I Samuel 16:10-11
“Then he asked Jesse, ‘Is this it? Are there no more sons?’ ‘Well, yes, there’s the runt. But he’s out tending the sheep.’ Samuel ordered Jesse, ‘Go get him. We’re not moving from this spot until he’s here.’”
“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.’”
David’s father didn’t think to bring him to Samuel along with his other sons. With hindsight we know David’s immense potential. Yet it was entirely overlooked. Imagine living in Jesse’s family. His attitudes and decisions defined their reality. Think of personal and public leaders in our world who do the same for us. Jesse was blind and they may be too. Don’t be caught up in popular opinion or the mob. Ask God how to act and react, even when it inconveniences others. Imagine the grumbling between David’s brothers when they had to wait for their dinner.
This passage is a comfort to the overlooked. Also, it is a warning not to undervalue the seemingly insignificant. God uses them too. Sometimes in surprising ways.
Lord, I also am guilty of looking down on others. Instead, make me the kind of person who sees and calls forth the best, the unsuspected, in everyone I meet every day.