1 Samuel 16:1 “And God said to Samuel,
How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him...? Fill your horn with oil, and go I will send you to Jesse of Bethlehem. There I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
Samuel evidently found himself in what I call “no man’s land”. When we dwell in a past that is dead…we cannot enjoy a present that is alive. Therefore, we find ourselves suspended between life and death, between the past and the future.
When my father passed away in 1987, for several reasons I grieved the loss for months, even years. However, I got to the point that hanging on to the past was having an adverse affect on my present and my future. I suddenly realized, yes, I have lost part of my past through my father’s death. However, through the gift of my children, I have been given the hope of a greater future. It is now my duty to move forward with joy and faith for the good of their future and mine. When we mourn too long for the past…we are in danger of forfeiting our future. You cannot tend to your past and your future simultaneously.
“…I have rejected him.”
In order for Samuel to begin to move forward, he had to come to the realization that even though Saul continued to reign as king in Israel, God had moved on without him, and his Spirit was already moving to establish another king from within the family of Jesse. This clearly was not evident to the majority of Israel. Nonetheless, the change had already begun.
Another word for change is transition. Transitions can be very smooth and peaceful, when there is no controversy or conflict involved. However, in this life that is not the case most of the time, mainly because of the pride of mankind. It was not because of Saul’s personality, disposition, or culture that he was rejected. It was for Saul’s persistent disobedience and bad leadership character that God sought to remove him.
Sometimes we also can get caught up in this “no man’s land”, trying to hold on to what God has already rejected. We continually mourn for leadership, friendship, companies, and even institutions that God has decided would be best to no longer continue. It is important to understand where our loyalty begins and ends. It is not for institutions that Jesus Christ shed his blood. It was for the will of God that He died, and even more so, rose from the dead! Our loyalty should lie within the bounds of the will of God. God is not trying to save an institution, a religious heritage, an educational establishment, or someone’s status or position. He is trying to save a struggling world. Sometimes letting go of the past is not as easy as it seems. However, God gives a few clues in the following verses of scripture.
“Fill your horn with oil, and go I will send you…”
The foremost thing that is necessary to moving forward from the past is to begin to prepare ourselves spiritually to embrace our future. We need to fill ourselves with the spirit of God. A diligent search for God and study of His truth must be engaged with greater intensity. Transition never comes to a person that is not preparing himself for it. God never sends anyone to do a task that he or she isn’t able to perform. Notice the filling comes prior to the sending.
Jesus chose eleven disciples and the Apostle Paul to go forth and establish the church in a world that was being governed by a “type” of the house of Saul, mainly the Sanhedrin court of the Jews, and the mighty Roman Empire. Guess what? Just like a pinch of leaven and a grain of mustard seed, this small band of brethren rose up, filled themselves with truth, began to change the world, and a new kingdom began to emerge…the Kingdom of God. Both Christ and the Apostle Paul mourned for the Jewish nation. However, the time came to arise, fill themselves with truth, and choose a new house of leadership.
"I have provided for myself"
I remember John the Baptist’s words to the Jewish leadership of that day saying, “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say among yourselves (We have Abraham as our father) for God is able of these stones to raise up children of Abraham. And even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees…every tree therefore which does not produce good fruit is hewn down…and then destroyed in the fire.”
In order to establish his will upon the earth…and choose a vessel through which he could reach people of each and every generation … inevitably…God has had to hew down a few trees. We must not be mistaken! God does not have to use us. He can with the sound of his voice raise up a new generation of sons right from the very dust of the earth, just as he did with Adam in the very beginning of time. It is we that must seize the moment and move forward with God in full faith and assurance that he can and will fulfill his will upon our lives and the world. He will provide for himself…exactly what he needs in order to get the job done.
“…if Saul hear it, he will kill me, And the Lord said,
Take a lamb … say...I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.”
Certainly a battle ensues when we embrace God’s will for our lives. Jesus never promised his disciples a soft bed of roses to walk life’s path upon. Actually, he promised the exact opposite. However, there is a great truth here that can be a very powerful weapon against the enemy of God’s will in our lives. The name of this weapon is…Jesus Christ...and his sacrifice for us!
In order for us to successfully transition from the house of Saul into God’s will, we must put Jesus between us and our past. We must give our past into the hands of God. Let him redeem it. Let him forgive it. Let him remove it. Let him cleanse it. Give it to Jesus, and move on! When your past tries to ensnare you, tell it to go talk to Jesus. When it tries to drag you back into its clutches, tell it to go talk to Jesus. When it speaks fear and doubt into your heart of what this step might bring, tell it to go talk with Jesus. If it asks you why you are doing what you are doing, tell it to go talk to Jesus.