I SAMUEL
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Please turn in your Bibles this evening to I Samuel chapter 16 as we continue our study through the Word of God. In our last study we saw Samuel tell king Saul that the Lord wants him to attack the Amalekites and to wipe them out. He told Saul, “‘Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” I Samuel 15:3.
But Saul did not obey the Lord, he did his own thing and
did not wipe out the Amalekites completely and left some of the
best animals alive. And even in his disobedience, he tried to
justify his actions and blame the people for his behavior. It
is out of this that we are told, “But Samuel said to
Saul, ‘I will not return with you, for you have rejected
the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being
king over
Thus, as we move into I Samuel chapter 16 this evening we are going to see God chose a man after His own heart to be king. But keep in mind that for Samuel, all he knows is that God has taken the kingdom away from Saul, although it will be many years before the next king takes the throne. In regards to this J. Vernon McGee tells us, “Chapter 16 brings us to a new subject. We will see David in contrast to Saul. David is God’s man, and Saul is Satan’s man. In chapter 15 we saw God’s rejection of Saul. God gave Saul not just one opportunity but several opportunities to see if he would obey Him. Saul revealed that he was totally disobedient unto God. He should have made good, but he did not. The Lord did not need to wait to see the results of Saul’s kingship. He already knew. But Saul needed to know. Samuel needed to know because he loved Saul. The people needed to know because they had chosen Saul.” With that said, let’s begin reading this evening in I Samuel chapter 16, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word.
Here again we see Samuel’s great love for Saul, as
he mourns over his spiritual condition that now has affected his
physical life. The problem is that God has already rejected Saul
as king, and Samuel continues to mourn. And folk’s, there
is a time to mourn and a time to move on. God has a plan and we
need to move forward. How many of us waste time mourning over
things in which God has rejected. Various jobs, homes, even relationships,
whatever the case may be, we mourn over them because they did
not work out. God had David in mind to rule over
Samuel was discouraged it seems, why? Because he saw the
work of God dying, coming to an end in king Saul. But folk’s,
God’s work does not die because of the failure of a man because
it is God’s work and He will accomplish it with us or without
us. For Samuel, God encourages him by telling him to get the anointing
oil, you see, he was going to anoint the next king in
It
is as God said in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts
I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Don’t
become discouraged in the situations you find yourself in. God
has a plan and a purpose for your life. Trust in Him and what
He is going to do. He wants what is best for you as He did with
the nation of
And notice what the Lord tells Samuel, “For
I have provided Myself a king.” This is an interesting
contrast from what man does and what God does.
Samuel is worried that if Saul finds out that he has anointed another man as king, Saul would kill him; it would cost Samuel his life! And it seems like God is telling Samuel to lie to Saul, don’t tell him the truth. I don’t see it that way. First of all God will NEVER tell us to lie because Satan is the Father of lies and thus, something else is going on here. Now some feel that Samuel did make the sacrifice, he just didn’t tell Saul what he was doing completely!
I tend to see this a little differently. Let’s read this and edit out what Samuel is saying because I believe that God ignored his statement of, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” Thus, this should be read like this, “But the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.’” In other words, Samuel was worried about something he should not have worried about and God did not even acknowledge his question, his fear. If God called him to go and anoint the next king, he was going to do it no matter if Saul found out or not!
Do we see this in the Scriptures where the Lord ignores our foolish fears or questions? I think we do. Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration as the Lord appeared in all of His glory with Moses and Elijah and listen to what took place, “Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!’” Matthew 17:4-5. You see God the Father did not even respond to what Peter was saying and got to the main point and I think that is what we are seeing here in I Samuel!
So Samuel obeys the Lord and goes to
Or it could be that they remembered what Samuel did to Agag, cutting him in pieces back in I Samuel 15:33. In either case, they were afraid because they probably were not walking with the Lord as they should and they recognized that Samuel was a prophet of God and he could pronounce judgment upon them for this sin! Thus, they ask him if he has come in peace and to ease their fears he tells them that he has come in peace, to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. And folk’s, if you are not walking with the Lord, if you are not saved, you should have that kind of fear of the Lord. If you are walking with the Lord, if you are a believer, then you should have a reverential fear of the Lord!
