Sunday, March 15, 2026
I Samuel 16:1-13
It would be, I suspect, a trite observation to say that we live in troubling times. Cable news and the twenty-four hour news cycle give us a balcony seat to the latest armed conflicts – wars of conquest, wars of terror, and occasionally, wars of a desperate people yearning to be free.
If wars and rumours of wars grow tiresome, we can consume the bloodsport of politics, a world that civil discourse seems to have abandoned and where moral outrage is not based on principle as much as expediency and blind partisan loyalties. This becomes doubly toxic, given that the poisonous atmosphere in politics is infiltrating the broader society, down to neighbourhoods and families – disagreement is weaponised into a litmus test for admission to a narrowing definition of “polite society.”
In all of this, we can struggle to find reason, logic, wisdom and even basic human decency. I imagine a multitude of individual voices crying to the fates, in a paraphrase of the words ascribed to King Henry II in 12th century England: “Will no one rid me of these turbulent times?”
Today’s reading from I Samuel serves as a gentle waypost for navigating these turbulent times.
We see in this passage the turmoil caused by a king who has lost God’s favour. But we also see God’s admonishment – perhaps “encouragement” is a better word – about a divinely ordained direction out of the tumult. It is a direction that requires an open mind and patience – an open mind to not allow our own biases and expectations to tint the lens of discernment, and the patience to allow God’s good timing to unfold. It is the willingness to go through the seven brothers – each of whom seemed capable, at least by worldly standards – to arrive at God’s choice for king. And note that after David is anointed, there is even more waiting – Samuel, having done what he was called to do (and no more, at that particular moment) up and leaves for Ramah.
If we neglect the gentle waypost in I Samuel, then we risk the terrible consequences of King Henry’s frustrations over 850 years ago. Recall that the primary source of King Henry’s wrath was an Archbishop of Canterbury who would not follow the King’s orders. The Archbishop, Thomas Becket, placed his duty as Archbishop above any personal loyalty to the King. The King, not exercising an open mind or patience, nor the humility upon which those qualities are founded, allowed his emotions to prevail and he cried out the immortal words at Court: “will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”
Those words of anger and frustration inspired four of the King’s supporters – perhaps hoping to curry favour with the King - to promptly go to Canterbury and murder Becket in his own Cathedral. Now, whether the King intended this to happen is a subject of debate – history certainly seems to have denied King Henry the benefit of plausible deniability. Even in his own time, King Henry was obliged to do penance for a murder that at the very least was committed in his name.
May this sobering lesson remind us to cherish humility and practice patience, and recognise the reality of consequences if we do not. May we avoid King Henry’s temptation, and the need for his penance, in these turbulent times…
Lee Cutforth
Be Thou My Vision Audrey Assad
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