Heart Judgment
“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 does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’”
— 1 Samuel 16:7, NASB
God’s ability to see the heart can be comforting or convicting.
~Ya’akov
We humans tend to judge things by their appearance but God does not judge by outward appearance; He sees the heart, the motive and the intent. We are impressed with money and success, but these things don’t impress Him at all. The things that are grand in this world attract our eyes but He is not impressed. Case in point would be Matthew 24 and the disciples being impressed by the Temple. Jesus was not impressed at all. He said, “You see this massive building that you are so impressed with, it is coming down. Not one stone will be left on another.” We look at vehicles, clothes, houses and all the extra’s parked in the driveway but God is not impressed with all these things. Jesus had none of these things yet the Father was well pleased with Him. We delight in the rich and famous but God loves the poor and the contrite. Mary was a peasant and Joseph was an humble carpenter. Peter was a commercial fisherman and Matthew worked for the IRS. Not even one of the twelves was educated, wealthy or famous. To the world, they were a ragamuffin nobodies. There are some sobering things about God’s ability to see the heart. The fact that He knows our thoughts, intents and imaginations is rather disquieting, but there are some good things also.
When the world misunderstands us; God does not. Sometimes we have very good intentions but things don’t turn out as we had hoped and we are criticized for our actions. You were misunderstood by others but not by God. An even greater truth is that we can pray without words. Paul said in Romans 8, The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. When we are not able to articulate a prayer, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us and translated our wordless groans. God has answered countless prayers for me that I was never able to articulate. He can do this because He sees the heart and He knows what we desire most whether we can put it in words or not. We were at Sunday dinner a few years ago and as always, I got my plate and sat down without napkins. With a mouth filled with food, I raised my hand and groaned. June was still standing in the kitchen area and immediately she brought me some napkins. My favorite daughter-in-law marveled. She said, “How did she know what you wanted?” I said, “When you’ve been married as long as we have, there is a lot of none verbal communication.” God is infinitely greater than June; He knows what we want or should I say need without our asking.
- Its warm this morning but that is OK.
- PTL for October, one of my favorite months.
- Mens Breakfast October 10 at 8:00 am @ Libby’s in Priceville
- Communion this Sunday
Have a great Thursday and thanks for reading the blog!!!!
