“PERFORMANCE OR HEART?”
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Lesson for July 16-17, 2016
Scott Susong
INTRODUCTION
It has been said that winning is not everything, it is the only thing. To the world, winning in
life is based largely on appearances: a happy face, positive attitude, quality clothes, and
beauty with all of the trappings. If all or most of these things line up, then the person is
considered a “winner.” If not, then he is dumped on the scrap heap labeled “loser.” This has
been the world’s way of thinking for centuries.
But, don’t we tend to adopt this same attitude as Christians? Take the qualities mentioned
above, put that individual in a good Bible believing church and we assume that he is a winner
of a Christian as well. The account of God’s choosing and anointing David demonstrates the
stark contrast between how men see other men and how God sees them.
BIBLICAL/HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In the broad sweep of the book of 1 Samuel, Chapter 16 marks the beginning of the decline of
Saul and the rise of David to prominence in Israel. Our passage for today follows Saul’s
failure as king of Israel. Humanly speaking, Saul had it all: good looks, tall, etc. He looked
impressive, but he failed as a spiritual leader. Remember, the king of Israel was to be a
spiritual leader as well as a political and military leader. The spiritual dimension is where
Saul failed, and this is why the Lord rejected him as king. In 1 Samuel 15:23, Samuel tells Saul
that God has rejected him as king. Earlier, in 1 Samuel 13:13-14, God said that He sought for
Himself “…a man after His own heart” to replace Saul. That man was David.
I.
SAMUEL: GET OVER IT!, 16:1-3
Samuel was grieving over the failure of Saul to the point that God rebuked him. He asked
Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over
Israel?” God had rejected Saul, it is over and done with, and Samuel needs to move on.
APPLICATION: Sometimes, we can hang on to a person, program or project long after God
has rejected it. We need to remember Who is in charge and to Whom we belong. Even
someone as godly as Samuel got stuck in the past which caused God to rebuke him and to
direct him to move on.
God directed Samuel to go to the family of Jesse because God had selected a king for Himself.
Notice Who is in control…
• God rejected Saul.
• God directed Samuel to fill his horn with oil, to go and to anoint the next king.
• God had already selected a king for Himself.
•
God tells Samuel where to find His choice for king.
Samuel was worried about Saul’s reaction – in fact, he was concerned that Saul would kill
him. God had that covered, too. He was to say that he had come to sacrifice to the Lord and
in the process, he was to anoint the one whom the Lord would show him.
Question: Was God asking Samuel to lie? No, there would be a sacrifice, but Saul was not to
be told of the anointing of David for three reasons: (1) To protect David and his family from
Saul. (2) To give David time to mature and (3) To protect Samuel from Saul.
Eugene Merrill states, “God did not tell Samuel to be deceptive, but rather to combine the
anointing with the business of sacrificing.”[Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament,
page 448]
II.
THE SELECTION PRINCIPLE, 16:4-7
Samuel “…did what the Lord said…”(v. 4). The first son of Jesse, who Samuel sees is Eliab,
and he jumps to the conclusion that this must be the Lord’s choice for king. The Lord’s
instruction in verse 7 tells us that, once again, Samuel made the same mistake that he and
the Israelites had made with Saul: looking at outward appearances only.
Verse 7 - The key principle: Man looks at the outward, but God looks at the heart. The
criteria: reality vs. appearance. The reality is what a man is inwardly. The heart is the inner
man – the mind, affections and the will [Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament,
page 523]
Psalm 44:21 says, “Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.”
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of
life.”
Proverbs 16:2 says, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the
motives.” The heart of a man includes his motives.
APPLICATION: How many political candidates have been elected based solely on their looks
or their articulate speech? Many candidates are fluent in saying nothing of any significance,
but they sound good and look good on camera. The same is true for our culture in general –
we admire beauty or popularity with no substance. In fact, some celebrities are famous for
being famous! This same attitude can and does affect the church regarding church
leadership. The Scripture is clear as to the qualifications for elder and deacon(1 Timothy 3
and Titus 1) and none of those criteria have anything to do with outward appearance.
