Over opinionated with Josh Scott
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- Josh Scott, Host of Over Opinionated.
Over opinionated with Josh Scott
The Rejected King and the Shepherd Boy (The life of King David PT1.) #84
The story of King David's rise from humble shepherd to Israel's greatest monarch contains some of Scripture's most profound lessons about leadership, faith, and God's unexpected choices. In this first episode of our new character study series, we dive into the dramatic transition of power that began when Saul's disobedience cost him the throne.
We explore the fascinating narrative found in 1 Samuel 15-16, where Samuel confronts Saul for his half-hearted obedience against the Amalekites. Saul's excuse—"I was afraid of the men"—reveals how fear of human opinion over divine command became his downfall. Through Samuel's powerful rebuke, we discover the timeless principle that resonates through Scripture: "To obey is better than sacrifice."
The story takes a surprising turn when God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, instructing him to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the future king. As each impressive son passes before the prophet, God repeatedly says no until David—the youngest, not even initially presented—is summoned from the sheep fields. God's declaration that "people look at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" challenges our own tendency to evaluate others by external metrics rather than character.
What's particularly striking is how God orchestrates David's entry into royal service through his musical ability, allowing him to learn governance while soothing Saul's troubled spirit. This divine arrangement showcases how God often works through unexpected circumstances to prepare us for our calling.
Whether you're familiar with David's story or encountering it fresh, this series offers rich insights into how God shapes leaders, uses imperfect people, and accomplishes His purposes through those willing to follow Him with a whole heart. Subscribe now to join us on this journey through the life of the man Scripture calls "a man after God's own heart."
Welcome back to Overopinionated everyone. We're going to start a series on the life of King David. However long it takes us, we're going to walk through the Bible and just explore King David's life. It's going to be a new character series. I start, and the good thing about it is where this is a podcast. It's not necessarily a sermon series. It's not like you're going to just get bored. You can listen to this anytime you want, if you want to skip ahead or go back or forward. That's the beauty of it being in a podcast. You're not listening about King David for three or four months every Sunday, not that that would be bad. Sometimes I think sermon series can be very good, but we're going to start today's podcast off like we always do, with the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed.
Speaker 1:Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for divine is thy kingdom, the power and glory forever and ever. Amen. Now we'll go to the Apostles Creed. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ. His only Son, our Lord, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under pontius pilate, was crucified, dead buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He said if at the right hand of god, the father almighty, from hence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, I believe in the holy ghost, the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. Remember. Um. Some people interpret that Christ descending into hell is just shoal Abraham's bosom. Also, you can also take it as just the grave. And Catholic just means the universal church, not the Roman Catholic Church. We're all part of the universal Catholic Church. That's what that originally meant and that's why I keep saying the word, because it's important.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to. We're going to talk about King David. To get to that, I'm not going to go to the very beginning of Samuel, but we are going to go a little bit ahead of where King David is. I'm going to be reading in the NIV. I'll probably read in the NIV for the majority of this series. But you are welcome to follow along in your preferred translation. You know it might be easier if you just follow along in the NIV, but if you're a King James only person, just walk out. The King Jimmy, if you want, that's fine.
Speaker 1:But King David, I really think the Holy Spirit laid this on my heart at the beginning of the year and you might say, well, why did you wait six months to do it? Because I wanted to wait for the right time to do this, to start this character series. So I read through 1 and 2 Samuel and I really do feel like the Holy Spirit's led me to do this. Because our church on Wednesday night, which I haven't been able to make it the last couple Wednesdays. I hate that, but I do try my best.
Speaker 1:There's just been personal things pop up, but we have been following along. We've been reading through 1 Samuel in church and there's been a lot of talk about King David. There was just a series released on Amazon about King David and I watched it and it was pretty good. I know some people said it wasn't biblically accurate. I'll be honest, I'd have to sit down and think because I don't know what was biblically inaccurate.
