I Samuel 16:6
‘When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is before Him.”’
Samuel is to anoint the next king. He's been told it's one of Jesse's sons; there are eight of them. The first born, Eliab, walks in. Samuel's thoughts are in today's verse. He happens to be wrong. That's ok. God corrects him. But he's learning. God also teaches us to go with our thoughts. As we are walking with the Lord, going to church and reading the bible, we learn how to do this.
Paul says in I Corinthians 2:16, '"For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ'. That doesn't mean all of our thoughts are His thoughts, but He has given us a new heart that wants what He wants.
It's a process. Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." This verse says much. As we read the bible we learn His mind. The Ten Commandments tell us what's forbidden. Jesus reduces these ten to two positive commands, love God and love people. There is much more in the bible to learn.
Another part of the Romans passage says that we are to "prove what the will of God is". How do we do this? The first part is to be in the bible. Next, we are to be desirous of His guidance. David expresses this in Psam 40:8, "I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart." As a new christian, I wanted to do His will, but had misunderstandings and fears. As I learned of His great love and that He doesn't pressure us, these concerns subsided.
The next part of proving God's will is checking our gut. All of the above may be fine, but we may sense a caution. There's no explanation for it, we just don't feel good about it. The Lord adds something to that, His peace. Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". This is more than one's gut. The Lord can let the peace remain or subtract it. We are to check that peace when making decisions.
The last aspect of proving His will is practice. This is what Samuel did in today's verse. He was ready to act on his thought. God corrected him. We do the same. With all of the knowledge that we have, we act. Hebrews 5:14 tells us more, "But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil". We begin to discern God's will.
What is the solid food referring to? It's the bible, christian service and living the christian life. It says this practice trains our senses. Not the physical senses, but the spiritual ones. The gut is part of that. There are many layers that the casual observer misses. The christian is to grow in discernment. Samuel learns a big lesson here. We'll get deeper into that next time. It's all part of the process of what the Hebrews author says is becoming mature.
Lord, thank You that You want us to be wise and mature as we follow You. Thank You for all of the time and patience that You invest in us.