After God's Own Heart -- 1 Samuel 16:1-13

You see, even when your family forgets you, even when your dad doesn’t invite you to the party when the greatest prophet of our times comes to your house, God remembers you. We see two things taking place here: God doesn’t forget who you are, and God sees what others don’t.

The world is all about having the right look and sufficient degrees and who you know that makes you popular and acceptable. Of course, this attitude isn’t something new. When Paul was in Corinth, he knew he had to teach both Jewish and Gentile Corinthians. The Jews there were looking for a miracle, for a sign that proved he had the power of God. They wanted the same thing from Jesus. The Greeks, however, were looking at surface impressions. They weren’t concerned with the inner life as much as they were brains and beauty. But Paul refutes both these attitudes in his letter to the Corinthians. He says “God selected the common and the castoff, whatever lacks status, so He could invalidate the claims of those who think those things are significant. So it makes no sense for any person to boast in God’s presence” (1 Cor. 1:29).

When the whole world is enamored with power, beauty, strength and royalty (even Americans, who left England, were caught up in the last royal birth), it takes a humble spirit to answer the call of God. Everyone in Israel was going to compare little David to big Saul who stood head and shoulders above everyone else. But God makes His choices differently from the way people make their choices. We chose the rich and famous to be our friends because it might make us into somebody admired by the world. But God chooses nobodies and makes them into somebodies.

Furthermore, God didn’t choose a person who was from the priestly tribe, which is what we would do. If you want to get something done in the Kingdom, most church members think, you have to find the minister. Get the pastor involved. He’s special. He has a title. He knows. But then you read about the people who really made a difference in the world and most of the time they are people without ministerial credentials but full of love and the Holy Spirit. Regular people. Sinful people. Earthy people. You know, the one’s Jesus identifies with.

Think about David. He’s a huge man of faith and a total mess at the same time. He’s so human! And remember this: the story of David anticipates the story of Jesus, which is why Jesus is often referred to as “Son of David.” Really? David? You’d think Jesus would identify with a better character. I mean, David was too human with questionable ancestry, being related to Ruth the Moabitess. Eugene Peterson says to think about “David fighting, praying, loving, sinning. David conditioned by the morals and assumption of a brutal Iron Age culture. David with eight wives. David angry; David devious; David generous: David dancing. There’s nothing, absolutely nothing that God can’t and doesn’t use to work his salvation and holiness into our lives. If we’re going to get the most out of the Jesus story, we’ll first want to soak our imaginations in the David story” (Leap Over A Wall, pg. 9).