God’s messy grace

This week we are looking at the life of the Prophet Samuel and God’s messy Grace. Samuel was instrumental in the transition between Israel having judges to guide them to Israel having Kings to govern them. He was responsible for anointing two kings. One was the ideal human leader, a tall, good-looking man (1 Samuel 9:2) who would be a ‘strong leader’. The other was a musician, shepherd boy, with a penchant for doing things differently (killing a giant with a sling; crazy!), who led the people even when he had no title.

And Samuel is permitted to see behind the scenes, with God telling him, “Do not consider his appearance or his height… The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). This is the way of God’s messy Grace.

Featured image: The Anointing of David by Samuel, François-Léon Benouville (1821–1859). Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.