God Chooses David to Be King of Israel

David is Chosen by God to be King of Israel

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Main point: God blesses people who listen to Him.

Key Verse: I Samuel 16:7b Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Props: A handful of dollar bills; a picture of your children

Say This: Are there any kings in the world today? Maybe you don’t know their names, but what do you think they look like? How do you think they live? What do they do for their country? Are they good or bad? Let’s look at a few…

PowerPoint:

Say This: Now you know the names and faces of some modern day kings.

Are these kings good or bad?

We can’t tell if a person is good or bad based upon what they look like. The way a person acts tells us if they are good or bad. This is an important thing to remember all throughout life.

Say This: There is a country called Israel.

PowerPoint:

Say This: A long time ago, Israel trusted in the One true God to be their leader. GOD Himself was KING over the nation of Israel, and Israel was blessed not to need a human king like the other nations. God provided everything His Hebrew people could ever want, and He provided it perfectly, since He is a perfect God.

Say This: Israel didn’t need a king, but they heard other nations speak of their human kings. Suddenly, they wanted to be like the other nations. They didn’t listen to God, but listened to other nations talk about how great it was to have a human king.

The people in Israel wanted to be like the other nations; they wanted a human king too!

God wanted to be their only Ruler, and He warned them of the dangers of having a king as their leader. The people chose a human ruler - one that was not perfect and made mistakes - over an All-Perfect, All-Knowing, and Powerful GOD!

They would have to pay taxes

Prop: Have a handful of dollar bills; “give” them to a leader.

They would have to obey the king(Describe what this would be like: if the king wants his silver cups polished, you have to polish them; if he wants his chariot washed, you have to wash it. And if he wanted you to disobey God and His ways, you would be forced to do so.)

Their sons and daughters would be his slaves

Prop: Show a picture of your children; help the kids imagine what it would be like for their parents to give them away as slaves to their king).

God clearly warned the people.

Ask: Do you think they listened to God?

Say This: Sadly, they did not listen to God. Despite all the warnings God gave to the people, they insisted that they wanted a king.

Application: Do you ever insist on your own way even though you’ve been warned?

Say This: Though God gave the Israelites what they asked for, it was NOT what God wanted for His people, and many trials and hardships were to follow.

Application: Life always becomes more difficult when you choose your own way.

(Teacher – You may want to remind them about the people who build the Tower of Babel. It was hard work to make those bricks and build that Tower. Sin always makes things hard!)

Say This: God told Israel they didn’t need a king. He was their King, and He was all they needed. But they weren’t satisfied with God, and envied the other nations. And from that sin of envy, they grew dissatisfied by wanting a human king.

Application: How could someone not be satisfied with God? (Because they don’t trust Him, don’t listen to Him, don’t know Him. They listen to other people rather than listening to God).

Say This: Israel wasn’t satisfied with God, so God gave them a human king.

Ask: Does anyone know his name?

Say This: Saul. Saul was the first king of Israel. And can you believe that things already started turning sour after the first king was anointed. It doesn’t take long for sin to spoil things.

Saul was anointed king by the godly prophet, Samuel.

Saul hid himself when he found out that Samuel was going to announce him as the king of Israel.The leaders of Israel had to talk him into accepting the position!

He started his “career” as king very humbly, even though he was the most handsome man in all of Israel.

But he became proud and disobedient; that ruined everything!

Saul became a man that did NOT listen to God!

Shortly after Saul was appointed king, he sinned. Even though he was TALL, his character was SMALL.

(Character is whom you REALLY are when no one else is looking) He did NOT listen to God, and look what happened:

God had careful rules about his priests. Samuel was a godly priest, and he was supposed to offer a sacrifice to God. Saul waited and waited for Samuel, but then he got impatient and decided to offer the sacrifice himself. It was not Saul’s place to offer the sacrifice. God gave this job to Samuel, not Saul. Saul disobeyed. (I Samuel 13:12)
Another time, Saul directly DISOBEYED God, LIED to cover up his sin

(I Samuel 15), and BLAMED OTHERS.

*God rejected Saul as king because he didn’t listen to and obey God.
Saul became angry, afraid, and jealous. (Sin ruins everything!)

Ask: Would you like to live in a land with a king like Saul? (No) Neither did the people of Israel.

Say This: Remember, it was never God’s plan for the Israelites to have a human, fallible king in the first place. Do you see how wanting their own way instead of God’s way has messed up everything?????

Say This: Because Saul did not listen to God, God rejected him as king. God told Samuel to find a new king among one of Jesse’s sons.

Now, Jesse wasn’t famous, but he was the father of the famous king that is about to be chosen.

As Samuel follows the Lord to the house of Jesse, he begins to wonder what this new king will look like.

PowerPoint:

Ask: Which picture looks more like a king to you? When Samuel saw Jesse’s boys, he thought he could pick the king among them. He probably carefully compared their height, weight, and strength.

PowerPoint:

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7

Say This: What does man look at when judging people? (Outward appearance) Have you ever judged someone by the way he looked on the outside?

Did you try to judge the pictures of the modern kings? All we had to judge them by was their outward appearance.

Why do we do that? What’s wrong with it?

What does God look at when He judges someone? (Heart) Why does God look at the heart, and not the outward appearance?

It was very important for Samuel to listen carefully to God when proclaiming the new king of Israel. Otherwise, he would have made a wrong choice. He would have chosen the king based on outward appearance.

Application: In the same way, we make bad choices when we don’t listen to God. Remember, God has all the answers. Our God is perfect and eternal. He’ll never make a mistake and He’ll never die.

Ask: So in the Bible, we learn that our perfect God has sent Samuel to find the perfect choice for king. But Samuel listened to God, and after inspecting all of Jesse’s sons found the youngest one out tending a flock of sheep. He wasn’t the oldest, wisest, or strongest, but he had the perfect quality that God was looking for – A heart for God. Does that mean that this new king will be perfect? (Let kids think, then answer).

Say This: Of course not! God chose the youngest of Jesse’s sons, a boy named David, to be King. No human is perfect, but God’s plan to make him king was perfect. And why did he choose this little son of Jesse?

PowerPoint:

He looked at his heart and saw that he was a man after His own heart.

1 Samuel 13:14

Say This: This new king was a man after God’s heart. What does that mean?

David had a heart that loved God; he wanted to listen to Him and obey Him. *This doesn’t mean that David never sinned. Sadly, he did. But David had a desire to trust and obey God. Though he may not have been the tallest or best looking, he was God’s choice as king!

Let’s pray that God would teach us to listen to Him, and that we would be children after His own heart.

Main point: God blesses people who listen to Him.