This is just a quick thought. Don’t grow up. That’s it! Or, rather – don’t ‘grow up’ to the extent that you forget all that God has spoke to you and encouraged you with . . . ! Samuel was spoken to by God when he was just a boy serving Eli in the temple. Samuel grew up to effectively lead Israel as a prophet and a man who walked closely with The Lord. Samuel went to anoint a new King after Saul stuffed it up. On arriving at Jesse’s house, Samuel gets out his little jar of oil and is already to anoint the eldest son Eli has – ‘this must be the one’ he thinks.

Why does Samuel assume that ‘Gods anointed’ is the kind of guy that everyone would admire? God says this, ‘I look at the heart, not outward things’. How could Samuel forget that HE was also chosen when just a boy.

When he runs out of sons to anoint – he has to ask Jesse if he has anymore. David was not even worth calling to stick in the line up!

Samuel forgot how God works. Are we prone to forgetting as we get older? Do we expect a God to pick our young people for great things? Have we grown old? Don’t forget the young, don’t make assumptions, don’t keep stuff back from a God (which is what Jesse did), throw everything in with Jesus.

We have an ‘old’ church in this country – we are long in the tooth. We are struggling to ‘pass on’ that which we have received. The challenge is not about whether or not we a WANT to pass it on – it is whether we are engaging with those who are not yet part of the church enough that they will receive what we are trying to pass on.

There. It is not a radical thought – we just to remember – if the prophet Samuel could ‘forget’ the fact that he was chosen when a young boy and was going after the safe bet of the ‘eldest’ son – then what might we forget? What might we fail to notice? Who might ‘turn our heads’ instead of cause is to bow our heads – in wonder again at God’s economy, God’s choices – God’s values.