It's Complicated(S1) : WK 2 - THU
(1 Samuel 16:7)
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.” 9 Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” 10 In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”
What an interesting situation. All of these sons, and yet none of them are the ones that God is having Samuel look for. No matter how great and good they looked, the anointing was not for any of these young men. Rather, it was for someone Samuel had not met yet.
I can only imagine that Jesse was frustrated by this scene. He parades all his best sons, probably in order of age, height, or some other feature that he thinks Samuel wants. He must be increasingly chagrined when each of these boys is rejected for seemingly no good reason.
As a father, I think i would be not only sad, but a little angry at this exercise. Here, the prophet of God is coming and serving judgement on my family, on my sons. That is no good! I think that every father thinks that each son has such great attributes in their own right. It would be impossible for one a father to watch this prophet reject one son after another.
We love our children, each for their own attributes. Each child we have is a reflection of the best and sometimes the worst of us. We know that each child is gifted differently and will excel in different situations. But as Jesse was watching this happen, he must have felt some chagrin as he knew which son would be capable of leadership, and they were passed over.
The last phrase: “are these all the sons you have?” is a harbinger of things to come, to be sure. For those of us who know the story, we know that there is one more son that has yet to be seen. Jesse couldn’t have imagined that this was the son that Samuel was interested in.
But throughout the story of the kings of Israel, perhaps more so at the beginning, we seem to see God making fun of them for wanting a king. Rather than finding the most fitting character, he chose Saul from a luggage cart, and will choose David from herding sheep. God has a funny sense of humor.
The truth is, life is complicated, and finding good leadership is just as difficult as finding a good cook. God knew who to get Samuel to look at. The story is about to continue.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.” 9 Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” 10 In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”
What an interesting situation. All of these sons, and yet none of them are the ones that God is having Samuel look for. No matter how great and good they looked, the anointing was not for any of these young men. Rather, it was for someone Samuel had not met yet.
I can only imagine that Jesse was frustrated by this scene. He parades all his best sons, probably in order of age, height, or some other feature that he thinks Samuel wants. He must be increasingly chagrined when each of these boys is rejected for seemingly no good reason.
As a father, I think i would be not only sad, but a little angry at this exercise. Here, the prophet of God is coming and serving judgement on my family, on my sons. That is no good! I think that every father thinks that each son has such great attributes in their own right. It would be impossible for one a father to watch this prophet reject one son after another.
We love our children, each for their own attributes. Each child we have is a reflection of the best and sometimes the worst of us. We know that each child is gifted differently and will excel in different situations. But as Jesse was watching this happen, he must have felt some chagrin as he knew which son would be capable of leadership, and they were passed over.
The last phrase: “are these all the sons you have?” is a harbinger of things to come, to be sure. For those of us who know the story, we know that there is one more son that has yet to be seen. Jesse couldn’t have imagined that this was the son that Samuel was interested in.
But throughout the story of the kings of Israel, perhaps more so at the beginning, we seem to see God making fun of them for wanting a king. Rather than finding the most fitting character, he chose Saul from a luggage cart, and will choose David from herding sheep. God has a funny sense of humor.
The truth is, life is complicated, and finding good leadership is just as difficult as finding a good cook. God knew who to get Samuel to look at. The story is about to continue.
- Have you ever felt led to make a choice that doesn’t seem to make sense?
- What would you do if you were Jesse and saw your sons being passed over, especially the ones who seemed to make the most sense?
- How can you be sure that you are following God when it comes to the choices that you make?
by Pastor Timothy Gillespie
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