A Moment for Mediocrity
by Tanner Michael DiBella
There is an old rabbinical tradition that places David of the Bible in the most peculiar, most striking places. This boy was sentenced to a life of shepherding — a mediocre existence and exacerbated by loneliness. But there was something quite profound taking place underneath all the sheep, their mounds of manure, and David’s heart. Sounds like 2020 took a chapter right out of this seemingly stark tale.
The tradition goes like this: the smell of chewed grass and sheep dung wafts through the ancient air. It’s quiet. It’s a day like any other. Someone passing by would think David is insane — he’s talking to himself. But, not really. He’s talking to the only companion around — the Creator of the Heavens. You see, underneath David’s worn-and-torn feet was something very special. An anointing. The anointing. Represented by oil, it was just waiting to seep out of the ground. It was fertile soil, and it was ready for a divine moment to be birthed.
Samuel is instructed to anoint a King, a new leader for Israel. God tells him to go to Jesse of Bethlehem — there he will find a new King. Samuel goes, and as he sifts through each son, he is confused — none of them are God’s chosen.
So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.
1 Samuel 16:12–13
The rabbinical tradition says that as soon as Samuel anointed the Shepard boy, the oil that has been under David’s feet began to ooze out of the ground. It wasn’t a quiet, subtle ooze. It was like a river gushing out of the ground, following David wherever he went. Where his feet touched, that oil seeped through and blessed David. There was an anointing under him, and it’s origin story wasn’t in the high courts or throne room — it was with the sheep in the field.
There you have it. The hallmark story has begun, and it gets REALLY good. Lot of war. Some romance. A little bit of treachery, murder, and the lot. A Netflix Original in the making. What is most interesting to me isn’t the climax or rising action of the story — no. Not at all. It’s the expository. The very beginning. The battlefield didn’t make David. The palace didn’t create him. The field did. As you survey the horizon of his life, you see that the mundane moments are what made him. It was in the loneliness, the simple, the mediocrity that built him.
2020 and mediocre are very much synonymous. Plans, hopes, dreams — many have been crucified in this season — and many are left twiddling their thumbs and wondering “what now?” As you sit there, next to your figurative pile of sheep dung — remember the story of David.
Don’t resist the wearisome moments of life. Refrain from gazing too far in your future, because the favor that will get you there might just be settling underneath your feet. What might smell like mediocrity (and yes, sheep crap) could be the anointing of God getting ready to gush underneath your feet.
