84. An Unexpected King: The Surprising Plans of a Faithful God!

G', day, Dave here.

Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Imagine a newborn baby.

Cute, isn't it?

But let me ask you a question.

Would you trust that newborn baby to make a plan for you?

A plan for the rest of your life?

A plan to give you the best life possible?

I suspect you think you could do a better job.

What about if you have a pet?

Would you let your pet make a plan for you?

Not even for something big, like your whole life, would you let your pet plan a birthday party for you?

If you said yes, you might need to have a little talk with the closest grown up.

What about all the kids in your school?

Do you think if they all got together, they could come up with a really great plan?

Not just for you, but but for the whole world?

Could your whole school agree on the perfect plan for the entire planet?

Hmm.

Maybe they'd have some good ideas.

But I think if it was for the entire planet, I'd want to go somewhere else.

In what we've seen in the book of 1 Samuel so far, God's given Israel the king they want, the king they thought was best for their country.

A king like all the other nations.

It's turned out that this king was not a good plan, even though he's what they all wanted.

What they all wanted was really bad.

Now God's going to give them a new king.

A king who fits with his plans, with what he wants.

And this king is completely unexpected.

Get ready for our next episode of stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, Saul had been rejected by God as king.

Samuel had left him, never to see him again while Samuel's alive.

Now it's time to anoint the new king.

In 1 Samuel 16, one God says to Samuel, how long will you continue to feel sorry for Saul?

I have rejected him as king of Israel.

Fill your container with olive oil and go.

I am sending you to Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem.

I have chosen one of his sons to be king.

If you remember our series on Ruth, you'll know that Jesse is the grandson of Ruth and Boaz.

When Samuel hears this command from God, he's a bit like he says to God in verse two.

If I go, Saul will hear the news and he will try to kill me.

Obviously, Saul isn't going to be very happy about a new king being anointed.

God tells him it'll be okay.

He explains that Samuel should go to make a sacrifice in Bethlehem and invite Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.

That way we all Saul's going to hear about is the sacrifice.

God's really clear, though.

Samuel does not get to decide who the new king is.

That's up to God.

So Samuel heads off to Bethlehem.

When he gets there, the elders of the town are a little nervous.

They ask him if he's coming in peace.

In verse five we read, Samuel answered, yes, I come in peace.

I have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord.

Make yourselves holy for the Lord and come to the sacrifice with me.

Then he made Jesse and his sons holy for the Lord, and he invited them to come to the sacrifice.

So Jesse comes with his sons.

His oldest son, Eliab, comes in.

Samuel takes one look at him and thinks, well, whoa, look at how tall this guy is.

He looks just right.

He must be the guy God's chosen.

Which, if you think back, is exactly how people felt about Saul.

Saul was a head taller than everyone else in Israel.

Everyone thought he looked big and tough, and because of that, he'd be a great king.

But he isn't a great king.

He stopped listening to God.

He's cared more about himself than God.

He's been a disaster.

So God tells Samuel to stop looking at how big and tough Eliab is.

He explains that Samuel's looking like a human looks, which is kind of understandable because Samuel is a human.

The problem is humans, we look with our eyes.

We just see what's in front of us.

God, on the other hand, looks with his heart.

Long before he made the world, God made a plan for the world.

In his heart, he decided what was best.

And he knows that as big and as impressive as Eliab looks, he doesn't fit with the plan.

In God's heart, Eliab is not the one.

Hmm.

Ok, so who's next?

Jesse calls in his next son, Abinadab.

Samuel doesn't assume that Abinadab's the one.

Instead, he waits for God to tell him the plan.

And again, Abinadab is not the one who God's chosen.

So Jesse calls in his next son, Shammah.

And Samuel says in verse nine, no, the Lord has not chosen this one.

It keeps going like that.

Son number four.

No.

Son number five.

No.

Son number six.

Son number seven.

Seven sons.

Imagine having seven sons.

In the Bible, seven often represents perfection.

God rested on the seventh day after perfectly making the world.

Now it looks like Jesse's brought out the perfect number of sons.

But even then, none of them are going to be the new king.

