I Samuel 16:1-13
Introduction
Israel has gotten to a point where Saul is no longer God’s chosen one to be king. And so God tells the prophet Samuel to go find a new king and leads Samuel to the house of Jessie. And one by one Jessie calls in his sons for Samuel. The oldest comes in and Samuel sees he’s handsome, surely this is the one. But God says nope, not him. So on and so forth, they come in, each with a striking attribute that makes Samuel think, “It’s gotta be this guy.” But each time God is like, “Nope. Not him.”
This kind of reminds me of all those Jr. High School dances I went to and every time a slow song came on I would race to align myself into Amy Rupert’s line of sight, but each time I did she was all, “Nope. Not him.”
So one after another Samuel meets the sons but God keeps saying, “Not him.” Which is confusing, but Samuel figures it out and says to Jessie, “Do you have any more sons?” And Jessie says, “Well, yeah there is my youngest, David. But…he’s keeping the sheep.”
But Samuel tells Jesse to call David from the fields, and sure enough, as soon as Samuel sees him he hears God say, “Rise and anoint him for he is the one.”
*******
I Samuel 16 marks the beginning of what will not only be a long kingship for David, but also an even longer lineage that will ultimately flow all the way to Jesus himself. Which is to say… this chapter, this story, this search for, finding, and anointing the next king of Israel is massively, colossally, and monumentally impactful.
But all of it is also massively, colossally, monumentally fragile.
However it’s not fragile because God’s plan is fragile—rather because many of the players involved have thoughts, ideas, perspectives, and agendas that are not rooted in God’s plan and vision. Instead they are rooted in the worldly plans and visions they have adopted.
A quote by an unknown author, but long believed to be by C.S. Lewis—speaks well to this notion when it states, “The creation story shows our remote ancestors had put in their heads the idea that they could be like gods. And out of this hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history— money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, social classes, empires, slavery— it’s a long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God to make him happy.”
Are we guilty of perpetuating this sin today? David certainly wavered between overcoming this hopeless attempt and failing at it miserably.
*******
Our hopeless attempts to find something other than God to make us happy causes us to fall prey to worldly plans and visions; which then causes us to forget the massively, colossally, monumentally impactful truth, which is… God sees us. God believes in us. God calls on us. And God uses us to make a difference…even when the world thinks we’re just keeping sheep.
Move 1
How many times in our day-to-day life, when we’re doing our thing, do we get the feeling we’re being ignored— we feel like nobody even notices us?
We show up to work and meet a deadline no one thought possible—but there’s no fanfare, no promotion, not even a pat on the back. We do something special or extra for our spouse or family—but it’s passed over without acknowledgement. We sit at home, hoping maybe today someone will stop by for a visit, or at least give us a call to see how we’re doing—but the phone doesn’t ring, there’s no knock on the door.
I have to believe David knew this feeling when he found out the whole story of Samuel coming to his father, asking to meet his sons because one of them is going to be the next king of Israel, and when the first six weren’t the chosen one Samuel had to ask, “Do you have any more sons?” only to have his father say, “Well, yeah, but…he’s out keeping the sheep.” Which when you peel back the layers what Jesse is really saying is, “Yeah, I got another son, but I don’t think he’s who you’re looking for—he’s just a shepherd.”
David’s family didn’t think he was significant enough for this calling. They don’t think he’s somebody Samuel would want to see. They don’t think God could possibly use David—he’s out keeping the sheep for goodness sake! I imagine David saying, “Wait. You all knew this prophet was looking for one of us, but you didn’t bother to call me in from the pasture until he asked, ‘Do you have any more sons?’”
Can you imagine what that must have felt like? I’m willing to bet all of us can, because we’ve all had that experience of “Why didn’t I get asked? Why didn’t anyone think of me? We all have felt like—or feel like— we’ve been under estimated and forgotten—that we’re just out in the pasture, keeping the sheep. It’s a terrible feeling.
And have that happen enough and what else then starts to happen? We start to believe we are not good enough because nobody notices what we do. We start to believe we’re not good enough because nobody cares what we do. We start to believe we are forgotten and no longer valuable.
And let these feelings of being forgotten and ignored linger in our heads long enough—unchecked—and they start to sift down into our hearts where it becomes easy for us to forget God’s message to us, and we start listening to, and believing the message we tell ourselves—which is rooted in the world’s message. We start saying things like, “You know what? They’ve forgotten about me. I don’t matter. No one bothered to call me in from the pasture.”
