Together We Are Better

 Jesse showed seven of his sons to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these men, are these all the sons you have?” Jesse answered, “No, I have another son—my youngest, but he is out taking care of the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him. Bring him here. We won’t sit down to eat until he arrives.” Jesse sent someone to get his youngest son. This son was a good-looking, healthy young man. He was very handsome. The Lord said to Samuel, “Get up and anoint him. He is the one.” Samuel took the horn with the oil in it, and poured the special oil on Jesse’s youngest son in front of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord came on David with great power from that day on. Then Samuel went back home to Ramab. 1 Samuel 16:10-13

I wonder what David felt when he walked into the room to see his brothers standing in front of the prophet, dressed to impress.

Then then the realization of not being invited hits David when he sees his dad standing next to his seven brothers.  Only later finding out the only reason he was invited to this important event was because prophet Samuel requested he be brought in from the fields. Otherwise his own dad didn’t even think of him during the most important event that their family was invited to.

The heartache of not being invited to your friend’s celebration, overlooked by your boss, or the disappointment of finding out the friend you hoped for chose someone else to go on a girl’s trip can leave you with painful feelings of unwanted, rejection and devalued. Feelings of not being worthy enough.

When we think on these negative feelings we only feed into anger, bitterness, and jealousy, which is actually a root of self-pride, causing pride to control our motives.

When we take ourselves out of the middle and look at it the way God sees it, which is putting the other person in the middle, our response can be quite different. This is rarely seen, but like most rare things it the most beautiful…

When our response is complete confident in Jesus to know He handpicked us, it can be a world changer. When we know that we have talents, gifts and ideas that God has given us, we don’t have to worry about what others think of us. When we understand that we’ve been chosen by God, it gives us a little more freedom to let people be people.

In this life people will purposely hurt us, people will forget about us, and at times people may not even know they hurt us.

I have learned that when people hurt us, it’s because they are being hurt or they’ve been betrayed by others that have hurt them.  Either way, when we stop looking at ourselves as victims and look deep down to why they are acting that away, we will begin to see what God sees.

Continue reading and we find out in 1 Samuel, David went back to the fields to continue to tend to his sheep. He killed, lions, bears and giants. Eventually moving to the castle to play the harp for King Saul it wasn’t until years later that he became king.  But what made this giant killer so special, he loved God and God could see it.

Knowing that you are handpicked by God and have a destiny to fulfill His glory can override any hurt someone gives us.

Don’t put your worth in people’s hands they will only drop it.  God knows how to truly love your heart and the only thing he wants is what lies in it, your soul. He will never force you to love Him.

 Prayer:

Father God, I thank You for Your wisdom and Your grace. Help me to focus more on my heart and the reaction that I give when I feel unwanted and devalued by others. Make my heart beautiful like You. Make my faith strong.  Make my love walk powerful. Transform me Lord until I look like Jesus on the inside and behave like Him on the outside. In Jesus’ name, Amen.