THE HEART OF THE MATTER

1 Samuel 16:7 ….. “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth;” for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” The reason these words were written down is because God rejected Saul King of Israel for his disobedience to the word of God to kill all the Amorites; So God sent Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint David king instead of Saul. Hmm! Now as Samuel looked on David and he (David) seemingly was not what Samuel thought a King should look like; it must have puzzled Samuel. David was young, the Bible say, “ruddy and with beautiful countenance and goodly to look too,” (1 Samuel 16:12).David was, Not older, not rough looking, not a warrior, not a leader; what kind of thoughts must have went through Samuels mind after he had looked at David’s 7 other brothers all of them older, stronger, rough looking, and good possible leaders. Then Samuel said…” For the Lord seeth not as man seeth.” When we compare David and Saul as kings there’s not really much to compare, they were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Saul older, taller, and stronger, a warrior, and a great leader: David the bible tells us was a youth, says he was ruddy which means red, handsome, with a good personality; only a shepherd boy, someone who looked after sheep, not a person to be desired as a king to lead the people of the living God. The bible is pretty clear God only looks at the heart John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance…” Every religion looks on the appearance, it matters not which religion you want to speak of. Just because a group of people dresses and look a certain way doesn’t mean they are right in their heart. Like David and Saul they both looked completely different, yet one had an evil heart, the other a heart after God. 1 Samuel 13:14…. “; the Lord hath sought him a man after His own heart,”… So therefore God has always looked at the heart. Jesus didn’t think too much of what’s on the outside, only men think about the outward appearance. • So therefore what man counts as important is not important to Jesus. You see what’s in the heart, Matthew 15:19-20,” for out of the heart proceed, “Evil thoughts,”… “But to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” So here’s the main difference between David and Saul: It wasn’t the height, or age, neither was it the fact one was a king, one was a shepherd anointed to be king, one a leader of army’s and the other a leader of sheep. The main difference was the heart; one heart was toward God, the other full of rebellion, one loved God (David) one was full of selfish desire (Saul). • So to look on the outward appearance is nothing as far as God is concerned, if appearance had been the case David would never have been anointed to be the King over Israel. What’s my point? The appearance to our God is nothing He’s only concerned with the heart. I can look ever so holy but if my heart is not clean then I am not right with God. 2 Corinthians 5:12,” For we command not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.” John 7:24, “judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” So who can judge us there’s only one who can give righteous judgment, thats God because he does not see as a man sees. 1 SAMUEL 16:7 AND THAT'S THE HEART OF THE MATTER