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.’ 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.”
— First Samuel 16:2-3
After God commanded Samuel to stop mourning for Saul, whom He had rejected, He sent him to anoint another king from among the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite (1 Sam. 16:1). Samuel feared Saul would kill him if he found out the reason for his journey. Therefore, God told him to say he was going in order to offer a sacrifice. After he arrived at Jesse’s home, he invited Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.
This picture should impress us. Like David, we are being called to something so high, but we must also realize that we are being called to an altar of sacrifice. If we desire to be useful to the Lord, we must be prepared to become a sacrifice, having no rights or freedom to do our own things. Once we become a sacrifice, anything we had as a life outside of God is finished.
Adapted from David: After God’s Heart, page 42.
Tomorrow: “Choosing David”