Filtered

As I continue reading in 1 Samuel, I found again today an amazing and challenging word. The Lord told Samuel to find a new king to replace Saul (the disobedient one from yesterday's post). Look at Samuel's response: "So Samuel did as the Lord instructed." (1 Samuel 16:4) Straight-forward, complete obedience --- that's what I'm striving for.

But as Samuel went looking for Saul's replacement, he used a filter that most of us use as we look at other people. Verse 6: "When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, 'Surely this is the Lord's anointed!'" Did you catch what Samuel did? He looked at Eliab and decided he had to be the one based on Eliab's physical appearance. As far as we know, Samuel didn't ask Eliab any questions. He did not ask Jesse what kind of son Eliab was or ask the other sons what kind of brother he was. Samuel made a hasty judgment based solely on how Eliab looked.

Eliab may have looked the part but Samuel could not have been more wrong in his choice: "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Wow! The Lord looks at what we can't readily see: someone's heart. It's easy for us to judge a person based on what we see on the outside --- clean or dirty, fat or skinny, white or black, pierced or tattooed, young or old, rich or poor. But that's not how God is looking at any of us! He is looking at the heart and if it's the heart that matters to Him, the heart must be what matters to me as well.

You know the main reason we judge based on the outward appearance? Because it takes a lot more work to know someone's heart.

That's work I need to be willing to do. What about you?