So, how are you? How's your heart? Let's talk about that a little bit today.
1 Samuel 16:1-13
1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. 4 And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him. 7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
At this point, I read a selection from The One Year Walk With God Devotional: 365 Daily Bible Readings to Transform Your Mind by Chris Tiegreen. When Samuel was selecting a new king, he learned a valuable lesson: God looks at the heart, not the outward, physical appearance. We may have a tendency to look at someone and judge them to be used by the Lord or not used by the Lord based on how they look, how educated they are, or how skilled they are. We may look at ourselves and discount our own ability to be used by God because we don't fit the “profile” of many of the great Christians from today or years past. Well, God looks at the heart. Tiegreen writes, “We can't judge people by the standards we normally use, and we can't be disciples based on the gifts we think He has given us. In both cases, popular opinion is irrelevant. The piercing eye of God is not fooled. The quality of anyone's discipleship, at all times, depends on the condition of the heart.” (Tiegreen, 206) So, before you say that you can't be used by God (or you say that you're a super-duper Christian and powerful tool in His hand), take a look at your heart. Ask God to examine your heart and see if there is any wicked way in you (Ps 139:23,24). Remember, as Jonathan Edwards once said, “The first and great work of a Christian is about his heart.” If your heart is right, God can (and will) use you for great things. As we spoke of last week, He will give you the words to say when witnessing for Him. He will transform you into a vessel that can be used for His work. It may be a great and flashy work, or it may be a quiet, secret work, like intercession. But putting outward appearance aside, God can use you for His work because of the purity and integrity of your heart.
1 Chronicles 29:17a
I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness.
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