He sees differently :)

“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.”

I Samuel 16 : 7

We read in the beginning of the chapter that the Lord tells Samuel that He is going to have someone else as king instead of Saul and wants Samuel to anoint that someone. So the Lord tells Samuel to go to Jesse the Bethlehemite , for one of his sons will be king. Samuel goes to Bethlehem and invites Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice. We read in verse 6 , “So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!””

Samuel was convinced Eliab had to be the one. He had awesome stature, his physical appearance was becoming of a king… I mean he had the right profile to be king ! This made total perfect sense. And God said no…its not him.

As we read on we see that Jesse made seven of his sons pass and the Lord chose none of these. 7 sons ! And Samuel had to ask Jesse “ Are all the young men here?”. Then Jesse says yes there’s one more. And that was David.

Two similar but yet different things

· David wasn’t anything like Eliab who had the stature to join the army . And David was the youngest.. He was the shepherd boy . But God says “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”. God doesn’t see as the world sees… He sees the heart
· Now while David was the youngest and yes he was the shepherd boy , the Bible says that David was handsome and was of fine appearance, he had beautiful eyes . Good looking guy too… But that’s not what God looked at … He looked at the heart

Sometimes we are so easily led to go by what we see . Pray we have a heart that’s sensitive to His leading.
When Eliab came before Samuel , Samuel said “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him”… wow he was convinced ! God said no no ….“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.”

Good looking David comes and stands before Samuel. Samuel listens… and God says this is the one.

Bottom line … God does not see as human beings do. His ways are so much higher than ours. He knows every minute thought. He knows the intention of the heart behind every minute thought !

I pray we will have a heart that is sensitive to His leading. When choices and decisions have to be made , may we not make it the way the world does, but make it based on what’s on the Father’s heart !

God Bless