CROWNED WITH HOPE

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.”  So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:11-13)

 

 

But, we don’t like to wait do we?  Yet, Scripture says that is through patience that we inherit the promises of God (Heb.6:12).  God doesn’t make his saints in a microwave, but a crock pot!

There has been a pattern established throughout the Old Testament portraits of hope that we have seen studied—God gives a vision, there is the death of the vision, and then God resurrects it.

Adam and Eve were created for hope, but that hope was shattered as a paradise became a place of death because of sin.  God would resurrect that hope through the Last Adam—Jesus Christ who came to reverse the curse.

Abraham was called to hope.  God summoned him with a promise that he would be the father of many nations although he and his wife Sarah were old and childless at the time.  The biological clock ticked down and years later when it was impossible for the aged couple to have a child, God brought a miracle baby named Isaac into their lives.

Joseph showed the conquest of hope.  He had a dream that he related to his brothers that they would one day bow to him.  His brothers sought to destroy that dream.  They sold him into slavery, and he wound up in a prison in Egypt.  But God brought him out, placed him as second to Pharaoh in Egypt and one day his brothers did bow before him!  Hope had conquered.

Moses displayed the confidence of hope.  He was birthed for a special purpose—to be the deliverer of his people from slavery.  But, he prematurely took matters into his own hands in an abortive attempt and because of that failure had to flee for his life.  There would follow forty years of desert discipline getting him ready for his task.  Then God called his name and dispatched him to do his duty.  Reading the story should fill us with a confident hope in God’s faithfulness despite our fears, failings and frailties.

Now, we come to David.  He will be crowned with hope.  The same pattern of the birth, death and resurrection of a vision will be seen in him.  David had to wait, but God was at work.