Mark Sorensen In 1 Samuel 16, God tells the prophet Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” The current king, Saul, had disobeyed God and didn’t fully trust him. So God turned his eyes to a son of Jesse in Bethlehem and sends Samuel with oil to anoint the new future King. What follows is one of my favorite moments in scripture.
Samuel calls the children of Jesse to pass in front of him and he will anoint the one God has chosen. Enter Eliab, Jesse’s eldest son. He is strong. He has all the characteristics of a strong future king of Israel and Samuel thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But look at God’s response:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” -1 Samuel 16:7
After seven of Jesse’s sons pass in front of Samuel, God has revealed nothing. Then, Samuel asks of Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse responds, “There is still the youngest, he is still tending the sheep”. Enter into the picture David and the rest, as they say, is history.
I love the reminder that God gives to Samuel when he cautions him that it’s easy for people to focus on outward appearances. But what does the Lord look at? What does our Father see? He sees the heart.
In this fifth “Woe” of Jesus, again, he speaks to matters of the heart with the Pharisees. Simply put? Ritualism has replaced living relationship with God. So long as it looks good on the outside, what does it matter what it contains on the inside?
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You remove fine layers of film and dust from the outside of a cup or bowl, but you leave the inside full of greed and covetousness and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee—can’t you see that if you clean the inside of the cup, the outside will be clean too? -Matthew 23:25-26 (Voice)
It’s hard to believe that I am coming up on almost two decades of working within the church. In this time, I have seen God move in so many mighty and incredible ways. Yet, I have also seen conflict within the church over details like the color of carpet in the sanctuary, and, one of my personal favorites, whether a tambourine “should be played in a house of worship”. The simple truth? We really are no different than the Israelites in the Old Testament. God was meeting and providing for them in so many different ways, yet, they were so caught up in the externals that they all too often missed the simple fact that God was in their midst and desiring relationship with each of them.
In the church, it’s easy to get caught up in disagreements about the color of the choir robes we wear and miss the fact that the color of the robe doesn’t matter, it’s the worship we bring while in those robes that gives testimony to the One worthy. Churches can divide over the color of carpet we are putting in our houses of worship, yet, with all of the effort spent on these issues, how much time are we really putting into reaching the thousands who are lost within our church buildings and sharing with the lost the Good News of Jesus Christ?
Jesus’ words to the Pharisees reach to where we are today. Let’s start with our own hearts and seeking out the heart of God. From there, let’s live bold lives that see the world through the Father’s eyes and love accordingly. When we do that, we’re living into an outward expression of an inward faith that matches God’s heart.
