Overview

By Janice Hall

Scripture Lesson Text: Acts 9: 36-43
 
Lesson Text: 1 Samuel 16: 1-4b, 6-13

This chapter begins with God telling Samuel to go and anoint a new king over Israel. God anointed David to be Israel’s next king. The first king of Israel was anointed for the people, basically what the people wanted and failed. Now the Lord was going to show Israel His choice. So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem.

God does not choose any of Jesse’s older sons. God had a man in mind different from Samuel’s or Jesse’s expectation. “ …for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart “( vs. 7b ). Samuel asks if all the young men were present. David, was therefore called from the field where he was tending sheep.

Samuel anointed David with horn of oil and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. God chose David because he saw that his heart was good. Yet again, God was providing for the welfare of the people. King David’s great purpose was to create a lineage from which Jesus was to be born.

The event of Peter raising Tabitha from the dead, greatly advanced the gospel.
“ And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord”(vs.42)
“ God’s plan continues to focus on spreading the good news of salvation through us.”

Related Scriptures

By Olivia Saunders

Related Scriptures: 1 Samuel 13: 8-14, 15: 1-23; Psalm 51: 1-19

1 Samuel 13: 8-14, tells us that Saul didn’t wait on the Lord or the prophet Samuel, but took matters into his own hands and was the cause of defeat from the Philistine army. 1 Samuel 15: 1-23 , emphasized what the Lord God told King Saul to do, which was to totally destroy the entire Amalekite nation, every human, animal, etc. Saul held back the best of what they possessed for himself and his army, in doing so he disobeyed the commands of the Lord. “ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”( vs.23).

Psalm 51: 1-19 reminds us of the sin we were born into, the rebellion that constantly hinders those that do not reverence the Lord. This is a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone to Bathsheba. David had sinned in murder, in adultery, covering his sin and in hardness against repentance. David’s confession of sin, was not only for his relief, but to bring glory to God. David humbly asked God to restore His favor to the kingdom.

Mark 7: 14-23 speaks of the heart condition being defiled by our thoughts and actions, not the food we consume. Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders because His disciples were eating without ceremonially cleansing their hands. Once again Jesus and the disciples were not living up to the religious standards of the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus points out their hypocrisy and their misuse of the Law of God. The need is not outward conformity, but heart transformation.

Practical Points

By Janice Hall

a) Do not tire of the process God is taking you through. He has a purpose for it, and His timing is right.

b) In His time God give clear direction to the one who wants to obey Him.

Many of us need to grow in the area of trusting God instead of focusing on the “ when”.
We are to learn to trust the One who knows all things and accept that some questions may never be answered. God wants us to live daily by discernment and not head knowledge. Trusting God often requires not knowing how He is going to accomplish what needs to be done and not knowing when He will do it. God uses time of waiting to stretch our faith in Him and to bring about growth and change in our lives.

When we finally decide to wait God’s way, we will develop a lifestyle of patience and enjoy the wait. When we see God’s faithfulness continually through all experiences, we let go of trusting ourselves and place total trust in Him. We can and will grow to accept God’s timing and learn to live in hope, while God is working on our behalf. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we learn to trust our lives to His care. God gives us many clear directives through His word. (ref: Galatians 5:22, James 1:4, Proverbs 16:9, Proverbs 3:5,6, Proverbs 20:24)