The Forgotten Child

My wife and I read a devotional each weekday morning together over breakfast. The devotional always has a memory verse. The verse for this week was I Samuel 16:7b:

"People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (NIV)

This verse got me thinking about the context of this chapter in Samuel.

Israel had a king. But God had rejected him because he had turned from God's ways and began following his own course.

So God sends Samuel to anoint the man who will be the next king. Of course Samuel is fearful (anointing a new king while the current king sat on the throne could be a death sentence), but trusting God, Samuel goes to Bethlehem.

When he arrives, he calls the city fathers together for a feast and sacrifice to God. He is sure Jesse is invited; one of his sons is to be anointed the next king of Israel.

After the cleansing ceremony, Jesse and seven of his sons parade in front of Samuel.

Enter our memory verse for the day:

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD." But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:6-7 (NIV)

Seven sons of Jesse paraded before Samuel that day in Bethlehem. And each time God's response was, "No" ...

Finally, in what I would expect would be a bit of frustration, Samuel turns to Jesse and asks, "Do you have any more sons?"

The man of God comes into town and throws a banquet. You and your family are invited; specifically being told to bring your sons. The family then goes through a purification ceremony so you can meet with the man of God.

And in this entire process, nobody says, "Hey father, what about David?"

Yes, Jesse had another son, David. But he wasn't even considered by his father or brothers as worthy of this invitation from the man of God.

Fortunately for David, he had not been forgotten by God. Despite the rejection of his family, despite being an "outcast" in the eyes of his own, God loved him, accepted him, protected him, and in the end elevated him.

Maybe you, like David, have been forgotten by your family or by society. Maybe you too have been left in the field tending the sheep while everyone else eats at the feast in town.

Don't worry. God hasn't forsaken you, you are not abandoned. Maybe, just maybe, you are being groomed for greater things. It was in those days and nights in the field David learned to trust God.

Sure, the older brothers got to meet Samuel first. Sure they were considered worthy of the invitation from the man of God.

But in the end, it was David, the forgotten child, who became the guest of honor.

And even more importantly, God called David "a man after my own heart" (see Acts 13:22).