Speaker 1:It's just any time someone makes biblical art, there's always going to be people that come against it. And I'm not saying all biblical art is good, all biblical movies is good. There was a movie about Noah about 10 years ago which was awful. That was unbiblical. I think it was just called Noah and I think it had Russell Crowe in it. It was a horrible movie. It was not biblical. I would not show my kids that movie. I'm just going to shoot a straight shot and in love. I love you guys, my Calvinist brothers and sisters. Y'all guys need to calm down. Just please calm down. Let us enjoy these things that people are working really hard to produce to show people the gospel. I understand the chosen does not line up with a Calvinist doctrine, but it's also exposing people to Jesus. It's getting people to read their Bible and I've watched it and I think it's really good.
Speaker 1:Yes, there's always going to be artistic depictions. There is such a thing as creative licensing and obviously there's a window there which you can operate in. I don't think it'd be right to make Jesus a woman and make all the apostles women. I think that would be blasphemy. But we have to allow some artistic licensing in our worship music, in our biblical art.
Speaker 1:You know, there's a song that I think is beautiful, but you have to realize it's sung in the context of a human being and our depiction, how we see God's love. It's not sung from God's depiction, okay. It's called the reckless love of God, all the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God. God how it leaps, goes down flights until it leaves the 99 for one In our mind. We can see God's love as reckless in our human mind. Leaving 99 sheep to go get one does seem reckless. Now, is God reckless? No, but it's singing it from our perspectives. So let's just enjoy some things. We're allowed to have nice things, it's okay. I'll call out stuff when I think it's overtly unbiblical, but I do allow for some artistic licensing.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be where Christianity is, where art goes to die. Most of the time that hasn't been true historically. But you know, just for my brothers, my Calvinist brothers and sisters over there, which we disagree on quite a bit, I love you guys. But just just calm down a little bit, take it, take a couple breaths, think about what you're going to say before you put down a worship song that's loved by me, millions of people, maybe not millions by many people a series loved by people. That's helping people. Maybe there's critiques we can make to do things better.
Speaker 1:I was just listening. I just laid down in the bed after work and listened to some worship music. Just get my thoughts straight that worship music was not contemporary music, it was hymns. It was old church hymns and I hear all the time. Oh, you just listen to Jesus. Is your belief in Jesus, is your belief in it's so disrespectful?
Speaker 1:Oh, you just listen to relationship. It's about you and your relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Instead of singing about who God is, we should have songs, ma'am. We should have songs about our relationship with God. That's a huge part of our Christian walk. That's kind of a big point of the Bible Our relationship with God. Now I will say this Do some songs get too sappy?
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm not defending every song out there, but there was a song that came to mind that I listened to three or four times. It's a hymn song called what a Friend we have in Jesus. It's a beautiful song and I'm actually going to play it at the end of the podcast. What a Friend we have in Jesus, just to trust him at his word. That's a relationship song, guys. So a lot of this is really stylistic music. This is really just a style.
Speaker 1:You don't like the new style of praise and worship. You don't like that worship's getting more charismatic, that there's elements of Pentecostalism getting incorporated into worship. People are raising their hands and getting emotional and I don't think that's biblical. When I read the book of Psalms that David wrote, he got emotional. When I see David dancing before the Lord, he got emotional. When I see David dancing before the Lord, he got emotional.
Speaker 1:Now, it was rightly directed. We don't want emotion. That's not rightly directed, but we do want emotion. We don't want emotionalism, but we do want emotion. We do want the Holy Spirit to lead us. We want to be able to raise our hand in worship. We want to be able to pray and speak in tongues in worship.
Speaker 1:And if you're not, if you don't believe in tongues, I understand. I have people and friends and Christians. I love that. Don't agree with me on that, that's fine. I understand that. That's a hurdle that only the Holy Spirit can jump through to get people to realize the truth.
