Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Samuel chapter 16, and reading
from our text, verse 2. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill
me. And the Lord said, Take and have
her with thee. And say, I am come to sacrifice
to the Lord. 1 Samuel 16 and verse 2. And it is specifically this question
of Samuel, how can I go? I want to also look at it in
the sense, how can I? a path that is set before Samuel
here, and many of the Lord's dear people have those things
that are set before them, and this is the question that arises
in their hearts. How can I? How can I? And maybe you've come to the
Lord's house this evening, and the Lord knows your matter, your
path, and that which is set before you, and this is how you've been
going. can I? How can I go? How can
I do this? How can I walk in this path?
The Lord's shown me this way. He's answered my prayer, but
how can I? And this is a path that dear
Samuel here has set before him. And I want to look at for ways
this evening, not just confining in Samuel, that others in the
Word have asked this question as well. But I don't want to
move on to those points without first looking at the very situation
that Samuel is in here, and several very clear points that are bound
up with the text here. The first thing to note is here
that Samuel must move on. The Lord said to Samuel, how
long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him? In
the previous verse, in the previous chapter, we read that Samuel
came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless,
Samuel mourned for Saul. And the Lord is telling Samuel,
he must move on from this. He cannot stay mourning over
Saul. Samuel, no doubt, could remember
clearly the providences of how he came to anoint Saul and how
Saul was made king. And no doubt he longed that Saul
would walk in a right way, a godly way, and it grieved him that
he did not walk in that way. And here he is stuck in this
situation, maybe with some of you as well, in a situation you're
looking back all the time. You know, the Apostle Paul, he
says, forgetting the things that are behind and looking forward
to those things that before, He says that I strive, I run
the race that is set before me, looking unto Jesus. There is a right learning from
what we have passed through. We have that in Deuteronomy.
Thou shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee.
And we're not to forget what manner of persons we are or the
lessons we've learned in the past. But we shouldn't have those
things. dragging us back. So we're looking
back all the time. Bunyan in his Pilgrim's Progress,
he makes the point clear with his Christian that he's got no
armour on his back. He is to go forward. And we think
of the children of Israel even at the Red Sea. And Israel and
Egypt behind them, the wilderness in front but the Lord says saying
to them that they go forward and those things that are dragging
back they are to be passed on from and this is what the Lord
was saying to Samuel and saying to us if we are in the same situation
that we cannot get over the past we cannot get over those who
have been before us and all that has happened before us. And it
stops us from looking on and pressing on. So the Lord had
a word then for Samuel for this time. A way set before Samuel. And the way was to go and anoint
another. Anoint one of Jesse's sons. The Lord could easily have told
Samuel which son, couldn't he? But he didn't. It was to be found
out. It was to be directed at the
time, shown at the time, which was the one that the Lord had
chosen. Sometimes we like to have things,
Lord tell me everything at the start. I don't want to walk it
out step by step and unfold, but Lord says no. You think of
Joseph, he had the dreams, he knew what was before him, not
exact detail, but the walking of it out, he had to walk it
out step by step, until his time came, the word of the Lord tried
him. Don't be surprised, the Lord
hides things from us, and we need to walk it out by faith,
day by day, and the Lord show us when It is time for us to
know. And so Samuel had this way set
before him. Go, go to Bethlehem. I have provided for me one, a
king among his sons. I pause here. What a beautiful
thought, a type here concerning our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. David's greater son. The Lord has provided me a king. When we think of the Lord Jesus
Christ and our king, the king in Zion, and those words, I have
provided me a king, the king of the people of God, the king
of kings and lord of lords. My son said Abraham to Isaac,
God shall provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. But here
is another way. A king. A king shall reign in
righteousness. A king shall be anointed. A king shall be lifted up, exalted,
and it shall be the greatest son of David. The beautiful line in Matthew
where we have from Abraham to David, 14 generations, and from
David to the carrying away into Babylon, 14 generations, and
from the carrying away into Babylon and to Christ, 14 generations. And our Lord was to be the son
of David. From both lines, you take to
Joseph and to Mary. Down Solomon's line, you get
to Joseph. Down Nathan's line, you get to
Mary. You won't find that in any other
individual in Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ is set
forth truly as this provided King. May that be sweet to us,
precious to us, be directed to him where he shall be anointed,
where he shall be lifted up, he shall be shown above all his
brethren and be magnified in our sight. But now we have dear Samuel,
and this way he has a fear. He says, how can I go? How can
I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill
me. Do we have a fear in that way? How can I go? I believe this
was a very, very real fear. We think how Saul Later on, pursued
David, seeking to kill him at every opportunity he could. How many fear nots there are
in the Word of God. But the Lord had an answer for
Samuel here, what he was to do. The Lord's direction in his fears. Many times the Lord answers this. My mind goes to when our Lord,
as a babe, was taken by Joseph and Mary into Egypt because of
Herod. She sought to kill the child.
