Holy Heart-to-Hearts // 1 Samuel 16:7
1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT) | The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
When was the last time this verse became real for you? Maybe it was reading it in light of the old adage that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe you’ve been judged in such a way. Maybe you’ve judged someone else. The context of today’s verse from 1 Samuel 16:7 comes as the prophet Samuel is looking for the next king after Saul’s reign fizzled due to corruption and disobedience. Samuel was checking out the sons of Jesse and the one God revealed as His choice was the least likely of the bunch — David. David was previously referred to as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). God felt a kindred spirit with the young shepherd boy and future king, though his outward appearance must have left little to be desired. The heart of this message is also seen in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul wrote these words about how people judged Jesus based on outward appearances, “Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore” (2 Corinthians 5:16, MSG). God is in the business of exceeding expectations…this is true for all of us. After all, I am near certain there have been times people have underestimated you, just as there are times people have underestimated me, and we aren’t royalty. Or are we? As the passage from 2 Corinthians 5 continues, everyone who accepts Jesus is made into a new creation. Then, as John 1:12 states, everyone who accepts Jesus is given the right to become children of God; therefore, every Jesus follower with whom we come in contact is a prince or a princess of the King of kings. May we do our best to follow God’s lead and look beyond the outward appearance to the heart made new thanks to the holy miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ. These holy heart-to-hearts change the lives that change the world. May we consider ourselves blessed that we get to participate in that and help others see it, too. So bet it. Amen.
