1 Samuel 16: The Lord Looks at the Heart

"For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

1 Samuel 16 is a chapter all about David's anointing as king. Saul has failed both God and the Israelites as king, so God decides to set up a new king that might serve him and the people better. Enter, David. However, David's anointing is not what we often think. As it turns out, David was the least likely son, based on outward appearances, to be picked to serve the Lord. However, as we learn from this chapter, the Lord does not look at outward appearances, but rather looks at the heart.

I can picture the scene now: Samuel shows up to Jesse's house with a clipboard and a pencil in his ear like an NFL combine day. He takes each of the sons outside, sees how fast they can run, how much they can bench, and who can win in a wrestling match. Each of the sons are looking pretty impressive. Samuel doesn't know who to pick, as each of the sons would be a marvelous choice. Then, on the lunch break of the combine day, the Lord says to Samuel, "Nope, none of these are my guy. You have to go back to the drawing board." Samuel's jaw almost drops, but trusts in the Lord. "Yo, Jesse," Samuel says, "Do you have any more of these tall, strong, NFL-worthy sons of yours lying around?" "Well," replies Jesse, "Not really. Just one more son, but he's outside watching the sheep." Jesse calls David, a scrawny, 5' 5" shepherd who looks more like a water boy than a starting NFL quarterback. As soon as Samuel sees him, the Lord speaks: "Yep, that's him." Samuel then anoints David, and what's done is done.

Well, perhaps I took a few liberties in the rendition of the story above, but here's the point: David was the last man that should have been picked for the job, yet he was the one the Lord had appointed to use. There are perhaps many things that can be learned from this passage, but I would like to point out one this morning: the Lord wants to use YOU, no matter your quallifications. Think of David. The Bible does tell us he was a good-looking guy, but it sounds like from the narrative that he was short, scrawny, and kind of the "runt" of the litter. He was perhaps awkward, unskilled, and mocked for his lack of ability. Nevertheless, the Lord would use him to do some of the absolute most mighty things in his kingdom.

The application today is clear: Although you might not feel quallified to serve the Lord, there is only one thing that the Lord asks of us in order to serve him faithfully: a willing and humble heart. We don't need to be the star football players to glorify God, we simply need to have a heart that is willing to serve him. If you have that, you don't need height [Praise the Lord!], skill, good looks, or anything else. In order to serve the Lord, we simply need a heart that is ready to go wherever he calls us to go.

"God does not call the quallified, he quallifies the called." - Greg Stier