The People that God Uses

1 Samuel 17:41-51 (NLT) Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.

David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword. Then David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.”

Over 150 years ago, Henry Varley, the great evangelist and brethren minister said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.” There was a young man named D.L. Moody heard those words and determined in his heart to be that man!  He gave himself fully to the will of God for His life and the Lord used him to shake two continents for Jesus.  Moody preached to more than 100 million people during his ministry and many thousands came to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. And the Lord is still looking for men and women that He can fill with His Spirit and use to make a difference for Jesus. 

In our opening passage, we are told about a young man named David.  David was chosen by God not just to kill Goliath but to defeat many of Israel’s enemies: The Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites. He went on to established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He planned the temple that Solomon built. In fact David was the greatest king Isreal ever had. Even Jesus Himself came from David’s line.

And yet David was not someone that most people would have picked out to be a king, let alone a king who was as great as he was. But this was the man that God chose. This morning we are going to look very briefly at the early life of David. I want us to understand why God chose Him and who it is that He chooses today.

God chooses common people

In 1 Samuel 16, we read how the Lord was guiding Samuel into choosing a king for Israel. And Samuel was told to go to meet with Jesse, because God had selected one of his sons to be that king. Let’s read what happened next.

1 Samuel 16:6-13 (NLT) When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the LORD’s anointed!” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the LORD has chosen.” Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the LORD has chosen.” In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.”

“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the LORD said, “This is the one; anoint him.”
So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.

Jesse actually had eight sons, and here we read of how seven of them are presented to Samuel. And by all accounts these men were strong and handsome and as we read later in the book of Samuel, very capable warriors. In fact, they were just the sort of person that most of us would choose to be our leader. As humans we tend to judge by what we see with our eyes, and yet despite their outward appearance,  God had rejected these men.  God does not look at award appearance but instead he looks at the heart of a person. He looks at what our inner desires are, not at how we appear before others. God passed over all these seemingly good choices for king, and instead chose the youngest son, a boy who was merely a shepherd working in the fields. He wasn’t physically impressive or experienced, and neither did he have high status even within his own family, But he was the one that God chose, based on one criteria, his heart. One of the reasons that God uses ordinary people because it means that He will get the glory

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT) Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

God is not able to work in those who are already strong in their own strength or their own wisdom. They already know everything or can do everything themselves, and they have faith in their own ability. The people that God uses are those who are weak in their own strength or their own understanding, but crucially are willing to be obey God, be used by Him and obey Him. God is able to do something with humble people because they will allow Him to work through them. It’s not that being strong or intelligent is wrong, of course it isn’t, it’s just that if we have our own strength it can be harder for us to humble ourselves before God and therefore be used by Him.If we are strong in our own understanding we will not seek God’s. 

Proverbs 3:5 (NLT) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

The Bible is full of flawed and sometimes weak people being used by God. In Exodus, Moses complained to God when he was chosen to lead the Israelites, that he was unable to do the job

Exodus 4:10 (NLT) But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Maybe God chose Moses to lead the Israelites not in spite of his weakness, but because of them. When Jesus chose is disciples, 12 men to change the entire world he chose working class, untrained men with nothing apparently special about them apart from their willingness to follow and obey Him.

God choses obedient people

So we can see that as well as choosing ordinary people, God chooses obedient people

Acts 13:22 (NLT) But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’

David was chosen because God knew that he would do what He wanted.  The people used by God are those willing to do the most mundane tasks for the glory of God.

1 Samuel 17:17-19 (NLT) One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.” David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

While his brothers were out fighting with the Israelite army, David was sent to serve them. Jesse could easily have sent the least of his servants to do such a simple task, but David willingly took on what was quite a humiliating task in serving his older brothers while they did the tough work because he was commanded to do so. David didn’t look down on the small tasks that he was given, and God noted this when he said that David is a man who will do what he wants him to. And in being obedient to the small tasks, God was actually secretly training him. And then when Israel needed someone to fight for them, this lowly shepherd boy was ready and able to take on the challenge.

1 Samuel 17:32-37 (NLT) “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The LORD who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

You see while his brothers were doing much more important jobs, David had been on his own, out of the public gaze apparently just looking after sheep but in reality learning how to fight lions and bears. So when Israel was in trouble and had to face the Philistines, David was ready and trained for what had to be done without anyone every realising what had been going on.