And then when Herod was dead, then he was directed to return. But as he was returning, then
he heard that his sun rained and he feared and so the Lord
directed him and he went into the coast of Galilee to Nazareth
and so we might have a path and we fear and instead of just saying well
we shouldn't fear we shouldn't bring this again to the Lord
We bring it to the Lord, and in that case, he showed another
path and another way. We think of David when he went
up to save those that were in Keilah when the Philistines were
robbing the threshing floors. The Lord told him to go up, but
his men, they said, we are in fear of our lives in the wilderness.
How much more then? His men were fearful. David goes
back to the Lord and asks the Lord again. And the Lord answers
him again to go up and that he will be with him and he will
save those who kill him. It's right to bring our fears
to the Lord. However much we might say, the
Lord has given clear direction. I shouldn't fear. I shouldn't
be worried. I shouldn't be burdened. Bring
those very fears to the Lord. Tell the Lord about it. Don't
try to hide them or imagine they're not there. The Lord knows our
hearts and the Lord is honoured in bringing those fears before
Him. The Lord then gives Samuel a
direction to hide the real purpose of his mission He was to say
that he comes to sacrifice unto the Lord, and he was. He was
going to sacrifice, but in doing that, he was to bring about another
mission. One of our hymns, it's hymn 132. We read in verse four of that
hymn, when frowns appear to veil his face, and clouds surround
his throne, he hides the purpose of his grace to make it better
known. Often the Lord uses those things
that we think, like dear Jacob, all these things are against
me. The Lord again didn't tell Jacob, look, your son Joseph
has gone before into Egypt. This is for your good. The Lord
hid that what she was really doing and he thought it was against
him. And here as well, the Lord has
an open reason that people are saying
this is why Samuel is coming. But there's another work going
on, another thing that is a more important thing that is happening. We need to remember that in our
lives. What I do? Thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter. Now some might say, well isn't
this deceitful of Samuel? No it is not. It would be if
this was a court of law, or if this was a church meeting, that
we're trying to get to the truth of a matter, and those that you
are asking what had happened, you're wanting to get to the
truth, And they were deliberately deceiving you, putting you off
the scent, telling you one thing was true and actually something
else was going on. That is deceitful. That is wrong. But in this case, it was a proper
mission, a sacrifice, but another work going on. And as we've said,
the Lord many times works in this way. It is said in Proverbs
that it is a fool that speaketh all his mind, that lays bare
everything that is thought in his head, and with the Lord many
things. He says, I have many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. There's a time to speak,
a time to show them to his disciples, and a time not to. So Samuel
goes, and the Lord then shows him who it is that is to be anointed. Samuel was going to make a mistake. He was thinking that surely the
Lord's anointed was before the Lord when he wasn't. And the Lord had to direct him
until it seemed that there was none left. It exhausted all of
the possibilities. Are here all thy children? The
Lord had said to him he had provided for him one amongst his sons. And then there's found David. Overlooked, despised perhaps,
and yet he is the anointed one. Again, beautiful time of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There's no form nor comeliness
that we should desire him. and he is not what man would
choose, but it's him whom God has chosen and God hath exalted. But after that choice, after
David was anointed in that way, you might say in a private anointing,
anointing that was not proclaimed so that Saul would know and Saul
would pursue after David or after Samuel, But immediately, immediately
the Lord begins to work and further this. We find that the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. Whatever it
was anointed with oil, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And then the Lord begins to work
in Providence, and he begins to work even in the taking away
of his spirit from Saul is the means of bringing David from
the sheep right into the king's palace right next to the king
to be taught and instructed and to learn the ways of court and
to be known by all of those round about Saul and no doubt you noted
as we read this how David was already known. One of the servants,
in verse 18, one of the servants had seen, and sometimes we don't
realize how many people are seeing us and watching us and observing
us and the things that they would say of us. Then answered one
of the servants, and you think of the things that he had observed
of David. I have seen a son of Jesse, the
Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, a mighty, valiant
man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person,
and the Lord is with him. The crowning thing, it is certain
the Lord was with him. And the Lord uses this desire
to calm Saul down from bringing David a skill in music. We shouldn't despise, you know,
