Don't keep mourning

I Samuel 16:1 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.”

Samuel had obeyed God and anointed Saul to be king of Israel, so Saul held a special place in Samuel’s heart.  It was a sign of his obedience, at that time, but now he had to set aside what was in the past and move on to new steps of obedience.  He couldn’t dwell on what was already done and in this case, over with.  God had a new task that meant setting aside the past.  He had no idea that his new step of obedience would be opening the door to an even greater blessing for Israel.  He didn’t know that David would become the greatest king of all to come.  Samuel’s first step had to be putting aside his mourning over what had already happened and obeying his new directive from the Lord.  What a challenge for me, all these years later as well.  I cannot allow myself to become so comfortable with what is familiar to me that I miss moving ahead.  The older I get the more challenging that action becomes.  Although I have always prided myself in not being afraid to try new and different things, I find myself feeling more comfortable with everything staying the same, but in this story of Samuel I am reminded that I cannot dwell on my comfortable, known past.  I must forge ahead because God has more things for me to do, more things for me to learn, more things for me to experience.