“One day Jesse said to David, ‘Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.’ David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
1 Samuel 17:17-19
Those familiar with the story of Esther in the Bible may recall that “God” is never mentioned, not even one time, in the entirety of the 10 chapters in the book. But if we look closely enough, we can easily see His fingerprints everywhere.
Similarly, we see His fingerprints all over this passage of scripture above in Jesse’s interaction with his son, David. God is clearly at work in the smallest of ways.
David, I need you to do something for me. Turn over your duties to the gatekeeper to watch over the sheep, and then take this basket of grain, the ten loaves, and the cheese to your brothers. You know where this is, so see to it. Check in with them to see how they’re doing. Now off you go, time is wasting.
Notice what Scripture doesn’t say: “David, learning that the defeat of his kingdom was at hand, took a stallion from his father’s barn and raced to the valley of Elah to join the battle.”
No, it simply started with what appears to us to be an incredibly boring and trivial statement: “Take this basket.“
And yet it’s arguably the most important statement in the entire book of 1st Samuel. It is the crux of this pivotal moment in which hope springs eternal. Not only as it relates to the shaping and molding of destiny for a young shepherd boy’s life; not only for the future of the entire kingdom of God’s people; but this moment is the foundation upon which all of humanity will experience the hope of salvation through the coming Messiah a thousand years later.
And God, in all of His infinite wisdom and glory, has placed His servant David in the exact place He wants him to be so that His work will continue.
As we reflect on the boring and trivial moments of our past, can we see God’s fingerprints in our stories? We tend to look at our major life events to see His providential work. But how many times has God used something that seemed completely uneventful to us to change the course of our future?
A young boy took a basket of bread and cheese to his brothers and we struggle to see the significance of that until we realize, “Wow. God used something incredibly small to achieve something incredibly great…”
Other than God, who can use cheese sandwiches to slay giants and deliver hope?
Former Blackout Artist 