1 Samuel 16 says, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’”

Here in these verses, we have a discouraged man of God named Samuel. God asks him, “How long will you mourn for Saul?” He is basically asking him, “How long will your mourn for that which did not work out the way you thought it was going to work out?” (Samuel had commissioned Saul as Israel’s first, and it did not work out well.)

Certainly, mourning is a healthy emotional response that God has given us to process through hurts, disappointments, and losses, but we can’t make a lifestyle out of mourning. Samuel had exceeded the “expiration date” of mourning over Saul, and it was time for him to live again. 

We all have things in our lives that have not worked out the way we thought they would (family, finances, ministry, etc.). Today I say to you and to myself, “How long will we be neutralized by this?”

I get so encouraged by considering who God used in the Bible. There are many people God used who I would have not used if I was God. Ha ha. We read stories of great men and women in scripture, but we also get to see what they struggled with. This gives us hope for our lives. This great man of God, Samuel, battled fear and disappointment, but our Heavenly Father still empowered him to move forward into new things.

I believe these four truths from 1 Samuel 16 are major keys to help us get out of mourning and disappointment that has lasted too long:

1. Arise - The Lord basically told Samuel to arise and get his hopes up. Hope is the belief that the future will be better than the present and we have the power to help make it so. To arise is to hope! Philippians 3:13-14 says, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” As we arise and move forward (out of disappointment and mourning), we will increasingly “forget” (not dwell on) those things which did seemingly work out in our lives.
2. Fill your horn with oil - Once we arise, we take the next step to “fill our horn with oil”. We find ways to fill ourselves with truth, wisdom, and Holy Spirit power. We read the books, take the classes, get the prayer, and invest in ourselves. What do you need to do “fill your horn with oil”? What is it that God is calling you to do to make an investment in yourself? We have some resources available here at Igniting Hope that are a great way to get started. One is our free 28-day online devotional called Feasting on the Spirit starting today. You can find it here. 
3. Go - When you arise and fill your horn with oil, you can then inspire others to help them arise too! This is what Samuel did when he went to Jesse’s house. When we take forward steps and give God something to work with, He will meet us and get us in our assignments and purpose. One of our favorite declarations here at Igniting Hope Ministries is “My forward movement causes Red Seas to part.” When we step forward in personal growth and life-purpose, it is amazing what God can do.
4. Expect the unexpected - In this new season of forward movement, we let go of our preconceived ideas of how it has to look. Samuel needed to do this in selecting the next king. Initially, he used his human reasoning (1 Samuel 16:6-7) in concluding what the next king should look like, but God had an unlikely answer in a teenage boy named David. When we go into situations and environments with an open mind of who God can use, what He can do, and what it will look like, we open up to greater possibilities to what the Lord can do through us.

“Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul?” We can all relate to what Samuel was experiencing. He was experiencing disappointing outcomes in his life, and, at some level, so are all of us. As we arise (get our hopes up), fill our horns with oil (invest in ourselves), go (positively influence what God is doing now), and expect the unexpected (let go of our preconceived ideas), we, like Samuel, will help usher our nations in a new season of blessing and joy.