This week begins our summer trek through the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel. Our Old Testament will come from Samuel every week until August 9th. Because of the focus on Samuel my posts will also focus on Samuel and the stories of Samuel. Sometimes the Lectionary gives us big chunks of scripture and it is important to live with those words. This summer I hope we can live with Samuel.
Our story this week focuses on the calling and anointing of David. Samuel goes to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons and it is not till the ruddy son from the shepherding field arrives that God anoints anyone. When Samuel begins the process of accessing at Jesse’s sons God reminds him:
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.
God chooses a king differently than our conventional wisdom might tell us to pick a king. God knows humanity more intimately than humanity knows itself and for that reason God looks upon the hearts of the people God calls. God does not meddle with the façade that we put before others in the world; rather, God looks beyond who we pretend to be to who we are. I am not attempting to infer that all people pretend to be one thing and are another; I am simply pointing out that God knows us more intimately than anyone else.
One of the interns at Union Grove, Will, pointed out several weeks ago that just because the other brothers were not called to be king doesn’t mean they were not called to something else. Because God is able to see the into the inmost being of a person’s heart and soul, God knows us in such a way that affords God the ability to call us to that which we are most suited. God can call us to do that which we are made to do. As we go through this summer, as we search through the books of Samuel, be open to God’s calling. Allow God to call you and become the person you were made to be.
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