A Few Thoughts on 1 Samuel 16:7

1 Samuel 16:7 NIV - 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."

Our outward appearance

We may think ourselves as the most ugly person ever: we have ears on stalks, bulging eyes, crooked smile, skin that looks like a pizza, huge nose, and ugly feet.

What does God look at? The heart.

Examples of Failures

• Saul: 1 Samuel 9:2 NIV - Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.
• Absalom: 2 Samuel 14:25 NIV - In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him.
• A beautiful person with a dangerous personality: Proverbs 31:30 NIV - Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Examples of the good heart

• David: 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV - 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."
• Lord Jesus: Isaiah 53:2 NIV - He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
• Paul: 2 Corinthians 10:10 NIV - For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."

What God knows:

• A person’s thinking and inner person: Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
• Religious people who trust in themselves: Luke 16:15 NIV - He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.
• The inner self: 1 Peter 3:4 NIV - Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

What God wants us to know and do:

• Judging people according to truth: John 7:24 NIV - Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.
• Making judgments according to appearance: 2 Corinthians 10:7 NIV - You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.
• Outward beauty often leads to pride: Ezekiel 28:17 NIV - Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

Be encouraged! Real friends, family, and co-workers appreciate your person more than your looks.

God looks at the heart, so we need to develop our heart.

• We are getting older but getting higher quality: 2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV - Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
• We need the truth, tell the truth, and live the truth: Colossians 3:9-10 NIV - Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
• Recognize that the outward, valued so much by some, is of little worth to God: Luke 16:15 NIV - He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.
• We need to pray for and live this: Galatians 5:22-23 NIV - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.