The God of the Unexpected

1 Samuel 17:31–50

[31] When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. [32] And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” [33] And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” [34] But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, [35] I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. [36] Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” [37] And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” [38] Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, [39] and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. [40] Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. [41] And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. [42] And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. [43] And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. [44] The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” [45] Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. [46] This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, [47] and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” [48] When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. [49] And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. [50] So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.

In early May, 1864, Major General John Sedgewick, the commander of the Sixth Corps. was out one day inspecting his lines of troops during the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. Confederate sharpshooters had been peppering the area with shots which had caused some of Sedgewick’s staff to run and duck for cover, something that Sedgewick saw as an act of cowardice. In an effort to show his men that there was nothing to be afraid of, he began to walk around out in the open, taunting the enemy as well as yelling at his staff. He is quoted as saying, “Why are you dodging like this? They couldn’t hit an elephant from this distance.” At that moment he collapsed dead, shot under his left eye. Quite an unexpected outcome, at least from Sedgewick’s point of view. Sedgewick had been a West Point graduate, he was a well respected military officer who had a wealth of experience. Yet he ended as one of the highest ranking Union casualties of the entire war. When he underestimated the situation, he was met with unexpected results.

In the same way, when we underestimate God and the people He uses for His Kingdom, we will see unexpected results.

God Uses Unexpected People

Throughout Scripture, there are countless examples of God’s enemies underestimating those whom He chooses to carry out the work of the Kingdom. Occasionally, even faithful believers will underestimate those whom God chooses. We see examples of both of these situations in 1 Samuel. A little further back, in chapter 16, we see Samuel tasked by God to annoint the future king of Israel.

1 Samuel 16:6–12

[6] When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” [7] But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” [8] Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” [9] Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” [10] 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.”

Samuel gets there with his own pre-conceived notion of who God should choose to be the future king and God rejects him. You have to imagine that Samuel shows up, sees a big strong guy who is battle tested and he says to himself “Of course! This must be him!” And all of a sudden God speaks and says “Not so fast.” And so Samuel goes down the line with one after another rejected until he gets down to the very last son of Jesse whose name was David. David was the smallest and youngest of all the sons and Samuel is probably thinking to himself, “Seriously? This kid? Did you see the first guy? Are you sure about this?” And God says “This is my guy, this is the one I choose.”

God chose someone that nobody else would have expected.

God Uses Unexpected Methods

God Produces Unexpected Results