During this Lenten journey, I have mentioned King David at various times. Therefore, I think it's very appropriate that he joins us at the threshold of Holy Week. His story takes up a large portion of the Bible so I will try my best to summarize the most important facts during the next few days.
When I think of David, I think of him as impossibly heroic. The story that most clearly stands out in my mind is when he fought the giant Goliath. But there is a lot more to David than getting rid of a giant. When we first meet David, we realize that he was not perfect. He was the youngest of eight brothers and he was not physically impressive like his brothers were. He was small in stature and his job was to tend the sheep. He was his father Jesse's last choice when Samuel came calling. But the Lord does not judge a book by its cover like many of us do, including me. The Lord sees straight into the heart and soul of the person. And He saw something in little David and that's why He chose him.
We live in a very superficial world. We judge others by how they look and we are judged by others by our outer shell. Plastic surgery is a huge industry because we want to look eternally young. But God does not judge us by how we look. He knows that our true worth does not reside in our outward appearance. True worth resides in the soul. Last week my daughter was watching a movie and I sat down to watch it with her. She was watching "Shallow Hal." It's the story of a young man who only dates women that are physically perfect. But at some point in the story, he is hypnotized into seeing only the beauty within. He starts dating a young lady who is very heavy, but he sees her as a perfect ten. Eventually the blindfold is removed from his eyes and he has to struggle to accept the beautiful woman she is from the inside despite her weight issues. And I won't give away the ending in case I've peaked your curiosity and you want to watch the movie. But the point is that there is a bit of "Shallow Hal" in all of us. And we need to learn to look at the spirit within the person because that is where we find their true beauty.
God had tremendous plans for David in spite of his physical weakness. Just like He has great plans for us. All we have to do is give our whole hearts to God in trust and obedience. Tomorrow we will learn how David gave his heart to God and how God poured His blessings upon him.
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