Unlikely Likeables: David the Young by David Jeremiah

Unlikely Likeables: David the Young

JULY 7, 2018

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.”
1 Samuel 16:11

 Recommended Reading: 1 Timothy 4:12

When does one become an adult? Upon getting a driver’s license? High school graduation? The right to vote? Turning 21 and college graduation are final transition points—at least chronologically. But God is not afraid to call young people to significant tasks.

The prophet Samuel visited the house of Jesse to anoint the successor-king to Saul. Jesse had seven of his sons appear before Samuel, presumably beginning with the oldest first. But after interviewing all seven, Samuel had not seen the next king. Upon inquiring, Jesse said there was one more son, the youngest of the eight, who was tending the sheep. When Samuel saw him—probably a boy barely a teen—he anointed him as king. David was young as was Timothy in the New Testament when Paul made him a pastor. Paul had to remind Timothy not to let others look down on his youth (1 Timothy 4:12).

Don’t let age—whether the lack of years or the lack of years remaining—keep you from serving God. The heart for God knows no age.

He that was our Help from our birth, ought to be our Hope from our youth. 
Matthew Henry