“The Lord Looks At The Heart”

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”

And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.”

But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”

So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”

And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:1-7

An inside view of something provides us with much, much more. It can be fascinating and more significant than an outside view.

When God looks at us, He is more interested in our hearts than our height, the state of our soul, rather than the structure of our face. He doesn’t see as too old, too young, too small, or too big. He focuses on the things that matter – our response to His love for us and our concern for other people.

God alone knows the human heart. When the God who has done so much for us looks at our heart, what does He see?

The true measure of a person is what’s in the heart.

Our Daily Bread – October 230, 2015