Words: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NLT)
16 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”
2 But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me.”
4 So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?”
5 “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.
6 When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.”9 Next Jesse summoned Shimea,[a] but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” 10 In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.”
“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
12 So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes.
And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.”
13 So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on.
After rejecting him as King, God gave the nation exactly the kind of man that they wanted–an impressive man named Saul. He was the son of a wealthy, influential family, and he was what we would call today “presidential!” He was head and shoulders taller than anyone else and handsome! Did you know that in American presidential elections, the vast majority of elected presidents have been markedly taller than the average male of their same birth year. Scholars who study such facts speculate that it has to do with the appearance of health and dominance. Saul turned out to be a terrible king.
Even God’s prophet Samuel needed to be reminded that a “presidential look” has nothing to do with what God sees in a person. “The Lord looks at the heart.”
Our ubiquitous media make it almost impossible to avoid judging candidates by their appearances: their hair, their ties—or no ties–, their ears, their weight, and certainly their height. Many believe that Richard Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election because of how he looked in the first televised presidential debate.
But it is hard to look at a person’s heart! These proverbs may teach us what it means to look at a person’s heart more as God does:
Proverbs 3:1 – Store my [God’s] commands in your heart.
Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Proverbs 11:20 – The Lord detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity.
Proverbs 15:7 – The lips of the wise give good advice; the heart of a fool has none to give.
And, finally, Jesus said,
Luke 6:45 – A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
Luke 12:34 – Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Matthew 15:18,19 – But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
Prayer: Give us your eyes, Father, so that we might see the hearts of those who desire to lead us. Deliver us from outward appearances and false impressions, but show us what is true, so that we can choose as you would choose. Amen.
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