As I said earlier in lent, during this season, we will examine the stories of our faith together. This week the story is of Samuel and David.
Often when we hear this particular story, we hear it from the place of God’s anointing and God’s faithfulness to the covenant that He began in Abram’s life. We talk about it through the lens of Jesus who sits on King David’s throne. We also might consider it from the perspective of God selecting the people who the world looks down upon: the weak or the forgotten.
Today though I wonder if we can hear the story from Samuel’s perspective—not David’s. Because I believe that we are more often living and serving as Samuel lived and served the Lord.
Move 1- Looks good on the surface
At first glance, our sounds good. While God asks His servant a hard question at the start, the task that Samuel sets out to do is one of called ministry. “Fill the horn with oil… go to the place that I am sending you to, Samuel (or by extension, Church). Take the appropriate tools for worship with you and lead worship in this location. Welcome the leaders of the church and invite other community members (specifically Jesse’s family) to join you.”
None of these requests from God to His servant are out of the ordinary and none of them should be seen as a hardship for Samuel. Worship in this way is nothing more than the joyful response to the call of God in Samuel’s life.
However, our text tells us that Samuel was concerned. Travelling the 11 miles from Ramah to Bethlehem, Samuel was alone with his thoughts and with this tension. He was anxious that word would get back to Saul that he was doing this, but worship was well. . . worship. Now I will get back to what makes Samuel anxious later. But for now, the specifics of the task make everything seems normal and right. “Samuel, go and worship, as I have told you.”
That is the call of God.
In this, we find a commonality with Samuel—and with all the lessons from the Old Testament that we have read so far. And this is also the first lesson for you and me. Life and ministry often look good on the surface. We can serve the Lord. We can care for our neighbors, pray and engage in others acts of ministry as God intends and calls us to, but that does not mean there is not another wound, or tension, that is behind what is around us.
The wound, which was with Samuel for those 11 miles between Ramah to Bethlehem, that is the next thing we need to focus on because it will shape the rest of the encounters that Samuel has in our text.
Move 2- how long?
This reality, this wound, leads us to the depth of God’s statement in verse 1. When God calls Samuel to worship, the Lord confronts his servant rather, harshly. God begins this call with an accusation. “How long will you grieve over Saul.”
This is a simple question that God is making—or at least it looks like it is. But the implications of the verse are anything but simple.
What is Samuel doing, or what does his practice of faith look like that is causing God to state this?
First off, Samuel is mourning in the custom and tradition that is appropriate to his Hebrew upbringing and faith. That would necessitate sackcloth and ashes. As part of his practice of mourning, the Israelites might have seen, or heard about, Samuel rending his garments and wailing in public over God moving away from His first chosen king.
Second, he is doing so in public. The grieving that Samuel was doing was a public act—perhaps even a public spectacle that Moses taught. Now as chapter 16 begins, God no longer wants His servant doing this. God expresses this in his word choice.
In the way that God says it, in his actual word selection, there is a sense of urgency and frustration in the statement. A more contemporary translation of this verse comes from Eugene Peterson’s The Message, which captures emotion and feeling around the words that God uses here. It says, “So, how long are you going to mope over Saul?”[1] Hear the difference?
There is frustration here to an action that is no longer necessary. God has moved on but Samuel is stuck in the past, stuck in a practice that no longer is meaningful to God and does not represent the faith that God wants Samuel to practice and calls others to.
Samuel is wounded about something that God has already begun to heal, it is just Samuel that cannot see that God wants to heal and restore what is broken—and in this truth God’s Spirit is at work.
Move 3- Wait. . .
So, Samuel travels to Bethlehem. And as he gets there an interesting thing happens.
For when things in the church, or the general kingdom of God, do not go the way we think that they ought to go, our first inclination is to get moving. To work with God to fix this. Get out our spiritual tool and start building and repairing.
We can almost see Samuel huffing and puffing his way to Bethlehem. He will get there. Anoint a new king. And all will be right again. But notice the story.
The elders of the city come to greet him, and he tells them why he’s there. That’s fine and normal. “We are gonna get back to it.” But then God tells Samuel to invite Jesse’s family to join the worship service. ‘Jesse, come to church with us.’
On the surface that is not too terribly strange except that in order to come to worship and be present at the sacrifice verse 5 tells us that they need to sanctify themselves. They need to go clean themselves up—purification laws as prescribed by Leviticus 15. Okay, Samuel is still with God on this one…
This could take from a few minutes but up to a few days. We are not told how long Samuel must wait to Jesse; we can only infer that he has to wait. And now the story of Samuel is getting good.
Interesting…. If you will.
The waiting intensifies. God is good at making us wait sometimes to test our faith perhaps or test our patience. Seven of the sons of Jesse pass by Samuel—not a fast process again. Samuel tries to discern which one God will choose and the Lord chooses none of them. None of them are chosen by God even though it appears Samuel thinks God is about to act. We can almost feel Samuel getting frustrated himself, squeezing his horn of oil in anticipation. Exasperated. Maybe even a bit desperate. “God let’s go already!”
Which of you, when God has called you towards an action has not wondered if you can spot the destination, the result, the answer before it is revealed? [REPEAT]
You are not alone. Samuel did.
He must wait. And wait. And wait. The whole story is about waiting and trusting in God’s timing to make this happen.
Finally, the waiting is turned up to 11. They summon David. And history knows how that turns out. But let me ask you, how close do you think David is to the worship service? Truly. . .
In verse 11 Jesse says that young David is, “keeping the sheep.” With a family of 8 brothers, and who knows if there are any sisters, and the necessary household to support them, and a family name known to such a degree that the elders of the town would not outwardly object to Jesse being invited by Samuel to the sacrifice that day, this family is not slouch in town. Therefore, they likely are a large family with a large flock.
That large flock can’t be sustained in a small yard or space. One source I read wondered if David was not at least 10 miles away. And the average speed for a person on normal terrain is between 2.5-4 miles per hour.
Samuel would have to wait. To literally stand there and wait for the movement of God in his life and in the life of the world—which our text says that he does. Not always an easy act.
Move 4- like Samuel
Our challenge today is not to be like David for we are not King David, and we are not called to be King David, instead I wonder if God is calling us to wait like Samuel.
It is tempting, perhaps enticing or inviting, to think that we are Samuel at the end of the text. Excited as we serve the Lord faithfully and anointing the servant of the Lord—participating in the ministry of God faithfully as if there was never any doubt about what was taking place around us. Many people who read 1 Samuel 16 would enjoying considering themselves to be serving God along the same lines as Samuel.
But more often, I wonder if we are Samuel at the beginning of the text?
Frustrated. Sacred. Moping around about what we once knew and once experienced from God? Going through the motions of our faith that are based on the emotions of fear rather than the faith that God helped us build and create because that is what we have been taught and that feels more comfortable than trusting in God to be with us.
As we think about this story I wonder, can we wait with God to see what ‘more’ the Lord has for us and for those we love and care for?
Conclusion
As Samuel waited with the elders of the community and Jesse’s family by their side, he had no idea what could happen, but that is why and that is where faith was necessary. This story does not say that it will be easy, I doubt Samuel enjoyed any of it. But God was with him as God is also with us.
Dm
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