Feeling Overlooked? Discover How God Sees Your Worth: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Show Notes

Episode 503: 
In this episode, we explore 1 Samuel 16:1-13, where we witness the pivotal moment when David is chosen by God to be the next king of Israel. We discuss the significance of God looking at the heart rather than outward appearances, emphasizing the importance of faith and maturity in one's character. We draw parallels between David being overlooked by his own family and how many of us may feel unseen or undervalued at times.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. I'm Chris and I am Wesley. Back again. You can't get rid of. Me, No, you cannot, and we are glad to have you. Wesley. Yeah, it's been really fun actually having you know, just get and spend time with you, and you know, through these goofy little segments, I get to know you a little bit more. Yes, Jeff is out of town, so Wesley is a part of our church that we both work at. That Jeff and I both work out in case you're listening out of state or out of country. But this next segment's actually gonna help me get to know you even better because Desiree has put together a segment for you and. Me called two Truths in a Lie. Awesome. We're all familiar with this game. Yes, you have to tell me three things. Two of them are going to be true. One's going to be a lie. Now listen, My only caveat is don't tell a story and then be like, oh, I was going eighty miles an hour and then say Oh that was a lie. I was only going seventy nine miles yea. Yeah, so it's gonna be a lie. It's gonna be a full lie. Yeah. Okay, So all right, so I'm ready. But okay, here we go. Three things. So number one, these are just gonna be short phrases. So I have never traveled north in Michigan, like to the up that thing. That's one. Wait, okay, so you're just meaning only up. So or northern. I'll put it this way. People might consider up north. Yeah, I have never traveled north of Saginaw or something like that. Wow. Okay, so that's one. That is, if that's true, that's gonna be hard to believe. I've never or I have traveled to Montana when I was younger. That's another one. The third one would be I love Southern style deep fried catfish. So those are one is false. Well, there's two traveling stories and then there's a southern catfish story. Okay, holy cow. Which one is the lie? Well, I'll tell you. I'll tell you what you lived in Michigan, I think your whole life, so uh so, in order for you to not have, you know, up north. For those of you who aren't Michigan or is listening to the podcast. I know it sounds crazy to even say north if you live in Michigan, because if you live anywhere else in the United States, they're like, aren't you the most north? But it goes even further north? Well and that, but it's sort of a thing. Michigan is known for its beauty. The land up north, Northern Michigan is the best part of Michigan. Marquette, yes and so, but but who would ever claim that though that is so outlandish that I'm going to say that that's true, as hard as that is to believe. I have to believe that you like catfish, because that is also atlandish. But I've had Southern fried catfish because I lived in Atlanta. For ten years. That's where my wife's from. And I would say, I would say, you have to love that because it's it's it's a it's a weird thing to point out to hate. So I'm going to say, you've never been to Montana. That's the lie. Okay, here it is drum roll. I am allergic to fish, No way, I am allergic. So well, wait a minute, but you didn't say that. You said you love it. Do you love it? But you love it but you're allergic to it? Oh? Maybe I messed that up, but I am alert. So the fact, did I say I love it or you said I love it? Yeah? So I don't love it? Okay, okay. So because when I was young, my mom would fry fish. I would literally have to go in the basement because the rising smoke would irritate my eyes and okay and all that stuff. So yeah, I am a no fish person. Yeah. So so and then. For going up north, I have never been north of probably Midland. That is crazy. I have never in my So here's the thing. We do a fair amount of travel, but whenever we travel, we go out of the state. We don't typically vacation in Michigan. Not normally. We normally going to Georgia, where my wife is from, or going to Florida or. New York about like a little week and away or something. We don't go to freaking Mouth. Maybe you know that's north. Yeah yeah, right, so no, that's the furthest Well, okay, that is technically not correct. My sister went to uh Far Estate, which is in Big Rapids, so technically that's north. And so I don't know where that rinks in terms of Midland how high that is. But Big Rapids is almost north, It's almost up north. Yeah. So I've been to Big Rapids before. Okay, So then I have been to Montana when I was like fifteen fourteen something like that. Okay, yeah, Well, I gotta let you know. I'm going up north to Midland. No, no, no, not to Midland. Actually up north twice wow in the next three weeks. Oh man. Yeah. So I have a wedding and Big Rapids, which is like north of Trevors City, which is like way up here, right, And then I'm also going to, uh, Pataski. So do you need a passport to go to Pataski? Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And I'm going to Pataski, which is pretty much almost right near there, next weekend because we have just this well we're going to visit my mother who's sick, my mother in law who's sick. Then but then at the end of that we're going to to get it get away for a couple of days up north. And I got to tell you, uh, that's some of our favorite places ever in the United States. My wife would say that I think she would probably say her favorite place to get away in the United States is Potoski, Michigan. Yeah, isn't that crazy? Yeah, and you've never been. I have never been. Wow. Yeah, one day I got to make the trek past Midland and show that I'm a true Michigander. Yeah, yeah, I would. I would encourage you to get away just for a weekend. Yeah. Yeah, we've talked about it, like Traverse City and then yeah, I think is it Holland that has the flower festival the Lily's or I don't know what they are, but that's. That's sort of west though. Yeah. Yeah, so that's I mean, that's slightly north, but it's mostly west. Yeah. But I would say I would say the northern cities. You know, what you probably ought to do is do the Tunnel of Trees when. When the leaves change that you have done that before? Are you kidding me? Multiple times? And and we'll probably do it, you know again, even though the leaves aren't changed yet. We'll probably still do the Tunnel of Trees because it's tremendous. Yeah, And everyone says you gotta do Macanal Island. Have you not been right? I've been to mcana Island like five times. So yeah, that's crazy. So that the truth never been north. I've stayed the Grand Hotel twice, oh man, So yeah that's crazy. So all right, well, hey, we are going to jump straight into First Amul chapter sixteen, versus one through thirteen. And this is a very big moment because basically David is chosen by God long before Saul's reign is over right, So King David is recognized by God as the next king, and it's there becomes a jealousy factor that happens because the favor falls off of Saul, a God's favor, God's God's anointing, God's you know, power falls out of Sault because Saul is just too inconsistent. He's just a guy who just is not consistent in his faith, in his faithfulness, and so God chose as somebody else. And this is First Samuel chapter sixteen, verses one through thirteen, New Living Translation, and it says, now the Lord said to Samuel, you have more long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel. So fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there for I've selected one of his sons to be my king. But Samuel asked, how can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me. Take a heifer with you, the Lord replied, and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me verse four. So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. What's wrong, they asked, Do you come in peace? Yes, Samuel reply, I come to sacrifice to the Lord. Curify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to sacrifice too. When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Elliott and thought, surely this is the Lord's anointed. But the Lord said to Samuel, don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart Verse eight. Then Jesse told his son abinadept to step forward and walk in front of Samuel, but Samuel said, this is not the one the Lord has chosen. Next, Jesse summoned Shemiah, but Samuel said, neither is this the one the Lord has chosen. In the same way, all seven of Jesse's sons were presented to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen any of these. Then Samuel asked, are these all the sons you have? There is still the youngest. Jesse replied, but he's out in the fields watching the sheep and the goats. Send for him at once. Samuel said, we will not sit down until he arrives verse twelve. So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes, And the Lord said, this is the one, anoined him verse thirteen. So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to rama. Wow, this is such a great passage of scripture, isn't it. You know, it's first of all, it's rooted in things that God is doing behind the scenes. Now, we did skip a couple of chapters between yesterday's podcasts and this podcast. Yeah, so you know, but. Basically, Saul destroys the Amlachites, he has military successes, but then he takes a foolish oath. Uh. The Lord rejects Saul. They go back and forth, Saul pleads for forgiveness. Uh and then uh, anyway, it just goes back and forth and and uh and ultimately God obviously comes to the conclusion that, uh, you know, Saul has been unfaithful. You know, it was predicted, right, and uh and and and uh they chose somebody who was head and shoulders above everybody else. He was tall, his countenance was tall. And uh and so it's really interesting how you know, it was definitely said that Saul was a military leader and he was famous and uh he knew how to fight. And uh. In this time around, Samuel sees the first son and says, well, this is just like Saul, right, so surely God. Is gonna replace this one. He replace He replaced the tall guy with the tall guy with with the military guy. But you know, but but God says the famous phrase yeah. I mean you've in a ministry a long time. How many times has this verse been used? Yeah? Right, yep, God looks at the heart. Yeah, yeah, that's a popular one, Yeah for sure. Yeah. I want to circle back really quick to verse one. It says, and I love this aspect about God. It says, find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I've selected one of his sons to be my king. Then verse two, but Samuel asks, how can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me. Oftentimes we see this in the Bible, where God will ask us to do something without giving us all the next steps. Yes, he will say, go do this all the time. All the time. God says that. But I think I'm not God, but I have a hypothesis of what God does. That is because if God were to ever break down the full story to us of all the steps in the process, we probably would look at God and say, God, you know what, Nah, I'm good. I wanted the blessing. But now that You've revealed everything, I'm going to go through the people that are going to lie on me, the bad things that are