Scripture:
1 Samuel
16:1-13
Quick Summary:
God doesn’t
pick the oldest or tallest son to be king over his people. God picked the
scrawny one that Jesse didn’t even bother to call in from watching sheep in the
fields.
The Point:
God does
not look at the outside but at the heart.
Questions for Family Time:
1. What was the story today about?
a. God picked David to be king.
2. Was he the biggest? The strongest? The
loudest?
a. No.
3. Why do you think David was picked?
a.
It wasn’t anything on the outside. God
knew his heart, and knew he would be a good king.
Deeper:
I am the third of four kids, and it
always seemed my older brother and sister got everything. They got to be Mary
and Joseph in the Christmas play. I got stuck being a sheep. My sister got the
cool new clothes. I got her hand-me-downs.
What was a little true for me, was a
lot more true for David. David was stuck with hand-me-downs that had been worn
by 7 different boys before they got to him. While his brothers got the
honorable jobs at the right hand of his father and later as soldiers in the
army, David was stuck watching sheep all day. On top of that, the oldest son got the birthright and twice
as much inheritance, not the 8th son. He didn’t just feel forgotten.
He was. His father hadn’t even bothered to call him in when the prophet Samuel
visited his house.
But God saw David. He saw in David
the gifts needed to be king. He saw David’s confidence in God and bravery when
predators came to steal sheep. That would make a great Commander-in-Chief. He
heard David’s songs of worship and knew that David loved God and would put him
first. God already knew that one day, David would be remembered as the king “after God’s own heart.” He saw in David
someone who could admit when he messed up. He saw someone who would show mercy
when possible. He saw the traits of leadership that David’s father Jesse
missed.
God sees us, too. No matter how
ugly, stupid, or invisible we feel, God sees the real us underneath. He sees
what really matters. He sees how we trust him when we are scared. He hears our
prayers filled with love and adoration. He knows when we are willing to forgive
someone who may not deserve it. He knows what is in our hearts. He doesn’t choose
according to the world’s standards of attraction or charisma. He chooses
according to our willingness to be molded into what he needs us to be.
There
is a popular saying that goes like this:
God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. I think that is
true for David. There were things he
still had to learn, and as we hear his stories this semester, we will discover
he made mistakes. But God called him to be king knowing him. And God did a good
job choosing him because David would become the best king in all of Israel’s
history. In fact, he would be so good that to this day his ancestors, the Jews,
would be identified by the Star of David. He was so good that when Jesus, God’s
own son came he would be complimented with the name Son of David.
Personal Reflection:
What do you think God sees when he
looks into your heart? What does he see that the world may have missed? How is
he calling the best in you to change the world?
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