Friday, April 13, 2012

Look at the Heart

Do not look on his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things humanity looks at. We look at the outer appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. -1 Sam 16:7 (NIV)

In the assigned scripture readings for today, the Lord has had enough of Saul's disobedience and rejects him as king. God then tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem where he will find the next king of Israel.

Upon arriving in Bethlehem, Samuel meets Eliab, son of Jesse, and wrongly assumes that Eliab is the one that God wants to be anointed king. God cautions Samuel not to look at Eliab's outward appearance because God does not look at such things; God looks at the heart.

I am often guilty of sizing up people based on their outward appearance and I have often been frustrated when people have failed to live up to my initial impressions. Sometimes they surpass any expectation that I had of them. Other times, they fell far short. Today I am reminded that the heart is a much better indicator of the kind of person someone is rather than outward appearance.

Are you guilty of judging others more by their appearance than their heart? May God grant you the grace to resist this temptation today. Seek instead to look at their hearts.




The Good Morning God daily devotionals are based on assigned scripture readings from The Life Journal, designed to encourage people to read through the entire Bible in a year and then journal about it.

I'll return with another devotional on Monday (from 1 Samuel 19, 1 Chronicles 7, Psalm 59, or Matthew 4). In the meantime, if you're reading through the Bible in a year, here are this weekend's readings:

Saturday: 1 Samuel 17; Psalm 9; Matthew 2
Sunday: 1 Samuel 18; 1 Chronicles 6; Psalm 11; Matthew 3

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