if the Lord gives us a gift in something, as to how the Lord
might use that. Whether it's music, accountancy,
or whatever it is, engineering, or electronics, or whatever it
is, the Lord used, with David playing the harp, to bring him
in. If David couldn't have played
that harp, he wouldn't have been next to Saul at all. And so you
do not know. what a stepping stone how the
Lord will even use what may be a hobby, some skill like that
in his purpose and in bringing you to where he'd have you to
be. And then there follows in the
next chapter when the Philistines gathered together the well-known
account of Goliath and David had gone back to his sheep and
Therefore, 40 days, Goliath challenges Israel to have one captain, one
to come and fight against him. If that one was to overcome him,
then the Philistines would be servants to the Israelites. But
if Goliath overcame the Israelite that had been chosen, then Israel
would be servants to the Philistines. And for 40 days and 40 In scripture,
it's a testing word, 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days the
Lord was tempted in the desert, 40 days after the Lord rose from
the dead, then he ascended up into heaven. All the time, 40
is a testing time, a proving time. And it was proved there was no
help in Israel, not in Saul, not in anyone else. There was
a need of that, a need to prove there was no help in Israel before
David was then exalted and lifted up. And then another skill of
David in using the, with his sling, and there he has sat before
not just all of Israel and the king, but sat before the enemies
of the Lord as well. And so the Lord is using in providence
to reinforce what had been done in secret. He was setting his
seal. Now I think it was Thomas Boston
said that he would put more weight upon providence than he would
on words from the Lord. Because we can mistake a word
from the Lord that we think the Lord has spoken to us But Providence,
we cannot order others to do things. We cannot bring about
what God will not do. Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? You might
have a word that you're gonna have this job or this person
for a wife or a husband, but if they don't want you or they
don't offer you the job, then you can't have it. And Providence
is vital to go along with the Lord's word, prove all things,
hold fast to that which is good. Providence unfolds the book,
says the hymn writer, and makes his counsels shine. If the Lord has given you a word
and laid a word or promise upon your spirit, as it were, keep
it to yourself, lay it before the Lord in prayer and watch
providence. Watch to see the Lord going before
And don't force providence, but watch the Lord's hand. He that will watch providence
will not lack the providence to watch. Whoso is wise and will
observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. So we have this is the context. This is the picture that was
before Samuel here. and the context of which the
middle of it, how can I go? And without that objection, that
fear being resolved, Samuel could not go. It's very important for
him to be able to proceed that he was shown how, how he could
go. And you might say, well, that
is me. For me to proceed, for me to go forward, for me to act
in this way, To overcome these fears, I need this as well. I need the answer to my how can
I. And so I want to look at four
instances. We introduce them as we go. And I want to begin here with
this account, but put it in this way. How can I proceed in the
way directed to overcome the fear of man? Because that is
what Samuel had here, the fear of man. And we're told, the fear
of man bringeth a snare. And I have proved it. I've proved
it in my life. So wanting to do a thing, wanting
to proceed in a matter, to obey the Lord, to walk in a way that
is honoring to Him. And I could not. And no amount
of resolutions and no amount of effort to do. until the Lord
appeared and blessed my soul and took away the fear of man."
And that does bring a snare. Many, many things. We read, when
our Lord was on earth, there were those that believed on Him
but did not confess Him, lest they be thrown out of the temple. We have the parents of the man
that was born blind, and they wouldn't even confess. They said,
he is of age, ask him. They didn't want anything to
do with it because they didn't want to be cast out of the temple. The Lord has said in John 17,
I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them. As
soon as we have the word of God and we begin to walk according
to the word of God, then we will find that that walk is contrary
to the world. And those that are of the world
they will oppose that. And then there is the feeling
also of ourselves and what we are, and how we view ourselves. I remember in even making profession,
in venturing, to make an open profession, knowing my own sin,
this will come as a shock, a surprise to others. They won't receive
my testimony. I felt that too in going forth
into the ministry. I thought, what will my father
say? Who's in the ministry? How will he receive this? And
he says, I thought you'd go years ago. That was his response. And
we have those fears as to how people will react and what they
will say is very real fear. And Samuel had that here. It is the Lord that is able to
take away the fear of man, is able to release from that snare. He has the ability to do it.
I know it, I proved it so, and I proved it in the blessing of
the Lord. and to wait upon the Lord for
it. And for me, some three months
or so. And it is vital that the Lord
come and bless in that way. So we see no man but Jesus only. You think of even Elijah being
so greatly used of the Lord on Mount Carmel, able to stand before
Ahab, And then Jezebel says she's going to kill him. And he fears,
and he flees, and he runs away, wishes that he would die. Elijah,
Elias, a man subject to like passions as we are. Strong one
moment, weak the next. Full of strength one minute,
and next minute full of fears. Is that you? It is me. Creatures of fear. We drag along
with fear where no fear is. So if your question is this,
through the fear of man, how can I go? How can I walk in this
path? Take it to the Lord. Take it
to the Lord as Samuel did and let the Lord manage it. He's
directed you He doesn't say, look, just overcome
that fear. Just push through it. When the Lord gives faith, the
Lord gives help, He does give help. And He does give strength. And He helps Samuel here. He'll
help you too. Help me. The second point that I bring
before you is that of Moses. In Deuteronomy 1, verse 12, we
read Moses saying to the children of Israel, How can I, myself
alone, bear your cumbrance and your burden and your strife? There are several accounts of
this. In one case, we have Moses' father-in-law observing how the
people were queuing up to receive judgment from Moses, and he said,
you wear yourself away and the people away. You cannot bear
this alone. Here it is, Moses is rehearsing
again at this point. A people, a responsibility, a
weight that was upon Moses, and it appeared here that he must
bear it all alone, and maybe become this evening. And you
think, how can I bear this responsibility? How can I bear this weight? How
can I carry it alone? May have come feeling very alone,
as if this matter, this burden, This trial, this impossibility,
you're carrying it all alone. The scriptures say, bear ye one
another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Pray one for
another. A burden shared is a burden halved. Here the Lord provided for Moses,
those 70 rulers from amongst their tribes, those that were
to be used to deal with the lesser matters, the cause that is too
hard for you, he said to them, bring it unto me. But the lesser
matters he delegated and it lessened the burden and the weight from
off him. And what is upon my spirit on
this point, is whether it is of a matter relating to your
family, personally, or the church, and it may be you feel you're
the only one that feels the concern or the burden and the weight
of this, and you feel very alone in bearing it, but you might
say, how can I myself alone bear this? But bring it before the
Lord, and the Lord again, knows how to help. Cast thy burden
upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. You give his people that
strength equal to their day and help them. In a way it is a direction
for delegating responsibility where there is the way. Paul felt it, he said, that falls
on me, the care of all the churches, and he felt that responsibility. And if we are in positions of
responsibility, whether a pastor or a preacher or a deacon or
an elder, it is right that we should feel that responsibility,
take it seriously. But really in a way, how can
we bear it alone without taking it to the throne of grace again
and again? How can I? of being able to continue,
the secret of able to keep going, how can I, is in bringing it
to the Lord. In ourselves, no, we cannot.
