January 4: God chooses and equips

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

The spiritual turning points in our lives, once they are turned, should be settled once and for all. After we know the direction of God’s call, we don’t look back. When I answered God’s call to preach in January of 1951 while stationed with the U.S. Navy in Jacksonville, I made a lifetime commitment. Then how does God call and equip?

• In some cases, God’s call is for a prepared successor (vv. 1-3). In the past 35 years I have served 40 times as an interim pastor. In one sense however, all pastors are interim pastors because eventually someone else will take their places. Whenever a church calls a different pastor, God is already at work preparing another man to take the vacated pulpit.

God’s instructions to Samuel illustrate the point. King Saul’s actions had caused God to reject him as Israel’s king. The transition to a successor would take several years, but the change was certain to happen.

• We note also that God frequently chooses leaders from a prepared family (vv. 4-5). Samuel’s grief over Saul’s moral failures caused his spiritual vision to blur. God’s stern rebuke shocked him into a course of action. He was to visit Bethlehem on his usual route of leading in worship, but with particular instructions to invite Jesse and his family to join in the sacrificial rite. In the absence of a central place of worship, the prophets probably used the practice of local sacrifices to mold Israel spiritually. God’s choice of a successor, however, involved a dedicated family to whom the call was to be given. For everyone called as the apostle Paul on Damascus Road, God calls hundreds out of godly homes, as He did with Timothy.

At the appearance of Samuel, the town fathers trembled as they wondered at his reason for visiting their town. The prophet announced he intended to observe a routine sacrifice. He set forth the preparation to be made. All the people, especially the house of Jesse, had to go through the required purification rites and dress properly for the occasion (21:5 with Ex. 19:10).

• God’s choices also involve a prepared heart (vv. 6-7). Samuel knew the family which was to supply the one God had chosen, but not the person’s identity. According to custom, Jesse called his sons, beginning with Eliab, the eldest. His stature and bearing must have been impressive because Samuel was ready to cast his vote for him. God corrected his impulsiveness with a gentle rebuke. God was looking into the inner person, the heart, as the foremost prerequisite for service. Samuel should have known better. He had already announced to Saul that God had rejected him and was seeking a man "after his own heart" (13:14).

• We note further that God chose David at a prepared time (vv. 8-12). After seven of Jesse’s sons had been presented and refused, Samuel, confused at the turn of events, asked whether Jesse had other sons. One yet remained, the youngest. Samuel expressed the urgency of the moment by causing all preparations to cease until the young man had arrived.

• Finally, God’s choice involves a prepared anointing (v. 13). From that day forward, God’s Spirit rested on David. The rest of the family did not feel threatened. Nothing suggested David was anointed to be king. As far as they were concerned Samuel could have been anointing his own successor as a prophet. David probably spent time at the school for prophets set up at Ramah (1 Sam. 1:1,; 7:15-17), where he could have been taught music, poetry, and principles for governing.