Have you ever felt like you were the default?

Yes, you got the job, promotion, or opportunity but was it because they really wanted you to have it?  Or because the person they actually chose couldn’t, wouldn’t or just didn’t want to take it?

Sure, it’s yours…but it kinda feels like a half-win at best.

That’s exactly where I was so I vented to my sister, Binu, about it.  I told her it was hard to embrace something when you felt like they didn’t really want you there to begin with. I acknowledged that I felt like I was the default.

Her response was immediate.  “That’s not how I see it at all.”  She went on… “I see that man didn’t choose you for it, but God did.”   Then, she reminded me of the story of David.

That changed everything for me.

When God wanted a new king for Israel, He sent Samuel to Bethlehem (that wouldn’t be the last time a king would come from there).  When the elders of the town saw him coming, they were concerned. A visit from the prophet of God meant God was up to something.

With that in mind, the fact that Samuel showed up at Jesse’s house must have been a big deal.  He even invited Jesse and his sons to participate in the sacrifice but for some reason, Jesse forget to include his youngest son, David, who was out in the fields.

Then, Samuel began the selection process. He took one look at Eliab and said, ““Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” (1 Samuel 16:6b ESV).  

Samuel was wrong.  

Jesse paraded 7 of his sons in front of Samuel.  He assumed that God’s chosen king of Israel was one of them.

Jesse was wrong.

“Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.’” (1 Samuel 16:11 ESV)

If Samuel hadn’t asked, would Jesse have remembered David?  Even when Jesse mentions David, he doesn’t even think to send for him.  Samuel has to suggest that too.

I wonder what David thought when he heard how the day unfolded…the fact that he was an afterthought. He probably felt like a default too.

But he would have been wrong.

While Saul was still on the throne, God chose David.

While he was still in the fields, God chose David.

He didn’t look the part but God chose David.

No one saw it coming but God chose David.

David could have approached his role as king with the mindset that man didn’t think he should be there.  Or he could see that God did.  History shows us that David became the greatest king of Israel.

So now, I choose to see myself as chosen…maybe not by man, but by God.  

Not bad for a default.

~Anu