God Looks at Hearts

Click here for the audio message of 1 Samuel 16:1-13

This morning we start our look at the life of King David. We won’t have enough time to cover every aspect on David’s life during this series, but we will hit the major events that give us guidance and encouragement in our own lives today.

The book of Samuel occurs right after the time of the judges. The Hebrew people no longer wanted to be ruled by judges they wanted a king. King never wanted a king for His people other than Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. But God gives His people what they want.

Now, we aren’t sure who the human author of the book of Samuel is. It starts with the birth of the prophet Samuel and ends with the last words of King David. The book covers most of the kingships or reign of Saul and David.

Our lesson picks up this morning with Saul being rejected by God as King. Before we get into the text any further I want you to think about something for a minute. Think about how a person’s appearance affects your initial opinion of them. Think it doesn’t? Take this little test.

You’re looking for a new leader in your organization and there are three candidates available.

Candidate #1 – hangs out with crooked politicians; consults with astrologists; has had a least two mistresses; is a chain smoker and drinks regularly

Candidate #2 – likes to sleep in late; used drugs during college; drinks heavily

Candidate #3 – a decorated war hero; vegetarian; doesn’t smoke; rarely drinks; faithful to one women

Based upon the appearance of these three candidates, which would you pick? Most people would probably choose candidate #3 because he sounds like an okay guy.

Candidate #1 describes Franklin Roosevelt. Candidate #2 describes Winston Churchill. Candidate #3 describes Adolph Hitler.

Appearances can be deceiving. That is why God looks at the heart of a person. Israel’s first King, Saul, was the ideal candidate. According to Scripture he was tall, handsome, and an impressive person. Unfortunately, he was also foolish and disobedient.

Our Scripture picks up with the prophet Samuel in a state of shock and grief over God’s rejection of King Saul. God tells Samuel to fill his horn with oil and go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem, offer a sacrifice, and anoint one of his sons as King.

Samuel arrives as Jesse’s house sees the eldest son and prepares to anoint him as king, but God says no. This goes on with all of Jesse’s sons but God says no. Finally, Samuel asks if there are any more sons left and there is one. A shepherd boy in the field with the flock.

When David arrives God tells Samuel that he is the one. This was a lesson that Samuel had to learn. Samuel saw the eldest of Jesse’s sons who was tall and handsome. Samuel was looking at the external, whereas, God was looking at the internal things.

God looks at what the person is truly like inside. He looks at their heart. He looks at their emotions, their will, their intellect, their desires. He looks at their entire life.

What do we look at? Maybe the way a person dresses, how nice their hair looks, maybe their height or weight, muscles, and so on. Don’t believe me? Turn on the television or open a magazine.

Look at our movies stars, our models, and even our public officials. Most of them have a nice external appearance, but their inward self may be totally different. People are who they are, not what they look like.

That was the lesson that Samuel needed to learn and that is a lesson that all of us need to learn today as well.

If we were given the task of picking a King, most of us probably would not have picked David. Actually, as I demonstrated earlier, most of us would probably have picked Hitler!

David was a young adolescent doing a dirty job. Not only would he be ceremonially unclean, but he would have been physically unclean living out in the fields with the sheep. We probably wouldn’t think much of him, just some dumb farm boy or something like that.

But as we shall see David was a man after God’s own heart. Sure he wasn’t perfect and he messed up at times, sometimes with grave consequences, but he was in love with God. David was faithful to God and ready to serve Him, ready to do his will.

You know if you really think about it, a good Shepard would make a good king. Why? Well think about what a Shepard does. He takes care of his flock. He leads them to food. He protects them from enemies. He disciplines the ones that get out of hand. He cares for them when they are sick. He treats them fairly. He loves them.

That sounds like a pretty good leader to me. In fact, doesn’t that sound like our Shepard, Jesus Christ? It sure does.

The point of our lesson this morning is the fact that God looks at the heart of a person. We should do the same as well. Not only that, we should examine our own hearts to see what it says about us.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time in your word this morning. Help us to me more like David, a man after your heart. Help us to be in love with you, to serve you faithfully all the days of our lives.

As we journey in life gives us the wisdom to see people for what they are, not for what they appear to be. We pray the same for our country as well. As we select new leaders, help us to choose people that will be good stewards of all that we have been blessed with.

We ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN.