Creekside Church Sermon of June 15, 1997 "God's Choice" I Samuel 15:34-16:13	Rev. David Bibbee
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The last years were the toughest on Shorty. He started losing his sight. But because he was such a beloved personality in Tyler, the town gave him free medical care. They slowed the speed limit on Broadway, and designated a reserved pedestrian crossing for him. Newspaper editorials considered how Shorty might feel on certain issues. His closest friends were the old-timers who hung around the plaza. He outlived many of them. He died August 5, 1963. His death made headlines, and there was a large crowd at the funeral. His official resting place was the plaza since it was the only home he ever knew. If you go there today, you will see the marker, under the holly tree among the azaleas. There lies Shorty...the most famous squirrel in Texas.

It was a lot of fuss for such a little creature, but Shorty stirred the sensitivities of a whole town. Today I will tell you about a nearly overlooked person who changed the course of a nation and whose story remains an inspiration to all who endeavor to live for God. He is an inspiration because in him we not only see pure-hearted devotion to God, but full-blooded humanness, or, as someone put it, "David was the world's greatest saint and sinner rolled into one." We look to David, and we see ourselves, as we are...but also as we can be.

I want you to consider God's choice of David. By way of background, you ought to know that Saul was Israel's first king. Israel's neighbors had kings. Israel wanted one, too. The judge Samuel was dead set against it, but after relentless badgering he agreed, and Saul was crowned king. Saul was a military hero. He looked kingly, but didn't act it. In no time God had rejected him. Our story begins as God tells Samuel to quit pouting over Saul. "Go over to Bethlehem to Jesse's place and anoint one of his sons as the new king. I'll tell you which one."

Jesse had seven sons. Naturally, Jesse would introduce his first born, Eliab, a big, strapping man. His size alone would impress. One by one Jesse filed his sons by, and Samuel looked them over. Now if you had to choose, what would be your criterion? This one's a war hero. This one has an MBA from Harvard. This one's is a specialist in strategic planning. This one would be great on television. This one is a public relations dream. It's hard to choose. They are all blue- chippers. But the Lord told Samuel, "Don't look at the surface. I don't see as you see. I look to the heart. I don't want any of the seven."

This is a big blow if you're the first born. If you are into image, if you have jumped through all the hoops, earned your degree, got seniority or earned tenure, this story is not for you. If you take the whose-who and who-gets-what model the world runs by, and apply it to how God picks people for his purposes, you're going to be disappointed.

"Are these all the sons you've got, Jesse?" "Well, no. My youngest is out on the back forty with the sheep, but he's so..." "Bring him here." "You want to see Shorty?" The brothers asked. Little David was an afterthought in the parade of sons. He wasn't being pruned for leadership in prep school. But when Samuel saw the ruddy, red-haired lad with beautiful eyes, the Lord said, "He's the one." And in front of his big brothers, Samuel poured oil over David's head and the Spirit rested mightily upon him, and the way was prepared for David to succeed the soon to be ousted Saul.

If you believe in the pecking order, the story is hard to hear. But if you know how it feels to be the last one chosen in a school yard ball game; if you've heard, "You're inexperienced,"; if you've been passed over for the promotion; if you're a recent grad and are about to be a freshman again, you will like this story.

When it comes to picking people to be about his purposes, God is not looking for credentials, rather a capacity to trust and a willingness to follow. It was said of David he was God's beloved because he was a man after God's own heart. I just heard a contemporary Christian song with this line..."I want to be closer to you and further from me." David's desire was that God's heart be in his own. He was accessible, pliable, willing to be used, not for what God would bring him; not for a plan it would actualize. He became an unlikely agent for a dramatic moment in the history of God's people for no other reason than he loved God.

Saul had no idea his successor had been anointed. For now, Samuel and David would keep it under the rug. But it was becoming clear that God didn't have an interest in maintaining the present arrangements. We ought to carry this story with us like a chain around our necks when we think that the way it's been is the way God wants it to be. When you think the system is all nailed down and everyone is in their assigned seat, remember the disrupting thing Jesus said. "Unless you become as a child, you will not enter the kingdom." Remember Paul who told us, "God chose what is little and low to shame the strong. He has chosen what the world considers nothing, the shortys if you will, to bring to nothing the things that are." Recall the words of Mary before the birth of Jesus when she looked to what would happen in the world through her son, "He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree."

