Weekly Devotion

June 02 2020

You are Worthy
1 Samuel 16:1-13

Recently, I had a parishioner who discovered that she had a broken hip from a fall. She had taken her
rather large dog to a pet store. He saw something that got him excited and accidentally pulled her
straight to the ground! She ended up having surgery and was sent to a rehab facility right as all of this
pandemic stuff started to shut everything down. She has a huge heart for people, which led her to get to
know many of the folks she was surrounded by. Every single day I received a text message from her
asking for me to pray over her friend she met that day. Most every request was the same: the person
felt lonely, unworthy, unimportant, and cast aside.
David, before he was king over Israel, was in a similar place. In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, we find the prophet
Samuel making his way to Jesse of Bethlehem at the request of God. He has been charged with
anointing a new king over God’s people, as Saul (the king at the time) had been rejected by God for his
disobedience and arrogance. As they sacrificed to the Lord together, Jesse paraded his sons in front of
Samuel to determine which of them had been chosen.
The very first one to pass by had Samuel’s vote! Verse six says, “When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab
and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.’” However, much to the surprise
of both prophet and dad, not only was he not the chosen one, NONE of them had been chosen.
You see, God has a different way of looking at people. It is not about outward appearance. It is not
about age. It is not even about skill sets or even the experiences a person may possess. The Lord looks at
something more meaningful. Verse seven tells us, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at.
People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Who was the one that God had chosen? The one cast aside. You see, David, the future king of Israel, has
been left behind to tend to the sheep. Jesse did not think he would be chosen. he did not think that he
would be worthy. I can only imagine that David felt lonely as the rest of the family had gone to worship
and was meeting the mighty, and famous prophet…without him. But in reality, God was with him and
already had him in mind.
I want you to hear that for yourself. God is with you and has you in mind! God sees you as valuable. You
are important. You are not alone. God knows the condition of your heart and has deemed you worthy.
You are not cast aside and forgotten. Quite the opposite! You are in a community of folks where God is
still able to use you and probably already has, though you may not have recognized it. Then, once you
know how valuable you are, turn that outward and take the same approach as my parishioner and make
every moment, every relationship count. Get to know everyone around you and impact their life for
Christ. Help them to see how important they are, and how valuable they are to our Lord. In the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!