Listen to the Sermon or the Entire Service
June 14:
Call: 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10, 16
Reading: W&S #78
Text: 1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13
Closing: None (Children's Day)
God's Eyes - Not Mine
We have all heard for years about King David.
We know he was a great - albeit flawed - king
We know he tangled with Goliath
We know he had a relationship with Bathsheba
We know that he was an ancestor of Christ.
Most of us probably know that he was selected by God
Through Samuel, the prophet.
The story of that selection is what challenges us today
Saul, the first king of a united Israel had disobeyed and disappointed God
God, therefore, decided to replace Saul
And we pick up the story with God's instructions to Samuel
[1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13]
Now that we have
heard the story and learned the details of the selection
let's think about it.
Let's actually think about it
Rather than simply paying a visit to it
With disconnected brains and disconnected hearts.
To do so,
Let's each one of us think of ourselves as the CEO of a company
[Carol, I think this could be the opening line of a stewardship campaign.]
And our company
A rather significant company at that
Has God as our "VP for Human Resources"
Now, before anyone of us says,
"I am uncomfortable imagining myself as God's boss"
I challenge us to honestly look at our lives
For we human beings tend to try to boss God around
"God, this is what you need to do."
"God, this is what we want"
"God, I am disappointed that you didn't do it my way."
You and I are experienced
at seeing ourselves as God's bosses.
But anyway as CEO
We need to find someone to be placed in charge of
"The Israelite Division"
a division very dear to us
but also one that has often been disappointing
The present division Vice President has been seen as a failure
And we need to get his successor on board.
So we say to our HR person,
"God, go out to Bethlehem.
Go to Jesse's Family Employee Training Facility
And find someone to take over and lead
"The Israelite Division"
God from HR and his gopher, Samuel, travel to that little town out to find the person
He rejects people whom you and I think would be great
People like Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah
And instead he hires the runt
The little guy who had been watching the sheep.
The fellow whose family thought so little of him
That they did not even present him to our search team.
By all our standards,
God's choice of David
Is at best questionable.
So when he brings David back to us,
do we give the God's choice a chance?
Or Do we
tell God how foolish he has been,
shake our heads at his recklessness and risk taking
Issue him a pink slip,
And utter Donald Trump's words, "You're fired!"
Well, did you fire God?
Or did you trust God
Despite your not being able to see what God saw
In this little runt?
Don't worry.
If you decided against firing him
You will, some centuries later, get another chance
For in choosing Saul of Tarsus
To head up the "Bring the Gentiles to Christ" project
God made an even less defensible hiring decision
Than when selecting David in our text.
For at least the questions about David
Resulted from the absence of evidence that he could handle the job.
In Saul's case there was a lot of evidence
All of which showed
that he was an enemy of the Christians.
And yet despite the questions about the OT David and the NT Saul,
Both went on to be
among the most significant and successful characters of their respective testaments
What was it that God said to Samuel?
"Humans only see what is visible to the eyes,
but the Lord sees into the heart."
The message of these hirings is that we need to trust God
And that we need to use the gifts of love and forgiveness
To see into people's hearts.
Can you imagine standing before Christ on Judgment Day
And having to admit, acknowledge, and confess
That you had fired his dad.
As we head toward next Sunday's celebration of Fathers day,
That makes me real uncomfortable.
And it should.