And as Samuel comes to
As Samuel sees the oldest son of Jesse he thinks that he is the one to be king? Why did Samuel feel this way? Because he looked like a king should look, whatever that means. And isn’t that exactly what Israel did in picking Saul as their king, he was tall, dark and handsome and he was a disaster! And we see Samuel look at the outward appearance and God’s response to what Samuel said about Eliab, “I have refused him.” In other words, it doesn’t matter what a person looks like, how wealthy they are, how educated they are, how tall they are, thank God, but then what is God looking for?
Notice what the Lord tells Samuel, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” You see, God looks at a person’s heart but we can’t. So what can we do about that, how do we know who to pick as leaders? It is simple, the Lord told Samuel to look to Him and the Lord tells us to look to Him also. He will show us, because outward appearances can be deceiving, but God knows the heart and will show us what to do in a given situation. That is how we pick leaders here at Calvary. We watch what they are doing and we seek God’s direction. I think they are both important. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will reveal to us the mind of Christ, and thus, I am confident about this, that God will show us who to raise up in leadership or ministry positions! God is looking at the heart and thus, may we be looking to the Lord for direction!
Let me show you what I mean with this story.
We are told:
A
young man shopping in a supermarket noticed a little old lady
following him around. If he stopped, she stopped. Furthermore
she kept staring at him.
She
finally overtook him at the checkout, and she turned to him and
said, “I hope
I haven’t
made you feel ill at ease; it’s just that you look so much
like my late son.”
He
answered, “That’s okay.”
“I
know it’s silly, but if you’d call out ‘Good bye,
Mom’ as I leave the store, it would make me feel so happy.”
She
then went through the checkout, and as she was on her way out
of the store, the man called out, “Goodbye, Mom.”
The
little old lady waved and smiled back at him.
Pleased
that he had brought a little sunshine into someone’s day,
he went to pay for his groceries.
“That
comes to $121.85,” said the clerk.
“How
come so much ? I only bought 5 items.”
The
clerk replied, “Yeah, but your Mother said you’d be
paying for her things, too.”
Bet you thought
this was going to be a tearjerker. The moral of the story,
don ‘t trust Little Old Ladies!!! Not really, but you can’t
trust outward appearances no matter how sincere they may be. You
see, we can’t know the person’s heart, but God can and
does!
Now please understand that just because God did not chose any of these seven sons of Jesse that attended this feast doesn’t mean these men were bad or evil. God just had not chosen them for this position as king. It is as Morgan wrote, “All the things which men count as privileges, and therefore as creating fitness for position and high service, are in themselves of no value in the sight of God. He looketh on the heart. He considers the deepest fact in personality, the inner and hidden impulse, desire, affection.” If none of these seven sons of Jesse are to be king in Israel, who is left? Let’s read on and see.
Samuel knows that one of Jesse’s sons was to be king, God told him and he believed the Words of God. The problem is he has seen seven of Jesse’s sons and thus, since none of them have been chosen by God, he asks Jesse if he has any more sons. Samuel did not say to Jesse, “Let’s try this again. Bring the boys around one more time!” No, he trusted in God’s Word and thus, in his mind there had to be another son and there was!
Now what is interesting to me is that Jesse doesn’t even call his son by name, he is not invited to the sacrifice, but he is out doing the work, tending to the sheep! Why was that? Because he was the youngest of eight sons and maybe he was not seen as important, he was seen with a low regard, maybe being around 14 years old at this time. From outward appearances he did not match up to the other brothers, but again, God is looking at the heart and not the outward appearances. You see, if the heart is right then God can work through that person but if the heart is not right, it will be a disaster!
What God did here in I Samuel He is still doing today. He looks at the heart and not the outward actions, which can be deceiving! It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 1:26-31, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’”
God often works through unlikely people, people that the world would never pick to do great things and out of it He gets the glory! It is as Redpath wrote, “You may not be intellectual or well thought of in your family circle; you may be despised by others for your faith in Christ. Perhaps you had only a little share in the love of your parents, as David did. But remember that those who are rejected of men often become beloved of the Lord.”
Again, what was David doing when he was called? He was keeping sheep. Folk’s, that was a servant’s job and that truly is the point! Yes, the family of Jesse were not rich, they could not afford servants to care for the sheep, but, as Spurgeon put it, “David was none of your strutting peacocks who cannot be content unless all eyes are upon them; he sang God’s praises as the nightingale will sing in the dark when no human ear is listening and no eye is admiring. He was content to bloom unseen, knowing that the sweetness of a renewed heart is never wasted on the desert air. He was satisfied with God alone as his auditor, and he coveted not the high opinion of man.” Where are you at right now? If you feel God has called you to another area, another ministry, another work, you keep watching over the sheep in a sense, doing the work of a servant and God will raise you up as He is going to do with David!
Now don’t get the idea that David was like Saul in appearance. Saul looked like a king and David was a good-looking boy and there is a big difference! And remember why God chose David, who God was looking for, “ . . . The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people . . .” I Samuel 13:14. And now He has found that man, David or in the Hebrew, DAVIYD, (daw-veed’), which means, “beloved”.
Now as Samuel pours the oil over Daviyd’s head, many were watching including his family but I don’t believe they knew that he was being anointed as king. There was some blessing going on but what it was for, I believe only Samuel and David knew! And when Samuel did this, Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian tells us that the ancient rabbis taught that as the oil was poured over David’s head that Samuel leaned over and whispered in David’s ear, “Daviyd, you are the next king in Israel” and Samuel turned and walked away. I don’t know about you, but if I was fourteen or fifteen years old and someone poured oil on my head and told me I was the next king, I would start my kingship campaign. But not David nor Samuel and it would be some 15 to 25 years before David would become king but God has already chosen him and now God will work in Him so He can work through him!
Also note that the Holy Spirit came upon David, empowering him for the work he was to do! The oil was symbolic of the Holy Spirit and we see the reality of this by the things David was able to do, not by his might or strength but by the Sprit of God working! Folk’s, we too need that empowering of the Holy Spirit in our lives to do the work that God has called us to do, otherwise we are doing the work in the energy of our flesh and it will never be as fruitful!
And what a man of God David will be, truly a man after God’s heart, not a perfect man but a man who desired to love the Lord, please the Lord, honor the Lord in all that he did. Of this man David, Meyer wrote, “From whatever side we view the life of David, it is remarkable. It may be that Abraham excelled him in faith, and Moses in the power of concentrated fellowship with God, and Elijah in the fiery force of his enthusiasm. But none of these was so many-sided as the richly gifted son of Jesse.” It is as the Lord spoke through Asaph and wrote in Psalm 78:70-72, “He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”
Now we will see a contrast between David and king Saul as we read on in the next verse.
As we read through the Old Testament we see that the Spirit of God would empower certain individuals for service, like Saul. But because of disobedience, sin, the Holy Spirit could be removed from those individuals. Remember David’s cry from Psalm 51, “And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” You see, in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit could be removed from individuals, we even saw that in the life of Samson in the book of Judges!
But in the New Testament Jesus said in John 14:16 that the Father will send us the Holy Spirit and He will remain with us forever. Yes we can hinder the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, we can grieve the Holy Spirit, but He will never leave us if we are Christians, if we have asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives!
But here in I Samuel we read of God’s Spirit departing from Saul, and a distressing spirit from God coming upon him. And I understand how this verse can trouble some of you. You wonder how God can send an evil spirit upon Saul? In fact, the Bible tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” The Living Bible puts this verse like this, “But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow.” James 1:17. There is no darkness in God at all, He does not send evil or make evil. If that is true, and it is, then what is going on here?
I believe that God removed His hand of protection upon Saul and Saul was not a man of God and thus, when God has departed that void will be filled and here it is filled with this evil spirit! Also, ask yourself, “Why would God do this in the first place?” I think God allowed this spirit to come upon Saul to shake him up and cause him to fall into the arms of God. You see, God was concerned, not about Saul’s kingship, but his relationship with the true and living God. And God does use the enemy to fulfill His purposes. We even read in Job that Satan has access to God, but he cannot do anything without God allowing it.
You see, by allowing evil to continue, God is giving us a choice, to either serve Him, or to serve evil. But God’s desire for us is to serve Him and thus, He will do all He can to draw us to Him, but it still is our choice. For Saul, he is continuing to spin out of control and away from God. It was only because of Saul’s rejection of God that this distressing spirit was allowed by God to come upon him. It is as Clarke sums this up, “God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will.” And we will see the decline of Saul and God raising up David to sit on the throne in Israel!
Isn’t this interesting. Saul didn’t know why this was happening to him or who it was from but his servants recognized that God was allowing this in his life. How often we don’t see the spiritual condition we are in but those around us see it clearly! And their solution is also interesting. They want Saul to have them go and look for a worship leader you might say, someone who can play music to change his spirit as he listens to it. Music is a powerful tool. We can use it to worship God and build us up and we can also use music to draw us away from the true and living God and tear us down. Look at the music that many young people listen to today and the violence it speaks of and brings to their lives. And I can speak for myself, when I am down, when I am troubled, putting on some worship music brings peace to my soul. It gets me to focus on the Lord and that is truly where I need to be for He alone can bring peace to my life and yours!
