Sermon Preached at Hope Presbyterian Church on Sunday, March 2, 2008
By the Rev. Warner Durnell, Executive Presbyter for North Alabama Presbytery
MADE TO WAIT
And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And [Jesse answered], ‘There remains the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him; for we will not close the circle till he comes here.’ (1 Samuel 16:11)1
Waiting to Exhale, a romance novel written by Terry McMillan, was made into a motion picture by the same name in 1995. The movie version directed by renowned actor Forest Whitaker starred Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, and I ratcheted up enough courage one night to watch a made for television airing of it.
The story centers on four female friendships and their relationships with men and one another. All four friends are “holding their breath” until the day they can feel comfortable in a committed relationship with men. They were “waiting to exhale.”
Waiting for Godot, a play, a two-act tragicomedy penned in mid-20th century about two tramps that wait by a sickly looking tree for the arrival of M. Godot. These two men quarrel and make up, contemplate reasons for living, try to sleep, knaw on a chicken bone, and entertain visits by two other men, along with a boy who tells the that M. Godot will not be arriving today.
I doubt if any of us who sat through an academic track English class in high school, or a first-year Humanities class in college, escaped without having to read this work by Samuel Beckett. I remember a class discussion of the play where it dawned on us that “life occurs, even swiftly passes, while we wait.”
Waiting for Ohio to vote in this Tuesday’s primary elections so that we and the entire nation might learn whether or not the battle between the two leading candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barrak Obama, will have need to be waged past Easter. Both the Clinton and Obama backers will be seated with bated breath before balloting bean counters come late Tuesday night.
Waiting, as defined in part by Webster’s Dictionary, is “to remain stationary in readiness, in expectation; to pause long enough for another to catch up.”
Personal confession: waiting is not something I have been particularly good at, not even in minor matters of delay.
- When made to wait in stalled traffic on a stretch of interstate, I’ve been known to strum the steering wheel as anxiety gives way to agitation.
- When made to wait because of slower than slow service in a “fast food” restaurant, I’ve been known get in a huff when I finally do get my “Happy Meal.”
I have not been much good at waiting, of “remaining stationary in readiness or expectation, of pausing for another or others to catch up.” Of that I quickly confess.
However, with the advance of years and accompany grace, I am becoming a bit more patient and polite when made to wait. I’ve adopted three practices that have helped me to mature into a becoming a more civil person while waiting:
- I’ve learned to avoid, when possible, scheduling appointments too close together; lessening the need to rush about by allow time for those unexpected delays.
- I’ve come to fill waiting time with productive activity by keeping a pocket sized New Testament, a news periodical, or a book near at hand
- I started to add a period of meditation to my morning prayers at the start and completion of each day, then returning to that place of centering and calm during the day when met with an unanticipated need to wait.
I repeat, I’m no paragon of patience when caused to wait. But I’m making significant progress toward that end, praise God!
Of course, there are some major matters for waiting that our noble practices and best intentions do little to quell our anxiety. Such matters may be:
- Waiting through the night with an extremely sick loved one.
- Waiting for test results from our personal physician.
- Waiting for a child, mate, or sibling to return from war.
- Waiting through terminal illness for the day of our death.
In those situations and seasons of waiting, may the grace of God envelope us and give us the inner strength to wait with patience and with hope.
This past week I was captivated by a cause to wait in First Samuel, chapter 16. We find in this chapter of scripture a story about an occasion when a prophet, a family and gathered community, even readers of this narrative are caused to wait, to wait for the hidden providential purpose of God to be revealed.
Chapter 16 of First Samuel is where David, David the premier king of ancient Israel, is first mentioned in the Bible. However, he is not initially introduced to the world as a royal somebody; rather, as a rural nobody.
David, son of Jesse, is first introduced to us as an unknown, unvalued shepherd boy. It is only after the passing of time, through awkward and raw human events, that this shepherd boy rises to become “shepherd king of Israel.”
David is a model of where the last and least becomes the first and foremost; a model for where the marginalized rise to majestic heights of power.
This story begins with a secret not generally known, and certainly not widely known. We the readers and hearers of this story are privy to this secret because we get to overhear it.
