Moments
(Originally written October, 2018)
Moments are crazy things. We experience them with an uncanny flippancy at times. The moments that seem like nothing can unknowingly be the ones that define us. Can you think of a time where what seemed like a normal day ended up changing your life?
I’ve been studying the character of King David and his story inspired this thought for me. Because he had this one moment, it wasn’t just his life, but the course of humanity changed forever. He’d never be the same after this one afternoon.
Let me set the stage.
The Israelite King Saul had just disobeyed the Lord by offering a sacrifice in the wrong timing. He was supposed to wait seven days for the prophet Samuel to come to Saul’s camp before offering the sacrifice. Because Saul intervened and disobeyed the Lord’s instructions God’s presence left him. Samuel tells Saul that his kingdom would have reigned forever, but now it’s going to be cut short.
The Lord then tells Samuel to pack his bags and head to Bethlehem to conduct a sacrifice. He is to invite the house of Jesse – there’s a new king to be anointed.
And this is where we pick up the story of David.
David at this point was somewhere between 10-15 years old. All he had been doing up to this point was shepherding his family’s sheep. He was learning foundational lessons in leadership, discipline, and training. He was also learning how to praise the Lord through Psalms (songs). He sought after the Lord and praised His name during the hours and days and years that he spent out in the field, until one day. . .
I’m sure this day started just like all the others. Early morning, breakfast, a craving for coffee that may or may not had been satisfied depending on if there was a local Starbucks, and then out to the fields.
About midday, he notices his seven brothers and his dad leave the house without him. At this point, maybe he began to feel a slight twinge of discouragement. Another family meeting I wasn’t invited to. Why couldn’t I be older? Why am I the youngest? These could have been a few of the questions flashing through his mind to bring him down.
Knowing that David was a “man after God’s own heart,” I’d like to think he did what he did best and began to write a song praising God and His beautiful creation even amidst the questions that he has about his own life.
After some time, something strange happened… A moment in David’s life is about to unfold that he will never forget. The funny thing is this moment is masked like so many others he’s experienced before. He hears his dad yell across the family acreage – summoning David to the house.
The 10-minute walk back to the house is what I’m so interested in. Because this 13-year old shepherd boy’s life will never be the same. These are the final remaining 10 minutes of his former life – and he has no clue.
What’s going to happen to David once his 10-minute walk expires is that he is, in an instant, going to go from a 13-year old, youngest of seven, shepherd … to the anointed king of God’s chosen people, Israel.
The prophet Samuel douses David in olive oil in front of his father and his seven older brothers who have just been told “No, you aren’t the one” successively by the Lord through Samuel. Now they see their youngest as something maybe he has never been – chosen.
David would go on to rule the people of Israel for 40 years. David was not free from mistakes or shortcomings along the way, but through it all he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Because of this yearning for the Lord’s heart, God chose David’s bloodline to send His son Jesus to earth – fulfilling the Lord’s prophecy that David’s kingdom would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16).
Hearing his dad’s voice like he had so many times before and the same 10-minute walk back to the house that he took every day, changed David’s life and the course of history altogether forever. That one moment. I’d encourage you to be like David. Seek after the Lord’s heart. For some it might mean continuing in your pursuit of the Lord through study of the Word, for others it may mean practicing a life of example in your work place, and it may mean a simple prayer asking God if He’s even real.
Don’t live life flippantly. Pay attention to the little moments in your life, because you never know who’s calling your name . . . that moment . . . just might . . . change everything.
