God Sees Differently

1 Chronicles 29:26-27  So David son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. He reigned over Israel for forty years, seven of them in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.

When God sent Samuel to look for a new king, he was sent to the house of Jesse. Jesse had seven sons come in and get the once over, and when Eliab came into the room, Samuel thought, “This is the guy.”

But God had a different way of seeing things. He told Samuel, 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “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.”

Samuel asked Jesse if he had any more sons. Jesse called for David, the lowly shepherd boy. Just a teenage boy with freckles, zits, and a voice that could change from alto to bass in a heartbeat. “That’s the one, Samuel, anoint him.”

Nobody saw that coming! God was looking beyond the outside, he saw the heart. David wasn’t always perfect, but he was called “a man after God’s own heart.” The little shepherd boy ruled Israel for forty years. Take that, Eliab!

Don’t listen to what the world says about you, worry about what God says about you. You are called to greatness in God’s kingdom. All the naysayers and critics may not see it, but that’s okay. God has chosen you, let the rest of the world dismiss you at their peril!

Today’s Readings: 1 Kings  2; 1 Chronicles 29; Psalm 95; 2 Thessalonians 1