A Word about Lessons on Living with Wisdom

Today I want to share a word about lessons on living with wisdom as I comment on verses from 1 Samuel 16.

In our last episode, we saw how Saul’s life and reign self-destructed. After rising to the occasion to lead the Children of Israel to victory over their enemies, Saul began acting just like all the other secular kings of his day.  He was rash and impatient, and he took upon himself authority to act that was not his. Saul also made a foolish oath, which was burdensome to his troops, and which in the end he himself did not keep. The final straw with God, however, was Saul’s blatant disobedience. Instead, of being confirmed as king over Israel by God, the prophet Samuel told Saul that he had been rejected. What would God do next? God taught Samuel some lessons on living with wisdom.

A great but simple definition of wisdom is “seeing things from God’s point of view.” This is often troublesome for humans, because, as Paul said in the King James Version of the Bible in 1 Corinthians 13, “For now we see through a glass, darkly . . .” We don’t see things as clearly as we would like to see them. This can have unintended consequences.

For example, an elderly lady had been diagnosed with a cataract. It took her daughter some time to convince her to have eye surgery, but she finally did. The surgery went well, and the mother returned home with an eye patch. Again, all was well until after the follow-up visit to her ophthalmologist, who removed the patch and dismissed her from his care. Daughter dropped off mom at her house, but soon she received an indignant call from the elderly lady. “Someone broke into my house while we were at my doctor’s office,” she exclaimed. “The whole place is a mess. The carpet is dirty, my couch is stained, and they stole my curtains and replaced them with shabby, thread bare ones. What is the meaning of this outrage?” Her daughter calmly replied, “It means your surgery was a success!”

Our lives are better when we live them from God’s point of view.  We will begin by reading 1 Samuel 16:1,

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.

We Must Release The Past:

From reading the Scriptures, it is hard for us to see how fond Samuel was of Saul. Saul’s story is so condensed in 1 Samuel and in 1 Chronicles that most of what we see of their relationship is Samuel correcting Saul and then pronouncing God’s judgement on him. This verse, however, tells us that Samuel genuinely grieved Saul’s fall from God’s grace and from his kingship over Israel and Judah. Samuel was holding on to the past when God was looking toward the future.

Like we do, Samuel was grieving the loss of something good. God had shown him all the positives that were in Saul’s life, and that he had all the makings of a king. Samuel had also seen Saul rise to the occasion to save the people of Jabesh and to defend the reputation of God and God’s people. These were all great and good things, but now they were gone.

Samuel reminds me of the joke about how many Baptists it takes to change a lightbulb in a church sanctuary. The answer is twelve: one to hold the ladder, one to change the bulb, and ten to stand in the parking lot, saying how great the old bulb was, and how the new bulb didn’t hold a candle to the old one! 

We struggle to release the good things of the past, but when that time comes, we must do just that. When I retired from the military, I used this saying as a part of my remarks during my retirement ceremony, “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” 

Like we do, Samuel was also grieving the mistakes that were made. There is no doubt that Saul had disqualified himself from being the king of God’s people, and the things that should have been, became the things that would never be. Samuel, like we do, was grieving things that were gone and that would never be recovered.

In the New Testament another Saul had sinned, and he had also hurt God’s people through his sin as well. He had conspired to murder Stephen, and Acts 8:3 says that Saul, “. . . was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.” Then, of course, Saul was miraculously saved on the Damascus Road, and later he became Paul, the greatest church planter of all time.

Did Paul grieve his former sinful and murderous way of life? Yes, he did, but he also said, in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

Paul also wrote in Ephesians 4:20-24,

But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. 

The writer of Hebrews used the analogy of runners taking off all the items of clothing that would hinder them from running a good race. This is wise advice for us. Holding on to the bad things of the past will rob us of our joy in our present condition in God’s grace. Holding on to the good things of the past will deny us the better things that God wants to bring to us as we walk into the future with him! Next, let’s read 1 Samuel 16:2-5,

Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate to you.” Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?” “In peace,” he replied. “I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.”

We Must Watch Our Words:

When Samuel realized that he could not put off anointing the next king of Israel, he confronted another truth that frightened him. He knew that Saul had begun acting just like all the secular kings, and he also knew that survival was always foremost in a king’s mind. Despite their history together, He knew Saul would kill him before he would allow Samuel to anoint his replacement. 

We have seen before that Jesus told his followers not to worry when brought before human rulers, because He would tell us what to say, and this event is an Old Testament example of that very thing. The Lord told Samuel exactly what to say. 

First, what God told Samuel to say was the truth. Satan is a liar from the pit of hell, but God is not only Love, but He is also Truth. Throughout the Scriptures, God condemns deceitfulness, and He would never have His people lie on His behalf. He told Samuel to tell the truth, and Samuel did.

