Total Pageviews

Monday, January 5, 2009

Fully Pasture-ized

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. 1st Samuel 16:1 (New Revised Standard Version)

I do admit I struggle at times seeing people the way God sees them but I certainly believe He works in mysterious ways. The mystery isn’t so much in the “how” He chooses to do something as in the “why.” Thankfully He works apart from any other counsel or advice. He is sovereign.

When Israel faced the choice of another king to replace Saul God didn’t go into Saul’s palace and find royalty. He didn’t go to the Israeli War College and choose a mighty warrior. His choice came from a sheep pasture as a 16 year old shepherd with a humble heart. Of David it is said he was a man “after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). He was willing to serve as a shepherd or a king. Humanly speaking David wouldn’t have been Samuel’s first choice but he was God’s. He thought David’s older brothers better fit the kingly ideal. Samuel judged with the sight of his eyes while God judged the inward heart.

Seeing others as God sees them is where I need to be. Loving them for who they are and exactly where they are is my mission. I need not be offended or think less of a person because they aren’t cut of the jib I think they ought to be. Anyone He sends my way who might still carry the smell of the pasture could be a king in the making.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com