RTW 2023

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (NIV)

1 Samuel 16:7

Saul was more concerned about his own honor before people than honoring God in His calling and purpose.

Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”  (NIV)
1 Samuel 15:30

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• When God calls us, anoints us to do something, not everyone will understand. Keep walking in the path He has called you to walk! Jesus is WITH you.
• David walked in humble confidence: humble because he did not try to prove himself in human terms, confident because he walked in the strength of God.
• Sometimes God communicated within the language of the Israelite’s culture, meeting people in ways they culturally understood. Other times, God turns cultural norms on their head because he is revealing His heart in a new way that He wants people to understand. God may work within culture, but He makes it clear He is not bound by it.
• In ancient patriarchal culture, the double portion inheritance for the first born was meant to help the first born take care of the family when the patriarch passed on.
• David was faithful in the daily life of caring for sheep.
• David gained strength in the stillness and aloneness with God.
• Eliab was resentful of David’s courage.
• Samuel was super courageous – he risked death when he went to anoint another king!

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Rise and be anointed! Have courage for your calling. Be faithful in the big things, little things, the times of loneliness, the times of stillness…Jesus cares about your heart.

Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 1 Samuel 16:12b (NIV)

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