity, the other disunity; one ensures confidence in the Lord, the other only confusion; one has a clear cause to chart, the other only frantic movements.
- A contrast evident in David anointed by Spirit, Saul "troubled" or "terrified" by a spirit.
- Sovereign Lord delivered this "active, external power." "Evil spirit" may not mean morally evil as we might think. It can refer to "what gives pain, misery, distress, or calamity." David Howard: "Some see a demon here, although it may have been more in the nature of a spirit of calamity or distress" (Davis 33).
- The emphasis is upon the contrast at hand (not explaining our questions!).
- Saul himself, unknowingly, approves God's choice: he finds David to be loyal, dependable, likeable, and obviously, spiritual; Saul loves David; Ironically, he spends the balance of his life chasing the man whom God chose, but without success. In every step, God's wisdom was vindicated. Davis: "As Saul will hate David, and as he is rejected by God yet sustained by David's service, so the world hates Christ's people (John 15:18-21) yet, in its doomed state, is only benefited by them. They are the ones who are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13), that is, who keep society and culture from rotting into complete decay, who keep the world from being worse than it is" (34).
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