We're starting a new series in the book of 1st Samuel, Life of David. I'm excited to get into this one. I have loved the study of it so far and I'm really looking forward to what the next 13 weeks are going to bring for us in this lesson series and we're looking at David and I just, David is a character that has always seemed, he's always captivated me. And you know, he's in the Bible quite a bit when you look at it. Now, I didn't realize this initially when I went into this study. I mean, I think everyone who reads their Bible knows David's in there a lot. I think we all recognize that. But how much is he in there? Well, David, you know, David is mentioned 1,127 times in the Bible. That's a lot. Now, for comparison, you know, we talk about Paul all the time. Paul is a New Testament, what we would consider to be a church planner, a world mover. just on fire for the gospel. And he's so ingrained in our, you know, in the Bible and in our history, you know, when you go up the trail of blood all the way back to the book, The Church in Acts, where we place our lineage as Baptists, one of the titles for one of those sects of our doctrine were the Paulicians. That is how ingrained Paul is in what the Bible is teaching. And Paul himself was only mentioned 163 times. by comparison there. David is given 54 chapters in the Bible. That's not including Psalms, because his pastor knows better than anybody there are no chapters in Psalms. But there is... But he, David, is a major Bible character. Now clearly, him being in here as much as he is, God wants us to learn of this man. So I find it highly valuable that we take time to do that in a class setting where we could slow down, look at some of the history. We're going to have applications, but it's less application-oriented, more learning-oriented. I think anything you learn that you can't apply to your life is, for what we're doing here, I think it's meaningless. So of course, we're going to apply this to your lives. I want to do that. But there's more teaching in these than maybe you would get in a particular sermon. looking at his life. Now first, before we look at David specifically in his entrance, he comes into play in 1st Samuel chapter 16. I'm starting us out in 1st Samuel chapter 7 for a reason. I want to lay some groundwork and I want to get back a little bit and see the context in which David is introduced into. Okay, now this lesson in particular and more than likely others as they come along, very long introduction, okay, because that's where the history and the actual teaching of the context is. A very small transition into what this means for us and then the end part of the lesson is going to be how do we apply this to our lives, okay. So that's the framework here so that you know where we're going and how we're getting there. but let's lay some groundwork here. So first, before we talk about David, we have to talk about Saul. Before we talk about Saul, we have to talk about Samuel. Before we talk about Samuel, we have to talk about Hannah. Hannah is in chapter 1 of 1 Samuel. Now, we won't turn there for sake of time, but Hannah is the mother of a very prominent Bible character by the name of Samuel. We see in 1 Samuel chapter 1, verses 21 to 28, you remember that She, Lord if you give me a child, I will dedicate this child to the Lord. I think we all know that account in 1 Samuel. That child was Samuel. Okay, so Samuel from the time he was previous to the time he was even born, he was dedicated to the Lord. He had an entire life of living for the Lord. Now Samuel, when we look at him, he was the judge of Israel. He was the son of Hannah. And he was a very prominent Bible figure. Go with me to 1 Samuel, chapter 7. 1 Samuel, chapter 7. Or 1 Samuel, chapter 7, verse 15. 1 Samuel, chapter 7, verse 15. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life, and he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. Israel during the time of Samuel was a nation run by the Lord through Samuel the prophet, and that was his predominant role. He was a prophet. He was somebody who God spoke to directly in the Old Testament. Samuel, we will see here, he set his sons to be judges over the land, but his sons, unfortunately, were not like Samuel. They were not honest. They were not just. And as a result, the people wanted a king like the other nations had had. Go with me now to chapter 8, verse 1, right under where we just read. And it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second I'm sorry, the name of his second, Abiyah, there were judges in Beersheba and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre money and took bribes and a perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him, Behold, thou art old. Nice thing to say. And thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us. like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel. And they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. So we see there that his sons don't walk in his ways. They don't do the things that he taught them to do. They don't live the way that he taught them to live. And as a result, they were judges. And the people saw the perversion of judgment. They saw all these things. And they wanted him They wanted them out and they wanted a king like every other nation had. Which is usually the pattern of people who are searching for the world when it's already in their heart. If the man of God fails, their default is to do what the world's doing. Because the man of God failed. Well, that's in the heart of a carnal person to think that way and that's no different with the Israelites here. Now, we see here that Samuel warned them of the dangers but they doubled down. You go to verses 19 through 22. In chapter 8, it reads this way. