“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature,
because I have rejected him;
for God sees not as man sees,
for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7, NASB)
The verse has been stuck in my thoughts for days now. Physical appearance has probably never been more important to society than it is nowadays. All day long we are bombarded by commercials and social media posts touting weight loss injections and drinks, face creams, hair products, make-up, and styling tools. Our feeds are never ending.
Yet in this verse, we uncover God’s criteria when He looks at people.
Samuel was tasked with anointing the king whom God had selected to rule over His people. When sitting down at feast, Samuel looked over all of Jesse’s sons and thought all of them were present. Here we see Samuel being influenced by what his eyes were seeing.
But God’s response was the same for each, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
Finally Samuel asked, “Are all the young men here.” With that question, he discovers there is one young man out tending to the sheep. When brought before Samuel, the Lord responds, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” (1 Samuel 16:12, NASB)
God does not look at the physical but delves deeper. It is what is in our hearts which God takes into consideration.
God is looking for our lives to be a display of honor, integrity, humility, grace, compassion, and mercy.
This verse is a caution not only to Samuel back then, but to each one of us today. We are to look past what we see with our eyes, and be sure to listen to the voice of God to see as He sees.
“Our filter is profoundly skewed by our hurts and fears, our cultural trends, and our own judgments. But if our eyes opened up to see what God sees we’d marvel at the things God values, and at what He finds distasteful.”
(from Prevail by Susie Larson, page 73)
David was out in the pasture, doing his normal responsibilities of tending sheep. He was forgotten by his father and brothers, and unseen by Samuel.
But he was neither forgotten nor unseen by God, and neither are any of us.
May this fill our hearts with hope.
You are remembered, seen, and cared for by God.
Reflection:
Are you feeling forgotten or unseen today? How do you remind yourself to
stay faithful and humble to what God has called you to do?
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
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