Matters of the Heart
- 5 minutes read - 909 words-
Categories:
- Inspirations
Once the tribes of Israel had settled down in the Promised Land, they became unsettled on who would rule over them in the new land. They demanded a king even though the King of Kings had led the tribes of Israel from Egypt into the Promised Land. He had led them through 40 different camps in the wilderness over 40 years. God had provided for them during the day and the night. Despite all this, the tribes now demanded a king be placed over them.
At that time, God shows Samuel a vision of who would be the next king. God gave Samuel all the outward signs of who would be the next king. All the signs pointed to only one person - Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. God says the man would visit Samuel at a specific time. When Saul visits, God tells Samuel “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you!” Later when Samuel is publicly picking Saul from the tribes of Israel, God points Saul out even though Saul is hiding “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.” The signs were very clear on whom God had selected as king - there was no doubt.
However, things are different when God points out the next king. God rejects Saul as king and wants to choose the another as a king. God only tells Samuel “I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons… and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you.” The only problem was Jesse had 8 sons in total. So starting with the oldest until the 7th one, Samuel had to guess if this was the next designated king. There’s a dramatic showing of each son as each son would stand before Samuel. Each time God would tell Samuel no, this is the wrong person. Samuel has not picked any of the 7 sons of Jesse. David (Jesse’s 8th son) is not even in the house at this time so Samuel could have doubted himself, but fortunately he asks Jesse if he has any other sons. Jesse had not bothered to mention there is an 8th son who was tending the sheep. As David enters the scene, he is described as “ruddy with beautiful eyes and handsome appearance.” As David comes in, God tells Samuel “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” God keeps Samuel in suspense until the last moment to show who is the designated one. God tells 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.”
Within the same chapter, we see that King Saul is mentally tormented, and his servants suggest that he get someone to play soothing music. One of the servants refer to David in a very specific way. He says “I have seen a son of Jesse the Behtlehemite who is a skillful musician a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech and a handsome man and the Lord is with him.” The servant tells all the good characteristics of David, gives his full resume to Saul so that King Saul would hire him. Saul is impressed and tells his people to go get David. The messengers bring David into the king’s place and David not only plays soothing music for Saul, but also becomes the armor bear for Saul.
Why is it that God did not reveal to Samuel who should be the next king in a more direct way as he did when selecting Saul as king? Saul was chosen as king based on his outward appearance. He was the tallest. He looked kingly. However, he lacked in his character. But in this chapter, we see two ways that David’s character was more esteemed than his outward appearance. First, we see how Samuel was looking at all the sons of Jesse. He was looking at their outward appearance, and based on that he was thinking, this would be the next king. But God had different plans. He wanted someone who had a heart that would follow him. Ultimately, God knew that the Messiah or His own Son would come in the line of this next king. And so this person could not be another Saul. God wanted a David, a man after His own heart. Another way we see David’s character is more valued than his outward appearance is based on the words of Saul’s servants. They talk about the character of David and not his stature or his position. Most importantly they say “and the Lord is with him.” Even though David was only a shepherd boy, people in the king’s house knew him.
These 2 events in the same chapter show that God cares for our character more than our outward appearance. More than that, when our character is correct, our reputation goes before us. David is the runt of the family, he is despised by his brothers and his father hardly considers him like a son. Even still, the servants of the king are talking about him in the king’s house. May our character be more predominant than our outward looks and most importantly let us wholeheartedly follow God so that others may say “and the Lord is with him.”