1 Samuel 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his apperance 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."



This past week I was reading in first Samuel and came across this passage again. It was one of those God moments when He says, "Slow down and read that again, think on that, ponder it awhile longer." As most of you know the context of this passage is right after God has rejected Saul as leader and Samuel is looking for the next leader of Israel. God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to Jesse and they parade his seven older sons in front of Samuel and God rejects them one by one as the next leader. Then they sent for David who was in the field tending the sheep and as soon as Samuel saw him God said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he." Why did he chose David? David was the smallest and least likely of all the brothers. I wonder how many times we look around and think that people are more worthy or less worthy of God's anointing by thier looks alone. Have you ever looked at someone and pitied them for the way they looked when you should have shown mercy to them? There is a difference! Have you ever placed to much faith or trust in someone because they "looked" the part? Now don't get me wrong we all need mercy and grace. What the Lord has spoken into my life is twofold, one is outward focused and the other is inward focused. I need to see people thru HIS eyes and look not at the outside appearance but remember that the true person lies beneath the exterior and we must be people who are not superficial but willing to spend enough time to see the real person. The second part of this is that I felt God say, "now turn that around and apply it to yourself." Some of us struggle with the idea that we must "look" the part or we must put on a front so that others will not see our weaknesses. But it is in the weaknesses where He is made strong and it is there where He is wanting to meet us. We must apply both focuses in our lives. We must look at others as God does but we must also look at ourselves as God does. I would love to hear other comments or view points on this topic. Any thoughts anyone????