The Heart-for-God Series: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

GOD’S UNUSUAL CHOICES

 

Can you recall a defining moment in your life that changed the trajectory of your life? The first one in my life came when I was about twelve years old. My father, my brother (who is 11 years older), and my brother-in-law (12 years older), were building a small deck on the back of our house. I wanted to get in there and help build with my dad and brothers. 

            I don’t remember the words; I just remember the feeling of utter rejection. My dad rejected me and my presence. I was of no help. I wasn’t wanted. I had no skills to offer. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. My dad didn’t have the patience to teach me the skills of handywork. 

            Leaving them to their project, I recall going inside and that I began pulling books (encyclopedias) and following a history thread. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but I look on that moment now as a turning point: I was not going to be a tradesman, I was going to be a scholar. Two years later, God turned my heart towards himself. Two years after that, God turned my heart towards ministry. Those three defining moments changed my life. 

            I share this part of my story not to brag, but to emphasize that God likes to turn rejection and pain into something amazing. He is doing this in your life too. 

            David was rejected by his father too. In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, we see evidence of this belittlement. Samuel was putting on a big BBQ for the community and David’s seven brothers were invited: not David. The youngest of the family, David was sent to do the least important job, tending sheep, a job for children who should be seen and not heard, and for women or slaves. 

            The Lord had other ideas, however. What we see in this story is a principle we all know: The Lord looks at the heart, not the outward appearance. Yet we are still drawn to the external qualities we observe in people. God still looks at the heart and he chooses unlikely people to build his kingdom. I want to share with you this theme of God’s unusual choices.

The Way We See People 

 

First, I want to highlight how Samuel saw people and, in that light, how we tend to evaluate others. We can’t help ourselves; we see a tall man and think strength, capability, confidence, and success. Tall, handsome men are preferrable to society in general. When I was working at a restaurant as a busboy, I walked into the kitchen where the cook couldn’t see me. I spoke and he imagined a big guy, then looking, he saw me and laughed. I have a 6’4” voice in a 5’7” body. 

            God sent Samuel to look for a new king after Saul proved himself unfit for leadership. However, the Lord did not tell Samuel what he would be looking for, only that he should go to such and such a place to such and such a family. Samuel went only with the barest of skills in reading a resume. What did Samuel have in the way of criteria?

            History. We see that Samuel was still grieving the disappointing experience with Saul. The Lord said to him, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel” (1a). It seems that Samuel was unwilling to give up on Saul. He was reluctant to choose a successor to Saul because that meant Saul was finished. So, the Lord rebukes Samuel, “get over it.” Though he was a disappointment, Samuel’s history with Saul clouded his judgment. We even see how the first guy he sees kind of resembles Saul. But that model of leadership didn’t work. Stop looking to the past, Samuel. Don’t we do that? We look at the obvious attributes – the low hanging fruit, as it were – and make our decision about a person. 

            Pedigree. The Lord said, “I will send you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite,” (1b). Saul was the son of Kish, a Benjamite, a prominent and wealthy family of influence. Who is this, Jesse? And where is Bethlehem? The prophet Micah makes my point, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah…” (5:2). Even today I’m told that Bethlehem is a dirty little nowhere town. Samuel must have thought he was going to the backwater hillbilly regions (Plum Coulee?). But family background/origins are important to us. They speak of familiarity – of what we know – “Oh yeah, that family! Good stock.” – We are drawn to pedigree.

            Birth order. The oldest son, Eliab, is presented to Samuel and immediately Samuel thinks “this is it.” He is the oldest, the most responsible, he’s tall, and the most likely candidate. In those days, the first born was given a double portion of his father’s goods and headship would be passed on to Eliab. Studies have shown that most top executives tend to be “tall, dark, and handsome.” Samuel thought so too. Nope.

            Appearance. We have just alluded to this quality, but it bears emphasis. We cannot help but be led by what our eyes see. Human perception is influenced by the eyes, by the beauty or lack thereof, the height or build of a person, whether they are trim or overweight. Remember that Saul was a tall man; he was head and shoulders taller than most Israelites (9:2). Eliab was tall and looked good too. Appearances can be deceiving. 

            On our recent trip, there were some single ladies. One lady in particular, Marjorie, was 79 and had long thick hair that she often wore in braids. She looked and dressed like a flower child of the 60s. I am ashamed to say I judged her to be trouble, not my kind. When I got to know her, I found her to be a very sweet lady full of eagerness to learn and to grow in the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord does not see as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart,” (7). 

            We cannot help but see ourselves in Samuel’s evaluation of a future king. Who we choose to be a leader, a friend, a partner, may not be God’s choice. God told Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons and he went through all seven and God rejected all seven. Seven is the number of completeness indicating that Samuel reached the total number of sons available for service. But no one felt it necessary to call the youngest son; he was not a likely candidate; his own father, Jesse, did not see any potential in him. David was a child, maybe 12-13 years old, with no experience of life. But God doesn’t make mistakes. How does God see people?

