Albert Einstein once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.” Think about that statement. We are so focused on appearances and outward things, on numbers and statistics that “wow.” But not everything that counts can be counted. I challenge you to look at the covers of magazines like People, issues from 10, 15 or 20 years ago, and see if you recognize very many of the “celebrities” on the cover. Fleeting celebrity reminds us there must be more underneath the veneer of life. And behind all of these thoughts we hear the haunting theme from scripture

 

There is no brighter example of that truth than this morning’s text. Samuel, the righteous leader of Israel, knew that Israel’s king, Saul, had been an experiment in disaster. It just wasn’t working. So God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint a new king from among Jesse’s sons. O.K. Time out. Samuel was to take part in anointing a new king while the throne is not vacant? There’s a word for that! Oh, yes, I remember. It’s called treason or sedition! God told Samuel to institute a coup.

 

Imagine the scene with me. A sort of reviewing stand was set up, and each of Jesse’s sons would pass by so Samuel could get a good look at each. The first one passed by and Samuel thought, “Oh, yes, this must be the one; he just looks so presidential; he just looks like a king, doesn’t he?” But the LORD spoke words to Samuel that are still true: “Do not look on his appearance…for the LORD does not see as mortals see;…the LORD looks on the heart” (v. 7). So one after another of Jesse’s sons came by. No. Not that one. Emmm, nope. Seven times! Samuel was beginning to think he’d mis-heard the LORD. “Do you have any more boys, Jesse?” “Oh, just little Davey, the runt; he’s taking care of the sheep.” “Well, go get him!” cried Samuel, “and we’re not going to sit down until he comes.”

 

Now, the pasture where David was tending the flock could have been a long, long way from Bethlehem. But they waited and waited and waited some more. Perhaps they stood out in the hot sun, first on one foot, then the other. Clearing their throats, awkward pauses when they ran out small talk. Maybe the talked about the weather: “Sure has rained a lot lately, hasn’t it?” More awkward silence. Clearing of throats, looking at their watches. So someone brought up sports. “Do you think the Bethlehem Bears will beat the Jericho Locusts in the play-offs Friday night? I don’t know…the Bears never play well on the road.”

 

Finally, David showed up. My friend David Avery, pastor at Community Christian Church here in town, says that in his mind, the scene now shifts from grainy black and white to Technicolor, like in “The Wizard of Oz.” Music swells! Cue the orchestra! God points to David and cries out to Samuel, “Bingo! This one!” In front of everyone, Samuel anointed David. And David was no doubt standing their speechless, dripping with oil, his skin and hair shining in the warm sun. (Remember? One day he would write, “He anoints

 

my head with oil…”). And he would also write in that same psalm, “Surely goodness and mercy shall doggedly pursue me all the days of my life.”

 

And that pursuit by God is how God’s Spirit so constantly surprises us. And did you know that just as the Spirit of the loving, seeking God sought young David, so God finds us? We don’t do something to get God to come after us and find us. God just does! We don’t try to get good enough for God to love us. God just does! In v. 13, scripture says, “…the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David…” Some translations render that to say the Spirit rushed on him, or gripped him. It’s as if God can’t wait to fill us, inspire us and use our lives in holy partnership Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary, 1 & 2 Samuel, by Tony Cartledge, p. 203]. Just as God loves you, and God can hardly wait to love you, fill you and partner with you in some mission for others. Listen to Ephesians 1:4 from The Message: “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.”

 

So remember this week when you’re treated by the world as if you’re a nobody, or that you’re not smart enough or pretty enough, or rich enough or successful enough; when you’re told you don’t count, that you’re not worth anything: “Do not look on his appearance…for the LORD does not see as mortals see;…the LORD looks on the heart” (v. 7). But this truth cuts both ways. We have to also remember this week that if we’re living a lie (one way at church on Sunday but another way the other six days), that if we’re running and hiding from God, pretending to be something we’re not: “Do not look on his appearance…for the LORD does not see as mortals see;…the LORD looks on the heart” (v. 7). And remember that when we say we’re not talented enough or good enough to serve the Lord, when we don’t feel as if what we have to offer God is enough: “Do not look on his appearance…for the LORD does not see as mortals see;…the LORD looks on the heart” (v. 7).

 

A big man walked in to a little girl’s hospital room. He was nervous and sort of awkward. But he was her Sunday School teacher, and she was ill. All the professionals at seminary might say, “This hospital visit is headed for disaster.” But he told her how much the tiny church—and Jesus—loved her. Then he prayed a prayer that was theologically garbled. And as he left, he handed her a box, with goodies to be opened, one each day. Jesse and the rest of us might have said, “Not that one!” But God’s Spirit says, “Yes, that one!”

 

So let’s hear the story of David’s anointing and admit it: God could have called people better looking than us, more successful than us, more talented, more mature, more effective, but God called us! He anointed us! And let’s also admit that like David, it would be easier for us to stay in the pasture, hiding our giftedness. Taking on the kingship was a dangerous and wild thing to do. And for us, serving can be costly and dangerous. It would be easier to hide in the pasture. There would be just one reason to do come in from the pasture and live our anointing: God calls us and God anoints us.

 

This was a defining moment in David’s life, and in Israel’s, and in ours. David, the unlikely one. In Bethlehem, the unlikely town, in Israel, the unlikely nation. And so Jesus, the unlikely-looking Savior (Isn’t that why he was crucified? People kept saying, “That’s not what the Messiah will be like!”). Did you know that’s what the name “Messiah” means? It’s Hebrew for “the anointed one, the one I’ve poured oil on,” and the Greek of that word is “Christos”. Unlikely, indeed. God’s surprising Spirit.

 

And then God decided to carry on God’s work, of all things, through something called church! The most unwieldy, cumbersome, unlikely kind of gathering to accomplish global mission! But we carry on, because God has called and anointed us. And we claim this word: “Do not look on his appearance…for the LORD does not see as mortals see;…the LORD looks on the heart” (v. 7).