For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart 1 Samuel 16:7
I want to begin a series looking at the life of David. David is first mentioned in the book of Ruth. Ruth 4:16-22 read,
Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
David was Israel’s greatest king, and a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). We read first that his lineage contains Ruth, a Moabite, not a Jewess at all. Ruth was born a Moabite but out of love and faithfulness to her husband and her mother in law she chose to follow the One True God. Her life’s circumstances were difficult. She lost her husband and followed Naomi to a foreign place because of her faithfulness. In a picture of wonderful redemption Boaz married Ruth and that union created Obed, who led to Jesse, and then David.
God chooses to use ordinary people to do His work. He uses the small, the weak, the broken, the humble, the willing, and the unwilling. Ruth was an ordinary woman who worshipped a foreign God, but The Lord chose her and brought her to know Him through a family of Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, Naomi and her sons, one of whom married Ruth. When Ruth was widowed rather than choose to be released from her responsibilities to Naomi and return to idols, she stayed true to The Lord and remained with Naomi. That simple woman gave Naomi a reason to keep going after losing her husband and both her sons. That commonplace woman worked hard and proved to be extraordinary, caught the eye of Boaz and became part of the lineage of Jesus our Christ.
God doesn’t look at us the way we look at one another or ourselves. He sees the true us, the us with unlimited potential, the us He made us to be. He knows we were made in His image and can be made in the image of Christ to glorify Him.
The next time we see David is 1 Samuel 16. The Lord had rejected Saul as king of Israel because he had stopped following the commandments and had set up a monument to himself (1 Samuel 15). Samuel was sent to Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as the new king in Saul’s stead. He went in the guise of sacrificing to the Lord (Verse 2). Jesse had eight sons and Samuel did not know which of them would be God’s elect king. He looked at each son. 1 Samuel 16:6-10 reads,
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
Jesse’s elder sons each looked outwardly good. Eliab was so impressive that Samuel assumed God had selected him, but God said no. He sees the true person and though Eliab looked remarkable to Samuel, he nor the other six were God’s anointed. Verses 11-13 continue the narrative.
Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. 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 brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
Not one of his brothers or even his own father had considered including the youngest son in taking part in the sacrifice. He was out tending the sheep and they didn’t think of including him. But God did. God invited him, chose, him, and anointed him. He didn’t leave him alone from then on to struggle through either. His Spirit rushed upon David and stayed with him from that day forward. Because David had the Holy Spirit on him, he was able to be courageous, faithful, authentic, and passionate for The Lord. This ordinary boy became an extraordinary king.
Believer, you have the Holy Spirit indwelled in you! He is not just on you, He is in you! And He will not leave you. You have the power of God on your side and within you. Ephesians 1:16-21 in The Living Bible reads,
I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you wisdom to see clearly and really understand who Christ is and all that he has done for you. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future he has called you to share. I want you to realize that God has been made rich because we who are Christ’s have been given to him! 19 I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is that same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven, 21 far, far above any other king or ruler or dictator or leader. Yes, his honor is far more glorious than that of anyone else either in this world or in the world to come.
You don’t have to look good to the world, God knows who you are and what great intention He has for you. He will make the way for you to do whatever He has purposed for you. Isaiah 46:8-11 says it this way,
Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
You were not meant to live a common life, you were made to live an exceptional life in which the supernatural power of God is natural to you, the power of love abounds through the Spirit more and more, the Kingdom of God is impacted and God is glorified. You were anointed to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, God’s very own!
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 says,
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
You were made for more than this world, you were made for eternity, you were made for God and by God. Live with the courage and confidence of who you are in Christ.
Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
David was Israel’s greatest king, and a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). We read first that his lineage contains Ruth, a Moabite, not a Jewess at all. Ruth was born a Moabite but out of love and faithfulness to her husband and her mother in law she chose to follow the One True God. Her life’s circumstances were difficult. She lost her husband and followed Naomi to a foreign place because of her faithfulness. In a picture of wonderful redemption Boaz married Ruth and that union created Obed, who led to Jesse, and then David.
God chooses to use ordinary people to do His work. He uses the small, the weak, the broken, the humble, the willing, and the unwilling. Ruth was an ordinary woman who worshipped a foreign God, but The Lord chose her and brought her to know Him through a family of Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, Naomi and her sons, one of whom married Ruth. When Ruth was widowed rather than choose to be released from her responsibilities to Naomi and return to idols, she stayed true to The Lord and remained with Naomi. That simple woman gave Naomi a reason to keep going after losing her husband and both her sons. That commonplace woman worked hard and proved to be extraordinary, caught the eye of Boaz and became part of the lineage of Jesus our Christ.
God doesn’t look at us the way we look at one another or ourselves. He sees the true us, the us with unlimited potential, the us He made us to be. He knows we were made in His image and can be made in the image of Christ to glorify Him.
The next time we see David is 1 Samuel 16. The Lord had rejected Saul as king of Israel because he had stopped following the commandments and had set up a monument to himself (1 Samuel 15). Samuel was sent to Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as the new king in Saul’s stead. He went in the guise of sacrificing to the Lord (Verse 2). Jesse had eight sons and Samuel did not know which of them would be God’s elect king. He looked at each son. 1 Samuel 16:6-10 reads,
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
Jesse’s elder sons each looked outwardly good. Eliab was so impressive that Samuel assumed God had selected him, but God said no. He sees the true person and though Eliab looked remarkable to Samuel, he nor the other six were God’s anointed. Verses 11-13 continue the narrative.
Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. 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 brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
Not one of his brothers or even his own father had considered including the youngest son in taking part in the sacrifice. He was out tending the sheep and they didn’t think of including him. But God did. God invited him, chose, him, and anointed him. He didn’t leave him alone from then on to struggle through either. His Spirit rushed upon David and stayed with him from that day forward. Because David had the Holy Spirit on him, he was able to be courageous, faithful, authentic, and passionate for The Lord. This ordinary boy became an extraordinary king.
Believer, you have the Holy Spirit indwelled in you! He is not just on you, He is in you! And He will not leave you. You have the power of God on your side and within you. Ephesians 1:16-21 in The Living Bible reads,
I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you wisdom to see clearly and really understand who Christ is and all that he has done for you. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future he has called you to share. I want you to realize that God has been made rich because we who are Christ’s have been given to him! 19 I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is that same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven, 21 far, far above any other king or ruler or dictator or leader. Yes, his honor is far more glorious than that of anyone else either in this world or in the world to come.
You don’t have to look good to the world, God knows who you are and what great intention He has for you. He will make the way for you to do whatever He has purposed for you. Isaiah 46:8-11 says it this way,
Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
You were not meant to live a common life, you were made to live an exceptional life in which the supernatural power of God is natural to you, the power of love abounds through the Spirit more and more, the Kingdom of God is impacted and God is glorified. You were anointed to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, God’s very own!
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 says,
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
You were made for more than this world, you were made for eternity, you were made for God and by God. Live with the courage and confidence of who you are in Christ.
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