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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are John 7; 1 Samuel 16; Psalm 114; 129.
1 Samuel 16:14-21
And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
One day David will be king of Israel. But the road to his anointing and from the anointing to his kingship was not simple, direct, or easy. First he has to be chosen by Samuel although he was the youngest of his brothers, and left out of the initial search by his own father. Then he goes to work as a court musician, and armor bearer for Saul.
It will be a while before David becomes King David. The rest of his story is told in Scripture. He will endure great hardship, unfair treatment, and every kind of challenge before becoming king David. It all started when he was anointed. It will climax in David’s glorious reign as the greatest king of Israel.
I recall that on more than one occasion, I felt as though I was going through great difficulty in my quest to become a pastor. I had to overcome discouragement of my college classmates and would-be girlfriends. I was made fun of when I shared Jesus’ sermon on the Mount in philosophy class. My first time on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary I was accused of being a liberal, and questioned about my views on baptism. Let’s not talk about the time Diane handed me a brick when I was discouraged about having to learn so many things. It was a momento from my 7-month stint in a brick factory.
You might think that if God has great things in mind for us to do he would make the path clear, smooth, and easy. And perhaps sometimes it goes that way for God’s servants. But great leaders seldom become great through easy pathways or silver spoons. We may envy the successful and powerful. But most all great leaders come to their place of power and influence through challenging and refining experiences.
We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame. – Romans 5:3-5
Jesus’ sufferings produced more than character and hope. His path to greatness was an uphill crawl through dismissal, false accusation, a sham of a trial and on to a cruel Roman cross and a borrowed tomb. He did that for you and me. His suffering atoned for our sins. His life and death won our salvation. And his is the name that is above all names.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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