This Is What God Sees
The world looks at outward appearances—who has the biggest house, the coolest car, the most money, or is the best-looking. This isn’t to say those things are bad. What matters is where our focus is.
Is it on things, or is it on God?
As we begin studying David, we see a good example of how looking only at the outside can be misleading. Even faithful followers of God can misjudge a situation. That is why it’s important to step back and ask God for clarity and wisdom.
There are three main people we’re going to look at: Saul, Samuel, and David.
Saul was the first anointed king of Israel. He was chosen by God to be king and was anointed by Samuel. Saul was a rugged, good-looking man. But things began to go wrong when he started making decisions without going to God first.
In 1 Samuel 13:8-14, the Israelites were at war with the Philistines. Saul was waiting for Samuel to come and make an offering. When Samuel didn’t arrive as quickly as Saul wanted, Saul took matters into his own hands and made the offering himself. In verses 13-14, Samuel tells Saul, “You have not kept the command that the Lord your God gave you; if you had, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure… ”
Saul continued making decisions on his own without consulting God. Ultimately, it led to him being replaced as king, and his story did not end well.
The second person in this account is Samuel. He was the son of Hannah, who prayed for a son and promised that she would dedicate him to God. Samuel was that son. Dedicated to God from birth, he grew up serving in the temple.
In 1 Samuel 16:1-14, God tells Samuel to go and anoint one of Jesse’s sons as Saul’s replacement. However, Samuel was mourning for Saul and likely felt some sense of failure. After all, he was the one who had anointed Saul king. This was not how he expected things to turn out.
Nevertheless, Samuel obeyed God and went.
When he arrived, he saw Jesse’s oldest son and immediately assumed he must be the one God has chosen because of his appearance. But God told him he was not the one. One by one, six more sons were presented, and each time God said no. Then Jesse sent for his youngest son, David, who was out tending sheep in the fields.
“The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him, for he is the one.’
“… the Lord does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord sees the heart.”
So, Samuel anointed David, and “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward.”
David was not perfect. He made mistakes and committed serious sins. But throughout his life, his heart continually turned back to God, and he sought God’s heart above everything else.
After David was anointed, there were multiple opportunities for him to remove Saul and take the throne for himself. After all, God had already chosen him to be king. But David did not force God’s plan but waited patiently for God’s timing.
Our heart is who we truly are and what we’re focused on. We need to continually bring our lives before God and allow Him to align our heart with His.