Speaker 1:Either way on that, because you can say well, you're being emotional about it too, okay. So either way on that. That's a, that is a a hard sticking point, right, um? But we, we should have emotion in our worship. We should be able to be led by the Holy spirit to raise our hands. Um, we, you know there's so many Christians that and this goes for tons of churches and all denominations and all non-denominational churches that if they smiled, their faces would break Because there's no joy, there's no joy of their salvation.
Speaker 1:And trust me, I've been there. I have been in dark, dark places, man, but we can have joy in Jesus. We can have joy in our salvation. You know I have joy in my salvation. I have joy in Jesus. You know I might struggle with depression. I want to be very open about my things, my sins and my struggles. Not the depression itself is a sin. I struggle with my weight, with lust, with pride. Most of us do. I don't want to just over glance. I have struggles about depression, anxiety, but I also can go to Scripture and I can go to the Holy Spirit and have a joy in my salvation. But anyway, we're going to.
Speaker 1:We're going to go to 1 Samuel, chapter 15, and start reading. The caption says the Lord rejects Saul. As king Samuel said to Saul I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you, king over his people, israel. So listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them and they came up from Egypt. Now go attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them. Put them to death. Men, women and children and infants, cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys. So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Tumult, and 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 from Judea, saul went up to the city of Amalekite and set an ambush in the rave. Then he said to the Cainites Go leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out from Egypt. So the Canaanites moved away from the Amalekites.
Speaker 1:Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Vanhast to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agog, king of the Amalekites, alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul, the army, spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the cattle, the fatted calves and the lambs, everything that was good, these that were unwilling to destroy completely. But everything that was despite and weak they totally destroyed. Then the Lord, saul, came to Samuel. I regret, I regret I have made Saul king because he turned away from me. He has not carried out my instructions. Samuel was angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
Speaker 1:Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul. But he told Saul, saul has gone to the carmel. There he has set up a monument in his honor and has turned down the call when Saul reached him. So when Samuel reached him, saul said the Lord, bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instructions. But Samuel said what then, is this be being of sheep in my ears? What is the lowing of cattle? I hear Saul answered the soldiers brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and the cattle to sacrifice to the Lord, your God. But we totally destroyed the rest Enough. Samuel said to Saul Let me tell you what the Lord has said to me last night. Tell Saul. He replied.
Speaker 1:Samuel said although you were once, in your own eyes, small, I'm going to start over Verse 17. Samuel said although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel. The Lord anointed you king over Israel and he sent you on a mission saying Go and completely destroy the wicked people, the Amalekites, and wage war against them until you have wiped them out. Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord? But did I obey the Lord? Samuel said I went out on the mission the Lord assigned me and I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. Their soldiers took sheep and their cattle from plunder. The best was devoted to God in order to sacrifice to the Lord, your God, in Gilead.
Speaker 1:But Samuel replied Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Today is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams, for rebellion is like the sin of divination and arrogance like the evil of adultery. Because you have rejected the word of your Lord. He has rejected you as king.
Speaker 1:Then Saul said to Samuel I have sinned.
Speaker 1:I violated the Lord's command, your instructions. I was afraid of men so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin. Come back to me so I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to him I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you of king of Israel.
Speaker 1:As Samuel turned to leave, saul caught hold of him and tore a hem of the robe and it tore. And Samuel said to him the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors, to one better than you. He who glorifies of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is the Lord, not a human being, that his mind should be changed. Saul replied I have sinned, but please honor me before the elders of my people, before Israel, come back to me so that I may worship the Lord, your God. So Samuel went back with him, with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
Speaker 1:Then Samuel said bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Agag came to him and changed and he thought surely the bitterness of death is past. But Samuel said as your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women. And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgad. Then Saul left for Ramah. But then Samuel left for Ramah. But Saul went up to his home and gave birth of Saul, until the day Samuel died. He did not see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. He did not see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him, and the Lord regretted that he made Samuel king of Israel. Okay, let's just unpack that there. This is important to understand because this is what gets King David and his foot in the door to become the second king of Israel.