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice. and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city. So at this point we see we go from what is essentially a theocracy where God through Samuel is running things to now we see that God through a king just like every other nation is going to run things. Who is this king? Well, enter a character by the name of Saul. Go with me now to 1 Samuel chapter 9. Again, this is all laying groundwork and building context to introduce David. You need to know this first. 1 Samuel chapter 9, verse 1. Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Ebil, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekroth, the son of Epitheth, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he from his shoulders and upward. He was higher than any of the people." So we now introduce this character named Saul. Now Saul, he was choice, meaning that if you had a lineup of people that you could choose, you would choose Saul. He was impressive. He was the people's choice. And he had a lot going for him. He had all the capabilities, the stature, and all these things that could make a great and impressive looking king, but his heart was not with the Lord. And we see here, time goes on, Saul the normal patterns take place. He jumps into, you know, he's appointed king, he is king for a time, he does some good things for the Lord here and there, but ultimately we see that he is not for the Lord. And the last straw of this, really the proof of this that we see was when he rebelled against the Lord's specific commands here. Go with me now to 1 Samuel chapter 15. verse 7. And Saul smote the Amalekites from Heveliah until thou comest to Sir that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place and has gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal. So what we see here, I'll give you some background into that. So essentially what happens is that God tells Samuel to tell Saul, go to the Amalekites, destroy everything, leave nothing. And Saul hears that and decides, you know, we're going to do that, but we're going to save the king and we're going to take all their best sheep for us. Now, is that obeying the Lord? That is in no way obeying the Lord. And we see here that angered the Lord so much that he decided to take away Saul's kingship from him. Now, not immediately, but eventually. The hand of blessing was now taken off Saul. He was not a man after God's heart. Chapter 15, verse 19, reads this way. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep, and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal." Okay, so then you see in verse 21, he's starting to make some excuses for himself. In verse 22, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And we see because of his stubbornness, because of his rebellion against the Lord, which, by the way, small rebellion is still rebellion. When you rebel against the Lord in a small thing, it's no different than if you rebel against him in a big thing. Because if you're rebelling against him in a small thing, you will rebel against him in a big thing. It's just a matter of your character. And we see here that that's exactly what Saul did. Well, okay, at this stage of things, Let's review. So Samuel is running things, well the Lord's running it through Samuel, and he's serving the Lord and he's pleased in his work and all of these things, and then he tries to set his sons as judges. Okay, so at this point his sons fail. That's very stressful and deeply concerning for Samuel. And then the people cry to him and say, hey, you're old and your sons fail. That's super encouraging. We need a king. So hey, you're old. Hey, your sons are failing. Hey, we want to do things in a way that God does not want, but we want. Another deeply concerning thing happening in Samuel's life. Then they appoint the king, Saul, The choice person, the one that, get this, the one that the people wanted, not the one that God wanted, the one that people wanted. And then he even failed. And he had his kingship removed from him. And Saul had to be the guy to tell him. Or not Saul, Samuel had to be the guy to tell Saul. And then Samuel had to, you read on, Samuel had to kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Bad day for Samuel. He had to finish up what Saul wasn't even willing to do. So at this point in things, Samuel is troubled and he's discouraged because he's seeing all of these things go wrong, at least in his mind that they're not going the way that they should go. We went from this theocracy to where God is in charge and he's using me and I don't care if he uses me but I want God to be in charge of this and I want things done right. So now it's like we're two bad judges and a bad king later and it's like well now we have no leadership at all. What are we supposed to do? All of this is backdrop and context into the situation David is entering. Now let's focus now on David. Go with me to 1st Samuel chapter 16 please. 1 Samuel chapter 16. And this is where David enters the picture. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take and heifer with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. Jump down to verse six. And it came to pass when they were come that they looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him, one of Jesse's sons. Verse 7, But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Now go with me down to verse 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, which means reddish, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. God told Samuel to go to the house of Jesse. There he would find the new king. He seized the choicest of Jesse's sons, but God refused them. We see this in verses 6 and 7. Then the smallest one, The insignificant one, David, the one that was so insignificant that Jesse had not even prepared for him to be in the lineup. He is the one that God picked. Now Samuel is elated and he takes the horn of oil that God says and he anoints David, he pours it over his head as the heir apparent of the king of Israel. And that's David, small little shepherd boy. who, when Jesse lined up his sons to which one of these are gonna be king, God goes over to the