Weakness into Glory
I Samuel 16:11-“And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are these all the children?’, and he(Jesse) said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, and behold he is tending sheep’,,,”
Can you imagine the buzz, the feeling of excitement and anticipation that was going around in the house of Jesse? All the boys were talking, and Jesse was walking around with a puffed up chest because he knew that God’s prophet Samuel was coming to anoint a new king out of his children. I imagine that young, teenage David got caught up in this excitement as he thought quietly, “What if it’s me? What if I’m chosen to be king?” I can see him putting on his Burger King crown and making a tin foil sword, and ordering the chairs to obey his commands. He was excited at what he thought might be ahead for him. Then the same thing that happens to a lot of us happened to him. He got a bad taste of human reality. His brother’s, and even his father, started laughing at him, and telling him that he would not be king. He was too pathetic and insignificant to be king. Then on the day of Samuel’s arrival they gave him the ultimate insult; they sent him off to take care of the sheep. It was like they were saying, maybe they did say, “You don’t need to be here for this just go watch the sheep.” Don’t you find it interesting that we, human beings, are called sheep in the Bible; and Jesus is the Great Shepherd.
I only imagine that the Jewish people felt the same kind of excitement that filled Jesse’s house hundreds of years later. The Messiah of God was coming. Soon they were to be released from the Roman bondage that they had been under for years and years, most could not remember a time when the heavy hand of Rome was not on them, but soon the Messiah, the New King, would emerge and free them. Into this picture the Baby Jesus was born. I have always found it interesting that no one paid any attention to the birth of Jesus except for the Roman Government. They had a partial understanding of what the Messiah’s birth meant. But as Jesus grew he just got lost in the shuffle with the other Roman subjects, then around 30 years of age God decided, or knew, it was time to present the Messiah. Over the next three years Jesus got together a group of followers, and that excitement came back because they knew that He was the Messiah. Their excitement grew even more as they heard Him say that He needed to go to Jerusalem. They knew that He was going to Jerusalem to begin the revolution that would overthrow the Roman government, but in the middle of their ecxitement Jesus saidd that He was going to die. All the musis, and the partying stopped as their mouths and their hearts fell to the floor.
Many times in our excitement of what God is going to do we lose the perspective to see how he is going to do it. Just like with the example of David’s brothers and father we don’t understand that God can use anyone for His purposes. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in I Corinthians 1 verses27-29 say, “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised; God has chosen the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.”
David’s father and brothers coulf not understand how or why God would select a weak little boy to be king, but He did; Jesus’ disciples and followers could not understand why or how God could use His crucifixion to change the world, but He did. Perhaps today you are in a situation that you don’t see how God could use it to bring glory to Himself, and you, but if you will turn your heart to Him, and say like Jesus said in the Garden of Getshemane, “…yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”-Matthew 26:39, He can and will!
Father, I thank You for the weaknesses in my life that I cannot understand, and Father I ask that You help me turn to You in my weaknesses knowing that You can get glory and honor from my weaknesses when I surrender them to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Yes, You Can Ministry 