This story was King David’s story too. But there was something David knew that we often forget—other people don’t determine what God can do through you. Only God knows the plans God has for you. Not your employer, not your friends, not even your family.
And sometimes the wildest craziest notions, ideas, visions that stir up in our heart are that which God has planted there—planted for a reason, for a purpose—to ultimately make a difference.
So if we start to believe “They’ve forgotten about me. I don’t matter. No one bothered to call me in from the pasture” we are believing an untruth because God is saying, “Just you wait. I see you. Even if the world doesn’t, and you feel forgotten, I see you and I have plans for you because you are my creation, you are my child, and I created you for a reason and for a purpose—to make a difference.”
Move 2
David was a shepherd. And I think the life of a shepherd had to be hard and lonely. Shepherds are out fields day and night, night and day. It’s dirty and dangerous work. There is nothing easy or comfortable about it.
But we know it was in this work that David crafted so many of the words and prayers we all know so well, words like… “The Lord is my Shepherd… even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil… I shall live in the house of the Lord…”
In this dirty, dangerous, uncomfortable, looked down upon, forgotten work David came to know how much God loved him because time and time again God restored David’s soul.
Which is why I think we don’t have an accounting of David’s response to his father and brothers when he learned the whole story of Samuel coming, a response where I imagine David exasperatedly asking, “You weren’t even going to bother to call me in from the pasture?”
*******
David was a shepherd. Yes, he was out in the pasture keeping the sheep, but then one day he was called by God to do something impactful. Which goes to show… God sometimes teaches us the biggest lessons of our life while we’re in obscurity—the eerily quiet and oftentimes lonely, dirty, dangerous, uncomfortable, forgotten places—places that become the hard seasons of life. It’s in those places God is preparing us, equipping us, for the difference making we will have.
We see this coming true when in the next chapter just before David fights Goliath he said, “I don’t need this armor and sword. I’m confident with my five small stones. I know I can kill the giant because I’ve killed a lion, and I’ve killed a bear, and I trust my God. I’ve seen what God can do.”
David was made ready for all God would do through him while keeping the sheep.
Conclusion
Now… why is all this “God sees us” important? Why bring a message we already know..
This is important because in a world that so often gives attention to only the rich and famous and powerful, or to tragedy and atrocity; we can easily feel devalued, dismissed, and forgotten. And have that happen enough it will make us believe this untruth is true, and that we couldn’t possibly make a difference. And that is just wrong.
So, yes… There really isn’t anything here today you didn’t already know. But sometimes we need someone to say what we already know to remind us of the truths we often forget or won’t let ourselves believe about ourselves. God has a calling and a plan for each of us because if we didn’t we wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t be at this worship service today—God would be done with you.
So if you’re sitting here; if you’re home drinking your coffee—wherever you are keeping sheep— and you have breath in you, you can be certain… God sees you, and God has a purpose and a plan for you. So we can either choose to listen to the untrue voices of the world that invade our minds, or we can choose to trust God and actively discover how God is calling us, and equipping us right now, to at some point, sooner or later, make a difference.
And God will do this, because… God sees us. God believes in us. God calls on us. And God uses us to make a difference…even when the world thinks we’re just keeping sheep. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, October 9, 2022
Holy God, your grace and mercy, your power and strength, your vision of love is a mystery. All of it so often leaves us wondering how and why you are so merciful, how and why your grace is so deep, how and why your love knows no bounds, how and why do you use your power and strength through those who are weak. It’s almost as if you are attracted to weakness because you have such a long history of choosing and calling the most unlikely of people to do the unimaginable. You could’ve chosen a tall handsome and strong warrior to lead your people. Instead you chose a small, forgotten shepherd boy. Your son could’ve chosen 12 wise and well-studied rabbis to further his ministry. Instead he chose fisherman, tax collectors, and former zealots. Who could be a more unlikely group? And yet through them, and through so many other unlikely, you did your unbelievable and transformative work.
So we pray you remind us O God, remind us daily, all of us are the unlikely you are calling to do your unbelievable and transformative work in our world today. Help us to hear your call to come in from wherever we are “keeping the sheep” and anoint us to the calling you have placed upon us. Anoint this church, once again, to live out and share the ministries you have equipped us to do.
But do the work in ministry you call us to we know we must stop listening to the voices of this world that tell us we are not important or that we don’t have a status worthy enough to make a difference. Help us not let anyone, or even ourselves, diminished us as persons worthy of spiritual strength and power you have blessed us with to take and share and spread your grace, mercy, and love.
Hear now O God, the prayers we need to lift to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, the one who calls us in and anoints us to go forth, our Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”