The Little One הקטן

        A man of God comes to a small town in the land of Judah. The men of the town were frightened; they inquired the man about his intentions. Thankfully, the man only wanted peace, and invited one of the families in town for a sacrificial meal. If you know the story, the man of God was Samuel. The town, he arrived in, was Bethlehem. Why? Well, God personally instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem to anoint a king for Israel that God chose. Wait: didn’t Israel already have a king? Wasn’t the name of that king: Saul? Yes… However, Saul was the people’s chosen king—not God’s chosen king. Saul did what was right in his own eyes, and disobeyed God on just about every occasion. Saul didn’t want to obey and love God from the heart. Saul’s heart wasn’t right before God, so God rejected him as king over Israel.

        Samuel knew Saul’s actions; he also knew God’s response to those actions. Israel’s judge obeyed God, and searched to find a new king for Israel that would have a heart like His. A heart Saul didn’t have. So, Samuel’s in Bethlehem looking for this new king, and God told Samuel to invite Jesse and his sons to eat with him. Samuel did. Jesse is the son of Obed, and Obed is the son of Boaz—the same Boaz that married Ruth. That story is in the Book of Ruth. Boaz is the son of Salmon—the same Salmon that married Rahab from Jericho. I got the feeling that Jesse has an impressive lineage of personalities. If you were Jesse and you looked back on your family history, you might be proud of your family wouldn’t you? Keep that in mind. Samuel asked Jesse to allow him to look at each and every one of Jesse’s sons. Samuel saw the firstborn named Eliab. He saw his stature, and thought he was the king. Nope! God rejected him.

        Why did God do such a thing? Eliab must have been the right man to be king, right?  He has the stature—well so did Saul and look what happened to him. Then, God explains why to Samuel: “Do not look at his appearance or on the height of his stature, (Sounds familiar—reminds you of Saul perhaps?) Because I have rejected him; for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). Ah, so that’s why Saul was rejected and 7 of Jesse’s sons were rejected: their heart wasn’t like God’s heart. Samuel gets confused: he saw, what he thought, was all the sons of Jesse. He had to ask Jesse if all his sons were present. Jesse said with a pinch of pride and annoyance: “There remains the little one, and here he is keeping the flock of sheep” (1 Samuel 16:11).

Yes, he said: “the little one”. The word, in Hebrew, is Hakatan (הקטן), which has several meanings. It could mean small, little, young, inconsequential, or insignificant. Yes, this shepherd boy was the youngest of his siblings, but no one wanted him to come before Samuel to be examined for kingship. He was a shepherd’s boy, and will always be a shepherd’s boy. Could you get the feeling that the family didn’t see this shepherd boy as anything except what they thought he should be? They didn’t think of the boy as being significant or worthy enough to be even considered for royalty. But, God saw something significant. Samuel told Jesse to send him in, or no one would eat. Of course, if you want to eat, you have to have the shepherd boy come in. So, he came in.

Samuel examined that ruggy yet bright eyed boy. Instantly, God said: “Arise, anoint him; for this is he” (1 Samuel 16:12). Samuel did so, and returned home to Ramah. Who was that insignificant, shepherd boy? King David of the United Kingdom of Israel!!!

The Storm

        I have a hard time expressing deep, personal feelings to others—especially people that I don’t trust. Well, even those I do trust. But, one of the things that I had learned lately is this: revealing yourself to others is a part of valuing them. You trust that person enough to open up yourself to them—even at the risk of being hurt severely. I wish to open my heart out to you all—my readers—starting with this blog.

Imagine the sound of thunder heard in the distance and rain starts to fall as a mist, then the mist become droplets and the thunder gets louder and more frequent. The wind blows, and become harder and harder to walk through. The rain pours heavily. Soaked and searching for shelter from the storm, you see clouds spinning in the distance—it’s coming toward you! You panic: not sure what to do or where to go.

        That’s how I feel about my spiritual life right now. I have a storm raging around me, and I can only do so much to deal with it. I am faced with school, work, studies, people (especially people), and rushing from place to place. All the while I try my best to put in at least two good prayers a day, and 30 minutes of bible study—which I admit I don’t always make the time to do lately. I run around a lot. It’s like society forces God out by being busy. I don’t like it at all! The storm overwhelms you, and you just fall to the ground. But, what do you do when you’re on the ground? Do you give up? Do you let the storm overcome you? Or, do you let God overcome the storm?

        These are questions I ask myself. It’s a choice; let the storm win, or let God win. You can’t handle life’s storms by yourself: it will toss you around in a funnel. Its chaos would break the bravest of men. The storm will get you soaked, get you scared, and get you anxious. God will give you cleansing, give you courage, and give you confidence. God loves you. So, I ponder these things, and I made a decision to let God win. I choose to stand and face the storm with humble confidence and courage. God will see to it that I get through it with lessons learned and strengthened faith in Him.