Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Question: What do the following stories have in common? Noah building an ark. Abraham setting out to sacrifice Isaac. Rahab harboring the spies. It's true they're all Old Testament stories about early heroes, but that's not the answer. They're all stories about God, first and foremost. Bible stories aren't so much about the characters as they are about the God who works divine purposes through them and sometimes in spite of them.

I. God Selects His Servants

The story before us isn't so much about David as it is about God. God tells Samuel to anoint a new king. God warns against trusting outward appearances. God chooses David. God is the leading actor in this story.

II. God Doesn't Select as We Would

 Samuel is to anoint a new king from among Jesse's sons. Eliab, the eldest, is striking, but he is not God's choice. Neither are the others. Samuel asks, "You don't have any other sons?"

"Well, just a shepherd boy."

"Go get him."

David enters, and Samuel announces, "You're the one." Young David is anointed Israel's next king. What a selection—not just that God selects an insignificant shepherd, but David was the last of eight sons.

Psychologists note that a person's birth order impacts personality; for example, firstborns might be passive and those born second might be aggressive, and so forth. David was the eighth of eight boys. In psychological terms, he had to fight for even one chicken leg at dinner, and he could forget about using the telephone.

David was twelve, maybe thirteen. At an age when most kids think about making the team, David was selected king. An adolescent king? Do you remember Mark Twain's line? "When kids become teenagers, parents should put them in a barrel and feed them through the knot hole. When they become sixteen, plug the knot hole."

David was a teenager. Remember? A time of changing voices and bodies, pimples, and girls towering over boys. It was in this stage of life that God named David as Israel's king.

Of course, God has done this kind of thing more than once. God called Jeremiah before he began shaving. God chose the teenager Mary to carry the Messiah. And when Jesus was twelve, his parents found him in the Temple discussing theology.

It's not just in biblical times. In 1947, two shepherd boys were grazing their flocks in the Middle East. One of the animals strayed off, so Muhammed el-Dib went searching, hoping to find his sheep. He found something else—the Dead Sea Scrolls, the greatest archaeological find ever.

III. God Selects Servants Based on What's Inside

So, God picked an adolescent for king. Why?

Do you remember Cinderella's story? She lives with her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella does all the work. Then the invitation comes for the royal ball. Cinderella dreams of going but can't. Later, her fairy godmother grants her wish. The prince falls in love with her, but she flees at midnight and he's left with her glass slipper. He searches for her everywhere. The stepsisters and the stepmother try the slipper on, but with no luck. The prince asks if others live there. "No one else, just Cinderella."

"Bring her here at once."

"But why? She's a nobody."

"Bring her here."

Remember? The prince slides it on her foot, looks into her eyes, and says, "You're the one."

What was it God saw in David? A heart. David was a kid after God's own heart. Of course, that can happen at any age and to anyone. A crown that fit. A slipper that fit. God looks into your eyes and says, "You're the one."