#208: Did I Hear God Wrong? (Why God Anoints You Years Before He Appoints You)

FOR THE WOMAN WHO KNOWS WHAT GOD SAID, AND IS STILL SITTING IN THE SAME PLACE YEARS LATER, WONDERING IF SHE GOT IT WRONG.

You’ve replayed what God said a hundred times.

And also, it’s taken so much longer, and cost so much more, than you ever thought it would.

So, the question has started showing up. Did I hear God wrong?

Sis, you didn’t. That doubt is sprouting out of the disillusionment and the pain the wait is producing.

Here’s what I believe happened…

You took how long this has taken and how hard it’s been, and somewhere in there you made it mean something God never meant it to mean. What the wait means to Him is so much different. And it’s good!

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The Gap Between Chosen and Crowned

To get into this discussion, we’re going to look at the life of King David right at the beginning of His journey to the throne. Let’s get into it.

Samuel anointed David king while he was still a kid out in a sheep field. Best estimates put him somewhere between ten and fifteen, and the text tells us plainly when the crown finally landed:

“David was thirty years old when he began to reign.” — 2 Samuel 5:4

Do the math on that. And remember there was already a king sitting on the throne for most of this time. Wild, right?!

So, let’s unpack the concept that’s at work in us when we’re on a journey that feels “too long”:

The anointing and the appointing are two different events, and they can live very far apart from each other.

For a lot of us, that distance is where our greatest angst lives. Because your brain breaks a little when you think: If You told me that’s who I am, why am I not walking in it?

I’ll give you the punchline right here instead of making you wait for it:

You’re not walking in it yet because you’re being prepared for it. You’re being proven in it. You’re being positioned for it. You’re being established in it.

That’s what being perfected is. And it’s not a word about your performance.

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” — Matthew 5:48

That imperative doesn’t mean achieve flawlessness. It means allow yourself to be perfected. It’s an invitation into a process, not a standard you’re failing.

Why You’ve Been Resisting This

Now, I know some will read a word like “perfected” and think, I don’t need that. I’m just trying to get by. I just want to be content.

Can I tell you what that reaction actually is? I think it’s a false cover for fear.

When God made you, He made you royalty, and He made you a warrior. Those two always went together. Back when royalty meant something, the king was the head of the army, and the whole kingdom fought underneath him.

That’s a picture of the Kingdom of heaven, and you are a kid of the King. There is already a desire in you to win, to see His Kingdom come, to see things come into order under heaven’s standard.

Then the world gets hold of you and you start thinking, I can’t.

Get this picture in your head real quick…

A baby, ten or eleven months old, pulling up on the coffee table. And her mother standing there going, come on, you can do it, come on! The mother isn’t hoping. She knows. It’s a foregone conclusion that this child is going to walk.

Now imagine somebody walking into that room and saying, look at this kid. She thinks she’s going to walk? Look at her results. Look how many times she’s fallen! You should just make crawling your favorite. 🫤

That’s the enemy in your ear. And your Father is standing right there saying, You don’t have to believe that. I believe in you!

Can you see it?

He Chose You First

Here’s why we’re looking at David. Twice in scripture he gets the same description.

“The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart.” — 1 Samuel 13:14

“I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.” — Acts 13:22

Most of us hear “a man after God’s own heart” and think it describes how hard David chased God. There’s truth in that, and there are three things in it.

Your heart is preset to devotion and alignment. God set that cadence in you so your heart naturally seeks His direction and defaults to worship, trust and gratitude.
Repentance is your default setting. Not perfection. Repentance.
And the one you can’t do anything about: You are God’s sovereign choice. In its original historical context, that phrase means a king chosen according to God’s own desire.

So, being a woman after God’s own heart means God decided to put His heart in your heart. He started this. Your part is staying devoted and keeping repentance as your default.

And watch how little He cares about your qualifications…

When Samuel came to Bethlehem, he consecrated Jesse and “his sons” for the sacrifice. Every son who was there.

David wasn’t there. David never got consecrated.

And David is the one God picked.

So, let me ask you…

Are you counting yourself out because you haven’t done all the steps? God is not legalistic, Sis. He had already anointed David in heaven before Samuel ever poured any oil on his head.

