Becoming: Living in the Process of God’s Making

Sermon #1: At the Bottom – 1 Samuel 16

     I like to tell my high school seniors to enjoy being at the top, because they will soon return to the bottom and be freshmen once again. If my count is right, I have started at the bottom at least eight times in my life. This is about seven times more that I would have chosen. However, in starting at the bottom, I was able to lay a foundation as God moved me along. To be very honest, I am not sure if I’ve ever reached the top of anything.

     I think that we would agree that starting anything is a challenge. We start new jobs, educational endeavors, and seasons of life. At times the hardest starts in life follow major disappointment. It may seem easier to just sit in disappointment, but start again we must. So, if we are starting a fresh venture, or recovering from a disappointment, may we not neglect the making of a good start. In 1 Samuel, we see how to start at the bottom because at the bottom is the foundation.

     Beginning in the first three verses of the chapter, we see that Samuel had to move on from his grief and into what God had next. Two things come to mind when I read this text. The first is how God speaks in the past tense concerning Samuel’s future. He does this because from His perspective it was finished. I also think of the words of Sue Monk Kidd in her book When the Heart Waits when she states, “When the heart weeps for what it has lost, the spirit laughs for what it has found.” When we start at the bottom, God is already at the top.

    Pressing forward in the text (v. 4-10), we learn that Samuel had to move through what God had not chosen in order to find what He had. As he did so, Samuel had to trade his view for God’s. God does not look at people and situations as man does. As we do the same thing, understanding that moving through what God has not chosen may bring you to the end of what you know. This, though challenging, gets us to the starting point that begins our journey to peace.

     As God was guiding Samuel through this process, Samuel found that God had chosen what he and others had least expected (11-13).  Concerning these verses, Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite” Adding to this thought are the words of Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. “He describes three stages in the life of our faith. Our faith begins with a focus on security, counting on God to provide for us emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Inevitably, God shocks us with some unexpected turn of events, whether a death, a health problem, or a national crisis. Our faith becomes painfully disoriented. Finally, though once it seems as if trust in God has been shattered, faith can be reoriented often in surprising ways” (Kandiah, 2017). 

     The last section of this chapter displays the truth that, even though anointed to be king, David served in lower places (v.14-23). With David as our example, we are encouraged to start where God starts us. This may be a low place or a place moving out of major disappointment and hardship. However, we can’t miss what we are to become by focusing on what we think we should be. As God moves you forward, just start where you. From God’s perspective, your victory is a done deal.

Reference:

Kandiah, K. (2017). When God does the unexpected. Christianity Today, 61(2), 52-55.