going to happen, all the things en route to the blessing. Nah, I'm good, right, And I'm sure you can. Say that in your own personal life when you look back at the eventual blessing. But what it took to get to the blessing? If God had told you that at square one, you may have said, well, God, I'm not going in the ministry. I'm not doing that. I'm not I would I can stand or actually sit, I'm sitting. I could sit here in front of you, and I could say without a shadow of a doubt in my mind even now, even now, if I had the choice unless God said I absolutely had to, because I believe that God's will is sort of lateral, right, and you know, and I believe that you know, it's not necessarily like you know, I would find another way to preach, right, I'd go on radio, I'm traveling evangelist. I would do something else right as long as I preached. But even now, if I went back to the very beginning, knowing what I know about ministry, and then saying go into ministry, I'm pretty certain I would probably find a way to barter with God and say, God, I'm not going to. Do that, Almost like the prayer Jesus had you know if this cup can pass. Yes, I'm not saying let it pass, but if there's a. Way, if there's any other way to fulfill your will, can it please be that? Because ministry has just kicked me around and beat me up and spit me out, chewed me up. And I'm telling you what. Man, it has been the most brutal, most difficult thing in my life. Now it has been rewarding. It has been fulfilling. There's blessing. It has been incredibly fulfilling. So I know that even my wife probably is listening to this saying, Chris, what are you saying? What are you saying? Right now? I'm not saying I wouldn't do what I feel like God wants me to do. That's not what I'm saying. I would say that I would go to God and say, give me another path to preach your world, give me another way to speak to the masses, give me another way to proclaim you know, and help people, lead people, counsel people, direct people. Like comes with less bumps and bruises. Right, That's that's all I'm saying. Yeah, because I'm saying that I agree with you. Had God said here's what I want you to do and let me tell you exactly what's going to happen. Yeah, I would say, you know what, no, thanks, Yeah, And I. Think that's helpful for us to remember because there are some people I'm gonna call them the checklist people, the calendar people. You like everything in alignment. You want to know all the steps. You want to know how it's going to happen. And if that doesn't happen this way, what's the backup plan of that? We want to know all the ins and outs, and God is just saying do step one. You know what? This reminds me of? Ye remember mister Miyagi. Oh yeah, from the Karate kill For sure, I do. The karate kid wanted to know how to karate chop, backflip, all that stuff, and mister Miyagi said, you're gonna go take this rag. I think it was a rag or a sponge. Yeah, wipe on, wipe wax on. Ye. Why yeah, that's the only thing I want you to focus on. I'm not giving you all the next steps right now. I'm giving you this one thing to do, and once you have done that, well then we'll move to steps. Stand the floor, paint the fence, wax on, wax off. Yeah, that's what it was. And so, yeah, you asked me, do I remember, mister Miagie, I was going to say, do you know who you're talking to? So so, uh, you know, it's a uh, it's it's a it's a great thing to understand. Uh, you know, you said, you know, this reminds me of I was actually thinking of a biblical story, one of my favorite biblical stories that demonstrates this is one of the greatest miracles ever, which is the part of the Red Sea. Because the instruction that God. Gave Moses is, you know, he's getting changed by chariots, by horses. Everybody thinks they're going to die, and God gives instructions to Moses, and here's the instructions. He goes, Okay, God says, I have a plan. Here's what you's gonna do. You're going to run over to the beach, to the to the you know, to the to the side of where the where the water meets the ocean between these two cities. And then the Israelites or the army is going to think that you're you have nowhere to go and that you're trapped. Okay, ready break, Yeah, God doesn't say. Any other word. God doesn't say another word, He doesn't say Okay, and then I'm going to give you an escape. I'm going to part the Red Sea. Moses probably thought to himself, I don't even know where the option is here, right, because God's plan is to run and trap myself. Ready go, break, break any ready? Go? And that's it. But imagine if God did tell him on the front end, I'm going to part the Red Sea. It's going to be like a wall of water on either side. He might have run the opposite direction, right, like, I'm not running in between that, you. Know, right? Or that's too hard to believe? Yeah, like, there's no way that can happen. But but Moses at this point had seen all the plagues. Yeah, and he knew, he knew immediately, right, he was the burning bush guy. So so he actually the turn of Israel said, why have you called us out to the desert to die? You should have left us alone? And then uh, and then Moses, having no idea God's plan, he says, just stand back and watch God deliver us. So so Moses did have didn't have any idea what was going to happen, but he knew he had confidence that God wasn't gonna leave him behind and dry. Well, no pun intended, right, But I got to tell you that is the way that God does everything. He asks us to do something not knowing, God says, hey, give generously, you know, you know, whether it's tithes and offerings, or whether it's to help somebody or or make a donation or whatever it is. God impresses upon us and says, you know, give it your times and your resources and everything