At the end of Ruth there is a short genealogy that ends with someone named David. I’ve learned from studying Genesis with Jen Wilkin that genealogies are important. But it takes until 1 Samuel 16 for us to be introduced to David. Most people who have a little familiarity with the Bible and classic Bible stories know who David is, but imagine if you were reading the Bible for the first time and encounter this person? He’s been hinted at in chapter 13 when Samuel tells Saul that God has rejected him for a man after his own heart. Who is this? Where will he come from?

As is God’s way, he chooses someone no one expects. It always reminds me of the Cinderella story. Samuel looks over the sons of Jesse expecting the Lord’s anointed to be among them. But God rejects them all. He finally asks Jesse if there is anyone else. Yes. The youngest. The one tending the sheep.

This is the one after God’s own heart. Throughout today’s reading David is portrayed as doing almost everything right. The Lord is with him and he has success after success. But soon enough he is running from Saul and hiding in the wilderness. The Psalms I read today represent this time in David’s life when he is crying out to God, his only refuge.

There were no huge insights for me today, but it was good to read the 1 Samuel passages along with the Psalms. Reading this fast is really making the story come alive.