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On January 20, 2025, the Chief Justice of the United States’ Supreme Court swore in the next president of the United States. 

In nearly 250 years of American history, presidential inaugurations have been a rare example to the rest of the world of what a peaceful and civil transfer of power can look like. Around the rest of the world and throughout history, changes of power have often been violent, chaotic, and tumultuous episodes. 

Julius Caesar’s takeover of the Roman government from republic to empire resulted in his assassination by many of the same senators he had vested power away from. The French Revolution introduced the guillotine to change political structures. 

When leaders around the world die, resign, step down or are overthrown, panic often sets in, and trouble boils over. 

But never in heaven. There has never been an emergency meeting among the Trinity. Even when God rejected Israel’s first King, Saul, there was no panic in the heart of God. The plan for Israel’s future had already existed from eternity past. 

As 1 Samuel 16 opens, God’s prophet Samuel is grieving over Saul. Samuel had just informed Saul that he had been rejected by God. Samuel was likely grieving both for his former friend as well as the uncertainty facing the nation. God instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem, to the household of Jesse. One of Jesse’s sons, God whispers to Samuel, will be the next king of Israel. 

When Samuel arrives at Jesse’s house, he immediately assumes that Jesse’s firstborn son, Eliab, is going to be God’s choice. He’s a natural looking leader—charismatic and handsome. But God corrected 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’” (1 Samuel 16:7). 

God’s qualifications for leadership are different from man’s qualifications for leadership. 

How often do we pick leaders based on image—who projects the most confidence, who is the best speaker, who seems the smartest or the friendliest? We may not want to admit it, but even innate characteristics, like a person’s height or attractiveness, can influence our opinion. 

But God looks deeper. He performs heart surgery while we settle for cosmetic surgery. He sees into the very heart of mankind. 

So, take encouragement: you don’t need to “look the type” in order to be used powerfully by God. You just need to be available and receptive to His call. 

Jesse was so convinced that David would not be considered as the next king that he did not even summon David to join the lineup and meet Samuel. After Samuel looked at Jesse’s seven older sons, he asked if there were any others. That’s when Jesse seems to recall that his youngest son, David, is out in the fields tending the sheep. 

When David is finally summoned, God immediately makes clear that he is the future king. With that, Samuel anoints David with oil. The Bible records, “And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13). 

Those whom God calls, He equips. 

At this point in the narrative, here is everything we know about David: he is the youngest son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, he’s young, handsome, and a shepherd boy. That’s about it. 

It wasn’t David’s height, experience, strength, intelligence, charm or good looks that will make him a great and godly king. It’s the spirit of the Lord that rushed into him and stayed with him for as long as he followed God’s lead. 

The Holy Spirit indwells you, Christian friend. Whether you’re well-spoken, well-educated, well-resourced or well-known, you have everything you need to be used mightily by God, as long as you obey His will and humbly walk with Him through life. 

He’s not looking for celebrities. He’s looking for servants. You and I qualify!