else. But he never says why or what for how it's going to be used, right, at least rarely. And then and then then then there are times where He asked us to do something crazy. You know, hey, quit your job and uh, and and start this other thing, this this ministry or this nonprofit or or go to Africa whatever it's going to be. Right. God sometimes calls us to extreme things, big things, you know, and this friendship, in this relationship, and you'd say, but I love her, God, Yeah, but you already know that she's not good for you or he's not good for you, right, and you know, and but God, he's the last train out of Singleville, right, Like I'm not gonna know I'm not gonna be able to leave the single world if I break up with this guy, you know. But God doesn't give us the plan of who we're going to meet down the road. God says, but you, but you know, you got to end this toxic relationship. So every time God gives us a request, it seems like there's a step of faith involved for the next step coming. Yeah. It almost reminds me of the movie You. Want the Truth, You want the truth, you can't handle the truth. That's what it reminds me of. We tell God that we want the truth and we want all the ins and outs, and God to say. That, no, you don't. You know, you don't really want to know what's going to happen, because if you did, you'd run the other way. Right. Yeah. And by the way, that's one of my favorite movies. Few Good Men, Right Yeah, Yeah, who's gonna stand on that wall, you, Lieutenant Weinberg. Yeah, that's funny, so so so yeah, So that's part of the that's part of the annoying. And then of course, you know, uh, we already sort of touched on it, but you know, the idea that he says for God looks at other people the way that nobody else does. God looks at the at the heart, not of the outward appearance. And and for our listeners, Chris, really quick, I know we're running short on time. What would you say that means to you, like someone listening what we're God. Well, you know, you know what it means to me. It means that that God knows the worth and the value of somebody's faith and maturity and capability on the inside. Just because somebody is impressive on the outside doesn't really mean much. You know, a lot of times what we do is we compare ourselves to other people. We say, you know, well, he's gifted or she's gifted. You know, they have all these talents. Yeah, but you have character, you have faithfulness, you have the ability to influence others, you have you have the ability to win others over. You have all these intangible qualities that God deems as so worthy. And just because yeah, you may not be as pretty or as handsome, or as talented, or as gifted, or as rich or anything on the outside, or as tall or as good looking, that doesn't mean anything. Right. God doesn't judge. Your worthiness based on the outward things like mankind does, right. You know, it's not the red carpet people that God favors, right, it's the faithful people, you know. And then also I would just say it's just another reminder for us that you know, let me just say it this way. I've always said, even to the faithful Christian who on the outside seems to be faithful, they have a church attendance. They may even be an elder or a deacon, or a trustee, or they may be an associator, maybe. Even a staff member. Right, and on the outside. You may say, wow, they get their stuff together. But listen, that's not the measure of maturity. The measure of mature of your faith is what happens when you have friction or. Trials or pressure. Right. So you know, it's like the tea bag that goes in the water, right when when when you're in hot water, we see what comes out and people say, oh, but he's such a good Christian. I don't care what you think of him. I don't care if he gives money or if he's faithful. If he's a jerk, he's a jerk. Right. If she's unfaithful, then she's unfaithful. Whatever character, you know, the measure of a true Christian who's mature is not in his his or her actions necessarily al although that is in part, but it's truly measured by his or her reactions. Right. Think about it, right, what is the true measure of the maturity of Christ? Not in the actions, but it's actually in the reactions? Right, So, you know, how do you handle conflict? How do you handle you know, hardships? You know, that's the measure of maturity, right, and that comes that comes on the inside, right, not to be seen. On the outside. Yeah. Yeah, so uh and I would say, you know, to wrap up some thoughts here, I would just say, uh, you know, uh, another thing that another thing to glean from this is isn't it interesting how David was looked over by his own family, by everybody, by everybody, right, you know, not even considered to be brought in front of Samuel. It was almost kind of like, is this all your sons? Is there anybody else? Well? Yeah, I mean there's the one out in the field, you. Know, right, not even worthy of being considered. And we know that further, you know, even next you know, next podcast or at the end of the week, we're gonna look at David Goliath, right, I don't know when that's coming up, but it's coming up soon. And and even then we see his brothers treat him as as as somebody who's not worthy, right and so and so, yeah, don't don't get discouraged because if you feel like everybody around you overlooks you, just know that God never does. God God sees you. God knows you're worth your value. God saw David in the field long before Samuel even knew that. God chose David in the field. Right, that'll preach right, So, hey, God, God sees you, buddy, So no matter who you are or how you feel about yourself, God sees you. All right, Well, hey, that's our time, so hopefully we will see you next time on the bibble guys,