How Quickly We Forget!

God provides hope and deliverance from unlikely places.   ~~~   In 1 Samuel 17:12-18 we are taken to a new scene, a dramatically different one, and we are introduced to David, an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah. And you have to wonder, why this re-introduction of David’s family lineage? The last time we read of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem was back in Ruth 1, when we read of Elimelech, who led his family away from Bethlehem, away from God’s presence, away from faith in God. Are we going to see the same thing happen? Is this another person who is going to run away when the times are hard and the situation is bleak? The story doesn’t it appear to be very promising. Jesse is an old man, three of his sons already in Saul’s army, and David is youngest and he is just a shepherd and errand boy. In other words, he doesn’t inspire much hope at this point. All he can do is watch sheep, carry cheese, and bring back some keepsake from his brothers to assure their father that they were still alive. But we can be very quick to forget can’t we? You see, we have been let in on a little secret that no one else really knows about except Jesse and his other sons, and that is that David has been anointed King by the prophet Samuel. And we actually know even a little more than Jesse and his sons, because we know that God has said, “The LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” And so far, what we have been presented in Goliath is all physical; all outward appearance. And all we know of David is that he is the youngest, the smallest, the insignificant keeper of the sheep, while his brothers are off at war. Isn’t funny and sad all at the same time how quickly we forget God’s word? His ways? Or how little we trust them? But we are about to discover why David is a man after God’s own will, choosing.