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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

Seeing Without Eyes

Our Father in Heaven, Lord, we are so grateful that we have this opportunity again to study your Word.

Lord, you've seen us safely through the week, you've been guiding our lives, and as we are looking at this important topic today, I pray that you would speak to our hearts.

Help us to see with more than just our human vision that we might understand the message that you have for each and every 1 of us.

We are continuing our series on the kings, the kings that were when the whole of Israel was united, and there's just 3 of them, but We are still looking at the life of Saul.

And today the title of our topic is entitled, Seeing Without Eyes.

And at this point in time in our study, Saul, he's already been rejected as king.

He disobeyed the express command of God and of the Prophet in destroying the Amalekites and all that they had.

And though Samuel loved him, he had to give him a strong message of judgment from God.

And after that he would not see him really for the rest of his life after.

And Saul, he was still to be king for a while, but Samuel, he wept much for Saul and what he had been through.

And we now come to Samuel, whom God has approached and he's about to tell him and send him off into a different mission.

And so we pick it up in 1 Samuel 16 verses 1 to 3.

The Bible says, And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?

I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons.

And the Lord said, take a heifer with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.

And call Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show thee what thou shalt do and thou shalt anoint unto me whom I name unto thee.

And so God, He comes to Samuel and He asks him, how long are you going to mourn for Saul?

He's already been rejected and there was no amount of mourning that would change God's mind, His decision.

The decision had been made and Saul had already been rejected.

And so God comes to send him on a different mission and he is to go to the house of Jesse where he is about to anoint the next king and this time it would be of God's own decision.

You see, God had chosen Saul at the very beginning but he knew the people's hearts.

He chose a man that the people wanted, someone who was taller and stronger and well-built and he had this kingly bearing.

He had chosen for them someone that they wanted according to the world's eyes that should be a good king.

But unfortunately, he lacked the inward qualities that would have made him a good king to sit on the throne, to judge and to lead Israel.

And so God sends Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem And God has specified whose family it is, but he hasn't told Samuel who the person would be.

He wants him to do all these things, but he's only given him part of the plan.

And so Samuel has to walk forward in faith.

And you know, he was probably wondering, who is this person?

And friends, you know, even from the outset here, we learn a very important lesson.

Sometimes God only gives us half the instruction and waits for us to obey before he will give us more details, before he will give us a clear plan or the next step on what to do.

You see, when God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and he asked him to leave his home, the comforts of his family and friends and everything that he had been established in his life.

He only gave him enough details to move forward in faith.

Look at this, we read in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 8, where the Bible says, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out, But not just that, not knowing whither he went.

You see, God came to Abraham and he called him and said, Abraham, I want you to leave.

But Abraham just left and we don't, we seem like it's just something so small, right?

He left and he didn't know where he was going.

God just said, I want you to pick up and leave.

And you see, it was only after he left Ur of the Chaldees that God came to him and gave him clearer instruction on where to go and where to pitch his tent.

And so many times, you know, we like to know the end from the beginning.

We like to know the whole plan before we tell God, God, okay, then I'll obey.

But no, often God, He comes to us and He expects us to exercise faith in Him.

And even Here in this instance with Samuel the prophet, God only gives him part of the information, where to go, whose family, but who is it that's going to be king?

And he was to go to Jesse's house and sacrifice so that the suspicion of Saul would not arise.

And so, let's continue in 1 Samuel 16 verses 4 and 5.

And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem.

And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?

And he said peaceably, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord.

Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.

And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.

And obviously it was not often that Samuel would go to a particular town there and sacrifice to the Lord.

Everybody's suspicion has been raised up.

And they're asking him, are you coming peaceably?

Because remember, even though Saul was king, Samuel still had a great influence over the nation and he was really the judge.

He was the 1 that told Saul, the king himself, that he'd been rejected from being king, you see.

So just the recent events showed that, you know, it was not something good and pleasant that Samuel was doing, so the people were afraid.

And Jesse and his sons were called to the sacrifice and it was only known to Samuel and God.

1 Samuel 16 and verse 6 And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

And so the sons of Jesse pass by and they're there at the sacrifice and they've come to this feast that Samuel has organized and along comes the oldest son, Eliab.

And the oldest son passes by and Samuel is saying in his mind, oh this must be the 1.

He must have acted in such a way that would have helped Samuel to say, oh this is going to be the next.

Surely this is the next anointed of the Lord.

And he was so sure of Eliab that, you know, look, Jesse doesn't know what's going on.

He's just saying all of this in his heart.

But you see, the oldest son of Jesse was not to be crowned the next king.

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.

For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." You see, Samuel has made the same mistake as the children of Israel in when they chose Saul as the king, they only looked on the outward appearance.

All we can do is see with our human eyes.

But, you see, can we see character in a sense even though it's in the heart?

But so often we focus on how a person dresses, how they look.

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Seeing Without Eyes

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