Seeing It God's Way - 1st Samuel 16:1-13
Rudy. He was not built like any football player. He was barely over 100 pounds, and it was
pushing it to say he was over five foot tall.
The coach would look at him, and readily pass him over. The coach had allowed him to be a manager on
the team, but it was not until the very last game of the season that the coach
even let him put on the uniform (and the only reason he was allowed to put on
the uniform is because the whole rest of the team threatened to pull out of the
game so Rudy could take their place. However,
even as the game wound down, and Notre Dame was ahead by 21 points with only 27
seconds left in the game, the coach would not consider putting Rudy in. He did not look like a football player. However, after the team and the crowd chanted
relentlessly, the coach finally puts Rudy in, and we saw the results…in his
only collegiate football play, Rudy threads the offensive line and sacks the
quarterback. Rudy didn’t look like a
football player, but his heart was all football.
Samuel had been sent by God to anoint a new king. This would be Israel’s second king. It’s important to know a little of the
history behind this story. Israel had
never had a king for generations…being led by the judges and prophets. The begged Samuel to anoint a king for them,
and despite trying to convince them otherwise, with God’s blessing he anointed
a king for Israel. The king’s name was
Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin. Hear
the words that described Saul at his anointing:
“There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of
Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Bejaminite, a man of wealth. He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome
young man. There was not a man among the
people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone
else. Wealthy, handsome, tall…kingly
right? Well, evidently, because Samuel
anointed him. Israel’s first king proved
to be a failure of a king in many ways, so God instructs Samuel to get back to
king making and sends him back to Bethlehem—back to Saul’s hometown (no wonder
Samuel was worried about Saul finding out and killing him).
Reluctantly Samuel goes on to
Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse. As
Samuel gathers with Jesse and his sons, Samuel sees the oldest son, Eliab.
“Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord,” he thought. Of course it would be Eliab, as the oldest it
would have to be Eliab. Quickly,
however, God made it clear that Eliab was not the one, “Do not look on his
appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for
the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looks on the heart.” This is
significant…remember Saul, the first king—wealthy, handsome, tall—all the
things that someone would look at from the outside and say, “he’s got the
charisma, he will be the leader that everyone will follow.” And folks did follow Saul, but Saul’s heart
was not for God—that was the whole reason that God had sent Samuel to anoint a
new king. God tells Samuel, “don’t look
at that outward appearance…that didn’t work out so well for y’all the last
time, did it. I’m going to bring the new
king before you, not based on how the world sees him, but on what I see in his
heart.” So Jesse’s sons continue to pass
before Samuel and Jesse, and one by one, God rejects each one of them until no
one is left.
God had sent Samuel here, surely
there was some mistake. Maybe Samuel had
misunderstood what God had said about one of the brothers, all the young men
had passed before him, and having taken the risk to come in and anoint a new
king, they were standing there with no one.
Samuel turns to Jesse and asks, “Are these all your boys?” Jesse answers, “There is one more, but he is
the youngest…he’s only a kid. We figured
it wasn’t important for him to be here, so we sent him out to tend the
sheep.” We have to remember, in this
time, children did not count for much.
They were hands to tend the flock, but until they were older, they were
meant to be unseen and unheard. That was
all about to change though.
Samuel told Jesse, “Send for your
youngest son because we will not sit down for our meal until he is here.” They brought David in and he stood
there. Young David, the kid, probably
still wearing his shepherding clothes, possibly having the aroma of the
livestock wafting after him with every move.
He had no idea why the prophet had asked for him to appear. David was no Cinderella locked away in the
tower, but as the youngest, he had his responsibilities—tending the sheep. Yet, as this young boy stood before the aged
prophet, God opened Samuel’s eyes and mind, “This is the one, anoint him.” God’s Word says, “now he was ruddy, had
beautiful eyes, and was handsome.”
Now before we jump on the “he was
handsome”-like-Saul bandwagon, suggesting that there was no difference, we are
still going by appearance, remember Saul was a head-and-shoulders above
everyone kind of handsome—kind of like the starting quarterback on the football
team. David was more of the water boy,
manager, Rudy kind of “ain’t he cute” kind of handsome. You know the difference I am talking
about. However Samuel, under God’s
command did take the top draft pick, Eliab, nor any of the others that were
slated to go in the next six rounds. God
waited for the kid who had not even declared himself eligible for the
draft. That’s who God wanted in the
line-up.
Why would God do that? It is because, as he tells Samuel, “for the
Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the
Lord looks on the heart.” God saw
David’s heart and knew that it would be true…not perfect…we all know David had
his problems, but God knew David’s heart would seek to be true to God. In fact, David is the only one in all of
Scripture that God declares was “a man after my own heart….”[i]
Had any of us been there, we would
not have gone with David, we would have been most likely to go with Eliab or
one of the other brothers…not the kid David…the harp playing, sheep tending
kid. Why is that? Because we tend to look at things with mortal
eyes. You look around and we tend to
place value on physical beauty and strength, on wealth, on power, or on great
wisdom.
It has always been that way. That’s why Samuel was all ready to anoint the
oldest brother. That’s why so many
failed to recognize Jesus for who He was—the Messiah. He was the son of a carpenter and came out of
Nazareth. Remember how Nathanael said,
“Can anything good came out of Nazareth?”
Remember how the people said, “Ain’t that Joseph and Mary’s boy?” They still remembered the scandal…Mary had
been pregnant before the wedding…and when they arrived in Bethlehem, Jesus had
to be born in a stable. Nobody would
have thought him the next quarterback, much less King. When he died on the cross, he was mocked,
never once considered to be the Messiah.
After he was laid in the tomb, all thought it was over. Why, because everyone was looking through
mortal eyes…not God’s eyes that see beyond what we can see…he can see into the
heart and into the future.
Consider Paul, known in Hebrew as
Saul, who would have thought he would be drafted as a starting running
back—taking the Gospel throughout the world…yet God, through Christ, looked
into his heart and did not see the murderer that others saw. Most early Christians would have ranked
Paul’s usefulness with his namesake we considered earlier…both Saul’s left
God’s people in situations that put their lives at risk. Yet God did not look at the situation with
mortal eyes, but with His holy and hopeful eyes, and saw His man. We read just a few weeks ago how Paul echoes
God’s words to Samuel and says that we are to start seeing it God’s way, “From
now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view.”[ii]
My friends, we have to remember
that we need to start seeing it God’s way…start seeing the world, start seeing
those around us with the eyes of God.
When we do, we will realize that:
God loves not only the
quarterback, but also the drunk…
God loves not only the
cheerleader, but also the prostitute…
God loves not only the wealthy,
but also the homeless…
God loves not only the model, but
also the meth addict…
Not only for the graduate, but
also for the dropout…
Not only for the white native born
American, but also for the Hispanic illegal alien…
Not only the heterosexual, but
also for the homosexual…
Not only for the country club
member, but also for the Hell’s Angel member…
The list could go on and on,
looking at folks the world considers important and valuable because of who they
are, what they can do, what the look like, how much money they have, how strong
they are…the world calls them the “valuables.”
The other list could go on as well, those who lack everything the
“valuables” seem to have, and the world calls them “worthless.”
The truth is, we are guilty of it
as well. When we think of who we want to
meet…who we want to share a meal with…who we want to invite into our church, we
think of the first group. Yet the truth
of the matter is, if we start seeing things God’s way…and start looking at
folks hearts in the same way God looks at folks…we will see that though there
is nothing wrong with reaching out to the first, we cannot neglect the second…that
“God shows no partiality. All who have
sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have
sinned under the law will be judged by the law…”[iii] And, since “all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,” [iv]
we realize that the sins of the second group, are no different than the sins of
the first. God sees the heart regardless
of whether it is wearing a starting jersey or a leather biker’s jacket…and
offers His grace to each because he loves each and every one.
My brothers and sisters, I don’t
know where we are today. I do not know
if we are one of those who has judged another person’s value because of their
outward appearance or if we are one of those who have been judged by someone
else. I don’t know if we are among those
who have elevated ourselves because we think God loves us more, or if we have
felt unworthy of God’s love. What we all
need to hear is that God doesn’t look at us the way the world looks at us…God
does not place our value and worth and pick us because of our outward
appearance, but God truly looks into our hearts, redeems us by His grace, and
calls us His beloved children, if we but surrender to the loving embrace of His
Son. Then he calls us to start seeing
things His way. That my brothers and
sisters, is the Good News.
In the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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