An Assignment Greater Than You

The title came to me as the Lord was showing me something about what you’ll be reading. The text will come from 1 Samuel 16:1-13. I know this will be familiar to a lot of people, some of what I’ll say you might’ve heard before, or this will be brand new. Either way, I’m letting the Lord lead.

The second half of my dream was this: I was at my job and I had an altercation with someone and I just walked off the job. I went to my therapist and told her that if I go back to the job, I’m going to hurt somebody. Initially my dreams are a shock, but as the day progresses, they get revealed. And actually, my dreams over the past 3 months have a common denominator, and it’s that I have an assignment greater than myself. And I know a few of you reading this have an assignment greater than yourself. I’ll talk about the pros and cons about this later in this post.

Now 1 Samuel 16:1-13 was during the time when Saul was rejected as king and a new king was to be anointed. The Lord sent Samuel to Jesse to anoint one of his sons to be king. Now what struck my interest was the fact that Jesse didn’t even consider David to be the one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jesse didn’t call David because he was not only the youngest, but he had an assignment (tending to the sheep), and Jesse wanted to ensure that David was on that task. But the Spirit of the Lord had a different plan. In verse 11, Samuel was like “do you have any more?” Jesse responded like this, “there remains the youngest AND (my emphasis) he keeps the sheep.” It wouldn’t surprised me if Jesse didn’t want Samuel to bother David, but again, the Lord had a different plan and told Jesse to get David. And of course, David was anointed to be king. During David’s anointing, he wasn’t groomed like his other brothers when they were presented. He was pulled from the sheep when he was anointed. The beauty of this scenario was that God doesn’t look on the appearance, but the heart. People can look good and put up a front, but their heart can be so dark!

Now David didn’t become king over Israel immediately. He would wait until Saul was dead. BUT, there were some things that David had to do before becoming king over Israel (and he would be the only one equipped to do it – such as take down Goliath). So, what can we take from this? Some of you reading this know that you have an assignment greater than you, and that’s truly a blessing from God.

I’ll start with the cons first: some of you know that you have an assignment greater than you, but you jump ahead of God by jumping into your assignment on your own strength. That’s dangerous and you are of course, out of order! Some will become prideful in that assignment and they will start parading in it for self-aggrandizement (or for bragging rights to look spiritual to others or perhaps to get the kudos from man). Again, you will be out of order!

The pros of having an assignment greater than you: you have been chosen in such a time as this. That means God has His hand over your life. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, you will be tried. At the same time, you may not have time to prepare for the call (in other words, things that God is doing in your life which are a blessing to you and to others are happening at a pace that you’re not expecting – and that’s actually a good thing). All you have to do is remain humble (and obedient), and be able to adjust your life (as to how you see it) to the will of God.

When It's Time To Perform (Will You Be Ready)?

I heard a saying and it goes like this (which provoked my thought for this post): for many of you reading this, your time of public revealing is coming faster than you have time for preparing. This is based out of 1 Samuel 16, which will be the theme for this post.

For the benefit of those who are not familiar, here’s the story in a brief nutshell. King Saul is being rejected as king, and Samuel was offering a sacrifice to the Lord in which Jesse was invited. Jesse called every son but David; however, the Lord said unto Samuel that every son but David was not chosen to be king. So, Samuel asked are there any more children? I’m sure Jesse really didn’t want to say this, but he did: “There’s David, but he’s tending to the sheep.” Samuel insisted that David come (even though David wasn’t dressed for the occasion like his brothers), and the Lord said, anoint him. His public revealing came faster than he had time to prepare for it. Now David didn’t take over as king immediately after he was anointed. He went back to the sheep and was called to play the harp for Saul. And after he defeated Goliath, he wasn’t made king yet (but God knew that David was the only one who could take Goliath out). It would take some time, and eventually he would become king (which actually took place in 2 Samuel). He was ready when it was time to perform as the king over Judah and Israel.

Here are a few points that need to be made. David was going to be king. He had a heart and desire for God – which is very critical. Every one of us has a unique assignment for the kingdom of God that can make a serious impact on those around us. We might think it’s minor and unimportant, but He sees it as critical and it must be done! Also understand the following, patience is a virtue. As mentioned above, David didn’t take over as king right after he was anointed. Ecclesiastes 3 says that everything has a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. So, we must wait on our appointed time to function in our assignment. You have a voice that when you sing, people are ministered to (or you know someone who has the voice of an angel, and when they sing, people are ministered to); you have a ministry of reconciliation, people will be ministered to when you speak; and the list goes on. There’s one more thing that needs to be mentioned. Don’t get discouraged or complacent while you are waiting – and yes, it will be hard sometimes. Stay close to the Shepherd and prepare patiently and in prayer (worshiping in your secret place, unnoticed by everyone around you) for your public revealing. The enemy will want you to cast away your confidence either because the process is taking to long in YOUR eyes or because YOU aren’t getting the glory.

Your assignment for the kingdom of God is needed (no matter how great or small it is). There are chains binding people that need to be broken. And God knows that your unique purpose can do it. If you’re like me, you’re saying no more! Chains have to be broken in the name of Jesus. Will you be ready to perform when it’s your time? Do you believe that we can change the world? And don’t think for one minute you won’t be challenged when you’re performing. You will be attacked by a Goliath of some sort, just know that I’ve got you covered in prayer and I ask that you cover me in prayer. Don’t back down to that Goliath, if God ordained you to that assignment, He will sustain you!

So in closing, I leave you with this question: when it’s time to perform in your unique assignment for the kingdom of God, will you be ready?