The Path To Greatness

1Samuel 16:14-23

The Path to Greatness

Introduction

Only the Lord knows the plans He has for each of us- and if we were to be honest about it, it disturbs us at times knowing that we can’t know just what those plans might be. There are those of you today those lives have taken recent turns that you did not foresee or plan and those turns have disrupted what little security and normality you had.

We have read from time to time those wonderful Bible passages that speak of our futures-God is working all things out for our good, and He knows the thoughts that He has for us, and so forth. These kinds of Scriptures are fine and well, but very often reading those verses don’t do much to relieve the tension, ease the headaches and stomacach, nor do they always reduce our worry and anxiety. We mistakenly think that these isolated verses of Scripture are like painkillers a nurse might inject into your IV, instantly giving you that flood of calm assurance you need.

There is more to it than that. When your life seems to be out of your control, or when God suddenly decides you’ve grown too comfortable, or perhaps when He thinks that you are ready for the next level in your Christian life, we must have faith in God and His eternal character. We must have confidence that He is in absolute control of our lives because He is sovereign. It is God’s desire to take you from Point A to Point B- moving you in a Christlike direction that you may not understand or agree with.

God’s purpose is to make something great out of you! It is up to you whether you will fall in line with His leadership or resist it. Many have gone before you and the Scriptures give us multiple examples of men and women from which we can learn. Cain taught us to resist- Able taught us to follow. Noah taught us to follow- the drowning multitudes teach us resistance. Moses and Pharaoh, Abraham and Lot, and now Saul and David are all examples of resistance and submission. All were men through whom God wanted to work, but not all were willing.

God had David on a path that would lead to greatness- but it wasn’t an overnight journey. Rather instead David would endure many years of difficulty and testing, and we find that it was not the end result of being a king that was so important as the journey that molded him along the way. You see, the key to David’s intimacy with God was not that he was a great man who accomplished great things, but rather that he served a great God who would teach him utter, daily dependence on Him for every need he had,whether they were emotional, physical or spiritual.

If you want intimacy with God it will cost you something. It may be years of obscurity and pain, trials and tests, joys and sorrows as God moves you from A to B and breaks and molds your life and character until it resembles that of His Son. God will certainly do His part and assuming that you are not going to resist God, what is your part? If you are going to be used by God, if you are going to travel the road to greatness and be all God would have you to be, then you must possess certain traits that we find present in David’s life.

Availability (14-16)

Remember who David was when God chose him to be the next king? He was the youngest of 8 sons, a shepherd boy who knew nothing about what it meant to be king. He had no educational ability, no preparation, and no experience. He had never been a king before, had never been around a king, had never grown up in the home of a king or even had any aspirations of becoming a king. He was a nobody! He was just out there tending his sheep just like Moses on the back side of the desert, just like James and John, two fishermen working their trade.

What was that trait that made David so appealing to the Lord? What was it that made him so easy to make and mold? It was his availability to God. God is not interested in your abilities, whether you are experienced or qualified- He can give you those things. As a matter of fact, very often the very things you think you have to offer God can get in the way of something He may be trying to do through you.

How did David become the able young king he would be? He made himself available to God’s leadership. Verse 16 tells us that God’s directing and spirits of Satan to come in and trouble him. Saul’s servants, looking for ways to settle his mind, suggested that he allow someone to come and play some soothing music to him. Of all the 2-4 million people in Saul’s kingdom who was chosen? None other that our shepherd boy.