1 Samuel 16:1-13
I.
Though Jesus was known to quote Scripture from time to time, his primary way of teaching was through story. When Jesus wanted to convey a hard to explain spiritual truth, he didn’t preach a three-point sermon; he told a story. We connect to stories. Stories get our attention in a way that a formula or definition cannot.
Jesus taught, not by quoting a Hebrew scripture or bombarding the listener with doctrine, but rather through stories and parables. Stories are written on the parchment of our souls, branded on our hearts. We can easily find ourselves wrapped up in a good story that proclaims great truth better than doctrinal statements could any day.
In our sermon series, The God Story, we have seen that the Bible is not just a disconnected collection of historical accounts, but a story that helps us connect with the mysterious truths of God. Though it can be helpful at times to take a verse here or there, we seek to hear whole story of the Bible: the connection from Genesis to Jesus and beyond.
We have talked about some of the elements of a good story in the last few weeks. A good Introduction is where you learn important information about the main character. We talked about the Suspension of Disbelief where you ask the reader to suspend their logic and critical faculties to believe the fantastic. We looked last week at the Rising Action, a critical time in the story where the protagonist faces conflicts and obstacles.
This week we learn that any good story or play or movie must have a clear Inciting Incident. The Inciting Incident is the moment in a script that kicks the story into motion. It is the event which sparks the fuse of the plot of the story; it’s something that MUST happen in order for the hook–the movie’s special premise–to kick in. It occurs only after the set up. Everything that follows the Inciting Incident should be a result of the Inciting Incident. It is where a story really gets going. It is that moment in the script where the protagonist’s world is turned upside down, It jolts your hero or heroine out of their everyday routine; and he/she must then set about resolving the change in circumstances that the incident has brought about. It is generally a clear and defined moment that is easily identifiable.
Think about the plane crash in the film Cast Away starring Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt. Tom Hanks is Fed Ex executive Chuck Noland who is flying on one of their jets to Malaysia when without warning, BOOM! Chuck Noland finds himself holding on for dear life as the plane loses air pressure inside and altitude outside. The peaceful world Chuck Noland had known comes to an end in a split second of time. Author and speaker James Scott Bell likens the Inciting Incident to a doorway through which the protagonist cannot return.[1] This is the inciting incident for Chuck Nolan: clearly defined and easily identifiable through which Chuck Nolan cannot return.
Our story, The God Story, began with the author and main character creating and writing the story of life into existence. We hear of his love for Creation and his desire not to be a far off and aloof God but one who is involved in what God made. In fact God is one who speaks to God’s creation because God desires relationship with the created. (Thread #1: God speaks because God desires relationship.) But God’s creation, the man and woman, choose their own way, betraying the trust of their God.
And yet God continues to hold out the promise to them and those that come after. He gives a laughable dream to an old man named Abraham, and keeps that promise by giving him a son at the age of one hundred. (Thread #2: When God makes a promise, God keeps it.)
And Abraham’s lineage did become a great nation. The promise was kept, but this did not keep the people from hardship and suffering, even slavery. We talked about last week how this people was delivered from slavery and led out into the wilderness, and even in that wandering time, that transition time, God provided all that they needed. This was Thread #3: God will provide all that you need for the journey.
II.
This wandering people did make it to the Promised Land. They were a people who were centered on one common thing, the God they served. Their connection was not based on physical boundaries or a human leader, only their God. And then they did something surprising, something unnecessary—they asked for a king. They saw other nations had kings, and they did not.
Samuel told them all the pitfalls of having a man be the leader, and yet they still cried out for a human king (1 Samuel 8:19-20). The first king was Saul, and sure enough he ended up getting a big head and wanting power and glory for himself. And so in the story we read this morning, God tells Samuel to go and anoint another king.
This is where we are introduced to David, who would become a great King. Samuel is told to go to the family of Jesse, who had eight sons. When Samuel gets there he sees the sons, strong attractive men. But as each son comes before Samuel—seven sons come before him—God says not that one, not that one, and not that one.
Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?” (1 Samuel 16:11) Jesse answers, there is the youngest; he is tending the sheep. Samuel says, “Get him we will not sit down until he gets here.” David, the youngest with the most humble of jobs, is brought before Samuel. The Lord speaks and says, “He is the one.”
Do you see what’s happening here? Here’s David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, a young boy or pre-teen, chosen by God through the judge Samuel to be King of Israel. He stands before the old judge with his father and brothers all around him who witness to the anointing of his head with oil, anointing him to be King of Israel.
And this is all happening while a perfectly healthy king, King Saul, is still in power. What a predicament! Good story, isn’t it?
David is one of the main characters of the God Story. He gets a lot of print, and this is his Inciting Incident. This is the “everything has changed moment,” the “there’s no going back now” part of the story. Everything that follows in his life comes from this moment. What is the inciting incident of your life?
At this moment David is given, if not a new story, a better story. David is thrust into a new story. When the prophet Samuel comes to your house, checks out your seven older brothers and then comes to you, pours oil over your head and says, “You’re the new king.”, but you’re not related to the current king. You’re not next in line. Nevertheless, David has received a new, better story. His days as a shepherd, sleeping in the fields, watching over his flock by night are over.
III.
David was unsuspecting, undeserving, caught by surprise, but chosen by God.
This is Thread #4 that we see all throughout the story; we’ve seen it already, and we will see it again. Thread #4: God calls the unlikely and gives them a better story. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Ruth, Esther, David and the list goes on of unlikely individuals who accept a better story for their lives. In spite of his imperfections and mistakes, his pride and arrogance, David embraces a better story.
Something clicked for him; something changed in him. After all this is the guy who killed Goliath with a sling and a stone; who fought bravely in battle; who committed adultery and murder and later became a strong and mighty king. But it was that moment while tending to his father’s sheep a messenger came from Samuel that he wanted to see him. He arrives in his father’s house, sweaty, exhausted and out of breath, covered in dust and dirt from the fields now has oil pouring down his face and neck while God declares, “He’s the one. Bring him here.” This changes everything for David.
The Inciting Incident is a doorway through which you cannot return, a major life shift, whether positive or negative:
You’re fired.
Will you marry me?
I’m pregnant.
He’s not coming back.
It’s cancer.
Whether you meant to or not, you find yourself in a new story. What this story tells us is that whatever hand life has dealt us, whatever story we think we are destined to follow, God has a better story for us. And if you consider yourself unlikely or unwanted, then you are precisely who God wants to talk to.
Jesus was big on this. He called out unlikely people and gave them a new and better story. He gave a blind man a new story. He gave the bleeding woman a new story. He gave the paraplegic a new story. He gave the prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers and fisherman each one of them he gave them a new and better story.
I think sometimes we forget who we are. We forget who is writing the story for us. God has not written a story for you that includes abuse and misuse. God has written for you a better story. We need to remind one another of that fact. Not only that, God can use you to help others find the better story. You can help others walk through the doorway to connect with Jesus. It is a doorway they will never want to walk back through again.
[1]Bell elaborates on
his concept of “doorways of no return” throughout his book Plot &
Structure (Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2004).
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