Speaker 1:So the prophet Samuel gave instructions to Saul to kill all the Amalekites, everything that breathed, the women, the children, the men, the horses and the cattle. And King Saul killed most of them, but did not kill all of them. And as he's talking with Samuel, saul says well, we gave all this to the Lord, we gave the majority of it to God, but we kept some of it for ourselves. We kept some of it for ourselves. He took a half measure. And then he says in there well, I did it because I was afraid of the men In his mind, the men. They fought hard, they won, they wanted plunder, they wanted these rewards. And the sheep and the cattle have the king, have the Amalekites captured of this great victory? It was Saul's job to kill all of them and I know it can be hard reading these passages. If you have a heartbeat, it gets hard reading these passages where God tells them to kill all of them.
Speaker 1:But there's a few things to think about. God is establishing his kingdom in Israel. He's setting up the redemption of the human race through Jesus Christ, through his son, and he has to purge evil. These kings and kingdoms knew that they could leave. Many of them had an opportunity to leave but did not leave. And God is sovereign. God can direct. God is the only one that can direct life and death. They can dictate when life should be taken and when life is given. This is also before Jesus bled and died on the cross and I do think there's some significance there that God could put his wrath upon Jesus now, but Jesus had not died on the cross yet. Now I'm not implying everyone is saved because God has put their wrath upon Jesus, because I don't believe that. I believe you can accept or deny him at the call of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:But we see Saul took a half measure, wanting to take some for himself and for his men when God said to destroy them all. And God said something better for Saul. We see that we see that, as Samuel said, that God would regret it making Saul king. Now some people take these passages when God said he regret it as people all that's mean. That means God made a mistake, though God's not saying he made a mistake. He's showing that to give us the human emotion behind it, to show us what he felt. This was still God's sovereign and divine plan to make King Saul king, that King Saul king, to set up the role of King David, the ancestor of Christ Jesus, our Savior. And I just think it's amazing how amazing the Bible is.
Speaker 1:And remember, in Samuel, earlier in Samuel, we have the Israelites pleading to Samuel the prophet give us a king, give us a king. And Samuel prayed and he said listen, I don't think that that's the best path. I don't. I think God has something better for you. No, samuel, give us a king. All the other countries have one, we want one. And God said okay, we will give them a king, but they will regret it. This is them regretting it. This is them regretting it. And remember, before this, before the kings, they were ruled by judges and prophets. Prophets helped inform the judges. Sometimes the judges were prophets, like when Deborah was a prophet. But you know, saul grabs on to Samuel and tears his robe and he said, just as you tore my robe, that God will tear the kingdom from you.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to try to get through one more chapter. This might be a slow series. Might be a slow series, that's okay. We are transitioning more into a biblical podcast, but we will still talk about politics at the state, federal and local level, because it's still important. But I really wanted to start diving deep into the Bible like this. I think it's so good reading it chapter by chapter, but I know I went off on a couple tangents, but that's okay. Like this, I think it's so good reading it chapter by chapter, but I know I went off on a couple tangents, but that's okay.
Speaker 1:We can tune in every week and if you have a question, comment or concern, write me, write me, tweet at me, dm me. There's multiple ways to contact me. You can write a letter and send it to my address. Old-fashioned Okay. Samuel, chapter 16.
Speaker 1:Samuel anoints David. The Lord said to Samuel how long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him as a king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and you will be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king. Samuel said how can I go? If Saul hears about it? He will kill me. The Lord said take your heifer with you and say I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint me. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate. You know I haven't. This just now hit me. The amazing man that Samuel was. The amazing story about his mother bore him after being infertile and how God used Samuel and how God he was just an instrument for God, god using Samuel, calling him. Even though Samuel walked with God, he was afraid. He said if Saul hears this, he'll kill me. Samuel was afraid. It just says a lot to me.
