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1 Samuel 17:12-19

29 May

12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15 But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.

17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

1 Samuel 17:12-19

Dear God, I want to sit with David as the youngest boy. As the youngest child, I can empathize with feeling like you’re always playing catch-up. No matter how old I get, as long as the three of us are alive I will always be four years younger than my sister and six years younger than my brother. I’ll never catch up. Our daughter is almost three years younger than our son, and, especially when they were little, I used to watch her try to take back every day of that three years.

Sometimes, I think there is something important about accepting the role of the youngest. In this case, David had a job to do. He had a role in the family. He was to help care for his brothers, express his father’s love and support for his brothers, and then bring back news of his brothers to his father. He was old enough to travel alone but not yet old enough to join the fight. Still a boy but feeling more and more like a man.

Of course, we will see tomorrow that David’s brothers still treat him like the youngest. They will be mad at his impudence when he responds to Goliath’s challenge with indignation and defiance by calling out the men of Israel who won’t fight. Partly out of shame and partly out of this feeling of superiority they feel.

And even though I am the youngest in my family, I am currently the oldest at work. So I need to remember to ask myself if I am giving my younger coworkers the respect they deserve to not only do the jobs they have but to trust them with more than my preconceived notions of them might normally allow.

Father, help me to know how to still live into my role as the youngest child in my family. Help me to know how to parent my youngest child. Help me to be an encourager of the staff who work with me. Love them through me. Love me through them. Help us all to simply be yours. Be your worshippers. Be your servants. Be your people.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 29, 2025 in 1 Samuel

 

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1 Samuel 16:1-13

22 May

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

 
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Posted by on May 22, 2025 in 1 Samuel

 

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Ruth 1:19-21

09 Nov

19 So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.

20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”

Ruth 1:19-21

Dear God, a friend’s wife asked me to share a scripture at his funeral next weekend. She asked if I have any ideas. While her husband and I talked about faith a lot, we never talked about our favorite scripture passages. She is going to talk with her daughter and get back to me about any ideas they have.

In the meantime, as I sat down this morning, I started wondering if I had any ideas. Any passages that reminded me of him. The first thing that came to mind was Naomi. See, he married his high school sweetheart, and they had a little girl whom he adored. Tragically, his wife died just a short time after the baby was born from a random brain aneurism. All of a sudden, he was alone with a little girl. He had to return home and move in with his parents to help him with his daughter while he figured out what the rest of his life held for him. As it turns out, it was a good life. Education. Marriage. More children. Even financial success, but coupled with extreme generosity, love for others, and devotion to and worship of you. We aren’t all guaranteed anything in life. It won’t always turn out this way. And I’m sure he would just as soon have had his high school sweetheart with him until his dying day. And I don’t believe you caused the deaths of Naomi’s husband and sons any more than you caused his wife’s death. But you used them. You didn’t let the pain be wasted.

So, back to Naomi. I love this specific passage from Ruth 1 that I used above because it says so much. Naomi is devastated and, as she describes it, bitter. Her life is bitter. She is bitter. She is grieving and in pain. But there is still a future ahead of her. Her life isn’t over. You weren’t done with her yet. She brought Ruth and arranged for her to end up with Boaz. Ruth and Boaz had baby Obed. And that’s where the Book of Ruth ends. With Naomi, the book’s real protagonist, cuddling Obed, caring for him as if he were her own. While we don’t always get to see what you are doing to redeem our pain, at least Naomi got to see Obed. Here’s the rest of how the Book of Ruth ends in Ruth 4:16-17, nearly all of which Naomi never knew this side of heaven:

16 Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. 17 The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.

And then what the author of Ruth could not know is that David would be the lineage to Jesus. The blessing didn’t stop with David. It was only the beginning of the story, culminating even in me, a Gentile, sitting here today under grace.

Father, I don’t know what you will continue to do with my friend’s life, even now that he is gone. But I know that he had the privilege of getting to cuddle his metaphorical Obed. He got a good mother for his daughter. He got more children whom he adored–he talked about all three of them constantly when he was with me. He got a wife who absolutely delighted him, and she adored him as well. Yes, he had a successful career, but his life is more marked even more by the love he showed others with that success through generosity of time and resources. His is a life that knocks over a lot of dominos. The “butterfly effect” of his life will carry on for generations. Thank you that you rescued my friend from bitterness. Thank you that all of us have a reason to move forward in the midst of sorrow and pain. Thank you that you take our pain and offer us opportunities in each moment to redeem it. Those of us who are left behind are not done. If I consider my life worth nothing to me, then my only other option is to offer it to you. So I offer this day to you. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

In Memory of Royce Hunter: 1938-2024

 
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Posted by on November 9, 2024 in Ruth

 

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