Saul told his servants to find a man and they did not have to look far, one of them recognized David as a man of God who was skillful in music. That means he practiced, it was not that he just woke up and started playing. You see, being skillful not only reflects the ability of playing but also the attitude of playing. What is also interesting is this servant says that he was a man of valor, a man of war. Why was that needed? Because of the spiritual battles you will face if you are in the worship ministry. The Devil does not want us to worship the Lord and he will do whatever it takes to get our focus off the Lord, to cause conflicts within worship and-so-on. Thus, the worship people need to be men and women of war, men and women of valor! And the most important point is that the Lord was with David and that is an important factor in the life of people who are leading in worship, the Lord needs to be with them or they need to be walking with the Lord!
This was a great honor to come before the king. And so Jesse sends his son David with an offering to present to king Saul. And this must have thrilled David to death. This young boy, David, coming before the king of Israel to serve him. And David loved Saul, even after Saul’s many attempts on his life. Saul was like a boyhood hero to David, he looked up to this man, and served him with all of his heart. And look at where David is at, next to the king, the position he would have one day. In regards to this Poole wrote, “Wonder not that David was so suddenly advanced, from a poor contemptible shepherd, to so great a reputation; for these were the effects of that Spirit of the Lord, which he received when he was anointed.”
Now understand that David has already been anointed for the throne, but he does not push Saul out of the way, but serves him. God needed to prepare David for this position and that is exactly what He is doing with this young boy. David waited upon God’s timetable, and did not try to make it happen on his own. What a great lesson for us to learn. That God is in control and if He has promised us something, we don’t have to fight to get it, for God is more than able. In Genesis, the story of Jacob and Esau we see this played out. God promised Jacob the blessings and yet, he manipulated, concocted, came up with his own way to get the blessing, the one that God had promised him already and it was a disaster. Yes God did give it to him but there was a lot of baggage that came with it because Jacob tried to do it his own way!
Now whenever this evil spirit distressed Saul, David would be called upon to play music for him. And I guess the saying is true that goes, “Music calms the savage beast.” That is what took place with Saul; the music calmed him down and softened him up. Maybe you have noticed this in your own life, that when you are angry or upset, by putting on worship music, you focus your thoughts back on the Lord and you are refreshed and calmed down. Worship music helps to put things back in the right perspective as I have said. Why? Because as you begin to worship God the enemy hates that and he will flee. And again, please understand this also, that the world’s music will beat you down, while worship music will lift you up.
The Elah valley was located about 12 miles west of Bethlehem and was very winding and you could not get chariots through this area easily. Thus, the Philistines could not use one of their weapons of war. On the north and south sides of this valley were mountains, and in the mountains were located the armies of Israel and the armies of the Philistines, one group on each side. And at this point both armies were about equal in strength, for the Philistines had suffered defeat at the hands of Jonathan and the children of Israel. And so they had a stand-off, neither side willing to attack the other, for they would not only have to enter the valley, but they would have to come up the other side.
The Philistines had this secret weapon named Goliath. I guess he was not too secret when you look at the size of this man. Now keep in mind that a cubit is measured from the tip of your elbow to the tip of your index finger, anywhere from 16 to 22 inches long, and the usual measurement was around 18 inches. A span was the distance between your thumb and your index finger, usually around 6 inches. That means that this Philistine giant was about 9 feet 6 inches tall! So he was very impressive to say the least. I remember a couple of basketball players who were short. There was Spud Web who stood 5 feet 7 inches tall and then Tyrone “Mugsy” Bogues who stood 5 feet 3 inches tall. And when I watched him play it was like he was playing against giants! That is how Goliath must have looked to the children of Israel, a giant!
Now some mock this idea of a giant, make fun of it, but history shows us that there have been very tall people in the past and even today! Goliath was from Gath, and Joshua 11:22 says that a people known as the Anakim were still there in Joshua’s day. That was some 400 years before this, but it shows how there may have continued to be men of unusually large size coming from the city of Gath.
Not only that but Poole tells us regarding Goliath’s height: “Which is not strange, for besides the giants mentioned in the Scriptures, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny, and others, make mention of persons seven cubits high, which is near double to an ordinary man’s height.” Also, Youngblood mentions the documented case of Robert Pershing Wadlow, who was eight feet eleven inches tall at the time of his death on July 15, 1940, at the age of twenty-two.
