The Lord Looks at the Heart
Are You After the Heart of God?
What are you after?
Everybody everywhere is after something.
Some of us are after a better job, more money, helping our kids succeed, gaining more followers on social media, and looking a certain way on social media.
Some of us are after the American dream. We’re after better cars, bigger houses, and amazing vacations. We’re after positions and titles and power and getting our way.
I don’t mean to paint us all in a bad light, but… let’s be honest. These are the kinds of things we’re often after. We want more. We want respect. We want to be successful. We want to be seen a certain way.
So what does it mean to be a person after God’s own heart?
After God’s Own Heart
Some 3000 years ago, it was time to appoint and anoint a new king for Israel.
Where does God go looking and what does He go looking for when He needs to raise up a new king?
Throughout Israel’s history kings would rise and kings would fall, but there was one king who stood above them all who was known as a man after God’s own heart.
God sent a prophet by the name of Samuel to the town of Bethlehem to find the one who would become the next king of Israel. All Samuel knew when he arrived in town is that he was looking for a son of Jesse.
So Samuel gathered Jesse and all of his sons for a meal. He thought the oldest son would be the one God would chose. After all, he was tall, dark, and handsome! But to Samuel’s surprise God said,
“Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16.7
The Lord Looks at the Heart
Samuel looked at each of Jesse’s sons who were in the room, but none of them were the one God had already chosen.
Turns out, Jesse had one more son, the youngest, who was out tending the sheep. Jesse hadn’t even thought to call him in to join them.
He was forgotten. Underestimated. Relegated to the work of a shepherd while the rest of the family joined the esteemed prophet for dinner. But this was the one God would choose.
This son of Jesse named David.
Was David perfect? Absolutely not!
Did he fall short? More than once!
But when God went looking for a king through whom one day the Savior would enter the world, he chose this man named David.
David was known for a lot of things. He was a shepherd, a song writer, a giant killer, a friend, a warrior, a dancer, and he was a sinner. But when all was said and done, he is remembered as a man who was after the heart of God.
Today, may you remember…
“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16.7
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