“When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.””
Already, in these two verses, some familiar sounding parallels should be arising in your mind, if you’re familiar with how the story has unfolded so far in the Book of 1 Samuel. When Israel asked for a king, God led Samuel to anoint Saul, whom the Bible described as tall in stature; head and shoulders above everyone else in Israel. Therefore, the moment Samuel sees Eliab, his mind immediately defaults to the “Saul-like” profile of a king he’s been used to. However, we also discover another parallel they have. As Saul has been rejected as king of Israel, so God has rejected Eliab from being king of Israel. And the reason for both of them being rejected is the same; they do not have a heart for God. And God is trying to teach Samuel, and us in the 21st century, how to see people, especially youth, how He sees them. You see, too often we’re quick to make snap judgments about youth based merely on appearances. But, if we’re going to create a safe space for youth to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives, then we’ve got to…
FOCUS ON THE HEART INSTEAD OF APPEARANCE.
And I know what it’s like to make snap judgments about youth, because I’ve caught myself doing it occasionally while serving at Vienna Adventist Academy. I’ll be giving a Bible study, answering Bible questions in a class or speaking for chapel, and I’ll see certain students getting distracted by conversation with other students. Or I’ll witness certain behaviors in a given moment, or even someone’s attitude or the disposition of their countenance, and be tempted to think they must not be drawn to spiritual things or they must not be interested in Jesus and are therefore resisting His Spirit through His word. Then while they’re all playing in the playground they’ll ask me sincere Bible questions. Or I’ll overhear them talking to each other in class repeating verbatim something I shared from the Bible. On one occasion I was reading the cards they wrote me for Pastor Appreciation Month and was moved to tears by a young man who shared several details from a message I shared in chapel and how it impacted his life for Jesus. Or one girl, who after experiencing our recent week of prayer, asked me if she could assist me in the baptism class, speak for chapel and sing for special music for Vienna’s worship service! These experiences have taught me a valuable lesson when it comes to youth; looks can be deceiving. Many of them are internalizing more of Jesus and His word in their hearts than a given moment can reveal, but if you spend more time with them, you’ll start to see the evidence that Jesus has already begun to take root in their hearts! And their hearts are where we need to put our focus.
I remember years ago seeing an older pastor post on Facebook, “I’ve got good news and bad news! The good news is God knows your heart. The bad news is God knows your heart.” So, what did God really mean when He said to the prophet Samuel, “…the LORD looks at the heart.”? 1 Samuel 16:7b NASB. Well, Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man “…thinks within himself, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7b NKJV. And Jesus said it’s “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 NKJV. Therefore, the “heart” is what God refers to as the seat of your inner thoughts and feelings, which produce your words and actions, and thus shape your character. Or, said another way, your heart is the kind of person you really are on the inside, which increasingly gives expression on the outside. And God had already told Saul, through the prophet Samuel, that He would give the kingdom to a man after His own heart. In other words, a man who seeks the heart of God until his heart starts to look like God’s heart. And now, as Samuel is searching for this man among the sons of Jesse, God wants him to focus on the heart and not appearance. And He’s calling us to do the same with our youth.
And the only way you can do this is you have to first gain a discerning spirit that comes only from being someone who seeks after God’s heart yourself, to the point that your heart is increasingly becoming like His heart. You need to become very acquainted with His heart or character of love, through a daily relationship with Him characterized by prayer, reading and meditating on His word, and seeking the daily infilling of the Holy Spirit. Thus, you’ll be able to spot someone who’s after God’s heart, because it takes one to know one! Then you need to spend time with some youth and get to know them. You’ll need to graciously look past the surface behaviors and appearances, and without a judgmental spirit, focus in on what they’re like in heart. It’s only then that you can discern a true sense of whether their heart is receptive to God’s love revealed in Christ and is now chasing after Him.
And so after Samuel had 7 of Jesse’s sons pass before him, all of which God had not chosen to be king, Samuel knew something had to be wrong. Hadn’t God not said He would select the next king from among Jesse’s sons? And hadn’t Samuel invited Jesse and all his sons to the sacrifice? Surely God’s word never fails, nor does He lie. So Samuel concludes that this couldn’t be all of Jesse’s sons and asks if this is all of them. And after Jesse reluctantly admits that he has one more, the youngest son who was tending the sheep, Samuel urgently requests for him to be brought, saying they will not sit down until he comes! We pick up the story beginning in verse 12…