There remains yet the youngest

And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here." So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!" – 1 Samuel 16v11-12

All these fine strapping sons. Jesse had a bunch of boys, even more than we do. Most of them were grown. One by one they walked into the room to see if this was the son of Jesse who was ordained to be king of Israel. And, one by one Samuel knew this was not one. It kind of reminds me of the Disney Cinderella story where the guy travels the whole kingdom trying to find the girl that fit the glass slipper.

When all the older guys had had traipsed in Samuel asked Jesse, ‘Is this it? Are these all of your sons?’ You can almost hear Jesse, ‘Well, yeah, all but David. He’s out taking care of the sheep.’ One of two things was true here, either Jesse did not want David to go, or he thought that the notion of David being king was so silly he didn’t even bring him out.

So they sent for David. He walked in healthy looking, bright eyed, and good looking. The Lord told Samuel, ‘Okay, this is the one.’

I am encouraged by this. David was the little guy, the last one on the list. All these big, grown up brothers who looked so much more able to be king and God chose David. The youngest brother never gets picked. I think about Eoin and being the low guy on the totem pole. (Although I heard not too long ago that this was apposition of honour, but you know what I mean). I am encouraged because God has a record of using the guy or gal that no one else would think of.

Praise God that He is the God who uses the one who is there when the world says, ‘Is there anyone else left?’