"Fear God, Love God, Serve God": "The Last Shall Be First"

"But many that are first shall be last;

and the last shall be first."

(Matthew 19:30)

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.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height

of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees;

for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither

has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by.

And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Thus Jesse made seven

of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse,

“The Lord has not chosen these.”

God told Samuel that He had not chosen any of the seven sons of Jesse who

attended the sacrificial feast. It wasn’t that these sons of Jesse were bad men,

but they were not God’s choice. God had a man in mind different

from Samuel’s or Jesse’s expectation. 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.”*

This shows the low regard David had among his own family. First, his

father doesn’t even mention him by name. Second, he wasn’t even invited

to the sacrificial feast. Third, he would not have been brought

unless Samuel insisted on it. 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.*

The Last was made First!

David anointed King by Samuel

It's not fun to be LAST, to be chosen for the team only because you're the last one standing there, to be the last one anybody wants, to feel as though you were a "pity" choice, to pick up your heavy feet and trudge over and join all the others chosen first ... But, Almighty God thinks of everything, and He ALWAYS sees the intricate yearnings of the heart, so what does He do? He says one of the most beautiful of all His words, "The Last Shall Be first."

All of Jesse's sons were paraded one by one in front of Samuel, but the Lord spoke to Samuel's heart as each one passed by that "No, he's not the one." And, where was David? He was out keeping the sheep, singing love songs to His Creator, strumming his harp and writing poetry to the lover of his soul, and daydreaming about the heavens and the stars, with not a thought about what was about to happen to change his entire life. He would suddenly be the Last son ushered in, to be anointed the First above his brothers for the first time, and to be ruler over them and all of Israel. When God does something; He does it Good!

"The public anointing was the outcome of what had taken place in private between David and God long before.” (Redpath) Huh? The anointing comes to the one who sits at the feet of God, the one who communes with Him and seeks Him in the wee hours of the morning, the one who knows Him in an intimate way, the one who yields to His whispers, moves with His winds, sees through His eyes, and not only worships Him, but partakes in His hearbeat and vision ...

What was it about David that made God love him so? We're told that he had "a heart after God," but was it even more than that? Was there a special something that WE can delve into to be those whom God loves and is drawn to, like David. Oh, He loves all of us, to be sure, but there are those whom the Lord chooses to anoint with special anointing to lead His people, and to endure the Faith tests and succeed, like Abraham, Moses, Esther, Daniel, Joseph, and Paul ... But, when we think of David; we think LOVE. He was so in love with his God, so enamored with Him, so adoring of Him, and the Psalms prove it ... There are no other more beautiful in all the world than the Psalms of David. Oh, he made his mistakes later on, and he paid for them, as we all do ... what we reap, we will sow, but David had a repentant heart. Herein is what makes the Last to be First ...

What draws the Creator of the universe more than anything else? What gets His attention? What moves Him? Two things: Faith and the Repentant heart. David had both. That's why he was last, but became first; that's why almighty God loved the heart of David; that's why the humility of David exalted him. The name "David" means 'beloved,' and 'godlike.' In God's mindset, down is up, to bow lower is to climb higher, to be humbled is to be exalted; so it's perfectly reasonable that "The Last Shall Be First."

Can God find David's today ... men and women who will stand for the truth against all odds, who will dance before Him, who will worship Him with a "heart after God," who will humble themselves to be exalted in Him, who were Last in the world's eyes ... but will now be First ...