Walk Out of Sadness, Experience the Possible
Sunday, 30th July 2023
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
I Samuel 16:1-4, ‘Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”’
Our God is a possible God, He knows all our difficulties. He is the yesterday, today, and tomorrow God, and He is able to make everything possible for us. Samuel was the Prophet and the Judge, he made Saul the king of Israel by encouraging him, anointing him, guiding him… Samuel also helped the Israelites to see Saul as their king. But when God rejected Saul as the king, how did Samuel respond? Saul had made great mistakes, again and again, Saul did not honour God, even though God gave him many opportunities to repent.
Samuel was sad that God rejected Saul, and God reminded him that he must stopped mourning for Saul. There are times we must let go, stop thinking about the past, there may be things that we really want to take back, there may be people that we can’t let go. Even Samuel was in the situation, he could not let go of Saul. But God told him to let go, to come out of the cave he was hiding, and to keep going. Stop living in the past, no matter if it was a good experience or a bad experience.
God wanted Samuel to have a new experience, He sent Samuel to anoint a new king. When God asked Samuel to anointed Saul, he didn’t argue, but when God again asked Samuel to anoint the king of Israel, Samuel argued. He was hiding in the cave, he had the authority, he had the gift, but he questioned God. Samuel argued that Saul would kill him if he anointed a new king. Samuel changed, he never feared of anyone before, but when he stayed in fear and sadness, he started to worry and he lost faith in God.
To Sacrifice to the Lord
But God knew Samuel’s problem, he was afraid and therefore God told him to make an offering, to make God his God again. God wants us to worship Him in truth and in spirit, to have a connection with God. When we don’t connect with God then we can never download anything God is to give to us. Samuel was the child of Hannah, he was a nobody and he didn’t know God. Step by step, God guided him and led him, and when he was mourning for Saul, God again revealed to him and reminded him of his first love.
God will Show You what You Shall do
Why are we afraid of our future? Because we don’t know what we will do and what we will experience. But when we connect with God, we hear from God and not from people, then God will show us what we shall do. Samuel had so much fear that he refused to believe in God’s guidance. We are also like this, when we failed or when our environment failed us, we would choose to not listen to God and not realising that God is always talking to us and showing us the way.
To Do What the Lord Says
When Samuel heard God, he came out of the cave, he started to take actions, and miracles came along. Samuel was afraid of Saul if he went to Bethlehem, but the people actually welcomed him. What is our heart when we come to the House of God? Do we know that God wants us to connect with Him? When we follow God’s Word, we can experience glory and authority.