Saul was the first king of Israel. He was not faithful to keep the commandments of God and so the kingdom was taken away from him and given to another. Samuel, who had anointed Saul king, was told by God to anoint one of the sons of Jesse the new king. This is where our first verse today comes into the story.
I. God Looks At The Heart: I Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. Forthe Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We have a tendency to judge by what we see. That is why there is such an emphasis placed on first impressions. How we dress, our physical condition, our age, our race, our sex, all contribute to the first impression that we make on people.
After people have had an opportunity to get to know us, there is still a tendency to judge primarily by external factors. Our wealth, our education, our athletic abilities or our skill can all contribute to how we view a person.
God sees the heart.
All we can see are external features. We can see actions and hear words, but it is possible for people to put on a show. They can act, at least some of the time, the way that they want to appear.
God is not fooled.
It is not that all of these various factors are not important. It is just that they are not what is most important. What is most important is the attitude of our heart. We are to love God. We are to love people. That is a condition of the heart.
II. A Troubled Heart: I Samuel 16: 14, 23
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him….
And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him
The ancient Jews acknowledged all things as coming from God. In the modern era we do not think of God as the originator of evil, but rather as allowing evil to afflict us. Remember Job? Satan could not attack him without God’s permission. Today we draw a distinction between what God allows and what God does.
Either way, Saul is in distress. You could say that his heart was troubled. David played music and Saul felt better.
I would suggest that music can help a troubled heart. Not just any music, I would suggest good Christian music, especially worship music. If you are feeling down either listen to, or better yet, sing worship music.
Worship can change our attitude. That is one reason why we begin service with a time of worship. We want to shift our focus from the cares and concerns of the world and focus our minds and our hearts upon the Living God. As we do this, we become more aware of His presence and in his presence there is fullness of joy. (Psalms 16:11)
Of course the more important reason that we worship God is that He deserves our worship. He is God after all. Worship is not about what clothes we are wearing, what instruments we are playing or even the song list. It is about worshiping God from our hearts.
On a side note, sometimes people have homes, apartments or workplaces that seem to have a sense of an evil presence. (And no, I don’t mean your boss!) Demons do not enjoy worship music. If you think that you might have a problem with a demonic presence in some physical location, try playing worship music in the area, even leaving it playing when you are not there. It may have good results.
III. A Cheerful Heart: James 5:13
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
If you are feeling good, sing psalms. It is the expression of a joyful heart. Our skill level doesn’t matter, just make a joyful noise.
There is a growing trend these days in churches to create an atmosphere that is similar to a concert. A darkened room with stage lighting illuminating the people on the platform. Do not be fooled by this appearance. Worship is not a spectator sport! It is not a concert that we attend to listen to with our ears and watch with our eyes. It is an event where the people of God come together to worship the King of kings from our heart.
So, it is about the heart. If you have a troubled heart, sing or play worship music. If you have a joyful heart, sing worship music. Just remember, when you are in worship, worship from the heart.
These are the sermon notes from 10/28/18. Any advertisements that might appear are placed by WordPress. I have no control over them, nor do I receive any money from them.
A Different Side of Job
February 13, 2019I was reading in Job recently and was struck by some verses that inspired a different type of message than you normally hear from the book of Job.
I. Wisdom and Understanding: Job 28:28
A. Wisdom: When I read this verse in Job I was struck by the similarity with Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” I have this verse on a poster in my office at the college. I have often thought that I should put up a complimentary poster of Psalms 14:1 “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” However, I don’t think that will set a proper stage for constructive dialogue. Still, it is true that the decision to believe in God or not truly is the most important decision that we make in life.
B. Understanding: It is important that we depart from evil. Evil acts, evil company both contribute to a significant decline in the quality of life. There are consequences for evil. Wise people understand that. This reminds me of a portion of Isaiah 1:16-17. “Cease to do evil, Learn to do good” This is easy to say but a little harder to do. First we must correctly identify both good and evil. Do not look to the world to define these, look to the Word of God.
C. Ask God: James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Wisdom starts with God and God develops wisdom in His people. True wisdom comes from God.
II. The Breath of the Almighty: Job 32:8
When I read this I thought about a couple of things. First of all I thought about how as Christians we believe that Christ dwells in our hearts, as we are told in Ephesians 3:17 “ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, “. Then I also thought about Zechariah 4:6 ” ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” If we have given our lives to God then we do not do what we do in our own strength, but in the strength that comes from God. This is very helpful for those days that we might feel overwhelmed. We are not alone, God is with us. That is a comforting thought.
III. Spokesman: Job 33:1-6
The portion of this speech that I would like to focus on today is in verse 6. The speaker identifies himself as a spokesman before God. This made me think of II Corinthians 5:20 “ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ” You see, we also are spokesmen for God. It is our job to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. Of course, we cannot share that good news to all the world by ourselves but each of us should look for every opportunity that comes our way to share it in our circle of influence. Incidentally, ambassadors represent both sides in communication. We tell people about God, we also pray to God about the people in our lives.
One of my favorite phrases is that “God will give us the wisdom to know what to do and the strength to do it.” Here in Job again I see that basic thought reinforced. God will give us wisdom. God will give us strength. God wants us to help Him reach the lost people of the world.
These are the sermon notes from February 10, 2019. Any advertisements that might appear are placed by WordPress. I have no control over them, nor do I receive any money from them.
Tags:Bible, Christianity, commentary, faith, God, happiness, quality of life, Scripture, serving God, spirituality
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