 

The Way God Sees People

 

David was the writer of the psalm with the expression, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” (Ps. 139:23a). In this psalm, David acknowledges that his life is laid bare before God, that he is transparent before the LORD. There is nothing about him that is hidden before God (see 1-6). As they say in the movie Avatar, “I see you,” which also means, “I love you.” God both sees you and loves you.

            David was the youngest and the most unlikely person to become the next king. God loves to do that. He doesn’t always take the youngest, but God loves to choose the unlikely. We see this again and again in scripture: God chose Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over his brothers, Moses over Aaron. Jesus chose fishermen to follow him; he chose Judas, even though he knew he would betray him; he chose Simeon, a zealot, and Matthew, a tax collector – two natural enemies to follow him. Jesus later chose Paul, a violent opponent of Christianity to be his apostle. Do you think there is anything that disqualifies you from serving Jesus? 

            David was the youngest, the baby, the runt of the litter. He was overlooked, discounted, and even rejected by being relegated to the pastures to look after sheep. Yet we read, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things to shame the strong…” (1 Co. 1:26-27).

            You know what though, that David was pushed out to the pastures was life shaping. Keeping the sheep was an opportunity for David to become dependent on God. Jesse had pushed David into the wilderness with the sheep, but in so doing pushed David to God. David wrote nearly half of the psalms and expressed so many of our questions, our worship, our songs to God. The Lord took David’s rejection to craft him and make him his own. 

            I worked for five years at a Christian bookstore for a cranky boss, low pay, and very little prestige. But in my wilderness I built a theological library, I learned customer service (how to talk to people), and gained a wide knowledge of the various churches in Winnipeg. 

            God does that for us too. He can use the junk and hurt and our deserts of life to drive you to him. My rejection drove me to books and eventually to the ministry. God can use your terrible family background or your present miseries to reshape you and make you his own. It makes more poignant the verse, “…we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” (Ro. 8:28). 

            For David, shepherding became his motif of kingship. From David on down to Jesus Christ himself, the king of Israel was forever known as a shepherd of the nation (see Ps. 78:70-72). The reason we know that God has a shepherd heart is because David came to know God that way out in the wilderness. 

            God chose David. And when Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in front of his brothers “…the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward…” (13). The expression “rushed upon” describes literally the onrushing of the divine breath – God breathing upon David. In all the OT, this occurred only seven times, like when the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon Samson, and he tore a young lion apart with his hands (Judges 14:6). In the OT, the Jews understood the “Spirit of the LORD” to be the vital force of God which gives the recipient his invigorating power. Before Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit, this filling was temporary. For you and me, this presence of the Holy Spirit is permanent – he does not leave us. 

            What God saw in David was someone who would not reject his infilling Spirit. David had been shaped by his wilderness shepherding experience to know God and seek more of God. That’s what he is looking for in us. 

            God’s way of seeing people is to look at their hearts. He is looking at our hearts right now. He is looking to see if we are the “poor in spirit,” the people who mourn conditions caused by sin. He searches for the meek, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He pursues the people who show mercy because they know what it means to receive mercy…do you hear the beatitudes in this description? God is not respecting privilege, fame, wealth, pedigree, or education. He’s not looking for beauty or charisma. No, God will go after the poorest, the lowest, the marginalized and choose them because they possess true character, holiness, purity, and love. That’s what God is looking for. And oddly enough, he finds that these are the people whose hearts have been broken and who have been through the ringer. This is who God seeks. God is seeking you. And he wants to fill you with his Holy Spirit. 

 

I love David because I feel like I can relate to him. It is no wonder that Jesus is called the Son of David; there is a resemblance there. We can learn a lot from David. I want to apply three aspects of this lesson to our lives.

1) Don’t judge others by their appearance or by worldly standards. Jesus told the Jews to stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment (Jn 7:24). Social media and the celebrities of our age lift up icons and standards to be modeled, but they are superficial. If we determine who we will befriend, partner with, trust with leadership, based on these values, we will miss the potential God sees in others. 

2) Don’t dismiss your own gifts for service. We have set up a false dichotomy between the work we do Monday to Friday and the service we perform on Sunday. We say that “church work” alone is service to God. That’s not true. Your weekday work is service to God and God can use it to build his kingdom. Even if you are working in the wilderness pumping gas, herding cats, or pushing a broom, God may be shaping you for something more. Be faithful in the little things and he will entrust you with greater things. Your workplace may also be the very place God wants you to be for this time to shine a light for Jesus. 

3) Don’t forget Jesus. John reminds us that Jesus was overlooked by the world too. Do you feel forgotten? Unappreciated? Jesus “…was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (John 1:10-12). Jesus was the true man of God’s choosing. He was the true man with a heart for God. But the world overlooked him. Don’t forget Jesus. Isaiah says he was nothing to look at, but the Father used him powerfully. 

            God makes unusual choices. He chooses you just as you are right now for his purposes.

            

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…” (Eph. 1:3-4)

 

 

                                                AMEN