The LORD said to Samuel:
“Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,
for I have chosen my king from among his sons.”
Have you ever been asked to do what you believed was the impossible?
Ever walked out of a meeting shaking your head wondering how you were going to get “that” done?
Ever questioned the sanity of the person who asked or told you to do it?
If so, I suspect, you and Samuel have something in common.
Samuel was an OT (Old Testament) prophet. He didn’t have office hours. God called, Samuel got dressed and went off on a mission.
God decided it was time to start grooming the next king of Israel so he gave Samuel the OT version of GPS. Get some special oil, go to Bethlehem find a dude named Jesse, interview his sons, and I’ll tell you which one of them will be the next king. Then you’ll anoint him.
“You got that Samuel?”
Easy peasy, lemon squeezey.
Bethlehem was roughly a five mile trip. By foot and in sandals it probably took most of a day to walk there.
Then, he had to find Jesse and his sons.
There were ten sons.
As he finished interviewing each son God would give him the “thumbs down” sign. At the end of the interviews Samuel had bupkis.
One of the good things about God, I believe, is that when you are in a pinch he usually shines a bit of light on the situation and if we are intuitive enough to listen, things usually work out for us one way or the other.
You could say the same about our business or practice. In moments of dire need there is always the Ah-Ha flash of light.
“Jesse, you have any more sons?”
Jesse tells him just one one, a kid, named David. He’s a shepherd, out there “somewhere” with his sheep. He’s really young!
Samuel tells Jesse to send for him.
Ten minutes into the interview God tells Samuel that David is “the one.” No reference checks, or no background check. He’s the one.
“David you’re hired.”
Happily ever after?
Nope
Remember the other ten sons?
They weren’t to happy. They puffed their chests out, ranted, raved and couldn’t believe God picked this kid.
Can you relate to any of this?
How much help do you think his brothers were?
Maybe you’ve been there yourself. You got a promotion no one expected you to get or “Can you believe they hired that person!!”
Your coworkers buzzed like a hive of bees in mortified disbelief. Allegedly you (Yes, You!) were not worthy. You were two young or to old. You didn’t have enough experience or the right kind of experience. Worse yet, many of them thought THEY should have gotten the promotion. The only way to hurt you and keep their hands clean was not to help you.
Can you say “passive aggressive?”
When I first started coaching I was invited to do a presentation to a company that was looking for someone to do human resource compliance training. In a room with ten other people, all dressed in suits and dresses, sat me, in khakis and a golf shirt with my company logo embroidered on it. Maybe it was all in my mind, but I swear I could feel all those other people inch away from me.
I’d been out of the corporate world for roughly three months.
I was the last person to present.
I didn’t have a projector to connect to my lap top with. I couldn’t afford one at the time. I told them the bulb burned out when I was preparing the night before and would it be okay if I used their flip charts. I held my breath.
From the back of the room the Chief Operating Officer said “John, that’s okay. We’re a flip chart kind of company.” (This was in 2000.)
I was awarded the contract.
It began an thirteen year relationship.
Have you ever been in that situation yourself?
It seems like you’re standing out there all alone and all people seem to say is “Good Luck!”
David was a shepherd and he wasn’t the first born. I was once a janitor who didn’t have a degree.
As king he got as much wrong as he did right, including having the husband of the woman he was sleeping with sent into battle against overwhelming odds where he was killed. (For the record none of my missteps included adultery or murder.)
“Hey don’t blame me.” I can imagine David saying. “He was a soldier. He knew what he was getting into. Now where we Snookums. We’re off the hook. Your old man is dead.”
I believe David was exactly like you and I. There are days we slay giants and there are days we don’t. There are days we shake our heads and wonder why we did what we did.
It’s called life.
“That’s life, that’s what all the people say;
You’re riding high in April, shot down in may
But I know I’m gonna change that tune
When I’m back on top again in May.”
~ Frank Sinatra
Let’s return to the thing called “intuition”. I believe it’s misrepresented at times. We are led to believe that if we curl up in a lotus position and chant “ohm;” pretty soon the heavens will open and the answer will magically appear.
I believe intuition is a “nudge.” It’s a “Hey try this” or a “Have you ever thought of that?”
I believe intuition is standard operating equipment given to us when we’re born. Some of us choose to use it, some of us don’t.
Intuition is a leaping off point. It’s not etched in stone.
It’s not magic.
Once we decide to “Go for it” there are a lot of factors beyond our control. Other people for example.
I’ll share another story with you.
A man found himself stranded in a storm. As the waters rose higher and higher he was forced to sit on his roof. “God will help me,” he muttered. “He always has.” A few minutes later a boat rowed by and someone hollered to get ready. They’d toss him a rope and he could pull the boat closer and hop in.
The man declined. He was waiting for God
The water was getting higher by the minute.
A few more minutes went by and the man saw a helicopter hovering above him. The pilot hollered down that he’d drop a line to the man and pull him to safety.
“Thank you,” the man yelled. “But God said he’d save me.”
The helicopter sped away.
The water was up to the mans chest. He lifted his eyes to heaven in prayer. “You said you’d help me!!” He shouted.
From the heavens a voice boomed “I sent a boat and a helicopter. What else did you want!!!”
It would have been really easy for Samuel to walk away after he went through Jesse’s first ten sons. He might have figured that God had the wrong zip code.
I can see you waving and raising your hands that you know the answer to this one.
Samuel had faith in God.
Yes he did.
Along with that, Samuel had faith in himself and his ability to make the right decisions.
That’s a large part of intuition.
Quite often we are led to believe for $247 dollars magical things will occur for us. The latest and greatest guru has the answer or cure.
We often get it all wrong. Most of our answers are right in front of us all the time. We just need faith to trust our own intuition.
A final word about David.
He was a flawed human being and every time I get all righteous and judgmental and tell God to take a break and I can handle things on my own I go look in a mirror.
It’s not a quick glance. I lasts until I come to the realization that like David I am a flawed human being.
A flawed human being who is special, unique and deeply loved.
Just like you.
Okay, I’m rambling.
Thanks for reading and please, please, please leave a comment below. It’s the only way I improve.
See you in two weeks.