shepherd, or God goes over to the field to the least impressive one and goes, I want that one. So that's the context, that's the introduction of David into the Bible here. I think we've got a pretty strong foundation laid at this point. And that is how David is introduced. And that has all been very academic and reminding you of some things and touching up some details. And that's all very good, but that does not much for us if we can't apply this to our lives. So what are we supposed to learn from this? What is it for us? What are we learning? Well, here's my proposition. Thinking about Samuel here for a minute, considering all the things up to this point that he went through, the struggles, the pain, the confusion, the uncertainty of leadership. Think about all of that. When things do not go the way that we expect, the way we plan, or the way we desire, we need to remember that God is in control of things. That's the point. Samuel had a lot at this point that he was fretting about. But you know, God shows us through this account three things about himself in the situation that reminds us that we can trust him. And I'd like to look at those for just a few moments here. Let's look at the first reason that we can trust the Lord. What is the first reason we can trust the Lord? Well, number one, and I've already alluded to this, but do you know the Lord is in control? He's in control of things. He's got it. We won't read this right away, but Philippians chapter four. Go turn there. God is in control. You know, when I was in school, I had, I was a music person then as I am now, and I remember I had a band director and I had a choir director, okay? Now, my band director, he was the one that I worked more with. He was much closer to my own age. He actually, he went to Midview. He and I went to school together, or not school together, we went to the same school. I graduated different years, obviously, but we knew each other. We were very friendly with each other, and you know, He was not quite as organized or as driven as maybe I would have preferred him to be. And he didn't quite have a grasp on things the way that I wanted him to. And you know what I found myself, I'd be sitting in his rehearsals, and I'd be sitting there, and you know, the clock was behind us. I found myself turning back and looking at the clock all the time. Not because I wanted to leave, but because I didn't trust him that he was going to get us out on time, because he wasn't really in it. Okay, I had a choir director, and this is one of my wife's favorite people on the planet because this woman, she was driven, she was just on it, she had everything just perfect, she was stern with the kids, and she was exacting. Now, she loved us, but she expected very high quality and did not relent on it. Okay she was now I found myself when I'm sitting in her rehearsals I'm not looking at the clock one single time. You know why? Because I trusted her. Because I knew like look Mrs. Manning she's got it. She's going to run this thing and it's going to be just fine. I don't even care what the clock says. Look if the principal comes in here right now If they start scrapping, I'm on her side because I think she's going to win. Like that's who this woman was and is. And she's one of my favorite educators to this day. But what's the point in that illustration is that I trusted this. I'm not looking at the clock. I'm not worrying about what's going on. She knows what's going on. I trust her. This one, not so much. But this one, I certainly did. Because I understood she was in control. She got it. She had her hands on the reins. She knew exactly what she wanted to do. She knew exactly where she was going and exactly how she wanted to get there. And all my anxiety, the strain of the rehearsals was harder in that situation, but I had no anxiety about where we were going or her ability to get us there. I had a lot of that over here. And do you know the Lord, just like this choir director on this side, the Lord is in control of things. How much better than that? They're in control. You don't have to worry. Go with me to Philippians chapter 4, verse 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now, Samuel had reason to believe that the kingdom was out of control. His own sons rebelled. The people rebelled. The king rebelled. Does anyone want to take this thing seriously? Has anyone found themselves asking themselves that question? I have. Does anyone want to take this thing seriously? But God knew that David would. He knew he would. God knew it. And he chose David to lead. Why? Because he's got it. He's in control. We need to be careful for nothing. And we need to approach God being careful for nothing, knowing, just like in this rehearsal here, look, we're going through the rigor of this process called life. Why do you want to go through that not trusting him when he's worthy of being trusted? He's in control. He's got it. Everything that passes to you passes through His hand. He's not going to let something come to you that He didn't want to come to you, or that He doesn't at least permit to come to you. He's going to let things happen. And you have to be willing to be patient and let things play out. Look, what if Samuel quit on the Lord? What if he pulled a Jonah and just said, you know what, Lord, I'm not doing this anymore. My sons, I spent my whole life serving you and my sons are running off, running amok, embarrassing me. And then these people come in, they call me old and they say that I need to replace them with a king and Lord, I'm done with you. And then the king that they find that Samuel has to work with very intimately and communicate with ends up failing. And then he could look at the Lord and say, Lord, I'm done with you. He doesn't do any of that. You know what he does? He just keeps trusting. And he just keeps putting one foot in front of the other. God is in control. The Lord is in control. And not only is he always in control, get