Speaker 1:Okay, verse four Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they they met him. They said do you come in peace? Samuel replied yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Concentrate yourself and come to the sacrifice with me. Then he concentrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
Speaker 1:When they arrived, samuel saw Eliba and thought. Surely the Lord's anointed has before has stood before the Lord. I just want to go back. I know that this. I should have said this earlier when I was talking about Samuel being afraid. You can walk with the Lord and still be afraid of things, and God can be there to help you. That was the point I was trying to make. I just didn't say the part that God can still help you in your fear.
Speaker 1:And look earlier, in chapter 15, saul was afraid, but he gave in to sin. He didn't give God the full measure, but Samuel was afraid and he did give God the full measure. So you have to depend on god. That's the difference. And then samuel goes down to anoint um, one of jesse's sons, and he says he sees one of his sons and says surely this is the one the lord stands before me to anoint. The Lord stands before me to anoint In verse 7,. But the Lord said to Samuel Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at an outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a heart man. Why does the church forget this? A lot? It definitely has, in my case Growing up, I wish I would have handled things differently.
Speaker 1:But telling people I feel called to preach and people telling me well, josh, I think you can be a good Christian, but I don't think you can be a pastor. Look at your speech impediment, look at all these things. You have a hard time reading, you have dyslexia. You have a hard time public speaking and I did. I had a much harder time public speaking back in the day, but God has helped me and I think I'm on a journey to start preaching. But I'm not a full-time pastor yet, but I do think I preach a little bit and slowly. I want to do slow and steady and try to keep myself from sin and trying to worship God. It can be hard sometimes and I'm glad when I had the opportunity and I'm not bragging on myself, but I'm glad when I had an opportunity to at least be an assistant pastor at a country church in Blaine County, virginia, that I listened to the Holy Spirit and turned it down Because it would not have ended well for me or the church. And now the church is in good hands, they have a pastor that's more theologically aligned with them and they're doing better and we get along, we get along, so it's. That's a good thing.
Speaker 1:I didn't embarrass myself and some of the sins, some of the sexual sins I would have fallen into, I'm doing better, I'm more mature, I'm married Doesn't mean I couldn't fall prey to it. There's been great men that have fallen to it. But I'm praying and I'm trying my best to stay away from it Doesn't mean that I don't sin with lust in my heart sometimes, because sometimes I do and it's wrong and I got to quit the lust of the eye, the lust of my heart sometimes, because sometimes I did and it's wrong and I gotta quit. Um, the lust of the eye, the lust of the heart, and god help me, god help us all. But I'm gonna be open. I'm gonna be honest about it with you guys, with my friends, with my family. I want to be open and honest. I want to be real, because you can lie all you want to on this side of heaven, but when judgment day comes, there's no lie that will get you out of it. You can't lie anymore. It won't do you any good.
Speaker 1:But why has the church forgotten this? That God looks not at the outward appearance but the heart. We buy the newest suits, newest ties, we buy the fanciest cars while we're in a pool of debt, but then we look bad at someone who wears blue jeans and a t-shirt to church because when they go into the house of the Lord they're not wearing their best of the best. Number one they might be, some people are, some people are poor. Number two God looks at the heart, and I don't know why people don't understand that the only dress requirement that Christians have is modest and proper. That's it, you know. We're not gonna, I'm not gonna wear a shirt that says I love big badonkadonks in the church or anywhere. Right, but I want a plain t-shirt, a plain green, you know. Whatever. Whatever color t-shirt, a plain green, you know whatever. Whatever color t-shirt, a pair of pants. I went to church several times like that. Most of the time I wear a collared casual dress shirt and a pair of black jeans, because most of the time I do like to dress up a little bit, but not even that Well, he just looks like a preacher. I want he just looks like a preacher. I want my preacher to look like a preacher.
Speaker 1:Have you ever read about John the Baptist? He was a preacher, he was a prophet. He looked kind of rough I like. We talked about Phil Robertson On last week's podcast.
