Lent 4
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
... for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
-- 1 Samuel 16:7
We have plenty of disastrous examples of how easily we are seduced by appearances in making wrong choices. Even with the sophisticated tools of modern personnel committees, companies are continually frustrated with the ease in which they can choose the wrong person for the job. The difficulty of making the right choice is explored in scripture around the contrast between how humans make choices and how God makes choices. There is a mystery in how God chose and called people in the Bible. God often seemed to turn the "way of the world" upside down. The rules of biblical society favored the eldest son. The further you got from being the eldest son, the less you received in inheritance. It was a way of preserving the family land and preventing the land from being divided into insignificant parcels. The same format of favoritism in that society seemed to apply to other choices as well. Yet, God's way of choosing people almost always went against such conventions. In 1 Samuel, it was not the eldest but the youngest that God chose. God reminded Samuel that God did not base God's choices on criteria that are often used by the world, such as outward appearances. God looked for an inward quality symbolized by the heart. This theme of how God made God's choices would continue throughout scripture. Jesus was not born of nobility but of a homeless peasant couple. The disciples were not drawn from the ranks of the learned or wealthy but were fishermen and tax collectors. The character of God's leaders seemed to be an attitude of the heart that recognized dependence on God and reminded the world of the true source of our power. This is a lesson that might cause a church to reflect on how often they are swayed by appearances in their choice of leaders and how frequently it is the one almost overlooked that becomes the true servant leader in the church.
-- 1 Samuel 16:7
We have plenty of disastrous examples of how easily we are seduced by appearances in making wrong choices. Even with the sophisticated tools of modern personnel committees, companies are continually frustrated with the ease in which they can choose the wrong person for the job. The difficulty of making the right choice is explored in scripture around the contrast between how humans make choices and how God makes choices. There is a mystery in how God chose and called people in the Bible. God often seemed to turn the "way of the world" upside down. The rules of biblical society favored the eldest son. The further you got from being the eldest son, the less you received in inheritance. It was a way of preserving the family land and preventing the land from being divided into insignificant parcels. The same format of favoritism in that society seemed to apply to other choices as well. Yet, God's way of choosing people almost always went against such conventions. In 1 Samuel, it was not the eldest but the youngest that God chose. God reminded Samuel that God did not base God's choices on criteria that are often used by the world, such as outward appearances. God looked for an inward quality symbolized by the heart. This theme of how God made God's choices would continue throughout scripture. Jesus was not born of nobility but of a homeless peasant couple. The disciples were not drawn from the ranks of the learned or wealthy but were fishermen and tax collectors. The character of God's leaders seemed to be an attitude of the heart that recognized dependence on God and reminded the world of the true source of our power. This is a lesson that might cause a church to reflect on how often they are swayed by appearances in their choice of leaders and how frequently it is the one almost overlooked that becomes the true servant leader in the church.
