Study 43 – God's Choice – The ‘Are Nots’

Picture Samuel, the great national leader, inviting Jesse and his sons to a sacrifice. What a privilege! If I thought that the queen was going to visit my house I’d want all of my family there but evidently Jesse didn’t feel that way. As he paraded his seven sons before Samuel maybe he thought, ‘Seven is the perfect number. David is my eighth son, so I’ll just leave him with the sheep.’

Rejected by your Natural Father
Some people have been told by their parents, ‘You were unwanted and your unplanned arrival ruined our lives’. Others have experienced hatred and rejection from such an early age that they feel that they’re of no consequence and have nothing to offer. And still others feel that their father ignored them or simply wasn’t around when they needed him. Many of these people still carry a strong sense of rejection and believe that nobody really understands or cares.

Initially, Samuel assumed that God would choose Jesse’s eldest son, but as he went down the line from one son to the next, he realised that God hadn’t selected any of them. Perplexed, he asked if anyone was missing and was surprised to discover that Jesse had omitted to mention David. To everyone’s surprise God chose the one who apparently didn’t exist, the one who ‘was not’. David’s breathtaking discovery was this: although his father ignored him, God had great plans for his life.

Chosen by your Heavenly Father
Years later King David wanted to build a house for God, but God intervened to stop him. Not only did he tell David that his son would build the house, he also reminded him of his incredible privilege. ‘I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth … the Lord himself will establish a house for you … Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me, your throne shall be established for ever’ (2 Sam. 7:8-16).

Overwhelmed by the reminder of God’s grace, David sat overwhelmed. All he could ask was, ‘Who am I? … Is this your usual way of dealing with man?’ (2 Sam. 7:18,19). He was the reject, but he became the king of Israel and his offspring would one day reign over the world.

Maybe you wonder what you’ve done to deserve God’s love. Nothing. He seeks you out, finds you and lavishes his love on you. The secret of such grace lies deep in the mystery of his foreknowledge and contradicts every expectation. So just receive it, celebrate it, delight yourself in it and live ever conscious of the immense kindness of a heavenly Father who has favoured not so much the highly esteemed, but you.

To Meditate On

We don’t boast about ourselves

‘”Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord’ (Jer. 9:24).

‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’ (1 Cor. 1:29).

‘I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me’ (2 Cor. 12:9).

Food For Thought

Read Proverbs 16:9; 19:21 and 21:20.

What do these verses tell you?

To Read

G.H. Lang in his book 'God At Work In His Own Lines' tells of an illiterate draper in Cornwall called Mr Gribble. Mr Gribble invited people into his home and he used to read a penny sermon to them, and there were people saved. After a while he got confidence and he was able to say a few words of his own free will, and there were hundreds of people getting saved. J.M. Darby wrote to S.T. Tregelles in a letter, and he wrote this: 'There are few men who can preach the gospel more fluently than you and I can, and we see few souls saved, and they tell me there is an illiterate brother called Gribble, and when he quotes Scripture there are people swept into the kingdom'.
Excerpt from a sermon preached at the Iron Hall Assembly in Belfast, Northern Ireland by Pastor David Legge, copyright 2002.

To Pray

If you feel rejected by people, pray that God will give you grace to overcome your sorrow.

Ask him to use your weaknesses to give him glory.

Be Inspired

‘There are many things too strong and too imposing for God to use. Instead he not only chooses the weak things and the despised; he goes further. The apostle seems almost at a loss to know how to define the things, so weak and despicable in men’s eyes, that God elects to use. In a telling phrase he sums them up as the “things which are not”.’
Watchman Nee, A Table in the Wilderness.