The Lord provides the answer – Samuel anoints David.
I Samuel 16:1-13
The scripture above is about the story of the anointing of David by Samuel to be King in the place of Saul. The Lord says “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?” God had heard the cry of Samuel about Saul. Saul had become one of the greatest dictators of all time. Samuel was disappointed about the conduct of Saul. Saul as king had failed both his people and God. God had finally to remove his anointing. We see above God informing Samuel of what he had already done. The anointing had been removed and Saul remained as king but without the anointing. After removing his anointing God had a plan ready for Samuel to execute so that the people of Israel would continue with a loving king. God had been tired of Saul’s dictatorship.
God instructs Samuel to go to Bethlehem to anoint a king in place of Saul. Samuel answers hack with a complaint that he would be in danger if Saul heard of that. God replied that Samuel should go ahead and say that he brought a beast to sacrifice/worship the Lord. Upon arrival Samuels hosts were shocked by his coming. The elders asked “Do you come in peace?” The reply was “Yes, in peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Samuel called Jesse and consecrated him and his family. He called them to a worship place and asked that his children pass through him for anointing. One by one they did pass from the oldest to the youngest of his children who were present. Samuel was instructed by God not to anoint any of these children. He asked if there was any missing to which Jesse replied that the youngest, who was looking after sheep was away. Samuel instructed Jesse to bring David. David was brought from looking after sheep. Upon his arrival David was anointed. After anointing David Samuel disappears from the scene.
On reading further the story of David we find that his first assignment in which David kills Goliath put him in collision with Saul. It was Samuel who agreed that David goes ahead to combat Goliath. After David had killed Goliath women sang that Saul killed thousands while David killed tens of thousands. That annoyed Saul and he sought to harm him. David, however had favor from a number of Saul’s family members which included Michal his daughter and her brother Jonathan. These protected him from their father who wanted to kill him. David later married Michal who saved his life when Saul sought to kill him again. The interesting thing is that though Saul continued to rule Israel his anointing had been removed long before. Saul became madder and madder in his behavior in spite of the fact that David had to be hired to sing for him. David never took it upon himself to kill Saul even when many opportunities were availed for him to kill Saul. He vowed that he would not kill the one anointed by God. The Lord had an answer for the people of Israel in the form of David but many did not realize that.
In our vexing situations the world over the Lord provides with answers and in many instances we do not realize the answers because of our ignorance and unwillingness to humble ourselves so that the Lord reveals himself. We want to be the providers of God’s answers. Yet on the other hand God continues to reveal himself on a daily basis without us noticing His presence and the answers He is providing. The people of Israel must have been pestering God for an answer. They suffered under the yoke of Saul and failed to realize that God had already made a good provision for them by providing an answer in the form of the anointing of David.
In all cases God provides answers for his suffering children but our problem is that we want God to answer us in dramatic ways, in ways that satisfy us so that we can easily point and say, "this is God’s answer." In reality, God does not take time to answer our requests. He cares for us that he provides answers to our requests immediately. He is even surprised that we continue to mourn for someone who God has already removed his anointing. There are several dictators from whom God has already removed his anointing. Anointing for replacements for those dictators has already been done. Samuel appears on the scene again when David went to report to him about what Saul was trying to do to harm him. Samuel keeps his distance and waits for the Lord to make his promise come to fruition. At some point later Saul kills himself and David takes over and established the Davidic Kingdom in which he rules so well. David is mentioned as one of the forefathers of Jesus. Jesus is born from the house of David. Such is the way the Lord works. For every request, every prayer He provides the answers. “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?” For every dictator the anointing is removed. Those who live under dictators should know that their (dictators) time is very temporal. God does not favor them. They may continue to rule but without God’s anointing. God Bless!
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