Bottom Line, Up Front (BLUF): Our theology inescapably manifests in our choices.

Illustration: 1 Samuel 16 is the classic passage of David being anointed king (God’s choice) over and against wicked King Saul (the people’s choice):

The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons” (1 Samuel 1:1, ESV).

Questions: Why not Saul? Why was he rejected? What theological views did Saul demonstrate that revealed his true nature? And what was it about David? How was he so crucially different from Saul?

Saul failed to live as God’s man, a king who reflected God’s good rule and reign over his people. Saul had an outward appearance that was only a veneer; his heart and mind were never converted to the ways of God. He was “all suit,” we might say, but devoid of godly substance.

And why David? David was of the tribe of Judah, a precise type and forerunner of the ultimate King of kings who would come (Christ). David was a shepherd by nature. David, though a great sinner, was a converted man. David was God’s choice.

Encouragement: We sinners tend to look on what Scripture calls the “outer appearance” (1 Samuel 16:7 ESV). We tend to fall for sound bites and talking heads. Many people are pimped by smooth talkers like Saul. They lack biblical discernment and therefore get the leaders they merit.

But God intervenes, you see, graciously, to provide leaders of his choosing, and graciously acts to call a people to himself, to point the way to the King of kings, the only One who is totally faithful and true (Revelation 19:11, ESV).