The Lord Looks At The Heart

1 Samuel 16:6-7

The Lord Looks At The Heart 

     Then it came about when they entered, that he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” But the Lord said, “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.” 

     To preface this, God has sent Samuel to anoint the next king of Israel after Saul had sinned against the Lord, and Samuel does not know that it is David who will be king, only that God has chosen one of the sons of Jesse. 

This message holds a wonderful truth for us to grab hold of today. God had singled out David to have the high honor of not only being the next king, but also to have Jesus born into his family and he was chosen, not by his appearance but because of his heart. It says in the Bible that David was a “Man after God’s own heart.” 

     So the question for today is, “Do you love the Lord with all your heart, and need Him to be your strength and support in all that you do?” So often, we find, that we are just a hopeless mess. We’ve made a mess of our lives. We’ve made the wrong choices that lead us into sin, tragedy, loss, and despair and we think, “What is there in me, that would make me worthy to be rescued and helped by God?” We must realize that all our accomplishments and talents, or lack thereof, were not what God was looking for when He picked David, we find that it was his humble heart that recognized it’s need for God’s help and strength. 

     Do we think we are strong? Do we think we can make it on our own? Do we have a life that looks like it’s got everything going right? These are the false qualifications that the world looks at in order to be counted worthy of more good things. But God does not see it that way. The only people He can truly call His own and bless with His help, are those who have lost their “self reliance attitude” and have let go of trying to make their life appear to be perfect in every way, and have recognized that they really do need God’s help. They have let go of their pride and have realized that on their own they have continually chosen wrong and with those choices, suffered all of the consequences that went with them. And they are tired of trying to hold “Life” together on their own and are ready for help. 

     This is the foundation for the grace and support and promises of God to begin. He does not look at your appearance or at how well you are doing. He looks at your heart and says, “Is this person ready for My help.” And by ready I mean, longing for an end to the messes you have made of your life and wanting a way out. You see, until we are ready to let go of “our way” of doing things, we are not ready for His help. 

     Where is your heart right now? Is it tired of the endless and stressful consequences of the choices you have pursued and followed after? Or is it happy with your life the way it is, stress and all? God allows us to run on until we are tired of our choices that we have made without Him, and then, when we have lost all confidence in ourselves, and are no longer full of “self-confidence” and “self-reliance”, then we are at the place where we are ready for Him and are ready to be someone that He can begin to bless. David was at this place. He knew He needed God for every act of courage and that God was his strength and support for every trial and temptation. He was not full of admiration at his own abilities. He trusted in God fully for all his help. 

     So we also do not need to be anything that the world would look at as admirable or as someone who has really made a success with his life. All we need is to be humble and know without a doubt that without God, we always give in to sin, we always make a mess of our lives and choose the things that make our lives miserable and fall apart. We need God! We need His help! We need Him to rescue us from our sinful desires! We need His strength and his support and for Him to be in all the decisions we make every day! When we have no doubt that this is the truth, then we to are ready to be called out by the Lord into positions of honor. 

                               ~ Rejected by the world but blessed by God! ~ 

     Let us be encouraged today! We do not have to be important in appearance in the eyes of the world, to be highly favored by God.