Speaker 1:He said Do I look like a preacher, do you? And guess what? John the Baptist looked worse than me. That's true, he had a long beard eating honey and bugs. I love John the Baptist. He's a wild man, a wild man with a heart for God. But that guy doesn't pass the sound. He doesn't have the best sound, he doesn't sound the best. God's looking at your heart, god's looking at your heart, and God can take the hardest of hearts and make it flesh. King David was called a man after God's own heart. After he sinned tremendously, after he did a lot of bad stuff, god still called him a man after his own heart. I do. I pray sometimes. God, please let me be a man after your own heart. I think that should be all our prayers. I want to keep reading Verse 8.
Speaker 1:Then Jesse called to Abab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said the Lord does not choose this one either. Jesse then called to Shem and guys I'm mispronouncing all of these names, please forgive me. I'm not great with pronunciation or reading in general, but thank you for bearing with me. Nor has the Lord chose this one.
Speaker 1:Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel and Samuel said to him the Lord has not chosen these. So he asked Jesse, are these all the sons you have? They're still the youngest. Jesse answered he is tending the sheep. Samuel said Send for him. We will not sit down until he arrives. So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said Rise, anoint this one, anoint him, this is the one. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed it in the presence of his brothers and from that day on, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ram. So let's just talk before we read. So Jesse has eight sons, that I gather. He has eight sons and he brings all his sons out and every single one towards. It's not this one, not this one.
Speaker 1:What about this really tall, strong, young man? You know, I'd say most of Jesse's sons were probably very strong, working the fields in Israel. You know, it's not like they're eating Pizza Hut every other week like we do. Right, I'm picking on myself a little bit, okay, I don't actually eat Pizza Hut every other week I'm just being silly. They were strong, they didn't have cars, they walked places, they had to do manual hard labor. Then you have David.
Speaker 1:David, I'm not saying David wasn't strong, but he's the youngest. Even Jesse didn't think to bring David out In Jesse's mind. Well, god's not going to annoy David man. How heartbreaking, how heartbreaking would that be for King David and then for all of David's brothers to resent him. If you ever have some siblings and you don't even have to feel a call by God, but, man, in my case you feel a call from God you can feel some resentment there, and I've got great siblings. They haven't done anything mean to me like David's siblings bickered to him so. But you can feel a little resentment among your siblings. I know I can get an amen from someone out of that. I know I can, but you can have a resentment there, and especially the youngest one.
Speaker 1:Even I prayed that my heart would be great in this. Now I have a little sister, so I do think she would not be qualified to be a head pastor because she's a woman. We've went over this, but I do think God could do great things for her. She is 15 years old. No, she's 15 or 14. Forgive me, she just turned 14. If God started using her in a way to reach a lot of people, I would be so happy, but I pray that I wouldn't get a little jealous. It's just human nature here. I am 29 years old and god's using my 14 year old sister to reach people more than me, but god has the right to do it. God can choose who he wants to choose to preach his word and to serve him in whatever capacity he will want them to serve. So we have to pray and I think sometimes, when it comes to younger pastors and this is probably a reason why God had one reason why God was like you need to sit and chill, josh. You don't need to be a 21-year-old pastor yet. You don't need to be a 25-year-old pastor. Sit and chill a little bit.
Speaker 1:Older people can resent younger people in the behind the bull bit. It's not good, it's not right, because God uses young people all the time. But you have a 50-year-old guy and it's like what's this 25-year-old telling me how I should live my life? Well, it's not the 25-year-old. It's the 25-year-old reading the Word of God and trying to give you a message. And I understand it could be hard. Just human pride, human nature. Um, sometimes we can, young, we can learn things from people who are younger than us. We can, um, now, young people, that does not mean you should be jerks, okay. Um, you should be humble in giving the word of God. Be humble in the things that you do, okay, Especially if there's an older person that you're trying to help in this topic. Be humble, okay, I'm going to keep reading verse 14.
