Sermon 7 - the rise of Israel 27th February

The Rise of Israel.

I used to love watching Casualty on a Saturday evening.

I guess it took me back to my nursing days –

But when I used to watch it I used to be watching out to see what was going to go wrong.

When you began to see a scenario being laid in front of you – your reaction is now who is going to have the accident, what accident is going to happen.

It seems inevitable – because it’s the reason behind the programme – that some disastrous thing is going to go wrong and of course Charlie and the others from the A and E are going to end up having to put them all together again.

They nurses and the drs an paramedics are the heros of the hour who we put our trust in to make things better – to hold it all together despite the chaos that can rage around them.

When I read through the old testament I have a similar feeling in he pit of my stomach – because it seems to me that so much seems to go wrong.

Where things start so well inevitably they end in disaster as people fail in their relationship with God.

We had it last week – examples of the Judges who for a time brought the people back to God before they rejected him again.

And who is the person that holds it together despite the chaos that people get themselves into – well of course it is God – who keeps loving and loving his people – despite what they do – despite how they treat him.

It is God who constantly draws them back to himself.

This weeks readings are no different from the rest.

This week we move into a new phase of the life of the people of Israel and into what was probably their greatest hour in terms of their heritage and national pride.

You see this week we see a united nation with a ruler as we enter the time of the Kings and in particular the reign of the greatest King David.

But it seems to take a long time to get there in terms of our readings – 5 days before we finally see David taking up his kingship.

So what will we see this week in our readings.

Well they start and end with faithfulness of two individuals – even though in the middle the people may all go a bit astray.

So we start with the faithfulness of Hannah, childless and pouring her heart out to God in prayer.

And she is heard and in turn gives birth to Samuel who she dedicates to God.

The child Samuel grows up in the house of Eli the priest and becomes receptive to hear God speaking to him even from a young age.

Then the people not content with the “Seers” or wise men or women Judges that have been leading them demand to be like the other nations and look for a King.

God although once more disappointed with their actions allows this and Samuel goes in search of the man God has chosen.

Saul is anointed King and remains faithful for a period, led by the Holy Spirit.

But soon looses his way so in turn Samuel goes out again to anoint a King and this time finds David the shepherd boy who has a right heart.

After David is anointed he waits in the wings to be King, and we have the wonderful account of David and Goliath, and then the stories of David’s popularity spreading until enraged by this Saul banishes him and looks to kill him.

Eventually David is in the right position and on Saul’s death he is made King of Israel and the start of an era of power for the people of Israel really begins.

So that’s the basic story but what themes can we see within this.

And I would like to think about three I see this week – all beginning with P

Gods priorities, his pain and his plan.

God’s priorities.

When we see the people that God chooses to do his work – there is one overwhelming thing that strikes me- and that is their humility.

We don’t have any of them saying – pick me God I’m the best one for the job – but time and time again we read of the humility – what me surely not God – surely I’m not the sort of person you are looking for.

Moses – send someone else he said, 

Gideon in the last weeks readings if it is me and you are God show me clearly.

And now in this reading we see it in the people God chose to be King – Saul and David.

Saul was chosen and anointed by Samuel privately so what is reaction to it.

Well you will see he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops but he quietly goes home and doesn’t own up to what has happened til Samuel summons the tribes together to announce Saul’s Kingship.

And where is Saul to be found – well he’s hiding, perhaps the burden of responsibility is too great and he wants to run away from it, so he hides in the luggage.

And then when it all goes wrong with Saul David is chosen to be King.

And again this is not someone who would have been the natural choice is you were looking at it in human terms.

He wasn’t the strongest or the tallest – he wasn’t even very old – he was still the shepherd boy in the fields.

The people that God chose were not perhaps the natural choice in human terms but God saw something else than human terms.

Chapter 16: 7 “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at, Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.

And what did God see in the heart of those he chose – a love of himself and an attitude of humility and service.

Move this now forward til today, God still calls unlikely people to his service.

We need to be open to how God may want to use us – we may not always feel that we are fit for the job, but God can and does equip us for his service.

As we look at God’s priorities the question then is – what is God calling each of us too?

Then the second P

God’s Pain.

How do you feel when others seem to reject your faith.

Perhaps not in an overt and persecutive way – but in terms of “well it’s nice that you have something that makes you feel good”

The little put downs that see faith as a crutch, or just another interest you may have like this or that committee.

We feel uncomfortable with this – we may even get a little wrangled by it.

We may even feel that we are not being taken seriously – that something that is so important in our lives is not being recognised for what it is.

Well at this time we need to go back to these passages and recognise God’s pain too.

How did God feel when the people of Israel constantly rejected him and went back to other Gods.

He felt Pain

How did God feel when the people decided that they wanted a King to lead them- he felt pain.

Chapter 8:7 – 8

And the Lord told him (Samuel) “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.”

That verse speaks to me so clearly of God’s pain of those who have rejected him.

He has tried and tried to bring them back to himself, he has the power just to make it happen but he knows that that would be to control them so he gives the people a choice.

And when they fail to chose him he is deeply saddened.

He recognises Samuel’s pain too, that the people wanted a King just to be like the other nations rather than to recognise the priestly role that Samuel had had in the past.

But he says very clearly if you feel this pain – how do you think I feel.

And it is the same today – when we feel that our faith has been rejected or not even acknowledged  - we may feel it but we need to recognise that God feels it too.

That it is not “us” who are being rejected but God.

God’s priorities, God’s pain and finally-

God’s plan

Throughout these readings in the Old testament that we have read over the past few weeks we see an underlying thread of God’s plan.

That he despite all the wranglings of humankind he will bring things to pass for his glory.

And in individuals too as we look back on their lives we see a sense of God’s plan throughout.

David is no exception here in 1 Samuel.

He had been anointed King as a relatively young man and yet he had to wait several years for this to come to fruition.

All through that time he much have been wondering what on earth was happening.

Whether or not God had forgotten about this bit of his plan.

He was chased by Saul, forced into hiding and the promise of his anointing as King finally came into being many years later.

In this time though had got forgotten about him, no – and more than that these times must have been used to change and grow David into the sort of man who was to make one of the greatest rulers in the history of Israel.

And we too can be like a bit like David in our lives too.
Often we can’t understand what it happening, we can’t see why something should happen in this way or that.

But only when we look back over time do we recognise God’s weaving and crafting and using of different situations to change us, to teach us, to use us in different ways.

So we need to hold on to trusting in God despite what happens in our lives and be open to how he may be working in and through us.

And  then of course when we look at the story of David and the rise of a new King in Israel we can not fail to recognise the finger pointing to the future and the rise of a new King who was to rule not over just Israel but over the whole world.

This King will be a descendent of David,

But this King – King Jesus will rule in a different way to earthly Kings.

And the calling to follow this King is one of service as we see so clearly in Jesus’ words in Matthew 16.

God’s priorities, his pain and his plan, all three echoed through the readings this week.

And God ultimately in control despite the times man gets it so wrong, and his control pointing to a solution when he will send a new King who will not be just the saviour of Israel but of the world.

Amen