David Under the Holy Horn
L. A. Banks, D. D. 1 Samuel 16:12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and with of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said… The eldest of Jesse's sons, Eliab, was the largest of them all; he was like Saul in his figure, a great, tail, broad-shouldered, magnificent-looking specimen of physical manhood. All the others in the crowd looked little and insignificant when compared to him, and when Samuel saw him he said to him. self, "There is the man. Surely the Lord's anointed is before him." But the Lord made Samuel know his mistake. I remember a friend of mine telling me of a young man who was living in Boston during the years when Phillips Brooke was doing his great work there in Trinity Church. This young man was converted to Christ under Phillips Brooks' ministry, and he explained to my friend how it came about he said the first thing that attracted him to Mr. Brooks was his giant-like physical form. He used to see him walking down the street every morning, and he said to himself, "What a man that is!" He was thinking only of the physique, and nothing else. But he so greatly admired the splendid appearance of the man that he went to hear him preach, and as he listened to his clear expositions of the Scripture and was charmed by his flights of eloquence, he began to admire the intellect of the man, and he said to himself, "What a splendid brain he has; it is equal to his body; he is a giant in intellect as well as in physique." But as he went on listening to Mr. Brooks' sermons, the Spirit of God used the word as a "two-edged sword," and he became greatly troubled because of his sins, and finally he was so troubled that he went to see Mr. Brooks and opened his heart to him, and then the great man's tenderness of heart, and toying sympathy with him, as he cleared away his doubts, swallowed up all his previous thoughts concerning him. The young man not only came to know Jesus Christ as his Saviour, but his heart was flooded also with the knowledge that Phillips Brooks was as great in his heart and in his spiritual nature as he was in body or brain. Surely that is as it ought to be always. It is a shame for a man to be large in body and mind and little and narrow and mean in spirit. The same is true of the circumstances in which we live. When you see a man living in a large and splendid house, having about him all the evidences of abundance, you feel that out from such a house there should flow streams of benevolence. When it proves to be true it is a beautiful thing. But when such a place is full of selfishness and greed, you feel that it is a shame and only a mockery of what it professes to be. Is not the same thing true of our spiritual blessings? What a mean thing it is for us to take all the comfort and peace of God's great mercy, and fail so give ourselves up to seeking after the lost. And so Samuel passed Eliab by; and the next, and still the next, came on, until seven sons of Jesse had passed before him. They sent then for David. He was only a shepherd lad; but in David, after all, was the hope of the family. How many of us are thus blind today! There is a boy who lives next door to us, but he is young and awkward, and when we are thinking of the people we can win to Christ we are likely to pass him by. There is a boy working in the same store with you, but he is young and uninteresting, and it does not occur to you that it would be a great thing, a marvellous thing, to turn those young, awkward steps toward heaven. But nobody can tell what the boy will grow into if the Spirit of God can be put upon him. A recent writer tells how, over in old Scotland many years ago, a faithful minister coming early to the church met one of his deacons, whose face wore a very resolute but distressed expression. "I came early to meet you," be said. "I have something on my conscience to say to you. Pastor, there must be some. thing radically wrong in your preaching and work; there has been but one person added to the church in a whole year, and he is only a boy." Said the old man: "I have great hopes of that one boy — Robert. Some seed that we sow bears fruit late, but that fruit is generally the most precious of all." The old minister went to the pulpit that day with a grieved and heavy heart. He closed his discourse with dim and tearful eyes. He lingered in the dear old church after the rest were gone. he wished to be alone. Before this altar he had prayed over the dead forms of a bygone generation, and had welcomed the children of a new generation; and here, yes, here, be had been told at last that his work was no longer owned and blessed. No one remained. Not one? "Only a boy." The boy was Robert Metier. "Well, Robert," said the minister. "Do you think if I were willing to work hard for an education I could ever become a preacher?" "A preacher? Perhaps a missionary?" There was a long pause. Tears filled the eyes of the old minister. At length he said: "This heals the ache in my heart, Robert. I see the Divine hand now. May God bless you, my boy. Yes, I think you will become a preacher." The old minister sleeps beneath the trees in the humble place of his labours, but men remember his work because of what he was to that, one boy, and what that one boy was to the world. "Only a boy!" A spiritual revolution would take place in this city if all of us were as truly anxious here that the young boys and girls, the young men and women, should be anointed to the service of Christ as Samuel was to see David appointed king. (L. A. Banks, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. WEB: He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on. Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he."