1 Samuel 16:1 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul,
seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel
Our second sermon out of the ten week series “God
of the Underdogs” was the final sermon preached by Pastor JJ at our church. I
pray that you are blessed by my notes and thoughts that I wrote down.
God is doing something big in this world. We are
conditioned to think that we need a Super Bowl sports star type to tackle life
situations and think that if we only had one more of them, then we’d be
alright. Why? Because we think that we are not qualified for the job and take
ourselves out of the game. The Israelites wanted a king that they could touch,
see and hear (like other kingdoms and other countries had), even though they
had the ultimate King of kings in Almighty God in Heaven. They asked God for an
earthly king of their own. A king under God’s authority and direction, but
human kings lose sight of God sovereignty above them, and lost the reality that
God wanted to do something big in this world now. Not only kings, but everybody
needs to get over themselves to get onboard with what the Lord is among His
people. It is by Devine appointment that God wants to do something new in our
lives. But thinking that we are not qualified for God’s bigger story, we start
trying to write our own. We are right that we are not qualified; nobody is, but
we are not disqualified by God, because God uses “underdogs.
1
Samuel 16:10-11a Thus Jesse made seven
of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not
chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?”
Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the
sheep.”
When we are open to God’s plans and open the door
to Him, He’ll make things new in our lives. But, we are fearful of God’s new
ways, because we do not know that way. Doubt creeps in and we do not think that
we can do it, so we make excuses why not to and request that He send someone
else. Excuses like, “You can’t use me because of my past, because of my weaknesses,
or because others tell me that I don’t have what it takes.” Do you hear their
voices or God’s? There will always be someone there to try to trip us up; someone
with every excuse against us, to keep us down, but who does not see our
potential. But that is not God’s dream for us; His plan different from our
plans, on a different path. Have we limited God to follow our safe and
comfortable planned-out life? Do we see that we serve a God of the impossible?
Is our reality different than we thought it would go? The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. No matter how carefully a project is planned by us, something may still go wrong with it, but God takes “underdogs” to
accomplish His purposes on earth.
1
Samuel 16:11b-12 And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and
bring him. For we will not sit down till he
comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with
bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”
But God believes in us and
wants us. God is saying that in our life, but are we listening? He sent His son
to hang on a Cross to remove all the excuses and dream dreams as big as we can
imagine. God always chooses the “underdogs” to change the world in our little
sphere of our influence. Almighty God is on our side, and because of that we can
be not qualified, but not disqualified. I know an All-powerful God that can
teach you, that can train you, that can change you and your world. No Super
Bowl superstars needed; He calls us. God has placed you and me here and now for
His purposes. Respect the Lord. Be faithful and obedient to what God calls us
to do. Take on the giants, like David did in the very next chapter, and be a
part of what God is up to.
In Christ, Brian
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