So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.
1 Samuel 16:13 (NIV)

Today’s chapter is one of the most pivotal moments in the entire Great Story. It’s a shift that will have monumental, eternal consequences.

But it’s so quiet.

No press release. No red carpets. No paparazzi. No bright lights in the big city.

God sends Samuel to a little backwater agricultural town called Bethlehem to the home of a man with many sons but of no particularly impressive standing. Even then, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone is looking in the wrong direction.

Jesse is looking at his most impressive sons. Even Samuel is looking particularly at Eliab. But the most important person to God is invisible to everyone else. He hadn’t even been invited to the party. David was the youngest. David was the smallest. David was at the lowest rung of the family ladder doing the most menial of daily chores — tending the sheep.

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at,” God tells Samuel. “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

The Hebrew word for “heart” (levav) refers not merely to emotions but to the center of will, character, intention, and devotion. God sees something in the shepherd boy that He knows will make him a great leader.

But there’s more to it than that. Everything in the Great Story is connected, and the connections in today’s chapter are astounding.

David’s story begins in the same town where Jesus will later be born. Bethlehem becomes the city of God’s unexpected kings. David is introduced as a shepherd, who will eventually shepherd his people. Jesus’ birth in the same town of Bethlehem is first proclaimed to shepherds, and Jesus will become the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. David is anointed king. The Hebrew word for “anointed” is related to the word Messiah.

Everything God is doing in today’s chapter is a foreshadowing of the larger story.

But it’s so quiet.

No entourage. No announcement. David just goes back to his flocks.

David is anointed, but it will be about two decades before he will sit on a throne. Saul is entrenched on the throne and there is a long, long road between David’s anointing and coronation. David has to grow up. He has lessons to learn and only suffering will forge him into the leader God intends for him to be.

And this is what struck me most as I meditated in the quiet this morning. I was fourteen when God placed a call on my own life. While were there some things that happened immediately that confirmed the call, I’m 45 years in and have yet — I believe — to experience its ultimate fulfillment.

In a culture that increasingly wants things to happen with impatient immediacy, I am reminded once again that God often operates in painfully slow earthly timelines.

David, from Bethlehem, was a shepherd long before he became a king.
Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was a carpenter long before He became the King of Kings.

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve learned that if I’m going to reach the completion of God’s call and work in my life — I have to be willing to keep walking and wait for God’s timing to work out. Sometimes God moves in quiet tectonic shifts that no one feels on the surface in the moment, but that shift will ultimately lead to massive earthquakes in life down the road.

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