Wednesday, March 27, 2013

March 26th

March 26th -- 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2016:1-13&version=NLT)

Samuel anoints David.

Samuel had been in mourning a long time for Saul. God said, though, it was time for him to find a new king, and sent him to Bethlehem to find a man named Jesse. Samuel explains Saul will kill him if he finds out, but God says to bring a heifer, saying he is going to sacrifice, then God will show him which son of Jesse is to be anointed. Samuel does as God says. When he sees Eliab, one of the sons, Samuel immediately thinks he must be the man to be king. God, though, says not to judge by height or appearance, because God looks at the heart, not their outward appearances. All of Jesse's seven sons that he presents to Samuel as not the right ones. Samuel, of course, asks if he has any more sons. Jesse says the youngest is out in the field, and he is brought in at Samuel's request. When he arrives, God tells Samuel that is the one, and he needs to anoint him. Samuel does so, and the Lord's spirit came powerfully upon David from that day on. Samuel then returned to Ramah.

The one part of this that stands out to me is the overly-quoted "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." I think because it's so overly used we forget what and how much it really means. God doesn't care how we look. He doesn't go, "oh, she has acne so she won't work for my purpose" or "oh, he needs glasses so he won't do." He looks at each person and sees their heart, and what of it lives for Him. He could see the person who the world calls the most beautiful next to one the world may call the most ugly, and see the latter as the most beautiful by far. Also, though, this does not mean God only uses people who may be considered somewhat unattractive, or simply not attractive, in the world's eyes. Even in this passage David is described as "dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes". God didn't care, though, because He saw David's heart. David is known later int he Bible as the "man after God's own heart." God wants us to respect and honor our bodies, as they are temples (as in, you really don't need to "flaunt what ya' got!"), but He does not look at them to see our value. We can dress up and alter our body in a huge number of ways, but we cannot change our hearts, and that is what God looks at, for that reason.

Well, that will be all! God bless! Shalom!

P.S. Yes, this was a day late. I was travelling yesterday so it slipped my mind.

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