David is Chosen in Saul's Place (1 Samuel 16,17)

For Starters...

We all must do a lot of choosing. Life forces us to make choices. We must choose our friends. We must choose who will be good for us and who will not be good for us. We must t choose leaders too --- those we will want to lead us, guide us, help us, and inspire us. But how do we make the right choice? All we have to go on is what we see.

God on the other hand, goes for the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). He can see it and judge it correctly. He knows. We don't. God needs to be in on our decisions of choice. We need to trust Him. Whether it's choosing the right king for Israel, or the right armor to do battle with, or the kind of people you will want to e around you --- go with God. Listen to Him. He sees better!

What's the Story?

Samuel is instructed to quit mourning for Saul's failures and go to Bethlehem to anoint a new king. He is to go to the house of Jesse who has seven sons. Samuel's choice is Jesse's first born son, Eliab, but God chooses the son that is not there, the youngest son that is out tending sheep, David. David is anointed king and the Spirit of God comes upon him.

The Spirit of God has left Saul and an evil one replaces it, tormenting him endlessly. His advisers suggest m;u;sic to soothe him so they go and find a musician -- David, son of Jesse. David is enlisted in the service of the king to play the harp.

At a later time, when Israel is at war with the Philistines, David is sent by his father to Israel's camp to check on his brothers. There he gets a firsthand look at Israel's enemy. Goliath, a giant of a man, taunts Israel's army and challenges any one of them to a duel. David, seeing no one stepping forward to return the challenge, with a tremendous amount of youthful courage, innocence, and trust in his God, accepts the challenge himself. The duel doesn't last long. Goliath dies. David lives. The army of Israel route the Philistines in a great victory.

Just the Facts...

* is the youngest son of Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah.
* David is anointed secretly by Samuel as king of Israel.
* David is enlisted in the king's service to play the harp for him.
* David defeats Goliath, the champion of the Philistines.
* David's weapons are a slingshot, five smooth stones, and the power of the God of Israel.

So What?

* Is everybody as "bad as they look on the outside? Is everybody as "good" as they look on the outside? Be careful of the choices we make --- especially concerning other people. We can only see the outside. God can see the heart of a person. He sees better than we do. Ask Him for help in seeing beyond our sight. Wait for the Lord as He answers you. Trust in God's choices.
* Do you think that David thought that he would ever become king as he watched the flocks of his father? Have you ever felt hopeless about your position as a child or teen--that things will never change, will never get better? What did difference did a few years make to David? Don't judge the rest of your life by where you are at now, as a teenager. Who would have thought that the young shepherd-boy David would be king over Israel? Who would have thought that the "anointed of God" would be playing the harp for the ex-king of Israel? And who would have guessed that a small, puny, young lad could defeat a 9-foot giant of a man with rocks and a slingshot? cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29