God Believes in You

"David!"

He whirled around at the sound of his name, and squinted against the brilliant sun. A servant from his father's house was standing at the top of a small incline. He waved, indicating that David should come closer. David glanced back at the herd of sheep. Satisfied that there were no immediate dangers, David walked to greet the servant.

The servant spoke before David could say anything. "Your father requires your presence immediately. I've been instructed to watch the flock in your stead."

"Why? Is everything alright?" Worry for his family squeezed his heart.

The servant glance over his shoulder like he was worried someone could hear him. "Samuel the prophet is at your father's house." He lowered his voice. "All your brothers have passed before him, but he rejected them all. It was like he was searching for someone. He asked your father, Jesse, if there was anyone else because the Lord had not chosen any of your brothers. When your father said you were out here, Samuel insisted that someone be sent to get you. They won't even sit down to eat."

David felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Here he had been worrying about his family, and the servant tells him that they couldn't be bothered to send for him until Samuel insisted? They would have just sat down with the most famous prophet in the land without him? Clearly Samuel was looking for someone under the Lord's direction....and no one, not even the father he worked so hard to please, thought he could ever be worthy.

As David walked the dusty trail back to his father's house, his shoulders sagged and his shepherd's staff dragged haphazardly alongside him. Despite the fact that Samuel had called for him, he still felt like someone had broken every single one of his bones.

His family didn't believe in him.

Based on 1 Samuel 16:11-13

"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.' And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, 'Arise, anoint him, for this is he.' Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah." 1 Samuel 16:11-13

I racked my brain for forever trying to think of a "Bible story" that shows just how much God believes in us. I thought about Peter and how we talked about him dragging a net of 153 fish because God's words gave him the power to do so. I thought about Moses and how God believed in his ability even when he insisted that he couldn't. I thought about Gideon who doubted that God called him to be a mighty man of valor. I thought about David and how even when his whole family didn't believe in him, God did. What about the Apostle Saul/Paul when the believers didn't believe in or trust him? They even plotted to kill him!

How do I pick just one?

Have you ever felt like Moses? Have you ever felt like Gideon? Have you ever felt like David? Have you ever felt like Saul/Paul? My family doesn't believe in me. I can't speak. I'm too young. I'm too old. I'm uneducated. No one believes in me! Send someone else!

So often we don't believe in ourselves. So often we believe the words that everyone has spoken over us. So often those lies take root in our hearts without us even realizing it. David's own family didn't believe in him, but God believed in him. God believed in every person in the Bible. He believed in their ability to do what He'd called them to do, even when they didn't.

No matter how you feel, no matter who is against you, no matter who has crushed your spirit, God is for you. He believes in you!

V. Joy Palmer