Welcome again dear reader! Today we are going to continue to look at the spiritual ingredients God needs to bring forth from our lives to truly, “walk by faith and not by sight.” Yesterday we learned of the lowliness of faith, and today we will continue on leaning about the “things without honor.” Let us review our text scripture for this study.
1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."
The word “honor” means: high public esteem, fame, glory, high respect as in worth, merit or rank, the privilege of being associated with or receiving honor from respected person, group, or organization. It means having special rank or privilege or distinction amongst peers.
We have learned that God has chosen, the foolish, the feeble, the week and the lowly as ingredients for us to walk by faith and not by sight. Today we will learn that He has chosen people who to the world, and to many in the church itself, have no honor or apparent importance. He has chosen those who have NO public esteem, fame, glory or high respect as in worth, merit or rank. He chooses people who don’t receive honor from “respected people, organization or “ministry association.” He chooses those who have no special rank, privilege or distinction amongst their peers.
Why does God look for these ingredients in a person? I believe it is this, “that no flesh would glory in his sight.” God chooses the weakest and neediest of people because when He works through them, everyone will know that it is God working in them. When the multitude looked upon Steven, they said his face shined like an angel.
King David was described to us as a “man after God’s own heart.” When God chose him to be King over Israel, he was the LAST one brought before the prophet Samuel. David is an example of what means to be chosen by God because he was without honor amongst men.
In 1st Samuel chapter 16 1-15, Samuel is weeping over the failure of King Saul and the Lord calls him and tells him to get up and go to Jesse, the Bethlehemite and go anoint one of his sons as the new king of Israel. The Lord tells him these words in verse 1, “I have chosen for myself a King from amongst his sons!”
What we need to learn today is how God chooses “things that are without honor.” In verse 6-10 Jesse presents all his sons before Samuel to see who the Lord has chosen. He starts with the oldest one Eliab. Eliab was strong, handsome and well respected amongst his brothers. So outwardly strong that he was well honored by his father and even by Samuel. Listen to Samuel’s words in verse 6, “SURELEY THE LORD’S ANOINTED IS BEFORE HIM.” Beloved, Eliab had every natural quality to be a leader and king of Israel. He was honored, respected and desired above his brothers, yet God does not choose him.
David was a man that we see to be the greatest King Israel ever had. His heart was so pure before God, that God Himself promises to have one of his sons, sit upon his throne forever and ever. We know that Jesus himself as a man came through the line of David as a son. Yet, David’s selection by God confounds human wisdom and understanding. He was small, ruddy, red hair, pretty, hansome to look at, but not Kingly. He looked more like a "surfer boy," then a weight lifter. He had no “natural” qualities that would even suggest he could be a king. Eliab had all those qualities as a man and would make a better selection for a King than David by human standards.
But God is not a man, nor does He see as a man sees. Listen to the rebuke the Lord speaks to the great prophet Samuel concerning his discernment on selecting a king. Verse 7, “ and the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look upon his face or his continence, or how tall he is, for I have rejected him, For the Lord sees not as a man sees, for man looks on the outer appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart! One by one each son was brought before the prophet, and none met God’s standard.
What standard was the Lord looking for? Each one of the older sons had a quality that could have surely made a good king from a human stand point. I want you to consider something, Jesse knows the prophet has come to choose a king and he brings all his sons before him EXCEPT David! Do you remember what the word honor means: high public esteem, fame, glory, high respect as in worth, merit or rank, the privilege of being associated with or receiving honor from respected person, group, or organization. It means having special rank or privilege or distinction amongst peers.
Jesse gave this honor to the first seven sons by presenting them to Samuel. In verse 10 we read, “ and Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, THE LORD HAS NOT CHOSEN THESE! So much for human wisdom and selection! The Lord has not chosen these. So who would God choose?
1st Corinthians chapter 1 tell us that: But God has chosen the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."
The Lord was about to choose the exact opposite of what men would choose as ingredients to be king. If there was a man who knew how to “walk by faith, and not by sight” it was David. He was the man that would kill Goliath. He was the man that would continually defeat the Philistines. He was the man that would establish Jerusalem as Israel’s home. This man would be both priest and king before God by establishing a tabernacle to meet the Lord, called David’s Tabernacle. Here we find a man not ashamed to dance naked before the Lord. A man who continually would seek God’s face in every battle to get his direction.
He found a man full of mercy, compassion and love like no other before or after him. The Lord found for himself a king! The life of David shows us a man who was quite flawed in many ways, but a man after the very heart of God Himself. The psalms and songs he wrote our a testimony of someone who is foolish in men’s eyes, but beloved in God’s eyes.Israel grew to love and honor David as their king, not for his power, stature or might but for His deep relationship with the Lord who was with him always.
In the movie “One night with the King”, Esther, another person chosen by God who had no honor before men, had to make a decision to go before the King unsummoned. This act would mean her death if the King did not extend His scepter to acknowledge her. As she stood before the eunuch who trained her to be a queen, she says to him these words as he begs her not to go. She says, “ I will go before the King as David did before Goliath and killed him.” She smiles at the eunuch and tells him, “ Do you know what I love about this story? It is that David did not win the battle over Goliath because he fought well, but because HE BELIEVED WELL!
Beloved, this man of no honor with men won His victories not because he fought well, but that HE BELIEVED WELL! This is what it means to “walk by faith, and not by sight.” David wasn’t chosen because of the “honor” of men, but David had the “honor” of God who called him, “ a man after my own heart.” This is what a real life of faith requires.
It is not the nobility of David that made him a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, but the lack of it in the sight of men. This lack of honor from man made him a prime candidate for the honor of God. David loved what God loved.He loved God intimately because He found the love He needed in God Himself because he was despised and rejected by his own brethren and Father. Remember, Faith works by love.
Let us close with the verses from 1st Samuel concerning David’s selection as King, and as we do may we pray that this quality of the Spirit of not having or needing the honor of man be our motivation for seeking the Lord. May God continue to work in us these qualities so we can truly be as the “just who shall live by faith.” Holy Spirit teach us how to forever live in our emptiness to receive your fullness so we can “walk by faith and not by sight,” as David did.
1Samuel 16:11-13, “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
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