There was a time for mourning (God’s rejection of Saul) and a time to move on.
The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’ 1 Samuel 16
God told Samuel to get up and anoint Saul’s successor, in other words to move on. If something has failed or fallen in our lives, and we are grieved (as God and Samuel were), there may well be a time of sorrowing, but don’t get stuck there. We cannot hold what God is telling us to move on from!
Remember God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house;
3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands (something had gone wrong); so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. Jeremiah 18
God is working, like the potter, to bring His purpose to fulfilment in our lives and in this world. The moulding process may not be pleasant but in the long term it’s best to accept and submit to it.
2 But Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.’
The Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.’ 1 Samuel 16
The first thing Samuel said was, Saul will kill him, if he hears he’s going to anoint a successor. Many times, even in the Church, the old regime or leadership will not accept anything new, so like Samuel we must be wise in how we go forward. The things God reveals to us should be guarded and not ‘noised abroad’ to others.
Samuel was God’s prophet, set apart from Hannah’s womb and yet at first he didn’t recognise God’s choice of David. David who would be Israel’s greatest leader and from whose family line the Messiah would be born, didn’t look like the next leader. God chose David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons and worked deeply in his early life (moulded him). Samuel, Israel’s national prophet, didn’t immediately recognise God’s choice, he had to anoint David in obedience to God. We may not know God’s choice for our next step, it may not always look as we expected but we must follow His leading. As we said yesterday, God’s ways and man’s ways don’t mix, so listen for His direction. ‘Look before we leap’.
May God bless and keep you today.