The Lord Sees Not as Humans See

Man Looks on the Outward Appearance

God had rejected Saul as king over Israel, so he sent his prophet Samuel to anoint as king one of the sons of Jesse. And so God told Samuel that he was to anoint for him whom God would declare to him. So Samuel did what the Lord commanded him to do. He went to Bethlehem to sacrifice to the Lord and to anoint as king over Israel one of Jesse’s sons. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and he invited them to the sacrifice.

1 Samuel 16:6-7 ESV

“When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’”

Then Jesse called another son and another until seven of his sons had passed before Samuel. But God did not choose any of them. So Samuel asked if all the sons of Jesse were there, and Jesse told Samuel of another son who was a shepherd of the sheep. So Samuel had Jesse send for him. And that son was David, and the Lord told Samuel to anoint David as king. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

For God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his ways our ways in our human flesh. With our human minds and understanding we do not think like God does, and we soon learn that he doesn’t choose as we might choose. But when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within the hearts and lives of those whose lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, and we now have the mind of Christ, and the more we learn of Christ, the more we get to know him.

The Lord Looks on The Heart

So, what can we get from this lesson today to apply to our lives? I believe the main thing is that God sees not as man sees, for man has a tendency to look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And we can’t see inside other people’s hearts the same way God does, but that doesn’t mean we can’t see at all what is in the hearts of ourselves or in the hearts of other humans. And why is this so?

Well, several other Scriptures come to mind here. The first is 1 Corinthians 2:16: “’For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” The second, in reference to false prophets, is in Matthew 7:20: “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” And the third and fourth are similar, for they both teach that what we produce outwardly, either good or evil, comes from what is stored up in our hearts (see: Luke 6:45; Matthew 15:17-20).

So, we who are followers of Christ ought to be able to see to some extent what is in the hearts of other people if we judge them rightly and justly by the word of God and not by our own personal prejudices, and not by our own fleshly thinking and reasoning, and not by our own selves, and not by our human traditions, and not hypocritically. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lies, and slander, etc.

But far too many people make false judgments based on their own flesh and on their own way of thinking and reasoning, or according to their own personal experiences or prejudices or traditions, or hypocritically, and not according to the mind of Christ and what the word of God teaches us. And probably most of us have done this at least at some point in our lives, and probably more than once. And so we have to guard against that.

The Lies Permeating the Church

But what I am finding very true today is that many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are making judgments of other people based on the lies they are hearing from others, and this is not speaking solely of gossip and slander. This is speaking of the lies permeating the church defining for the people what a Christian should look like, and in many cases that has become very twisted and turned upside down from what God’s word teaches us.

And so evil is now being called good, and good is being called evil, and those who are following the Lord faithfully are being called hyper religious, or legalistic, or judgmental, or teachers and adherents of “works salvation.” And this is while the habitual and deliberate sinners go from bad to worse, and they are being coddled in their sins, and they are being embraced as “real” because they are still sinning deliberately and habitually.

And if you teach what Jesus and his NT apostles taught, then you are being “negative.” But if you teach feel-good messages which tickle itching ears and which do not confront sinners in their sin, and which do not call them to genuine repentance and to changed lives, then you are called “positive.” And “positive” is regarded as good and “negative” is regarded as evil even though “positive” often involves lying to people while “negative” often involves speaking the truth in love to people for their good.

So, many people end up following those who are always “positive” and who do not talk about sin and repentance and walks of obedience to the Lord and the consequences of not following the Lord in obedience and in surrender of their lives to his will. For they are those who avoid such subjects in order to make people feel good about themselves and in order to not offend the ungodly and the unrepentant sinner who wants to continue in his sin.

Or even if they do talk about sin, repentance, and obedience, often their “gospel” message is “gospel lite,” and it presents faith in Christ as something you do once in your life and now all your sins are forgiven and heaven is your eternal destiny, but regardless of how you live. And repentance and obedience are either discouraged, or they are not mentioned at all, or they are mentioned lightly as a suggestion for how we ought to live.

So, what is the encouragement here? It is that we need to tap into the mind of Christ, and we need to study the Scriptures in their context, and we must let the Holy Spirit of God direct us to all truth instead of us leaning heavily on the teachings of other humans which may or may not be biblically accurate or according to the will of God. And we need to pray to see things in this world through the mind and eyes of God, and not through the eyes of our human flesh. And then we need to judge as God judges rightly.

[Gal 6:1-5; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Co 5:1-13; Matt 7:1-5; Jn 7:24,51; Jn 8:15-16; Rom 2:3; 2 Co 10:12; Jude 1:22-23]

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296