It feels like something's gone wrong.

God said it was going to be One of Jesse's sons.

Jesse's brought out his seven sons and none of them are right.

Finally, Samuel asks Jesse, ummm.

Are these all the sons you have?

It turns out there is one more son.

The really unimportant son.

The youngest son.

The son so unimportant they actually left him behind to look after the sheep.

So Samuel says in verse 11, send for him.

We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.

So messengers are sent and everyone stands around awkwardly waiting for this last son to arrive.

When he arrives, he isn't a big strong warrior, but he's a good looking young lad.

And God says in verse 12, go appoint him.

He's the one.

So Samuel pulls out his container of olive oil and he pours it on this boy's head.

He anoints him to show that he not any of his older brothers.

This completely unexpected youngest son, he is the king, God's chosen.

Remember, an anointed person is called a Messiah or Christ.

And this new Christ's name is David, just like my name.

But don't worry, he's not me.

This all happened about 3,000 years ago.

And from that day on, God's Holy Spirit entered into David to help him.

Just as God's spirit has entered David, he's also left Saul.

Instead, God sent an evil spirit to trouble him.

It's a sort of punishment for all his evil.

His servants are really worried about him and want to find a way to help.

In verse 15 they say to him, see, an evil spirit from God is troubling you.

Give us the command, we will look for someone who can play the harp.

When the evil spirit from the Lord enters you, he will play.

Then the evil spirit will leave you alone and you will feel better.

Saul's a fan of the idea and asks them to find him someone who can play really well.

One of the servants has an idea, an idea that's going to lead to a very strange meeting.

He says in verse 18, Jesse of Bethlehem has a son who plays the harp.

I've seen him play it.

He's a brave man and fights well.

He's a good speaker and handsome.

And the Lord is with him.

A son of Jesse.

Well, that could be a whole bunch of people.

Jesse has eight sons after all.

Except the line the servant said at the end is really important.

He said the Lord is with him.

And there's only one of Jesse's sons who we've heard about having the Lord with him.

David, the future king.

Strangely, the first person who we actually hear say David's name is Saul, the old king.

He sends a message to Jesse in verse 19, saying, Send me your son David, who is with the sheep now.

Remember how Samuel felt when he heard God wanted him to anoint a new king?

He was really scared.

He thought Saul would kill him for doing that.

If that's what Saul would do to the guy who anoints the new king, what'll he do to the new king himself?

Is David walking to his death?

Thankfully, it seems like Saul doesn't know about the anointing yet.

And when Saul gets to know David, he thinks he's awesome.

He really loves him, he gives him a really important job.

He makes David the man who carries his armour.

Saul enjoys having David around so much, he sends a message to Jesse asking him to let David stay with him.

God's chosen David to be the new king of Israel after Saul.

David's been chosen to be the new saviour, a much better and more faithful saviour than Saul.

It's quite amazing then that the first person David saves is Saul himself.

In verse 23, we're told when the evil spirit from God entered Saul, David would take his harp and play.

Then the evil spirit would go out of him and Saul would feel relief.

He would feel better again.

When God made Saul king, it was because Saul was the sort of guy the people wanted.

He was big and tall.

He seemed like kings from all the other nations.

But even though it started well, Saul just got worse and worse.

The people's plan was a bad plan.

God's better plan looks strange.

How could this boy David possibly be the king?

How can he possibly be the Saviour?

And yet already we're starting to see that God's plan is working out really well.

When Jesus came, the true king who all the other kings were looking forward to, he was unexpected.

He didn't fit the plans that so many people had.

He didn't look or act like the king that so many people expected.

But you know what?

God's plan was so much better than the people's plan.

Because even though Jesus didn't do what lots of people expected, he did exactly what God expected.

And that meant that millions and millions and millions of people can be saved by Jesus.

God's plans are always best.

Even when they don't seem to be what you expect, you can always trust him to do what's best.

Back in Israel, King Saul is about to lead his army off to war.

Unfortunately, they're about to face a giant of a problem.

They're really going to need a saviour who trusts God.

The person who comes to save them is not who they expect.

But that's a story for next time.

It.