"THE LORD LOOKS ON THE HEART!"

1 Samuel 16:4-7                               (ESV)
"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."



Not being able to physically SEE must be one of the most difficult things to experience.  You can't know where you are nor where you are going, nor can you be aware of your surroundings!  They say that when a person loses one of the five senses known to man, their remaining senses become more keenly developed?   Maybe that's how we develop our Spiritual being.  When our Physical being is given less importance,  perhaps our Spiritual being become stronger?  Maybe that is why we GROW the most when we are in the valleys of life?

Samuel was a Prophet, a man who was set aside by his mother through the Divine leadership of GOD, to be used accomplish GOD's Plan for his life on earth.   When GOD "rejected" King Saul (1 Samuel 15:26), HE then would choose a shepherd boy named David to be King.  David (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22) was known by GOD HIMSELF to be a "man after MY heart", which confirms that "THE LORD LOOKS ON THE HEART"!  Was King David blameless and perfect in all his ways?  Romans 3:10 says "None is righteous, no, not one;", so King David sinned just like we all do.  But he had a desire to live HOLY, much like Paul in Romans 7:13:25.

In 1 Samuel 16:7 GOD instructs 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."   Why then do we desire to elevate those with a handsome appearance when Isaiah 53:2-3 says JESUS was "despised and rejected" by men?  We "clean ourselves up" outwardly before we go to church, but if "THE LORD LOOKS ON THE HEART", what is HE seeing from me?  Would I desire to have my thought-life displayed on a gigantic screen for all the world to see?

There are no words to describe the humiliation and despair that I should have to endure.  When King Saul examined his HEART he only saw what man could see.  When King David examined his heart he saw a broken man who needed redemption.  King David was BLESSED to SEE some things the way GOD saw them.  When "THE LORD LOOKS ON THE HEART" while looking at me, what does HE SEE?   Does HE SEE pride and arrogance, or does HE SEE a broken man in need of redemption???