Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13.
Event/Theme: King David
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Symbol we use: Crown or music-related ornament
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Meditation: I spent a year in a foreign country, away from everyone who had known me before. One of the benefits of that year for me lay in the fact that those I was working with didn't know what I "couldn't" do--so they asked me to do it anyway. Yes, I failed more than once. But I also succeeded more than once and discovered the power of expecting more from someone, especially myself, than they think they can deliver on. We humans tend to live up (or down) to the expectations others have of us, so raising the bar higher can encourage us to work harder to achieve what we never thought was possible.
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David's family didn't seem to have very high expectations of the boy. The prophet Samuel immediately saw great potential in his brothers when they were first presented to him, but no one even considered sending for David until God had already passed over all seven of his older brothers. Yet God saw what no human could foresee and He raised the bar of expectation for David when his family did not. Maybe they would have eventually challenged him to do more, or maybe not. But God called him to greatness when he was still a simple shepherd boy and led him into adulthood with the knowledge that he was expected to become king of the whole nation. With God's grace and his own initiative, David lived up to that expectation.
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Jesse Tree Week 1: The Patriarchs
Sunday: Root of Jesse
Monday: Creation
Tuesday: Fall of Mankind
Wednesday: Noah
Thursday: Abraham
Friday: Isaac
Saturday: Jacob
Jesse Tree Week 2: The Formation of a People Set Apart
Sunday: Joseph
Monday: Moses
Tuesday: Israelites at Mt. Sinai
Wednesday: Joshua
Thursday: Gideon
Friday: Ruth
Saturday: Samuel
Jesse Tree Week 3: The Formation of a Nation Set Apart
Sunday: King David
Monday: Elijah
Tuesday: Isaiah
Wednesday: Jeremiah
Thursday: Daniel
Friday: Nehemiah
Saturday: Jonah
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