Looking Beyond the Obvious
1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 51:10-14
Pastor Doug Holtz
The people had been led by prophets.
But
now they have put down roots
They
wanted to be like the cool kids
Just
like their neighbors
They
wanted a king
God
told Samuel to give them what they wanted
And
so he did—Saul
It went just fine for a while
Wars
were won; riches were collected
But
then Saul and his men became greedy
Won
the war, but kept the spoils for themselves
Kept
the best cattle, sheep
Kept
a few slaves as well
What is happening here?
God doesn’t make this easy
Samuel:
Last week told Eli he was through
Then
had to tell Saul he was through
A
long journey to Bethlehem
Under the auspices of sharing
sacrifice
There’s no big name flash here
One
of the smallest villages in Israel
Surely there was some assistant to
succeed Saul
God had other plans
Jesse’s boys came one by one
God rejects them all
Imagine
the disappointment
Notice:
rejected for this vocation
Not
rejected as people
Not
deemed worthless
Just
not king material
Imagine Jesse standing there
Imagine Samuel: getting nervous
What
is God doing?
David is an
afterthought
Jesse
remembers him
The
meek shepherd
The
musician out in the field playing harp
What do ya know!
God
is turning the world upside down again
Using
the world’s least to be the kingdom’s greatest
If we could only judge with these
lenses
Instead of basing our decisions on
first impressions and outward appearances
The
first televised Presidential election
Nixon
vs. Kennedy
Pale,
underweight from hospital stay
Nixon
had no chance
Milli Vanilli
Stand-ins
for the real singers.
Very
popular
Backlash
was extreme
David not what everyone imagined as
king
But that’s what God does
He
goes to the out of the way places
Finds
the ones who don’t fit the mold
Uses
people who we see as weak, or crude, or worthless
People
like us.
I kind of look like a pastor
Tall,
handsome (well, reasonably)
Even
have a rather large noggin for the brains
Yep,
size 8 1/8 – find that in a regular store
But don’t let looks deceive you
I’m
the one who gets filled with doubt
Whenever
the smallest thing goes wrong
I know I’m not perfect
But
the way I’m wired
It
crushes me when I’m not
I
fight that every day
So it’s relief to me to realize David
wasn’t perfect either
He made big mistakes, it’s the reason
he wrote Psalm 51 as prayer
He wrote this prayer after having relations
with Bathsheba
A
military leader’s wife
She
became pregnant
David
had her husband killed
Hey,
maybe we’re not so bad after all.
And despite all that
God
forgave David
Repented
of his evil ways,
Turned
back to God.
God
used David for more greatness
God forgives us, even before we
confess
God
will use us faults and all
To
bring God’s message to neighbors and friends
Through
the gifts God gave us to share
The
gift of time
The
gifts of talents and skills, unique in each of us
So
David’s prayer is ours too.
A
prayer we can lift every time and everywhere we go.
Please
pray the words of Psalm 51, our second lesson, together.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit
within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
And do not take your Holy
Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
And sustain in me a willing
spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
And sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation,
And my tongue will sing aloud
of your deliverance.
God has already delivered us
We
are washed by the cleansing of God’s word every day
Through
the body and blood of Christ.
We
too are renewed in the promises of baptism about to be shared
So in response to God’s great love and mercy,
We’re
about to sing a song that reminds us of our hearts
Created
new every day.
“God
provides a brand new heart.”
