02/27/2024 – God wants to use you to shape the future
1 Samuel 16: 1 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” 2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”
Servants of God are instruments of Godly change. God uses them to shape the future. Let’s look at Samuel and how God used him to change the future of His people forever. The people of God were in a vicious cycle of sin. That is the best description of a life without God- nothing new under the sun. Do not seek change in anyone but God. He is the only one who can effect positive change.
We are naturally opposed to Godly change. As much as we want in our spirit to be transformed and sanctified, the process seems impossible to us. The first reason for that is that we would rather hold on to the past, as bad as it may be, than dare trust God for the future. Samuel knew that God had rejected Saul as king, but instead of praying and looking for who God accepted, he wasted time and energy mourning for the past. If it did not happen, it was not God’s will. There is a season of mourning…but there is new hope that comes from God for every loss.
Listen to God’s instructions for Samuel, the prophet of God. For this purpose, he was chosen…to get Israel out of the vicious cycle of sin. God said to him: fill your horn with oil. Here is the first and most important action you can take…you must take for a Godly future, a blessed future. Do you want a blessed year, a Godly future for you and your family? Fill your horn with oil. We know that oil represents the Spirit. Before Samuel could anoint David, he had to fill his horn with oil.