The Process is Broken

Sometimes the one most qualified or most desired is not the one chosen.

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’- 1 Samuel 16:1

So long as the process we follow produces the results we want, it is a good process.  But the time will come when we get results we don't expect or desire.  Then we feel the process must be broken.

By the end of the day, the one anointed to be king will astound everyone.  A young shepherd boy of no consequence will be chosen over all others, and he will accomplish something beyond everyone's dreams, reuniting the two kingdoms and bringing on a reign of peace in the land.

So, is the process broken?

Surely it was not understood.  Samuel was worried from the outset.  He feared Saul, the one who was well positioned to lead, would not go along with the plan to replace him as leader, and he was right.  Saul would become a major obstacle to David's rise to the throne.

Come hell or high water, in Saul's mind, this was not going to be the choice.

We face situations like this all the time.  In fact, we are in one of these broken process situations right now, as we struggle to make sense of the voice of the people in our Presidential primary selections.

I remember back when Reagan was elected.  My wife's relatives in Belgium were astounded at the choice.  "You elected an actor?" they said, finding the process over here incomprehensible.

But these are man made processes, and we expect them to be fallible, don't we?  That is unless they produce the results we want.

Such is the case with Saul and Samuel.  It is also the case with the selection of so many leaders in the stories of The Bible.  The first, the strongest, the most qualified in the eyes of the people does not always match God's choice.

In fact, it almost never does.

Now, before you rail at me for that, let me explain.  I do not believe the hand of God is at work in our primary process.  These are our choices.  But that doesn't mean the process is broken.

We will discover just how resilient our democratic process is by testing it to the limits, and we will learn and grow as a result.

Or, we will do as Saul did and complain, come up with plots to undermine the choice and do our best to make the other side look evil or foolish.

One thing we can all agree on, and we have the great prophet, Yogi Berra to thank for reminding us, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

When we look around the world at the leaders of other countries, we see we are not alone in making strange choices, so let us pray.

Pray that God doesn't just sit back and watch, but offers guidance and strength and love and grace, and all the wisdom of Solomon to whoever we choose.

He or she will need it.

More to come...