1 Samuel 16:10 “Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.”

1 Samuel 16:11 “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.”

Are you looking for what’s next and the path forward in your life, and what you have to do to get there?

… well, what are you doing with what you have right now? Because everything God will do in your life in the future depends on what you are doing now with what he has already given you.

For instance, what have you done with the call to repent and believe the gospel, and to be born again? “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

But it’s just so darn easy to neglect what we do know and what we have been given right now… while we long for and pursue what we don’t have at the moment… and what God may not even plan or want for us because it wouldn’t even be good for us! May God transform our minds by his Spirit.

The Bible says that “godliness with contentment is great gain”. Could that be you? I hope your happiness and fulfillment is having God in this world. If you have nothing else but salvation and God in this life, you’re still light years ahead of people who are succeeding in a world that “passeth away, and the lust thereof”.

… but if you are saved, and you are looking for what comes next… that’s ok, but how are you going with “keeping” what God has already given you charge of? We all have been charged with “keeping” something. David would be king, he didn’t even have to go and get that for himself… but before God brought that all about, David kept his father’s sheep, and what are you keeping… or not!?”but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”

Thank God for his grace and mercy to us. But nonetheless, we often talk about trusting God… but the Bible also talks about God trusting us. God put Paul in the ministry because “he counted me faithful”… What could he truly trust you with?

Quoted at the start are two verses from 1 Samuel 16, the chapter where God sends Samuel to anoint David to be king.

Samuel doesn’t know it is David, so he goes through a selection process with Jesse’s sons, and when God turns down all of them, Samuel asks if everyone to choose from are present, and then he is told there is one more son, the youngest… who wasn’t even invited to the ceremony, because he’s out there keeping his dad’s sheep!

See, you really don’t have to get involved in the cut and thrust of this world, trampling over everyone else and truth and righteousness on your way to “go getting” what you think you deserve and ensure you will have “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” What God gives you is better than anything you can get for yourself.

Anyway, they bring David in, and God tells Samuel… this is my man! And he is anointed to be king… and the Spirit of God comes upon him from that day forward. Wouldn’t you just love to have the Spirit of God in your life, isn’t that truly winning?

And in this new season of my life as recently married man, I have been really blessed by thinking about the phrase in verse 11 that they said of David… “behold, he keepeth the sheep”. David shows us the path forward, and that is by keeping what he had been given responsibility for.

Personally, I am faced with a new stage and season of life and all the realities and uncertainties and impossibilities that it has brought… and God has been so good to me, but also I am looking for my path forward.

God has given me the recipe in his word, and it’s so simple, as it always has been… and we should never allow ourselves be “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”

… and so… how am I going with keeping the sheep? How am I keeping what he has given me right now, no matter how small, or no matter how I may not see how that in and of itself advances my position and my cause personally. Self self self… Man, if we stop trying to advance self and turn our focus to glorifying God, life is so very different “I must be about my Father’s business”… is that you? It was David.

And so God has given all of us things that are under our charge and duty of care… our “sheep”. Wife, kids, ministry, job, chores, duties, equipment… his word.

I know, I know… the thought of keeping God’s commandments is anathema to the modern Christian drunk on false grace gospel… but God does require faith that obeys. There is blessing in obedience.

I was so encouraged and blessed by this thought about David being faithful as a little shepherd boy. In the next chapter, his oldest brother Eliab, who was in Saul’s army, belittled him for his job “those few sheep in the wilderness”… and but being faithful with “those few sheep in the wilderness” is why David would kill Goliath and Eliab did not. And it was out there where a lot of important growth in his walk with God happened that would be the foundation for what came next… we should never despise the day of small things!

It doesn’t matter how small, the Bible says “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” because if we can’t be faithful in little, why would God give us more? …They weren’t even David’s own sheep, they were his dads, yet he risked his life to rescue a lamb from a lion and a bear. And nobody else even saw or knew… but David was doing it “heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men”

… why do you think God chose him? … because God knew him. If you apply for job, it’s much easier when you get referred by someone of influence who knows you and can recommend you. Well God knew David, and when the role of “king” was opened, well, he knew a guy. And he trusted David with his people because David was faithful in keeping the sheep. Are you keeping what God has already given you? Let God take care of the rest!

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