And Clarke tells us, “Men of an extraordinary size are not uncommon even in our own day: I knew two brothers of the name of Knight, who were born in the same township with myself, who were seven feet six inches high; and another, in the same place, Charles Burns, who was eight feet six! These men were well and proportionably made.” So men of this stature were not unheard of, even though it was not common!
Also, we are told that his coat of armor weighed between 150 to 200 pounds. And his spear weighed 20-25 pounds. (A shot put weighs 16 pounds to give you some idea of the weight this guy was carrying around). A very impressive figure that the Philistines paraded around and you can just imagine what the children of Israel were thinking as this giant stepped forward!
Think about what is taking place here. According to I Samuel 17:16 we see that this Philistine giant named Goliath came out every day for forty days and challenged the children of Israel to send out a man to fight against him. And the challenge was that if a man from the children of Israel won the fight against Goliath, then the Philistines would serve the children of Israel. But, if this man of Israel lost, then the children of Israel would serve the Philistines. This was a bold challenge, how would Saul and the children of Israel respond to it? Let’s read on and see.
Notice the fear that filtered down from their king, Saul to the rest of the people, the rest of the soldiers in Israel. And that is exactly what Goliath wanted to do, bring fear into their lives, make them afraid and dismayed over the situation they were in. And folk’s, that is exactly what the enemy likes to do with us. We don’t face the physical giants in our lives but we do face those spiritual giants in our lives. God has called us to do a work and what does the enemy do? He causes us to be dismayed and greatly afraid and once we are there, we will not walk in faith but be frozen in fear as the children of Israel were!
What can we do? Bring it to the Lord as Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-9, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Again, what should we do when we find ourselves in difficult situations? Give it to God in prayer, which is a general request; and in supplications, which is more of a specific request. God wants to hear from us and when we do come before Him may we do so with an attitude of gratitude or thankfulness. Don’t come before God complaining but thanking Him for who He is, for His love for us and-so-on.
Here’s the thing. As we bring our concerns before the Lord He fills us with His peace. What if you don’t feel His peace right now? Maybe it is because your mind is not focused upon Him but upon the situation or situations you are in right now. In Isaiah 26:3 we are told, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” This is not a peace from the storms of life but a peace through the storms of life. It is a peace that is from God, not based upon our efforts, it is beyond our understanding that we can be at peace in the midst of a storm and yet God has given that to us if we would only receive it by faith. You see, His peace guards our hearts or our emotions. We are not anxious, fearful and-so-on because His peace is guarding our hearts. Also, His peace guards our mind or our thoughts, the enemy can’t mess us up because our thoughts are upon the Lord and based in the truth of His Word! It is as Peter is admonishing us in I Peter 5:7, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
And Paul tells us that we are to fill our minds with good things. You see, that old adage, “Garbage in, garbage out” is very applicable here and it is very true. What are you filling your mind with because that is what will come flowing out from your life? Paul tells us that instead of filling your mind with the garbage of this world, “meditate” or take an inventory of these things in your life – things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, things that are of good report, things that are proper, and things that are praiseworthy!
Paul put it this way in Romans 12:2, and this is from The New Living Translation, “Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” And The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].” It is not just information but application to our lives! You see, what we mediate on, what we focus our minds upon really does matter! And thus, we will not be dismayed, we will not be fearful for our minds are focused on the Lord!
Now why was Saul so afraid? Think about it, he was the tallest guy, head and shoulders above the rest and thus he would be the logical person to fight Goliath! (See I Samuel 9:2). In fact, an old Jewish tradition says that as part of Goliath’s taunting speech he said: “And ye, men of Israel, what noble exploit has Saul, the son of Kish, of Gibeah, done, that ye should have made him king over you? If he be a hero, let him come down himself and fight with me; but if he be a weak or cowardly man, then choose you out a man that he may come down to me.” (Cited in Clarke). And the people caught this fear of Saul’s!
Saul was a man that was faithless, and next time we will pick up our study here in I Samuel chapter 17 and we will see a man of faith, David or Daviyd! There is so much in this chapter that I don’t want to rush through it so read on ahead and see what a man of faith looks like, and you will see that it is a man after God’s own heart! This is what God desires of us, may we walk in faith and see the salvation He will bring to our lives!