Good afternoon friends! It's another sunny day here in Michigan and
it feels like it will be a hot one before it ends.
I spent the morning in the park at St. Johns
writing the message I will deliver at Middleton United Methodist Church
tomorrow. As I get more experienced with
writing and giving sermons, I've come to know that the Lord ALWAYS has a
message for me to deliver...and He will give it to me in His time. So, no sense in worrying if it gets to be 7pm
on a Saturday and I still have only blanks.
This week, the lectionary (a weekly group of
scripture suggestions used by pastors and lay speakers everywhere) as usual had
its Old Testament, Psalm, Gospel and New Testament non-Gospel suggestions. I'm usually, for some reason, drawn to the
Epistles. My husband, Pastor Clare,
usually uses the Gospel scripture when preparing his sermons. This week, however, I was drawn to the Old
Testament scripture, found in 1 Samuel.
The scripture opens in chapter 15, where King Saul
has rejected the Word of the Lord and God's High Priest Samuel is directed to
go to Bethlehem to anoint God's Chosen One to be King of Israel. Here is what the Lord gave me for His people
this week.
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
34
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.35Samuel
did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over
Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king
over Israel.
Samuel Anoints David
16The
Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul?
I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and
set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for
myself a king among his sons.’2Samuel
said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to
sacrifice to the Lord.”3Invite
Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall
anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’4Samuel
did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The
elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come
peaceably?’5He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’
And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s
anointed is now before the Lord.’*7But
the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance
or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’8Then
Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has
the Lord chosen this one.’9Then
Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord
chosen this one.’10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said
to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’11Samuel
said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the
youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and
bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’12He
sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was
handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this
is the one.’13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the
presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to
Ramah.
This
scripture brings us to one of the most significant moments in the history of
the Jewish faith, and of course in all of Christianity as well: the anointing
of David as King.
David
was a young shepherd boy, not considered important enough to attend the
ceremony of the High Priest, Samuel, as he sacrificed to the Lord. He was left behind by his father and brothers
to tend the sheep. They didn't consider
him important enough for such an honor, but God had different plans.
As
the Bible documents King David's life, we find he becomes King, arguably the
most important figure in the Old Testament.
The Lord promises that the Messiah - JESUS - would be born in the line
of David. There is no greater honor.
So,
what was it about this shepherd boy that caught the Lord's attention, and His
favor? So much so, that he was raised
above all Israel to become King, an author of the Book of Psalms and great
grandfather to our Lord Jesus.
I
believe the answer is found in verse 7:
7But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look
on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him;
for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’
David often has been called "A man after God's own
heart"....why? Because when King
Saul fell out of favor with the Lord, God sent Samuel to deliver this message,
found earlier in the first book of Samuel, chapter 13:14
14but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord
has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord
has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what
the Lord commanded you.’
God
looked at David's heart and He liked what He saw!
I
got to wondering, as I wrote this, why is man's heart so important, above all
else? In the New International Version
of the Bible, 1984 Edition, the word "heart" appears 743 times. I think a great summary is found in the book
of Proverbs 4:23
Proverbs
4:23
New
International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
23 Above all
else, guard your heart,for it is the wellspring of life.
Petersen's
Bible paraphrase "The Message" puts it this way:
"Keep
vigilant watch over your heart;
that's where life starts."
that's where life starts."
That's
where life starts.
My friends,
how are your hearts today? If God looked
inside our hearts, what would He find?
The fact
that God looks at the heart and not the outward appearance can give us great
comfort. Why? Because the blood of Christ washes our
hearts. If we open ourselves to the
grace of the cross we can be - and ARE in fact - transformed.
Ever had one of those
days? Everything you do and say comes
out wrong - not as you had intended it.
How many people look in the mirror and sometimes all we see is this? :
Guess what?? God looks at our hearts! When He finds Jesus there this is what HE sees:
He recognizes us as His own
child. He sees our beauty, even when we
can't. We are a new creation in Christ,
and that change starts on the inside.
We need to guard our hearts. How?
Some suggestions are to only put in good things! Prayer, scripture, study, wholesome
thinking.....The Message has some to-the-point directions as well:
23-27 Keep vigilant watch
over your heart;
that's where life starts.
Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.
that's where life starts.
Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.
For
me, this is a daily struggle. My nature,
of course, pulls me this way and that.
Only by keeping my eyes straight ahead (on Jesus and His teachings) can
I avoid daily pitfalls that plant naughty little seeds in my heart. It's when those naughty seeds start to sprout
that the trouble begins.
There is a way to know when we're in
trouble - when we need to hit our knees and cry out to God in prayer for
help. That's when we're walking around
looking and acting like this:
...but God sees that our hearts look
like this:
That's when we begin to do things
for "show", for the wrong reasons....or when we start to see
ourselves as "better" than others....or when we become deceptive in
any way. That's what turns our witness
into hypocrisy.
I'm talking about pretending to be
"good" but holding onto darkness in our hearts (And we all do it,
friends!). We need to examine our hearts
every day and get onto our knees and pray.
Because only God can change our hearts.
Use the Word of God to help guide your prayer.
King David was a man after God's own
heart, but does that mean he was perfect?
Heavens no! He had some of the
darkest moments and steepest backsliding of anyone in the Bible: MURDER, DECEPTION,
MISUSE OF POWER, LUST, ADULTERY.
What makes him different than others
who fell? He repented and earnestly
asked God to change and cleanse his heart. He realized "hey, I screwed up! But I love God and He loves me!! Above all else I want His blessing" He wanted to change. Friends, it is never ever too late to change; to ask God to reach us in that place where we need the most help. Jesus is in the business of transforming hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And He is so faithful in answering the prayer of a repentant heart, the one who calls out "Help!"
I'd like to close by praying Psalm
51 with you. David wrote this in one of
his darkest moments. As I pray, let the
words wash over you in a new way, and sink into your heart. Know that the Love and Mercy of Jesus lives
in you and renews your heart.
Psalm 51
Prayer for Cleansing and
Pardon
Have
mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Well....That's what I have for the folks at Middleton. Your comments are welcome as we learn and grow together. The service starts at 11:30 if you would like to join us :)
Have a great evening friends!
PS Sorry about the formatting errors....I'm still learning :)
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