When I was younger and I heard the story of David and Goliath, I always assumed that God guided David’s sling shot supernaturally, but now I don’t think this was the case. I imagine that as well as using a club to defeat these animals, David also used a slingshot to defend the sheep, and so he was consistently practicing that skill. In psalm 144, David praised the God who trained his hands for war and his fingers for battle. So when he did stand up to defend the Israelites against Goliath, that was the weapon that he chose. The work that God did with David was when he was on his own, out of sight, quietly obeying the Lord and being the least of his family.

Zechariah 4:10 (NLT) Do not despise these small beginnings…

These small beginnings are there for a reason, to train us and to test our faithfulness to the Lord. In fact if we despise them, if we think that we’re too important for them, then we will miss the training and maybe even the purpose that God has for us. And when we have been trained and are ready, then God can do extraordinary things through us.

God chooses people who have a relationship with Him

One thing that we know about David is that he had a passion for God.

Psalms 27:4 (NLT) The one thing I ask of the LORD—the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

Above everything else, David’s desire was God himself, to live in His house and to meditate on Him. This is why God could trust and use him, he was truly a man after God’s heart.

We were talking in the Bible study this week about the difference between knowing and knowing in the Bible. We can know God exists but the people that God uses have more than head knowledge of Him, they have a relationship with Him.
 
God uses people who trust Him.

When David was fighting Goliath, He said that although Goliath would come at him with sword, spear and Javelin, David would come back with the armies of Heaven. David even trusted God enough to not even wear any of the fancy armour that he was given. He went into battle against this champion of the Philistine army armed only with 5 stones. David wasn’t used to great armour and weapons, and so he relied upon that which he had relied upon all his life, faith in the living God. When God uses people today it is because they have that same faith in the strength and the power of God and in His provision.

Another person used lightly by God because of her faith was Esther. Esther was a jewish girl living in Persia roughly 500 years before Christ. And she was chosen by the king Ahasuerus to be his wife, and hence she became the Queen of Persia The Jews were hated in Persia, and so there was a plot by one of the king’s advisers to kill all the jews in a single day At this time the Persian empire was vast, and so killing all the Jews in that Persia meant killing most of the jews that existed. Esther’s response to this decree was to fast for three days, She needed God’s wisdom on how to deal with this. and Esther came out of her fast with an understanding on how to deal with the king, She spoke up for the Jewish people before the king, even though it put her very life on the line. Because of her trust in God, because she taught His ways, and because of her faith her words and deeds found favour with the king, and the Jewish people were saved. She was used to save pretty much every Jewish person who existed at that time because she had the faith and the boldness to stand up for God’s people.

God chooses courageous people

And so we also see how God chooses courages people, people are willing to take the risks, to step out in faith. David was willing to put his life on the line for the glory of God. If the Lord hadn’t come through for him, David would have died. And Israel would have been defeated. Esther was willing to put her life on the line. If God hadn’t have come through for her, she would have lost her life and the jewish people would have been exterminated. 

We looked a couple of weeks ago at how Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego were willing to walk into the fire because of their faith in this living God. A part of being courageous, God also chooses are also willing to accept ridicule. David was willing to listen to the taunts of his opponents and the jibes of his critics. To him, the rewards that came for obedience to the Lord outweighed any personal humiliation he might suffer because of others. Even Jesus faced ridicule

John 7:3-5 (NLT) and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

God chooses people who are committed to Him

And finally, God chooses people who are committed to Him. They are committed to his purposes despite the obstacles they may face. David was determined to honour the Lord despite the size and power of Goliath. His eyes were not on the problem, but on the Problem-solver! God’s people are committed in spite of the opposition.Some said that David couldn’t do it. Others questioned his motives, but David was determined to defeat Goliath despite those who stood against him. We need to be aware that if we want to live a life for God there will be opposition

2 Timothy 3:12 (NLT) Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

God’s people are also committed in spite of the opportunities to walk away. David had the chance to walk away, but David had his priorities in order. To him, the main thing was the glory of God! He had made up His mind that God would come first, no matter what! 

Conclusion

Do you want to be the kind of person God uses? I do! Regardless of what it costs in time, energy or reputation, it will be worth it to be used of the Lord. Wherever we may be right now, we can become a person God uses for His glory.  Let’s determine to pay the price, whatever the cost is to be that person for the glory of God!