God's Perspective: 1 Samuel 16:1
God prefers to look toward hope, not stew in vengeance. This is a noticeably different perspective from many ancient cultures’ perspective on the gods. Many cultures believed the gods sat upon high, looking down in judgment and holding grudges against people who crossed them. Gods were beings who needed to be constantly appeased to pull them away from their wrath. The Hebrew God pulls Himself away from His own wrath. Considering how He made salvation possible on His own for all people, we see how He prefers to look forward in hope.
God looks ahead; Samuel lingers in sorrow. How quickly God shifts perspective makes it difficult to wrap our head around God. When Saul stops paying attention to God’s will, God shifts focus to David naturally. Don’t think God stopped caring about Saul. Rather, God shifted his focus for the management of His people to the next candidate: David.
Because God gives us free will to choose to follow Him or follow our hearts, He is accustomed to watching the world go astray. God routinely watches things go differently than He desires and just as routinely He offers course corrections to help situations get back on track. For God, shaping the events of life back towards His plan is a common event.
Thus, when Saul disappoints as king and heads down the road of disobedience, God shifts gears and moves to the next alteration of His plan. This is natural for God. He may be grieved over the routine necessity of fixing life, but He is never surprised by it. Fixing life is an inherent quality given His gift of free will to humanity.
Furthermore, this is proof God did not create the world and then step away to watch it develop. God is constantly moving to the next plan, altering the current plan, and working with people obedient to Him to bring about His will. He does not stand far away and unpassionately let events happen. To God, the world is not analogous to an ant farm. Our God walks with us through life, constantly flexible through the choices we make.
Samuel, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same perspective as God. How could he? For Samuel, Saul was the only king he ever knew. Samuel tried to shape and guide Saul. No doubt Samuel grieved because he felt responsible for some of Saul’s grand failure. Samuel hoped Saul would be a great king, and from Samuel’s limited perspective it was painful to watch Saul unravel so quickly.
There is a great lesson in this single-verse interaction between Samuel and God. Yes, Saul’s sinfulness grieves God. However, God wants to move along. He wants to make things right. God is not interested in mourning over the past and wallowing in depression about how things fell apart. God is about the future, recovering from mistakes, and moving ahead to make things right. God prefers to look toward hope, not stew in vengeance.
