1Samuel 16:1

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.”

1 Samuel 16:1

God chooses unlikely vessels for great tasks.

Here is the beginning of the Bible’s account of David’s history. Aside from those things mentioned later, we know very little of his boyhood or of his personality before this seminal event. It’s as if David suddenly leaps onto the stage of Biblical history – an unknown shepherd boy who was completely unaware of God’s plans for him. Yet, God is not surprised; He has already chosen David: “I have selected a king for Myself…”

Is it possible that God’s wording here refers back to the selection of Saul? Remember that the people had insisted to Samuel that they wanted a king like all the other nations around them (see 1 Samuel 8:4-9). And Saul, with his handsome bearing and imposing stature seemed to be every inch the king. Yet it wasn’t long before Saul began to demonstrate his true character and to fulfill the dire prophecies Samuel had spoken to Israel in 1 Samuel 9: 10ff. Eventually, due to his disobedience, Saul was rejected by God as king: “And as Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and his given to your neighbor who is better than you.’” It’s almost as if God said, ‘Since you insist on a king, I will choose one for you who will fit My requirements.’ David’s history, then, began with a sovereign choice of God – a choice that determined the course of his entire life from that time forward.

We can’t be entirely certain, but it is likely that David was a teenager at this point – too insignificant to even be considered in such “great affairs.” His father left him watching the sheep when he called all the other brothers to Samuel’s sacrifice. It seems that Jesse never even thought of David as part of this momentous event. For Samuel’s part, he continued to focus on outward appearance, and was ready to anoint David's older brother on the spot – until God corrected him. “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam. 16: 7)

And it’s here that we see God’s criterion for usefulness – the one characteristic that fits men and women for great tasks. Although he was physically handsome, David was largely unremarkable and without great gifts or pretensions. It was David’s heart that appealed to the Lord. We are told in 1 Kings 11:4 that his heart was “wholly devoted to the Lord his God.” It was this heart for God that, on the human level, provided the foundation for all his later accomplishments. The contrast here is deliberate: Saul appeared to be all a king should be and failed at every turn; David gave no outward evidence of kingliness, but his efforts were blessed by God throughout his reign.

This is the pattern all through Scripture and also in the history of the church. God consistently has chosen to work through the unimpressive, the unremarkable, the unknown, and the uneducated. (See 1 Cor. 1:26; 2 Cor. 4:7; 12:9) He has accomplished remarkable things through an impulsive fisherman, a former persecutor of Christians, a bipolar German monk, a converted slave trader, a depression-plagued evangelist, a teenaged preacher, etc. The examples are legion. The outward condition of the willing vessels makes no difference, since it’s the omnipotent Holy Spirit who does the work through them. As the Lord said to one of David’s descendents, “the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” (2 Chron. 16:9)

So what’s the best way to prepare ourselves for God’s use? While there is nothing wrong with pursuing education and training, such things should never divert our attention from pursuing a heart for God. Frankly, without this wholehearted devotion to God, it matters very little how educated, skilled or doctrinally orthodox we are. But if you have been given a heart like David’s, be assured that God will use you for His glory – regardless of your age, status, location or disability. God loves to do great things through unlikely vessels.