WHEN YOU FEEL OVERLOOKED…

Series: Giant Slayer | Pastor Daniel Norris

Have you ever felt overlooked?

This is where David’s story starts. 

“after His own heart.”

1 Samuel 16:6–13 (ESV) | 6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” …

“Are all your sons here?”

11 …And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

4 Things we learn from the origin story of a giant slayer.

  1. GOD CHOOSES HEART OVER HYPE.

“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (V7).

What does God look for in a leader?

“And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’” (Acts 13:22, ESV)

a. He was Humble.

“He raised up David.”

b. He was Surrendered.

“who will do all my will.”

When heaven scans the earth, it is not looking for ability. It is looking for availability.

  1. FATHERS FRAME THE FUTURE.

Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?”

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5, ESV)

“For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.” (Psalm 27:10, ESV)

A father gives their sons and daughters two things…

  • Identity
  • Security
  1. PASTURES COME BEFORE PROMOTION.

And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.”

Everything David would later need in the palace was first formed in him in the pasture. 

a. The pasture formed his courage.

“Your servant used to keep sheep… I struck him and delivered it.” (1 Samuel 17:34–35, ESV)

b. The pasture formed his worship.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, ESV).

c. The pasture formed his leadership.

“And he became commander over them.” (1 Samuel 22:2, ESV)

d. The pasture formed his patience.

Obscurity is often God’s workshop.

  1. HUMILITY ATTRACTS THE ANOINTING. 

“And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.” (1 Samuel 16:13, ESV)

He turned his humiliation into humility. 

“The Spirit rushed upon him.”

“Rushed” in Hebrew means that the spirit “came upon him in power.” It implies it was a forceful, sudden, overpowering, and it produced strong and effective action.

Water always rushes to the lowest place.

We chase elevation, but David shows us to embrace humiliation because grace always runs downhill.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, ESV).

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18, ESV).

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