Speaker 1:Now the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. Saul's attendant said to him See an evil spirit from the Lord tormenting you. Let our Lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit comes to you and you will feel better. So Saul said to his attendants find someone who will play for me and bring him to me. One of the servants answered I have seen the son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the liar. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine looking man, and the Lord is with him. Then Saul sent message to Jesse and said send your son, david, who is with the sheep. So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them, with his son David, to Saul. David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much and David became one of his armor bearers. Then Saul sent the word to Jesse saying Allow David to remain in my service, for I am with him. Whenever the Spirit from God came on Saul, david would take up his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul, he would feel better and the evil spirit would leave him.
Speaker 1:So I used to have a hard time, and a part of me still does. I do get it. I understand God's sovereignty and trust, but the evil spirit upon Saul I don't believe that this is a demon or anything. I feel like it's more of a depression, like a very dark, dark depression, more than we would see, and it makes me feel why would God do that to King Saul? And I think it's a consequence of his sin in chapter 15 and him setting up the kingdom and getting David a foothold in Whatever it is. I trust God. So God sets this up to get David a foot in the door with King Saul. He's, you know, he's definitely got to be learning from Saul how Saul acts, how Saul governs. He sees Saul being king and one day he will be king. And God uses this humble shepherd boy with a harp to calm the mind of a mighty king and one day he will be king himself. Just a boy, himself just a boy, not great, not that he would stand out amongst even his brothers playing the harp of the Lord.
Speaker 1:And I am going to go back, I am going to give us a verse of the day. Actually, sometimes, when I read a lot of the Bible, I forget to give us a verse of the day and I apologize for that. But I'm going to give us a verse of the day from early in the chapter 1, samuel 16. But the Lord said to Samuel Do not consider his appearance, his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord says Do not look at things. People look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And that's man. That's a great message. The Lord looks at the heart.
Speaker 1:I want to play you guys a song, if the audio will work. If it will not work, I'm just going to read it to you, because I've been having some audio problems trying to play videos, but I want to play. You guys. What a friend we have in Jesus. Alright, guys, I'm just going to have to read the lyrics. I'm really frustrated about how my sound is picking up videos. I'm going to have to probably buy something. It's ridiculous. I apologize for that, but I'm going to leave us off by reading the words what a Friend we have and Jesus. Hopefully I can get a little bit better sound quality, so maybe we can just end on a song.
Speaker 1:It doesn't always have to be a hymn, but I wanted it to be today because I was thinking about all the people who complain about all our relationship songs and my belief in Jesus songs. And I agree, sometimes they go too far and get sloppy. But just be respectful. If you don't like praise and worship music, go to a church that doesn't have it. There's plenty of Bible-believing churches that still has hymns. Go to one of them. Listen to a. Actually, you can listen to hymns during the work week, during your week, but oh no, that's when I listen to Taylor Swift. That's when I listen to Post Malone and Eminem. So you'll complain that you're not listening to the music you like and you're not listening to the music you like at home, that's good and uplifting music. You'll listen to secular music, but not good and uplifting music at home and then complain to the pastor about this praise and worship music, and it goes both ways. It goes both ways so I want to start reading it now.
Speaker 1:What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
Speaker 1:What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we have trials and temptations. Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer, amen, amen. God bless you all. We will see you here next week at Overopinionated.
Speaker 1:If nothing big pops up in the news, which I know, there's big things in the news with Trump's big, beautiful bill and everything. But I really want to focus on this. I really do. There's thousands of political podcasts out there and I'm not abandoning it. Please don't think I'm abandoning it. It's very important to keep an eye on it still, but this is something that I really, really want to focus on. I feel really called to do character studies in the Bible, reading them a few chapters at a time. If this takes us a while, oh well, that's fine, it's worth the study, okay, God bless you all. We'll see you back here next week.