Second, the course of wisdom here is that we don’t always have to tell everything that we know. We should consider carefully before we reveal some of the facts and understandings that we possess. A seminary professor illustrated this point by telling what happened once when he was the pastor of a nearby church. He and his chairman of deacons arrived at the church for a meeting at the same time. As they were walking across the parking lot, the deacon greeted him casually, saying, “What do you know, Preacher?” The pastor shook his head ruefully and replied, “Brother, if I told you what I know, we’d both have to leave town!”

I once was in a situation in which I had learned some disturbing facts about the pastor of a church. I was a denominational servant at that time, the missionary for a local association of Baptist churches. I was responsible to serve all the churches in the association, including the one whose pastor had made a serious transgression, but I had no authority over him or his church. I wanted to help, but officially, I did not know what I actually knew. I consulted another denominational leader about what course of action I should take. He said, “Oh, this is simple. You are the pastor’s friend, right? And you are the church’s friend, too, right? Just call him up and invite him to lunch. When you meet, just simply ask how things are going at church and with his ministry. These are natural questions for someone in your position to ask. If he has something he needs to tell you he will. Otherwise, just keep that knowledge to yourself, entrust it in prayer to God and He will handle the rest.” I took that advice then, and I have followed it many times ever since when similar situations have occurred.

Third, discretion in our conversations is more important than we realize. We can say things that are true, but that also hurt others. Words are like bullets, and once they leave our lips, they cannot be recalled, and we are responsible for every word we utter. 

As an example, a colleague once learned that he had been replaced as a leader of a ministry when his replacement sent out an “all addressee” email message congratulating himself on his promotion. Everything he wrote in that message was true, but it also could have been sent after my friend had been informed of the change in person. Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see someone who speaks too soon? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

On several occasions in His earthly ministry, Jesus would instruct people to not reveal all He had done for them. So, Proverbs 13:3 applies to our lives, and to the lives of others that we know as well, “The one who guards his mouth protects his life; the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.” Next, let’s read 1 Samuel 16:6-11,

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before him.”  But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. Then Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t chosen any of these.” Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.”

We Must See What God Sees:

When I was a youth in my home church, we had three brothers as youth group members also. All three were growing Christians, but the middle brother, whom I will call Mo, had some personality quirks. In fact, most of us looked at him as a strange person, and with some reason. For example, once when he was asked how his day was going, he replied, “Well it depends on how you look at it.” He cocked his head one way and said, “You can look at it this way, or . . .” he cocked his head the other way, “you can look at it that way.” None of us every really understood what he meant by that. We just took him for what he seemed to us to be, a rather strange, if harmless teenager with a weird personality

One day at a summer youth retreat, our group was divided into small groups for an afternoon prayer session. My best friend was assigned to the group that Mo was in, and when their group marched away, Mo was muttering to himself and wagging a pen back and forth between two fingers of one hand as he strode off. My friend gave me a grimace as they left, but he was in for a surprise, however.

When we all gathered back after our prayer time my friend pulled me aside. “You won’t believe it,” he said. “I just heard Mo pray the sweetest, most spiritual prayer that you could imagine. Who would ever have thought Mo was capable of that?” With hindsight, I can answer that rhetorical question with one word: God!

Samuel learned the same lesson from God. People may say, “Beauty is only skin deep,” but from God’s perspective, beauty moves from the inside out.  This is what 1 Peter 3:3-4 says,

Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes, but rather what is inside the heart—the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

When we see things from God’s perspective, we can truly understand the depth, breadth, and height of what He can do in transforming our lives. Finally, let’s read I Samuel 16:12-13,

Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

We Must Seize The Day:

Some years ago, a winery launched a nation-wide advertising campaign with the slogan, “We will sell no wine before its time.” This was a catchy and memorable tagline, so much so that the owners of a barbecue restaurant in my hometown paid the winery homage by launching their own advertising campaign with the slogan, “We will sell no swine before its time.” They offered all sorts of merchandise with that slogan and a logo of a pig. I don’t drink wine, and I would have eaten at that restaurant in any case, but I must admire the wit and winsomeness of both of those campaigns.

The Scriptures are replete with stories of people who answered God’s call at the right time and place: Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah. The Scriptures also contain stories of people who refused God’s call. A prime example of that is Job, but Jesus also told the Parable of the Two Sons in Matthew 21:28-32,

“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.”

The best course of wisdom is to answer God’s call, promptly, and Paul taught in Ephesians 5:15-16,

Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk — not as unwise people but as wise — making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

Timing, as the saying goes, is everything. If at all possible, as we walk with God’s Spirit, we must not get ahead of God, and we must not lag behind him, either. In baseball, the difference between a swing and a miss and a homerun is measured in milliseconds. When God calls, the wise course of action is to seize the day and live in His wisdom.

Conclusion:

As Samuel walked with God, he learned how to live with wisdom. What Samuel learned through experience is mirrored in what Solomon would write many years later in Proverbs 2:6-10,

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers. Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt