Who...

...chose you? Who were you provided/ordained for?

A few months ago, I read 1 Sam 16 and a few words in verse 1b stuck to me, hence this question. This is one question everyone in leadership especially Christians need to think about seriously and regularly. When instructing Samuel on the next thing to do, after Saul had let Him down, God said:

"Fill your horn with oil; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided for Myself a king among his sons." (Amplified, emphasis mine)

Prior to that, when the people asked for a king, God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7

“Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.” (Amplified)

By the time Samuel arrived in Jesse's home, it was obvious why God had warned him 8 chapters earlier. Imagine if Samuel had anointed Eliab who he felt was eligible.* I would hazard a guess that Eliab would forever feel indebted to Samuel for choosing him - you know how that goes for those who see man as the one who promotes. God was clear that His criteria for ordination is very different from and much deeper than man's - because He chooses those who'll obey Him wholly.**

By the time David was anointed, it was obvious that he was not anointed for (or by) a man - because all the men around him including his father forgot about him. We must know & please only the Person Who we're ordained for - not those we're sent to. Our Fathers in Faith did and continue to do so - here are 2 examples:

Apostle Paul stressed this in Galatians 1:10 -

Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval?

No indeed! What I want is God's approval!

Am I trying to be popular with people?

If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ." (GNT)

 

Dr Fredrick KC Price was very serious when he said on a televised broadcast:

Don't send me letters on what I should say or how I should say it. 

I don't get my assignment from you.  I get my assignment from God.

Who do you get your assignment from? Who do you get your "pay-check" and/or promotion from? Seek to know and please your employer - that's the only Person Who matters.


References:
* 1 Sam 16:6 - ⁶ When they arrived, Samuel saw Jesse's son Eliab and said to himself, “This man standing here in the Lord's presence is surely the one he has chosen.” (GNT)
** Acts 13:22 - But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’ (NLT)