The Heart vs. Appearances


1 Samuel 16:1-13
1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.”
4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”
12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

With the failure of King Saul, it is now time for God to make known His plan for a king. There are those who think that Saul was a compromise between God and the people. David was always to have been God’s first choice of a king and the people pushed God’s timeline. He relents and gives them Saul. And we learn what God holds as the most important leadership characteristic; what is in your heart. Machiavelli (who was in no way a Christian) said, “Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality.” Saul was judged on the basis of his good looks and height. The people had no way of knowing what was on the inside, but God always knows. He knows our “reality” as Machiavelli would put it. Human beings are impressed—and therefore often deceived—by what their eyes tell them, while God looks at the “heart”.Here is why God’s judgments are completely trustworthy – He knows the truth about you!

God’s grand plan is now being played out, albeit in its infancy. David is the man He has chosen to lead His people and even to be the beginning of the royal line from whence Jesus Christ would come. David’s story is one of passion, complexity, power, and a love for God that overrides all else. David will make mistakes – big ones. But his life will be lived for the Lord because of the condition of his heart; something God could see from the very beginning. Aside from the life of Jesus, David’s story is central to the whole of the Scriptures and he will be one interesting person to meet when we are all gathered together with the Lord.

As the Scriptures always point back into our lives, the question for the day must be, what does God see when He looks into your heart? Does He see someone who is sold out for Him and loves Him? Or does He see someone who pays lips service to God without any commitment or passion? It is a tough question to answer sometimes and perhaps all of us are guilty of swaying in both directions with our lives. David certainly did not stay on the straight and narrow all of his life, as we will see. But God saw that he was a “man after God’s own heart” and left that obituary for all of us to read. Now as we stand at the beginning of his story, let’s pray that God would impact our lives with the faith story of this famous believer.

[1] Youngblood, R. F. (1992). 1, 2 Samuel. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 3: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (F. E. Gaebelein, Ed.) (684). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

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