The first “experiment” with a king was a failure. Saul was weak and was unwilling to allow the
Lord to lead him. He was insecure and seemed not to be a man of God at
all. Samuel surely hoped that if they
had rejected the Lord as their king that Saul would be obedient to the Lord and
he failed utterly in the case of the Amalekites. The Lord rouses Samuel to action to anoint
the next king, one of Jesse’s sons.
Samuel is hesitant to go for he fears Saul’s reaction to such a mission. David is the one who stands head and
shoulders smaller than his brothers. David
doesn’t look like a king and he isn’t yet ready for the job but he is the one
chosen by the Lord. It will require some
shaping but David will be the best king they ever had because he knew that he
was serving for the Lord.
“What sort of man is this that even the wind and sea obey
him?” Good question. The voice of Jesus commanded as the voice of
God (see Psalm 29) and the natural order obeyed His voice just as it had at
creation. As always, the only created
things that fail to obey are us. The
scribe and the other who offer to follow are easily dissuaded by telling them
it isn’t easy or pleasant to follow Him.
David’s life is a testimony to the difficulty of even being the anointed
of God, he spent many years on the run from Saul, living in caves and serving
as mercenary soldier of the enemies of Israel.
The cost, however, is worth it in the end as the joys of eternal life
outweigh the momentary afflictions of this life. Why are you following Him, for the easy life
or something else?
Paul was a man who counted the cost of following and
anointing. The Lord told Ananias of
Paul, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of
my name.” See 2 Corinthians 11.16-29 for a recounting of Paul’s
sufferings for the sake of the Name of the Lord. In spite of all that suffering that lay ahead
of him, Paul said yes to God’s call and anointing. His particular anointing was to preach the
Gospel to the Gentiles and that mean he would be ostracized from his own people
as Jesus was. Still, Paul said yes to
God and to His mission and he persevered through all the struggle and suffering
he endured. For the testimony of Jesus
Paul was willing to undergo anything because He knew the glory to come. He was a man of true faith, a man after God’s
own heart, just like David.
O quickly come, true
Life of all;
for death is mighty
all around;
on every home his
shadows fall,
on every heart his
mark is found.
O quickly come, for
grief and pain
can never cloud thy
glorious reign.
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