the King of boys

I came across something in read-through today that is probably nothing too important to most of you and more than likely nothing new.

As I was reading in 1 Samuel I came across the passage in 16:12 where David, the youngest of seven sons (or 8 kids depending on what commentary you read)  is summoned by Samuel to appear before him. After standing, as a group, for who knows how long, and after having already seen the cream of the crop, so to speak, of Jesse´s offspring in the six boys he just paraded in front of the ever eager and discerning prophet, Samuel, at last, sees the prodigal runt. And he conveyed the following…

“He was ruddy, had beautiful eyes and was handsome.”  

God was speaking through his son, the prophet, Samuel and calling out his other son, the boy-King, David. How absolutely pleasing it must´ve been for God in that moment!

And talk about the crazy dynamics in the air…were these not every bit the same kind of foreshadowing seeds that unleashed Joseph´s crazy adventures from slave to King.  Joseph certainly had a story and a half  when all was said and done and he drew his last, but as Gen. 50:20 lends the understanding…  ´Circumstances that some intend for evil upon others, God can and often does comandeer those circumstances and blesses the afflicted through them, making what was intended intially for evil, now and forever for Good.´ 

Anyway, despite the for-illustrative-sake cross reference, this passage is beautiful to me.

You know David was tiny…and not just because he is often most notoriously remembered for standing across a freakin´huge giant that would dwark Shaq by two whole feet and weigh as much as a brown bear, but because he is simply small.

Read-through

So, call it simple, call it difficult, call it cliche, call it productive, call it uncreative, call it a good thing, call it better than nothing, call it a watered down pace from our first century Christian brothers and sisters…no matter how you’d deem bible read-through, it simply is a term that is meant to reflect the opportunity and attempt to be in God’s Word, so in turn, God’s Word would be in us.

I’ve had people fire back at me when I suggest read-through as a means of being with God…everything from, “I don’t have time for that,” to, “I should be reading this thing so much more than just a book a week.” My take on that is, regardless of where you stand on the issue…just read the dang thing! Yes, ideally you would hopefully and prayerfully come to find them as actual love letters penned by His followers in the Spirit’s leading…love letters written to help you, discipline you, and ultimately strengthen you to spill out your new affections in God to the rest of the gone-astray world.

I stand as a living testimony as someone who can, even right beneath the watchful eyes of Seminary of all places, go without reading His Word very much…sometimes not at all. Now, you might think, ‘Yeah, but surely you would have felt the affects of not being in His Word, and surely you would have felt as though you then needed to get back into His Word.’ I wish that were the case. All I allowed into my heart was a sense of guilt, albeit very real and very endeared, about how I knew if I was truly in Love with someone such as Christ, then why would I not want to read more about Him. That said, on I went through my first year here at Seminary…occasionally binging on Bible…I mean, I would read 10-15 books sometimes almost straight through…but other times…most times…I would be surrounded by people that assumed that I was just doing what I should be.

I was able to hold true, deep conversations about God, with God’s people, about content that was steeped in what ought to have been a reflections of a daily routine with God… all that was spoken of by me, without  having read His Word in weeks. It was tragic and testimonial to just how

Proverbs

Reading through Proverbs this week I discovered three things, that in turn discovered me…

I’ve often been drawn to Prov. 31, as it in my opinion encapsulates, although not exhaustively by any means, many formidable and desirous qualities to be sought after by all of God’s daughters. Some of the principles listed from vv. 10-33 speak of a woman working with an incredible resolve both in her hands and in her heart, as she presses on through tiredness and enlisting affections to relentlessly love on those God has given to her (husband, children, etc). If Proverbs 31:10 is an honest cry of a Christian man looking to find not just someone to Love God alongside, but the someone to do this with…then equally the companion-cry of a single Christian woman’s heart would be that of Prov. 20:6, “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?”  This proves to be a divine dialogue between many of God’s children these days all across this world…all our questions, fears, expectations, and desires, flung  high in the heavens like a sensuous moon, often unable to hide or voice its particular kind of loud and hush to the hearts below (including our own). 

Another verse that stood out to me was 6:26 “…but a married woman hunts down a precious life.” Although this passage is pitted against the backdrop of a prostitute, and is certainly targeting wives, it lends a rather interesting thought as to what ought to be filling up the the hearts and days of those wishing to be wives one day. This of course makes me think very seriously about what I am actually observingm and looking for when I look upon one of His daughters in those forever kind of ways. How is she loving on those around her? How is she viewed by her small part of the world? Instead of could a relationship between her and I work…a better question is how are her and God doing right now. I’d find it refreshing to see a woman that doesn’t need me because she has her fill with God, but still wants me! These important questions allow for some very necessary introspection on a very real and honest level…often flushing and fleshing out the heart’s motives…ones that need to be recognized before ever they’re acted upon.

The last part that truly stood out to me was more of wonderful Proverbs: 20. We often belittle children in such incredible ways that we assume their little hearts and faiths to be just that…little in quality as well as quantity. They make better kids than we could rarely to hope even approach again, and, they often put us to shame in how they wield with an amazing matter-of-factness all the grown up struggles we incessantly trip up over. That said, let’s be reminded of Prov. 20:11 “Even a child makes themself known by their acts, by whether they are pure and upright.” They are held accountable just as we are before God. So next time we think to look at them with sympathetic eyes, spilling over with sobriquets to refer to their “little faiths” and their “little hearts”, perhaps we are best found questioning our own sprawling hearts, to explore just where our heart’s begin to fall short, and where Grace begins its yarn of rescue to our helpless endeavours.

Thank you Lord for Your words in the Proverbs.