Monday meditation: Samuel’s challenge to choose . . . and ours
Anyone who’s trotted to the UPS store with an Amazon return knows about the problem of a poor choice. Likewise for anyone who’s traded his new car after three months because he’s come to hate it, anyone who’s left a job after three weeks because the boss turned out to be a jerk, or anyone who’s awakened on the first morning of her honeymoon to pray, “Oh, Lord, what have I done?”
Samuel’s choice . . .
Choosing can be risky and stressful. And that’s one reason many resonate with today’s story. Samuel knew King Saul was failing, but it took a nudge from God to get Samuel to do something about it. His experience with the task to choose a replacement reminds us of three facts about making a choice.
Sometimes the best choice isn’t the first choice. By the time Samuel had seen what he thought was all of Jesse’s sons, he must have been exhausted. The whole process took not only courage but also patience as Samuel looked at seven different possibilities. Any “hunter-gatherer” style of shopper (get in and out of the store with your new shoes as quickly as possible), can imagine his frustration.
Sometimes the best choice isn’t the obvious choice. Each of Jesse’s sons was mature and experienced. At least one of them looked pretty good, too. Like a house with excellent curb appeal, they seemed like excellent picks. But “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” What seems good at a glance isn’t always the best.
Sometimes the best choice isn’t what seems to be the most sensible choice. Even if Samuel had known at the outset about the shepherd boy David, he likely would have looked the other way. How often have we missed the best choice because it didn’t fit the customary and usual description?
. . . and our choices
So what does all of this have to do with us caregivers? Only this: Our loved one’s growing list of needs presents us with the daily duty to choose.
Which doctor? Which medicine? Which foods?
Should we attend or stay home, and if we go, how can we prepare for the unexpected while we’re away?
Is it time to bring in hired help? How often, and the even bigger question, who? How much longer should we live at home? And what can I do to stay healthy so I’m fit to keep choosing wisely?
It's not easy, made even more challenging because the choices never end. Each new week, if not every day, presents an evolving set of circumstances that require constant new choices or reevaluation of the old ones.
We could wish God was speaking in our ear as he was with Samuel! Of course, we know our choices are not as monumental in God’s scheme of things as was the task to find a new king for Israel. The Savior of the world is not coming from our bloodline!
But even we everyday believers can find courage in God’s promise to people like us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
The choice to believe that will always be the right one.
Read: 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Pray: God, please guide me in the many choices I must make today. And please show me your comfort and your presence as I struggled, decision by decision, to do the right thing.
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