The Mark You Think Counts You Out

Seven sons walked past Samuel. God said no to every single one. God’s reason?

“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” — 1 Samuel 16:7

We all know not to judge other people by appearance. But what happens when you look in the mirror at yourself? That’s the real question. Because when God asks you what you see, most of us answer with our results, our data and our feelings.

Jesse hadn’t even bothered to bring David in. He had a prophet of God in his house for a sacrifice, and he left one son out with the animals. There’s context in the Psalms that some read to suggest David may not have been Jesse’s full son, which would explain a lot about how he was treated.

Whatever it was, that leaves a mark. There’s a word for that kind of mark. It’s called trauma.

But Sister, hear me when I say this:

Do not believe your trauma more than you believe the word of God over your life. That’s a stronghold, and Paul tells us those come down with spiritual weapons, not willpower.

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 10:5

So, here’s your question this week, and it’s not rhetorical…

What mark have you decided disqualifies you, when it’s actually the very thing God built into your story to prepare you?

Write it down. Because that’s the exact place He’s about to get you your breakthrough. That’s where the black sheep becomes the generational breaker, the one who stands up and says: This came through my family line and it ends with me.

And one more thing about that position you’ve been doubting. When God chooses you for something, everybody else gets rejected for it. Which means if you don’t step into it, it just stays empty. But they also can’t take what was yours from the foundations, either.

Sit with that one for a sec. Like, Selah.

Don’t Despise the Field

Samuel had a word straight from God, and then he watched seven wrong sons go by. He had the right word and limited perspective at the same time.

He could have ruined the whole thing right there by concluding, Well, I guess I heard wrong.

How many of us are blowing up our own purpose because we decided we heard wrong?

Don’t get stuck in that pit. When your perspective and God’s word don’t match, you don’t throw out the word. You go back to Him and say, I know what You said. Help me with my perspective so I can see this rightly.

And listen, if you did somehow mishear, He’ll give you better hearing right there in that conversation. You’re never going to sort that out by walking away from Him.

Samuel asked the right question instead. Are all your sons here?

“And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.’ … And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.” — 1 Samuel 16:12-13

The Spirit rushed on him. And then David went back to the sheep. Not for a week. The context suggests it was months to years before Saul ever called for him to serve.

That field wasn’t a holding cell. It was the place of preparation God assigned to him.

So, stop looking at the location of your preparation and rejecting your anointing because of it. The positioning you’re in right now is exactly right for you to be prepared and proven. Don’t despise it and lose what it’s producing.

Your First Prayer This Week

Before any of the practical work, there’s one thing I want to suggest you ask the Lord to remove from you immediately…

Put your hand on your heart and pray this with me:

Lord, help me release all the bitterness and disappointment that’s gotten attached to this delay. I repent for looking at the delay and making it mean something You never meant it to mean. I release that definition to You, and I’m asking You for the real one.

And if you’ve been agreeing with somebody else’s rejection of you, repent for that too. Because the only reason rejection lands is that something inside you is singing along with it.

Then do these two things this week…

Take two to five minutes a day and sit with one question: God, what did You choose me for? Ask Him for scripture on it and declare that over yourself.

And then, name the mark. The one you’ve been using as proof you’re not the one. Ask Him to show you how walking through this marking season is preparing you for the very assignment He created and chose you for.

He hasn’t changed His mind about you. Not once. You’re God’s girl for the job!

Amen.

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About this podcast:

Welcome to the Positioned to Prosper Podcast with Erica Pyle, where we dive deep into Biblical mindsets, strategies, and inspiration to help you thrive in every area of your life. Whether it’s faith, health, relationships, finances, business, or ministry, Erica’s here to equip you with the tools you need to get unstuck, overcome overwhelm, and avoid burnout as you pursue your purpose with intention.

Join Erica, co-lead pastor of REVIVE Church of Tampa, and founder/lead mentor of The Jesus Girl Gang, an online, group coaching mentorship for Christian women with a pioneering spirit, as she shares powerful teachings, practical advice, and pivotal strategies for breakthrough living without compromising on the things that matter most to you. With over 13 years of experience in pastoral ministry alongside her husband Doug, Erica brings a wealth of knowledge and a passionate heart for helping you live out God’s best for your life.

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November 4, 2026