God had sent the Prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s seven sons as King. As six strapping young men paraded past Samuel…each time he thought to himself, “This has to be the one!” But God reminded Samuel in verse 7, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” It wasn’t until the youngest son, David, was called from the pasture, that God declared, “He is the one.” This should give all of us encouragement…especially those who have said to themselves, “I have nothing to offer God.” The Lord doesn’t consider outward appearances. He looks only at what He can do through us if we’re a willing worker.
Tag: prophet samuel
I Samuel 15:22 ” Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
All the Lord wants, is to have us attentively listen to that still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and heed His Promptings. The only offering desired of Him, is yourself and your love and obedience.
I Samuel 12:21 ” Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.”
Social media, the world-wide web, and advertisement has led us to believe we need status labels and designer brands to fill our vanity powered ego. We fall for the superficial guise that somehow these certain labels and brands will be the answer to make us more popular, prettier, or more intelligent looking. But sadly the only thing they do is play on our self-absorbed, conceited self…not changing anything inside. No certain brand will change your life… only being branded by the blood of Christ will ever change you.
I Samuel 10: 21-22 ” Finally Saul son of Kish was chosen. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, ‘ Has the man come here yet?’ And the Lord said, ‘ Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage.’ “
We somehow naively think that if we “hide real good”, God won’t be able to find us. But it doesn’t happen that way. You may be hiding from the Lord right now…but if He has called you to do something, He will relentlessly purse you…despite how deep you may have burrowed yourself in amongst the bags. If you have been called of God, He will not change His mind …the only thing you can do is obey, or find a new hiding place.
II Samuel 7:20 ” … For You know Your servant, O Sovereign Lord.”
You say, that people don’t understand you…but God does. You say, that they can’t comprehend what you’ve gone through…but God can. You say, that no one can imagine your pain…but God does. Only the Lord understands intimately what’s happened in your life…only He knows all things about you. Only the Lord has seen every sorrow and counted every tear.
I Samuel 10: 5-6 ” After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine out post. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”
The prophet Samuel had anointed Saul to be King, but in Saul’s eyes he was anything but King material. Low self-esteem can cause many of us to lose sight of the greatness and potential that God Himself has placed in us. But Samuel perceived the hidden treasure in Saul’s heart, because God had allowed Samuel to see Saul through His eyes. Samuel nurtured and encouraged this secret treasure by giving Saul many details of his encounter with the company of prophets, culminating with the most important detail…then the Spirit of God will anoint,empower, and change you from the inside out Saul.
I Samuel 15:22 ” But Samuel replied: ‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’ “
The Old Testament Prophet Samuel had told King Saul that God wanted the Israelites to go to battle against the Amalekites and completely destroy and annihilate them and everything they owned…but Saul and his men disobeyed and brought back the best livestock, which Saul tried to justify, by saying they were going to “sacrifice them to the Lord”. God’s reasoning behind the total destruction of a people group and everything they owned was, first… obedience, and secondly, to remove the lure towards idolatry by decimating the source. What the Lord wants more than anything from us is a relationship with Him…not a religious act.
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