The Bible is clear that God has a plan for your life. He wants to use you. When I say, God wants to use you, that word “use” may have a negative connotation but God doesn’t use people and dispose of them.

He involves us in a way that affirms our value. God enables us to do great things that we may not have the opportunity to accomplish apart from Him.

“It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.” Pastor Rick Warren

 The people God uses are not exclusively distinguished by titles, notoriety, or accomplishments.

• If you don’t see how where you are currently in life is going to get you to where you want to be, today’s message is for you.
• If you feel like you’ve been overlooked or that others are more gifted than you, then today’s message is for you.
• If you feel like your best days are behind you and not in front of you, today’s message is for you

If you have a pulse, God has a purpose for you.

1 Samuel 16:1-13 is one of those passages of scriptures that shows the beautiful collision of our humanity and our spirit. When God asks Samuel to go to a man named Jesse’s house, his first response is fear.

Great men and women in the Bible did not have a super faith that automatically silenced every aspect of their humanity, but like you and me, they had to work through their humanity and choose to live by faith.

This shows us that fear and faith can occupy the same space and not nullify faith. Fear does not automatically diminish faith unless we choose to partner with fear and not faith. Samuel obeyed God and partnered with faith, even while feeling fear.

As Samuel arrives, all he knows is that God is going to choose one of the sons of Jesse but has no idea or given any criteria to identify who he will be.

He first meets Jesse’s oldest son and thinks to himself; this is the one! Take note, we don’t always have to say what we are thinking.

 It would be natural for Samuel to assume Eliab was the man. He was the first-born, which was a position of honor and responsibility in Jewish culture. He had all the appearances of a strong leader.

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

 That term rejected is a strong word but carries the basic meaning that he was not chosen for this task. God has a different purpose for Eliab.

Don’t be discouraged when what you want is not what you get. If you always got what you wanted, you might find out that what you wanted wasn’t what you thought it would be.

Getting what we want may also derail us from our primary purpose.

Seven of Jesse’s sons pass by Samuel, and he wonders if he’s at the right house. He asks, “Are all your sons here?” Let me paraphrase Jesse’s response, “There is the youngest, but he is tending to the flocks, he’s not kingly-material.”

David was not viewed as a likely candidate by his family. He hangs out with sheep all-day, telling stories of killing wild beasts who attempt to attack his flocks, he writes poetry and sings all the time, this kid is no king.

David didn’t fit the mold of other people’s standards. But God doesn’t use the mold other people have created.

God used the menial task of sheep-keeping to prepare David for his divine purpose. Everyone counted David out, but God was counting on David. So what was it that made David stand out among the other qualified applicants?

Acts 13:22 says, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.”

Above all else, David wanted to honor God and obey Him, and that’s what set David apart. He was forgotten and overlooked, but God had His eye on him the entire time. Likewise, God has not forgotten you! 

• Noah was 600 years old when God used him to build an Ark.
• Abraham was 75 when God called him, and 99 years old when Isaac, the promise, was born.
• Moses was over 80 years old when he liberated God’s people from slavery.

So where are you on the journey of purpose today? Are you walking in your purpose or are you still searching for it? Maybe you are in your season of preparation?

Significance isn’t a matter of making the most money or being the Chief. It’s found in doing and being who you were created to be. Continue to work with excellence and be faithful with what you have been entrusted as God prepares you for what’s next!