Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-11-30

l. II win send thee 20 Jesse the Bethle
hemste, for / have provided me king
among his sons The last verse Of the
previous chapter shows that. although
samuel came not near saul any more, yet
he chung 10 him in his heart II is a
searching question. Am l wholly with
God I'M everything, or do I Ia any sense
cling 10 that which He has disapprovedy
Observe the words - viii send have
provided. In Saul's case It was God in
dnIging the people, but now il Is God
working and choosing for His pleasure.
See PS. xviii, 20; lxxxix, la. 20.
:. Take an heifer with thee and say, l
ann come 20 sacrifice 20 the Lord Ii is
not like samuel to be afraid of a man elsa.
Ii. ~. but the least lack OF fellowship
with God Is apt 60 cause poor vision, and
tremblings of heart, aud fears and fore
bodings Whom God speaks. II IS not ours
10 reason. but simply obey. "Nilliag and
obedientN are the words FOR us il we would
ext the good of the land and soc he power
OF the Lord lisa. /, i9l, He secs the end
from the beginning and always knows
what He viii do lisa. XVI, 10; John vi, o.
g. ~ viii shew thee what thou shalt
do Here is sure guidance, Samuel had
only 60 trust and obey. The Ierd sends
provides, shows and names, and samuel
watches to see His way The same Lord
will guide us in all that which lie requires
OF us, and we may In quietness aud conf
dence dwell with Him for His work lisa.
Xxx, 10; l Chron. ~, 81. As 20 His
guidance see Ps. xxi, s; Isa xxx, 2l;
Xviii, II. To enjoy Him and be led by
Him we must be as clay in the hands of
the potter, with no viii of our own.
f. "And Samuel did that which the
Lord spake and came TO Bethlehem, and
the elders of the town trgmblod at his com
ing" There was no occasion 60 tremble II
they had been walking with God. The
cody man can say, what time l am
afraid l will trust in Thee. Or, better
still, Il will trust and not be afraid FPS.
wi, 8; lisa. xii, %. The Lords thoughts
to His people are always thoughts Of peace
(Jer xxx, IL; Ps lxxxv, $; John xiv,
21l. To believe what He SAYS and do what
He tells us is always pleasing unto Him.
3. Il am come TO sacrifice unto the
, Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with
me to the sacrifice" He uses the very
words of the Lord (verse %, and in this he
was very safe and right. The Lord mes
senger should say exactly what the Lord
tells him Thus did jeremiah and Ezekiel
and our Lord Jesus Christ also (Jer. l., z;
4, Eek ii, z; iii, 4, IL; John xii 49,. We are
never, under any circumstances, TO lie,
but we are not supposed always TO tell all
we know to everybody.
g. "Surely the Lord $ anointed is before
Him" This said Samuel as he looked
upon Elijah, Jesse's oldest son. but had he
been looking to the Lord and watching for
His message he woald not have spoken
thus. 1t seems so easy for us to look away
from the Lord and use our own eyes or our
own judgment. But all this we must CON
tend against, and prayerfully and patiently
seek and wait His guidance.
T. "Man looketh on the outward appear
ance, but the Lord looketh on the heart
Not until the heart is right are we I'm any
sense right before GOD. The natural heart,
or carnal mind, is enmity against God and
never can be made better (ROm. viii, y,
but when we receive Jesus Christ we are
said to be born anew, or from above, and
then we have new heart which cannot
sin, while the old can do nothing but sin.
This is the work of the Spirit through the
Word. A person may be outwardly all
that can be desired, even TO moral charac-
ter, but if the heart is not a new heart, if
Christ is not there, all else goes for naught.
Ponder / John V, IL. The whole world is
wrong, and viii be- till the heart gets right,
which is Israel and Jerusalem, and the
throne of David
$40 Neither hath the Lord chosen
this "The Lord hath not chosen these
AS the seven sons of Jesse passed before
Samuel the verdict for each was Not
chosen" Let us bear in mind that this
was "a question of service, not Of salvation.
For salvation the word ever stands, "Him
that cometh to me, / will in no wise cast
OUT John vi, 37). But : service il Is
still tue that few are chosen, not be-
cause the Lord does not want them, but
because they do not want Him; they are
not willing to submit wholly to Him, and
His Word and His ways not willing 10
have Him think for Them and act through
them and live just to please Him in all
things.
H. "There remaineth yet the youngest,
and behold he keepeth the sheep. This
was Jesse's reply to Samuels question as
to whether all his sons were present or not.
Jesse evidently was expected to bring all
his sons, but he supposed the lad David
would not be wanted, and that was just
where he was mistaken. 1t is generally
the unlikely one that is wanted and the
unlikely and unexpected thing that hap
pens. Let us keep nothing back from God,
but yield to Him every whit that He may
use what He pleases. David was the
eighth son (vii, 12), which is suggestive
of the resurrection Man and the resurrcc-
ton day. the man who to the Jews was so
unacceptable that they killed Him. II has
made me laugh in my heart many time
to see all those big brothers passed by and
set aside, and the whole proceedings at a
standstill until little David is sent for and
arrives upon the scene. We do not know
how David took his being left at home that
day Perhaps his mother comforted him
if he needed any, but we may learn this
lesson, Where God wants you TO be there
He will put you.
10. "And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. - When at last the sur
prised boy arrived, this was the Lords
message to Samuel This is our first in
PRODUCTION TO the man after Gods own
heart, who is mentioned about 900 times
IN the Old Testament, and so in the New.
Even his outward appearance is fair to
look upon, but his heart is right with God,
and he has already learned to trust Him
for great things (chapter xvii, 34-37).
10. "Then Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the midst Of his breth-
rem, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon
David from that day forward The re-
vised yersios says, Game nightly upon
David, . which makes the meaning more
plain, as the Spirit must have been on
him before. BY comparing ii Sam. ii, 4,
and Y, 3, with this verse we see that David
nv