Today’s reading from the First Book of Samuel reminds us that God can surprise us even in the most familiar of places and people. Jesse assembles his sons before Samuel for the Lord’s anointing of a future king, but his youngest son David is left to tend to the sheep. The scripture does not mention why Jesse excludes David from the gathering. Perhaps he figures that his youngest child still has some growing up to do before being worthy of such an anointing. But God does not follow human judgments or expectations. “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). To everyone’s amazement, David is called to the sacrifice and receives the anointing.

One challenge in the life of faith is noticing the work of God even in the mundane rhythms of daily life, and especially in the people with whom we are closest. At times, close familiarity can lead us to believe that we have people figured out. We confine others in the frames of our experience. Even Jesus finds that “no prophet is welcome in his hometown” while preaching in Nazareth (Luke 4:24). But God always sees past the appearances of the present and knows the deeper possibilities of the heart. Through God’s grace, the weak become strong, the humble become anointed, and the familiar become hosts of unexpected transformation.

In this Lenten season of attentiveness to our spiritual lives, we can open our minds and hearts to be surprised and delighted by the people we think we know best. This practice is particularly important at our present time in our responsible practice of social distancing. Many students are now missing the energy of campus life and find themselves renegotiating relationships with family members in close proximity. Many of us are spending a lot more time with the people we know well and perhaps find our days to be somewhat confining. We can find hope and inspiration in the fact that we serve a God of the unexpected. Sometimes it is hardest to see the workings of God’s grace in the familiar. By centering ourselves in God’s presence, we can prepare ourselves to see miracles there. We might even discover that the Spirit is working unexpectedly within ourselves.