Now, let’s be careful not to go to the other extreme. God is NOT saying that He always
chooses ugly people to be His instruments. Later in this passage, we find out that not only
did David have a heart for God but he was also handsome (v. 12).
The Lord uses the attractive and the gifted. He also uses the unattractive and the simple. The
key is the heart. Consider these examples:
•
•
•
•
III.
The Prophet Amos: He said of himself that he was neither a prophet nor the son of a
prophet; he was a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.(Amos 7:14) He did not
have the pedigree, humanly speaking, of being a prophet but the Lord called him to
prophesy.
The Apostle Peter: a simple fisherman who became a leader in the first-century
church and wrote two books of the NT.
The Apostle Philip: ordinary in every way, but he became Philip, the evangelist – see
Acts 8.
Highly gifted individuals: Daniel, Moses, The Apostle Paul and David.
THE SELECTION PROCESS, 16:8-12
Verses 8-10 - Samuel and Jesse ran through all of Jesse’s sons and all were rejected except the
youngest. Who was he and where was he? Why was he not with the other sons?
Verses 11-12 – It was David, and he was tending sheep! Tending the flock was David’s
training ground and proving ground. He was proving himself in humble submission to a lowly
calling. He was demonstrating faithful service in a menial task. David was not yet ready to be
king of Israel. Moses had served as a shepherd for forty years before his rise to leadership as
Israel’s deliverer. Moses and David attended the same school: “Desert Theological
Seminary”!
The point is preparation involving faithfulness and submission. Jesus said, “He who is faithful
in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is
unrighteous also in much.” (Luke 16:10)
Verse 12 tells us that David’s appearance was “ruddy”(NASB). This means that he had red
hair which was a distinctive sign of beauty in the ancient near east. So, David was handsome,
but that was incidental to the fact that he was God’s choice and that God had his heart. He
was a success not because of his appearance but because of his heart.
God instructed Samuel to anoint David.
IV.
THE ANOINTING OF DAVID, 16:13
The oil of anointing was a symbol of the Holy Spirit coming upon David giving him
supernatural ability to serve as king. It meant being set apart, consecrated for God’s service.
The king of Israel was to be a spiritual leader. Other examples in the OT involved the Spirit
coming on various leaders: Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. To avoid confusion, this
is not the same as in the NT in which the Holy Spirit indwells someone at their conversion.
David was not “getting saved” here. He was already a believer and was receiving a special
anointing of the Holy Spirit to serve as king. Consequently, in the OT, the Spirit could be
taken from a man. David knew this. In fact, in confessing his sin with Bathsheba, he poured
his heart out to the Lord in Psalm 51:11b saying, “do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.”
Verse 13 also says that “from that day forward” David was empowered by the Spirit even
before he formally took office as the king.
Saul had failed as a spiritual leader, and we are told in 1 Samuel 16:14 that the Spirit
departed from Saul.
APPLICATION PRINCIPLES
1. The principle of forgetting the past and moving on. Samuel had indulged himself in
too much personal grief over Saul’s failure. The same can happen to us in our
Christian walk. We can get stuck in the past and long for “the good old days.”
Philippians 3:13-14 says, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;
but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.”(NASB)
2. The principle of performance vs. heart. Saul had done some good things, even some
“religious” things but his heart did not belong to the Lord. He disobeyed the Lord and
was rejected by the Lord. The Lord does not want or need your money, your church
attendance or anything else in the way of religious performance. He wants you; all of
you all the time!
3. The principle of waiting. Even though David was anointed by Samuel and the Holy
Spirit came upon him mightily, he did not officially and publically become king. Saul
was still king, and David went back to shepherding. God had his heart; he was God’s
man, but he still needed to mature and develop. It would all happen in God’s perfect
timing. Waiting is one of God’s ways to grow our faith, to nurture us and to mature
us.
Keep on trusting and obeying Him – the results in your life just might shock you!