16 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”

² But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me.”

⁴ So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?”

⁵ “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.

⁶ When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!”

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?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.”

“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

¹² So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes.

And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.”

¹³ So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Dear God, different things stand out to me as I read these verses. Some of them I get, but some of them confuse or concern me:

• How long did Samuel mourn? Had he been mourning since the first time Saul messed up by offering the sacrifice before he arrived, or did it start with this new transgression with the Amalekites?
• Samuel was afraid of Saul and his power.
• You gave him instructions on how to deceive Saul and everyone else. Am I reading that right? Was he giving them only a partial truth? I have to confess that I do this sometimes. I have something to address with someone, but I’ll come at it from a direction that will be either obscure the origination of my knowledge of the topic I want to discuss or I don’t want to offend so I find another way to address it. Is that wrong? This story seems to endorse it, but I’m not sure.
• The people were scared of Samuel. You would think it would be good news that the prophet/judge is in town, but Samuel had been doing a lot of rebuking lately, and they were scared.
• Samuel was carrying his paradigm from the selection of Saul (tall and good looking) into the selection of the new king. Even he needed to be corrected and told that you were looking beyond the good looks and height. You were looking for heart.
• Not even David’s dad imagined Samuel was looking for David. And I guess they knew what Samuel was looking for. That’s all a little vague here.
• Did David understand what had just happened to him? What did he feel when your power came upon him? Saul prophesied and got inspired. What happened to David?
• Did Samuel give him any instructions? What was the plan going forward?
• Did David just go back to the field with knowledge that he would one day be king? Who all knew about this. It’s all very weird and vague. I guess it’s not as important for us to know that answer to this part because you didn’t preserve it for us.

Father, I think the obvious point of this story is that you were looking for what was in David’s heart and not what he looked like from the outside. So I can be tall. I can be fit. I can get plastic surgery to keep from aging. I can color my hair. I can even get educated and become eloquent. I can work out and be strong and muscular. But to quote Paul, “If I have not love then I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13).” So here I am to give you my heart. To pursue you as best as I know how. To lead at work under your leadership as much as I’m able. To love your world as much as I can. To love your creation. To love you. Be with me, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, as I worship you through my life.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen