Little In Thine Own Sight

Little In Thine Own Sight
I Samuel 15:10-17

Our text this morning is from the words of Samuel the Prophet to King Saul.
Saul is one of those characters in the Scriptures, whose primary benefit to us now is a series of bad examples.
One of those lessons is on the subject of humility.
The Bible is very clear concerning God's thoughts about humility and pride.

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Luke 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Obviously, God has a distinct aversion to pride and self sufficiency, while He is inexplicably drawn by His Holy nature to lift up the humble and the lowly.
It seems that in God's system of leadership, the greatest leader is one who serves and remains entirely dependant on God for promotion.
Saul had, in his life a history of prideful actions that were motivated by his desire to be seen as "kingly" rather than as God's servant.
In our text we will pick up shortly after Saul has disobeyed God's explicit command to utterly destroy the Amalekites.
God had been completely clear concerning this command, and Samuel had delivered it personally to King Saul.
Then Saul had saved the king of the Amalekites and the choicest of the livestock and the spoils.

Let us read now beginning with Verse 10:
READ

PRAY

This morning, I want to draw your attention to the last verse of our text and bring you a challenge from the words of Samuel to Saul:

1Samuel 15:17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

A great change had taken place in the heart of Saul.
There was a time when Saul was so honored that God would use him in the capacity of king that he couldn't believe Samuel's announcement to that end.

1Samuel 9:21 And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?

Now we find Saul so self confident, so headstrong that he feels he can go against God's very orders and make his own judgment call in the field because, after all, he is king!

Samuel's rebuke caught my eye as I was studying for our teaching portion of the service and God moved me to bring this challenge to you this morning:

EVERY PERSON MUST BECOME LITTLE IN HIS OWN SIGHT.

It seems the world system is geared to defeat this principle.
For some reason, the most popular principle in educating children is to boost their confidence!
If we aren't careful we will raise a generation of confident idiots.

Proverbs 30:13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

Our children don't need to be set up on an unrealistic pedestal.
They need to learn to be humble so that God can set them up.
Our kids don't need to learn to love themselves, they need to learn that the only thing lovely about themselves is that God made them and that God finds value in them.
This is realistic.
This is foundational to a successful life as an adult.

We must become little in our own sight if we are ever to be used by God to do something great for Him.

Let us look to our text for some powerful motivation to become little in our own sight.

1.) Because Humility is the way to promotion in God's service. (V.17)
1Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

2.) Because Pride leads to disobedience and rebellion. (V.8,9)
Psalm 119:21 ¶ Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
Proverbs 16:18 ¶ Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

3.) Because Pride leads to justification of sin. (V.13-15)
Verse 13 - Redefining God's command
Verse 15 - Blaming others for personal failures

The motivations to become little in our own sight are clear from Saul's own testimony as recorded in our text.

Now let us look for some practical instruction.
How can we become little in our own sight?

1.) By submitting to ALL of God's commands. (V.22,23)

2.) By admitting full personal responsibility for our sins. [(unlike Saul)V.24-26]

3.) By allowing others to see your contrition. [(unlike Saul)V.27-30]

Do you have a problem with pride?
If so, it is time to lower your opinion of yourself.
It is time to become little in your own sight, so that God may become greater.
John the Baptist was such a great example when he said,

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

This is what needs to happen in our lives.
It is only when we decrease that Jesus can increase.
One of the greatest limiters to ministry is pride.
It is only when I recognize that God doesn't need me, but that I need Him, that He will use me to do great things for Him.

Even when we come to Him for salvation, we come with a small opinion of ourselves.
We recognize that we are powerless to save ourselves, we can't even help.
We can only accept His free gift of salvation and submit to His provision of a Saviour in Jesus Christ.
Have you submitted to Jesus?
Won't you kneel before Him today?