The Lord whispered in the ear of the Prophet Samuel that King Saul has been rejected as ruler over Israel and that the Lord is out to provide a new king for the people of God. This is the secret that the Lord shares with Samuel and we get in on it.
Saul does not know this, the elders in Bethlehem we will discover do not know, Jesse and his sons do not know this secret either. But we know it because we get front row seats to the unfolding of this drama.
It all begins with the Lord rebuking Samuel in verse 1 of chapter 16: “How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing as 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 provided for myself a king among his sons.”
The appropriate season for mourning God’s rejection of Saul as king of Israel has come and gone. Saul may still be on the throne, and would be for some time yet, but the Lord no longer was with him.
It was high time for Samuel to move on. Samuel was to get up, go and anoint, for God was about to choose a new ruler.
Samuel speaks here briefly in response, expressing his fear. Anointing a counter-king, while the current king was still on the throne, was a treasonable act worthy of capital punishment.
The Lord was prepared for this initial reluctance of Samuel. In essence God says, “If any one asks you what you are up to, tell them you are on a mission to make an offering. Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord.’”
Was this was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? No!
It would appear that God was not above stretching the truth in order to bring about divine purposes. The Lord came up with a distraction for Samuel to use in order to move the kingship toward the chosen one.
Samuel goes to Bethlehem with a heifer in tow. He is met by trembling city elders who asked, “Do you come peaceably?” These elders knew that whenever a high official of the king’s court came to pay visit, there could be only trouble and risk.
‘Do you come peaceably?’ Samuel enacted the ruse in response, “Peaceably; I’ve just come here to make an offering.”
Only the truly naive would buy that line. Nonetheless, the elders evidently, went along with it, such that they move on down the road with Samuel to the sacrifice.
Samuel stops by Jesse’s house and invites him and his sons to join him. They needed to consecrate themselves for the sacrifice and they did.
Arriving at the place of sacrifice, the sons of Jesse were given opportunity to parade before the prophet. Perhaps it was while undergoing the ritual washing of consecration that Samuel sought to spy out which of Jesse’s boys would be the Lord’s anointed.
Jesse’s first born son, Eliab, walked before Samuel, and Samuel said to himself, “Surely this must be the one.” But the Lord spoke to Samuel and said, “Don’t make the same mistake in judgment that you made last time I sent you out to anoint a king. Don’t get caught up in appearances; tall, dark and handsome does not by themselves a wise and prudent ruler make.”
The quintessential statement in this entire chapter, if not in the entire book of First Samuel, follows when the Lord says to Samuel, “… the Lord sees not as humans see; humans look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
What’s important in the selection of one to govern, of one to lead, is not the exterior of a person, not the height, build, not the complexion or color of hair, not even gender or ethnicity for that matter. What’s valued and sought after according to God standards is a right heart, not appearance and stature
Permit me to step outside this story’s sequence for a moment, to share with you one practical application or two of verse 7 of First Samuel chapter 16. When teaching my first-year students at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa some years ago I would implore them to seek Divine guidance in the choosing of a life partner; I pleaded with them not to get ‘hooked up’ with another student based solely on appearance.
“He’s so fine” could end up being your worst nightmare; and “she’s so fine” could end up being a bride-zilla!
Better to invite God in on the choosing of a mate. God knows what’s in the heart of a person, and what’s in a person’s heart is what’s most important to experience.
As your session begins the process of seeking to discern which Interim Minister to choose as your Interim Pastor for a year or two between now and your next Installed Pastor, might I implore you to remember this verse from First Samuel 16, “…humans look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Do not get caught up in the outward packaging of a potential Interim Pastor, but seek to discern what’s in the person’s heart---does he love the Lord, does she love all people, is humility a character quality he possesses, is servant hood her approach to leadership.
Let God guide you in your selection process. Leaning on the wisdom of Solomon, I charge you in this leadership selection and election process: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge God, and God will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Back to our story’s sequence:
The sons of Jesse appeared before Samuel.