We have no might, we have no power, we cannot endure. It is
the Lord's mercies and help to be able to bear that path. The third point I'll bring before
you is the children of Israel going into the promised land. And again, starting in Deuteronomy
chapter 7 and verse 17, there had been the command that they
should go into the land, that they should completely destroy
the inhabitants of the land, they should dispossess them,
take away the Canaanites, they should live in their place, that
was their inheritance. And there is a how can I? And it is supposing that they
would say this, if thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations
are more than I, how can I dispossess them? In a way, the nations around
about is a picture really of the children of God and that
which is in their hearts, their old nature that is still there. The conflict between the new
man of grace and the old man of sin, that casting out of the
old man, the dealing with sin. How can I dispossess? How can
I Get rid of this lust, this temptation, this sin, this corruption. How can I overcome these things? It seems too great. You see the
children of Israel beginning their conquest, and all these
enemies, all these adversaries, all like a great cloud. And there's
no greater, as it were, adversary than that which comes as an opposer
of the child of God. than their own sinful, corrupt,
evil heart rises up against the Lord, its pride, its corruptions. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know Him? You see, Paul,
he says, I keep under my body, lest after I preach to others
I become a castaway. And all the time there's this
rising up, He says, the good that I would, I do not. The evil
that I would not, that I do. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? And it is a constant
conflict, is if I do that which I would not. It's no more I that
do him, but sin that dwelleth in me. What is his answer? I
thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. There is a deliverance. If ye, through the Spirit, do
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. The Lord Jesus
Christ shall lift up a standard against the adversary. He knoweth
the heart of man. And you know, the children of
Israel, thinking of this time, when they first turned back,
was at this very same point. Because the twelve spies, ten
of them said, There's so many adversaries. There's giants,
the land that eateth up the inhabitants. They moved Israel against Moses,
against their leaders, even against Joshua and Caleb who brought
the good report. And so they were then driven
into the wilderness for 40 years. And here again, when they then
come into the land, it's still the same snare, the same thing,
these same adversaries, these same old historical inhabitants
of the land. And we could go back, and sometimes
I go back, and I think the sins that plagued me, or then they
didn't plague me in my youth and childhood, They still are
a trouble and a trial to me now. The scriptures speak of our besetting
sins, and each one has their own. Knoweth its heart, every
heart knoweth its own bitterness. And the heart doesn't change,
and I look right back, and any thoughts I had 40 years ago,
are they being different now? Well, it's not. It's still the
same conflict, still the same old nature, It's still the same
opposition, still the same hatred to the things of God, but by
grace there's that love of the Lord, though sometimes we fear
greatly our little we love. And the new man of grace is like
bunion again with his pilgrim's progress, for it's that oil that
he's poured on, that secret life and that strengthening of the
soul. in the midst of all of that water that is poured on.
If this is your word, your fear, how can I dispossess these? And maybe these things are joined
together. How can I go? Because how can
I manage these corruptions of my heart? How can I overcome
the fear of man and all these things? How can I? How can I? And they're all joining together. or that we might be delivered
from the I, how can I? And directed to the Lord, what
the Lord will do. What we cannot do, the Lord will
do. No Gideon, how could he overcome
the Midianites? The Lord brought his army down
to 300, but it was that the glory and honor be the Lord's and not
Gideon's. And when the Lord appears for
his people, they know and they say, like the apostle, I laboured
more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but the grace of God,
which was with me. I am what I am, not by my own
efforts, not by my own wisdom and might. I am what I am by
the grace of God. And he puts the crown on the
Lord's head. On the last one I bring before
you, is that which was spoken by the eunuch to Philip in Acts
8. Philip heard, come to him and
directed to him and he asked this question as he is reading
the prophet Isaiah and he says to him, understandest thou what
thou readest? And the eunuch, he answers, he
says, How can I? How can I except some man should
guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. Understandest thou? You know
the parable of the sower, the difference between the one that
fell on, the seed fell on the wayside was immediately Taken
up, the Lord said, it was him that heard the word and understandeth
it not. And then the one that bore fruit
into good ground, prepared ground, was the one that heard it and
understood it. The disciples, the Lord opened
their understanding that they should understand the scriptures. Paul said, I would rather speak
five words with the understanding than 10,000 words in an unknown
tongue. The Lord will cause his people
to understand, and understand that which the world cannot understand,
and that which we cannot understand of ourselves. And to think here,
the Lord used ministry. He used Philip's ministry. He has pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. And under
that one sermon, the eunuch went from not knowing who the prophet
was speaking of, whether himself or another man, to knowing that
Christ was set forth, and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to be then baptized in that one sermon and one account. How can I except some man should
guide me? The Lord said that he had promised
the Holy Spirit that he shall not speak of himself, but he
shall guide you into all truth. He shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you. The Holy Spirit is the guide
and instructor of the people of God. You asking tonight, how
can I understand How can I understand the scriptures? How can I understand
the way? It is as the Lord opens it up,
line upon line, here a little and there a little, opening the
eyes, opening the ears, opening the understanding. Is this your how can I? What
a blessed thing it would be. through the Word this evening,
or through the ministry of the Lord's servants at another time,
the Lord brings such a change, such a blessed result, as what
was known here by the eunuch, that how can I turn to such a
testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and his testimony, I believe,
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and upon that he was
baptized. Well, if our question this evening,
our word before the Lord has been this, how can I, or maybe
you've added the go as well, how can I go? May the Lord show
you the way. How you can go. How you can move
on. From where you are now, the Lord
add his blessings.