Shaquile O’Neil felt like an outsider and a freak for most of his childhood.
Thomas Edison daydreamed so much in school that his first teacher called him addled (or air-headed) and said he could never learn.
Benjamin Franklin failed math twice. After that his father took him out of school and put him to work in the family candle shop at age 10.
Albert Einstein was so slow in learning to speak that his parents went to a doctor to see if his brain was OK. As a teenager, he was so rebellious that one of his teachers said he would never amount to much. Then, Einstein failed his university entrance exam and had to go to trade school instead.
The small become great. The fool becomes the genius. The ugly duckling becomes the swan. Cinderella becomes the princess. Even though we have heard these stories a thousand times in a thousand ways, we still hear each story with awe and wonder. Even though we know from history that people surprise us, we are still surprised. Even though we know from experience that outward appearances can be deceiving, we are still deceived.
Again and again, we return to one profound truth which is so easy to forget: “The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them” (1 Samuel 16:7). Reality is different from what we see. Let’s go now to the story that explains this life-shaping truth: 1 Samuel 16:1-13.
