God chooses ...

Hear the word of the Lord:

Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.

The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me."

And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you."

Samuel was wise, but still he suffered; his protégé Saul, now the king, was not to keep the throne. Saul’s hard-headed disobedience has cost him the favor of God. The very thought of it makes Samuel sick. When the Lord sees Samuel’s depression, he knows just what is required: he gives Samuel something tangible to do. The task brings an odd response from Samuel. Broken one minute because his favored man is no longer to be king, he shows fear the next moment at the thought that his pet might find out that he was anointing a new king. Yet he remains obedient.

Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

Neither being wise, nor being the servant of God, is a guarantee of perfect vision. Samuel does not see that others fear him as a mighty prophet much more than he fears them. Neither does even the mighty Samuel have adequate vision to understand exactly what kind of person God seeks to be the next king.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord."

But 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 mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one."

Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one."

Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these." Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?"

And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep."

And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.

The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

It is so difficult for human beings to anticipate what God can and will do with people over the course of their lives. Yet we are so quick to make judgments about people and what their relative merits are. Here God chooses the pretty boy, the youngest son, the shepherd son, the son with no status, the son with limited inheritance, the son the father didn’t even respect enough to bring in for Samuel’s line-up.

Which only leads us to wonder: which disrespected sons will rise from tending the animals in our pastures to find places of spiritual importance in the kingdom of God?

Think about it. Pray about it, too.

Blessings,

Ron

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 – NRSV

Because you are with us ...

Today, a prayer meant to follow the reading of 2 Samuel 7:

The threats do not wane
Walter Brueggemann

The threats do not wane,
The dangers are not imagined,
The power to undo is on the loose . . .
And in the midst, you speak your word.
It is your word that cuts the threat,
that siphons off the danger,
that tames the powers.
You speak and all is made new.
You speak your true self of abiding faithfulness,
of durable presence,
of long-standing reliability.
You give yourself in the utterance of “fear not,”
and we do not fear.
We do not fear,
because you are with us,
with us, and so safe,
with us, and so free,
with us, and so joyous.
We diminish our lives in our feeble anxiety . . .
and you veto our anxiety;
We cheapen our neighbor with our frantic greed . . .
and you nullify our greed with your satiation;
We pollute our world in our lust for safety . . .
and you detoxify our mess.
Now come here and in Kosovo,
here and in Littleton,
here and in East Lake,
here and in Louisville,
here . . . and there . . . and there . . . and there,
Override the fickleness of it all,
And give us faith commensurate with your true, abiding self.
Amen

Grace and peace,

Ron