He Reveals the Profound and Hidden
God works in seasons. All of creation regenerates through seasons. It is Gods way, His order and timing. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says, "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." The appointed time is Gods time. "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?" Daniel 4:35. "He controls the course of world events, He removes Kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him" Daniel 2:21-22. These are powerfully assuring characteristics of God. At a time where our planet harbours exponential upheaval, uncertainty and untold catastrophes, it is heartening to know that God is in control, that He is sovereign and ruler over all.

The book of Samuel chronicles the demise of one King and the appointing of another. It reveals Gods succession plans for the new appointee. There is something special about the way in which God selects one for His service. Almost always He uses the most unusual unorthodox, unscripted means to handpick the ones to whom His Hand and His Heart converge. God commanded Samuel the prophet to Jesse's house to anoint one of Jesse's sons to be King of Israel. The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king."(1 Samuel 16:1) What a directive from God to Samuel! God had to jolt Samuel out of his futile lamenting over Saul and steer him in the direction of the next King. Sometimes the dead invalidated things we mourn over distract us from the contingency plan that God directs us toward. "Fill your horn with oil and be on your way!" Take action, heed instruction, and do as He commands.

God did not reveal to Samuel which of Jesse's sons was to be King? When God commands He anticipates our measure of faith to activate. These are the distinctive attributes of faith. How else can faith manifest if everything is known, if everything is given in advance? How incredible that this King would emerge from Bethlehem, how incredible that this foreshadowed another King who would hail from David's lineage, a shoot and root of Jesse?

Seven sons passed by until Samuel asked Jesse if he had any more sons! David the youngest was out tending sheep. When David came in, God singled him out as the one. Samuel anointed him with oil and from that day on the anointing rested heavily on David. David was a teenager at the time and only became King some twenty years later. Thus began a relationship of deep communion and dependency, God with David. From the meadows and paddocks of sheep tending, to battlefields and battlefronts of raging conflicts, giant slaying moments, some high some low, forged and fashioned through Gods appointed time-frame God anointed timeline. What a great testimony for us to glean from, in our moments of discouragement, in our restless pacing between the promise and the fulfilment of the promise. It's in the waiting room, the corridors between entering in and possessing that our faith undergoes the tried and tested processes of Gods smelting room. How else could David have penned Psalm 23 had he not experienced the workings of Gods promises? How else could David have fought off a bear and a lion, taken down an arrogant blasphemous giant, had he not known Gods confidence and power?

David's heart, the one distinction that set him apart from his brothers', was that He was a worshiper, a song writer, a psalmist - His devotion and love for God lay embossed in the chambers of his heart, the pulse of his purpose. Scripture says God inhabits the praises of His people, we are assured of God's Presence when we invoke His Praise, when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to His service. David's life exemplifies that a heart for God, a heart full of worship, the celebration and repentance of victories and failures past and present, all combine to showcase Gods providence in exchanging a shepherd's staff for a Kings Sceptre.