“Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.” But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” “Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me.” So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?” “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too. When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.” Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.” “Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.” So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.” So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.”
1 Samuel 16:1-13 NLT
God chose a man to be king by the heart he had. However, he only did this after first allowing Israel to make a choice that didn’t work. This is a truism of how God works. Contrary to the popular edict that one shouldn’t point out wrongdoings by “kicking a dead horse,” or “saying I told you so,” here we see God doing the opposite. We see a bit of mercy in his treatment of Samuel’s sadness over Saul’s rejection, but then he is told to “get over it,” and “move on with his life.” In the previous chapter, we see that God too was sad about Saul, and yet, we see a strength of that sadness here. God allows these circumstances to create a contrast for the foolish. He aims to use them as object lessons by which he can call back to foolish consequences when new choices arrive. This time is no different. And now that the choice of beauty and vanity had proven ill-advised, God would give them another lesson. Leadership is built on humbleness and can be found in the least likely places and is a quality of one’s hidden self. Thusly, this passage also touches on another adage, which is “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Gods understanding is too clever to be defined by men. It can be intuited by quality, but not those observed with the eye.
God’s Choice of King: God chose a king based on the content of their heart, not outward appearance.
God’s Teaching Method: God allows people to make mistakes and then uses those mistakes as lessons for the future.
True Leadership: Leadership is about humility and inner qualities, not outward appearance or social status.
JOSH McGARY.COM 