The greatest truth of this opening episode of David's life is that it is true...very true for us. The truth is that something new is waiting to be born...in you, in me, in the church. In the play, The Fiddler On The Roof, Tevea says, "You know why we do the things we do in our little village? The reasons aren't always clear, but the final answer is always, "tradition." Well, tradition is good, even necessary. But God won't preserve what doesn't work. God won't preserve any order that isn't just and life giving. God is not into maintenance, and neither should we, not when there is a mission to mind.

"Go and anoint the one to whom I send you," the Lord said. "I need a fresh mind and heart to lead." Father Theodore Hesburgh told of his predecessor who let a faculty member go because his teaching wasn't up to Notre Dame standards. The professor protested. "You can't fire me! I have twenty-one years of teaching experience in this place!" Father Cavanaugh then replied, "No, you have one year of experience, repeated twenty times."

God is with those who have a heart for him, and don't be concerned that you don't have a ready made position. Realize that God will speak through those unaccustomed to being agents of change. God is calling forth Davids from among us to use us for a new work and to empower us for his plan.

I had a dream two weeks ago that I view as God's message to take care of and nurture something emerging from within me. I was sitting on the ground with some other people when a little bird walked up to me. To my surprise, with no fear it walked into my cupped hands, almost anxious to be held. It was an ugly thing. A big beak, black feathers, many of which were missing. It began squawking like it was cold and hungry. I looked everywhere for something to put it in, and finally found a cardboard box which I padded with newspapers and cloths. No one else offered to help, and a voice said, "You must do it." When I looked into the box I was surprised because it wasn't the same bird. It was bigger, the feathers had a sheen to them. "See what is happening," the voice said. "See what it will become if you care for it."

I take that dream as a symbol of something that God needs nurtured and tended within me so I can be more a part of what God wants me to do. Pay attention to that little, awkward, overlooked part of you. Protect it, don't ignore it by getting immersed in all the other stuff which seems so important. Pay attention to the little David who is waiting to be called out of your life.

Thomas Long teaches preachers at Princeton Seminary. He relates an incident that happened in Yankee Stadium. A foul ball was hit into the lower left field stands. It was going right for a little boy with cheap binoculars around his neck, an oversized Yankees cap on his head, and a small Little League glove with a barely broken in look. The ball was on a trajectory right for his glove when suddenly a man in his mid thirties with a knit shirt and horned rimmed glasses reached over the boy, pushing him aside, and caught the ball. The plastic binoculars were broken, and despite his mom's consoling, the boy was crushed.

Then after a few seconds of stunned silence, someone shouted, "Give the kid the ball!" Then another voice, and another. Several rows joined in unison. "Give the kid the ball! Give the kid the ball!" Mr. Hornrims shook his head no and put the ball in his pocket. That made everyone one in left field get in on the act. "Give the kid the ball!" The chant spread into the center field stands and then right field until the whole outfield was shouting. Many didn't know why, but they joined the refrain anyway. "Give the kid the ball!" Now the players were trying to figure out what was happening. But Hornrims held his ground.

Finally, another fan went over and spoke patiently with him. Hornrims hesitated, reached into his pocket, and handed the ball to the boy. Then applause rippled through Yankee Stadium as people shouted in unison, "He gave the kid the ball!"

But there's more. Another foul ball was hit to the left field stands, and the guy who caught it walked over and gave it to Hornrims. He was astonished, thanked him, and took it. The next foul ball was caught by a tough looking customer wearing a muscle shirt. He in turn tossed the ball to the little kid who caught it. More applause. They came that night for a baseball game, and in the process they were participants in a parable of how, by looking after a little one, everyone can be caught up in God's grace.

The Lord doesn't see as we see...God does not look upon outward appearances, but to the heart. The Lord isn't obliged to work within our established arrangements. His purpose matters more than our procedures. What concerns God and what inspires those who feel small and aren't sure what should be done, is this...God has chosen you, little, young, and inadequate though you may be and feel, and is waiting to enlist you in the urgent work of changing this world by changing the church.

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