this, here's the second thing that I see. The Lord is always working. He is always working. And He's not just working in your life, He's working in other people's lives around you. You know, God wanted to pour the oil on David's head a lot longer, much before David knew that that was going to happen. Before David knew, Samuel knew. And before Samuel knew, do you know who knew? The Lord. Because he had already said way back here, when Saul failed, hey, listen, Samuel, I've prepared myself a king. Go to the house of Jesse, he's there. And he's working in Samuel's life, taking Samuel to that place. He's working in Jesse's life, preparing his son. so that he can work in David's life to pour the oil over his head and anoint him to be king. He was not just working in David's life. Now, think of your David here for a second. Now, if you're David, if God knew that David had a heart for him already, then when Samuel, big name, big deal kind of a person, comes and says, hey, I'm gonna find a king out of these people, don't you think that there'd be a mixing of humility and hopefulness in David? Ooh, I love the Lord. Maybe he'll use me. And then you wake up that morning, and I don't know, I'm supposing here, but you get excited. Maybe God will work in my life. Maybe he'll use me to do great things. I don't know. And then Jesse goes, okay, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, let's line you up over here. Hey, David, while we're finding our king, why don't you go out and tend to the sheep? That could be a discouragement to David. But you know, when he's out there tending to those sheep, it doesn't have any account of him murmuring, or backbiting, or thoughts of quitting, or thoughts of running out on God. No, he just was tending to the sheep, and then what ends up happening is he gets called to the front of the line, and he's the one with the oil poured on him, and he's the one that's going to become the king. But before he worked there, he worked in Jesse. Before he worked in Jesse, he worked in Samuel. He's working in other areas of your life that you have no idea about and you have to learn to be patient and recognize God is always at work. That's why prayer is so important. That's why trust is so important. You have to trust that God is always working on behalf of what is good and right. It's us that needs to change our view of what good and what right is to line up with his word. He is always working. Number three, we see the Lord is in control. We see the Lord is always working. Number three, we see the Lord uses people others will overlook. In 1 Samuel, chapter 16, verses 6 and 7, I'll remind you, it says, And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Saul was choice, he was impressive, he was intelligent, he was athletic, he was strong, and God rejected him. The same thing for Jesse's son here. God rejected him. David was ruddy, he was reddish, he was small, he was unimpressive. Now, he said he had a beautiful countenance. I guess he was a pretty man, I suppose, but that's what it says there. But he was not generally the impressive one in the bunch. He was not the choice one based on human patterns of decision. But he was put to the front of the lineup. Now, why? Because God chose the one who chose him. He looks on the heart. And get this, he uses base people to do great things. Go with me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. First Corinthians 1 verse 26, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Lord uses people that others overlook. The Bible teaches that His strength is made perfect in weakness. He uses the basest of people to accomplish the greatest of things because that is the best way for Him to get glory, which is the whole point anyway. How does it give God any glory if Saul, the choicest of people, goes out there and absolutely kills it at being king? That's what he was supposed to do. You say, well, what about Solomon? Solomon was the wisest person in the world. You know why Solomon was the wisest person in the world? Because God gave him a choice of what to have and he chose wisdom because he knew he needed what God had to do what God needed him to do. He uses people, others overlooked. And you know, maybe you're a person that in other categories of your life, you are overlooked. But friend, let me tell you something, and it's straight from the word of God here, that if you would sacrifice, if you would give your heart to the Lord, if you would choose Him, He will choose you for a work to do. He will. David was a shepherd boy thousands of years ago who was insignificant, but God saw that he had the heart for him, so God made him the king. There's 54 chapters, some 1,000 verses later, and most of the Psalms, and we see one of the most significant characters in the Bible. in my opinion, one of the best characters of leadership in the Bible from this little, ruddy teenager who could not have amounted to much in his own strength. But God wanted to use him. And God wants to use you. But he wants you to choose him so that he can choose you. Saul chose himself. God gave him exactly what he wanted. You have you. If you don't want me, you can have you. That's fine. I want somebody who wants me. And that's what God said and that's what he saw in David. If he sees it in you, he'll give you work to do too. You don't have to be impressive. You don't have to be somebody that people view as important. You just have to be willing to serve the Lord and he will use you. He uses people that others overlook. So by way of conclusion, Here's the whole thing wrapped up in a nutshell. When things do not go the way that we expect, plan, or desire, we need to remember that God is in control. Now Samuel had a lot he could fret about, you remember. His sons, the people, failed king. But God was working. God was in control. God was constantly at work. God found David in the field to accomplish what only God can. And we can trust him to work in our lives as well. I can't.