By: Steve Wilmot
Help Wanted: Shepherd
Looking for a boy who doesn’t mind being caked in dirt for days at a time or being alone outdoors. Candidate must possess patience to endlessly chase sheep who wander away from the rest of the flock, creativity to cope with boredom, courage to fight off lions, bears, and poisonous snakes who attack the sheep, and the know-how to find green pastures and quiet waters to provide for the nutritional needs of the flock.
Minimum wage. Long, hard hours. Will train. No medical or life insurance. No 401k. Apply in person to Jesse of Bethlehem.
Surely this job description explains why the youngest son in the family got stuck tending the sheep. It was a lousy, boring, dirty, lonely, frustrating, dangerous, and thankless job.
Not something a child would say he wants to be when he grows up. But that’s exactly where we find David when first introduced in 1 Samuel 16.11.
There’s almost zero chance David was excited about being stuck with stupid sheep 24/7. Surely, it never crossed his mind that God had him right where he wanted him. The place God chose to prepare him with the skills, attitudes, and character he’d need when he became king.
Nobody suspected God was behind it… until later. Isn’t that the way it always is when God’s calling the shots? Years down the road, David must have smacked himself on the forehead and said, “Oh, that’s what God was doing! Now I see!”
Like David, you may not see the reason so many things are happening in your life. That’s okay. Just know: God is at work, and the work he’s doing in you will turn out better than you could ever imagine.
God specifically designed everything that happened to David when he was a shepherd to produce the skills, attitudes, and character he desperately needed to be a king after God’s own heart.
God left nothing to chance. Nothing haphazard. Nothing wasted. God orchestrated every event of David’s life for a purpose, including his years as a shepherd.
Most of the time, we’re unaware God strategically puts us in situations to prepare us for what’s ahead. All we can see is the burden of living in an estranged family, the pain arising from divorce, the overwhelming worry of a cancer diagnosis, the irritation of working beside a jerk.
We only feel the anger, depression, hopelessness, fear, sadness, disgust, impatience, and discouragement that consume us when circumstances we abhor linger, even after we’ve asked God to take them away.
But what if God doesn’t want to take them away yet? What if they’re the tools he’s using to prepare you with the skills, attitudes, and character you’ll need in future seasons of your life?
We rarely consider our struggles from that perspective, do we? Unwanted difficulties blind us to what God is doing in us. All we want is for them to end, but God sees the big picture.
He says, “I’m working something into you in this situation right now. Something you’re going to need. I know you don’t see it now, but you will. Trust me. Work with me.”
Consider why so many years elapsed after God rejected Saul as king before he sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David.
Could it be God still had some finishing touches to complete in David before he was ready to become king? Skills, attitudes, and character qualities he still needed to fine tune while David remained in a job he didn’t like?
As a shepherd, God turned David into a worshipper. An ability he needed to bring relief to Saul during times when an evil spirit tormented him, and in the darkest days of his own life to strengthen himself in the Lord.
While David was a shepherd, he filled empty hours honing his proficiency with his sling shot. An expertise crucial to defend the sheep from lions and bears, and later to kill Goliath.
In his years as a shepherd, David learned how to care for the needs of his sheep, how to protect them and keep them together, and how to guide them where they needed to go — all necessities for a king to lead a nation.
There are skills, attitudes, and character qualities God wants to develop in you right where you are. There in that situation you want out of. In those troubles you’ve asked him to deliver you from. God has a purpose for them. Embrace them.
Even after David graduated from shepherd, God wasn’t finished with him. He’s not finished with you, either.
There were still flaws in David’s character, and lessons he still needed to learn. God concentrated on them at opportune moments in David’s future. Just like he’ll do with you.
Someday, everything that happened, is happening now, and will happen in your future is going to make sense. You’ll understand why you had to go through those difficult, challenging, and unpleasant seasons of life.
When that day comes, your face will light up with a smile, and you’ll thank God for everything you’ve gone through.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.