After Eliab was not chosen, Abin’adab came up and he was not chosen. After Abin’adab, then Shammah came up and he was not chosen.
After Shammah, four other sons, unnamed to us, of Jesse came up and none of them were chosen.
What started out so promising, that one of Jesse’s sons would be chosen to be the next king, ended in dismay. After seven sons parade before the prophet, it appears that the entire stable of would-be kings has been exhausted.
We know what Samuel and certainly no one else knew at the time, save the Lord, knew. We know that what at first glance appears as failure is little more than waiting.
Hesitantly, fearfully Samuel dares to ask Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” Has he wasted his time on some wild-boy chase?
Hopes are lifted when Jesse replies, perhaps, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.”
The youngest one, the unimpressive one, the one with the stink of sheep continually on him…that one yet remains at a distance out in the fields. Samuel calls a halt to all activity until this eighth son is brought near.
‘Send (a runner), fetch him; for we will not close the circle till he comes here.’
Picture these grown men standing round, waiting; prophet, elders, father Jesse, eldest sons, forced to wait until a runner can go and track down this eighth. This eighth son, who no one even bothered to invite to the sacrifice, could he be the one?
Perhaps they stood in silence. More than likely they stood and made light conversation in pairs or in groups of three while they waited, the same way we do when waiting for worship to begin on Sabbath mornings.
We are not told in the text just how long they waited, but it must have taken a while. The runner had to race from the place of sacrifice, back to the big house, then over hill and dale in order to track which pasture the sheep were grazing on at that time of day.
Even we the readers and listeners of this story are compelled to wait, to wait for the arrival of the eighth son. We are made to wait.
Once the message was delivered to, “Hurry and come!” did the sheep have to be put first in the sheepfold? I should think so.
Once the message was received, “Hurry and come!” was time taken to freshen up a bit? One dare not go to church with filth from the field, with stench of sheep and sweat, dripping from their body.
However short or long the wait, there was a waiting for the arrival of the eighth son. There would be no ‘closing of the circle’ until this son of Jesse completed it.
The eighth son finally comes in. He is the one with the right heart.
But he is also a good-looking kid; ruddy, beautiful eyes, handsome! No doubt a Derrek Jetter or a young Brad Pitts type.
His appearance may have been irrelevant to his selection. But along with having a heart after God he is also a striking figure in his own right.
On a side note: I like to tell teenagers, who are often conscious of their appearance, “It’s great to be sharp on the outside, as long as you are sharper on the inside. It’s fine to spend time attending to the outside look, provided you are spending equal time attending to the way you look on the inside!”
David had both going on for him. He was handsome on the outside, and even better looking on the inside; he had a heart for the things of God!
No sooner does this eighth son of Jesse joint the circle when olive oil is poured on his head, and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. His head is drenched with the oil of anointing and his heart with the Spirit’s empowerment.
The Lord confirms with Samuel, “This is he!” The Lord chose the uncredentialed one, the seemingly forgotten one, the unimpressive one, the lowly and despised one.
Mission accomplished. Samuel rises up and heads home to Ramah.
Surely there were unanswered questions in the minds of all who observed the happenings of that eventful day. No doubt they harbored them in their hearts for days and months and years.
It ought not be a surprised that David returned to the fields and keeping watch over his daddy’s sheep, while the elders, Jesse and his other seven sons likewise returned to their roles and routines.
Waiting may not be a favorite past time. Waiting may not be something that we are particularly good at doing.
But waiting is a part of the rhythm of life. Waiting is part and partial of what it means to be a part of the faithful people of God.
My friends: you are being called to wait for the arrival of your next Pastor. In the mean time, be comforted by the fact that your session will be assuming many pastoral duties and pulpit supply Ministers have been lined up until an Interim Pastor can be called.
Know also that you are not alone on this journey. As partners in two presbyteries, Robert Donnell and North Alabama Presbytery, you have sisters and brother congregations and members praying with and for you.
Wait for the Lord. Wait for the Lord’s selection, the one anointed with the favor of God to serve you here in this place. In your waiting be at peace, knowing that the often hidden, yet sovereign, purpose of God is unfolding on your behalf for your good!