You Can't Judge a Book...

1Samuel 16:1, 6-7

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.”

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is now before the LORD.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

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You can't judge an apple by looking at a tree
You can't judge honey by looking at the bee
You can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover

"You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover" by Bo Diddley

How many times have we heard it, you can't judge a book by looking at its cover. How many times do we look at the Call of David from 1Samuel and realize that this is one of the lessons?

Jesse's eldest son is named Eliab. His name means "God is my Father" in Hebrew. Now that's a name suitable for the King of Israel. On top of his appropriate name, he's Jesse's eldest son which makes him a prime candidate for Kingship. On top of that, He is tall and good looking. Appearance meant as much then as it does today when selecting a leader. But the Lord is not picking the new king on these criteria.

David is Jesse's eighth son, not even the seventh son who in numerology would have been a special birth. He's not the oldest. He's not the seventh. He is the selected.

The Lord will use his own criteria to select the leader of Israel, not human tradition or customs. It's the Lord's choice and the Lord does not judge a book by the cover. Then David is ordained, covered in oil by the old prophet.

So what happened next? What comes after the anointing? The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David and Samuel takes off. Really, nothing happens for a while and that too is God's plan.

We have to beware our expectations. It's not uncommon for us to have preconceived notions about people, notions which prove to be baseless. We rely on our customs and traditions to help us make decisions, customs and traditions which might have outlived their usefulness. We want to get up and go, we want to do something when the Lord wants us to wait.

It's not easy to break the molds of our automatic behaviors, but that is what the Lord calls us to do. David's selection and ordination break the expectations of his family. Soon he will do the same through the world.