What Are You Looking At?

We have all the heard the saying, Never judge a book by its cover, right? Yet have you considered how much money goes into creating the covers of every book at Barnes and Noble. Or even on the magazines at the checkout lines. Not to mention the CD’s or DVD’s. Industries revolve around the fact that we will do just that, judge whether or not we want to buy something, just by its cover. We make value judgments all the time, determining with our eyes whether or not something is good.
Yet we also do it people. Although it is certainly not politically correct, we do it. We have been programmed by our experiences with people to judge other people based on how they match up. We have stereotypes in our head already. They may be based on profession, on race, on social class, on hobbies, on fashion or any number of other classifications, but the point is we all have them. And when we look at somebody, whether we want to or not we immediately judge them. We may find out later that we were wrong, or we may find out later that we were absolutely right, but the point is we judge them based on what we see.
For example, the other day my van broke down and so I called AAA for a tow to the repair shop. When I was talking with the people at AAA I got the impression this was a top notched organization. I imagined them all dressed in nice clothes, perhaps even matching uniforms. The men may have even worn a tie. However, once the tow truck arrived, I thought to myself, I wonder if this is the corporate image that AAA means to convey. The driver was a big man, he must have been 6’4” and he dwarfed me by more than his height. He had tattoos in many colors down both arms and along his neck. He looked like a very formidable man. Now I admit that before I had ever said one word to him or engaged him in any way, I had already formed an opinion. Shame on me. I thought him to be such a hard man, yet he surprised me, for as we were driving to the destination, he began flipping through the stations. I expected some death metal or hard rock when he settled on a country song and began singing in falsetto, “I’m a redneck woman.” Obviously I misjudged him.
The point is it’s easy to judge someone by their appearance, but it’s also wrong to do so. The Bible makes it clear that God does not judge people the same way. As a matter of fact, when some people see a redneck farm boy, God may see a future king. Let’s look at the story from 1 Samuel 16
[16:1] The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

Now before we get too far, I need to catch you up on the story. Saul had been selected to be the first king of Israel. Of Course God had been their king and wanted to remain their king, but the people cried out saying they wanted to have a king, because all of the other nations had a king. God tried to tell them, through Samuel that they didn’t need a king, but they refused to hear it. So God appointed the prototypical king, Saul. It says of Saul, that there was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he, and that he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Clearly this man looked like a king. But it didn’t take long for Saul to get full of himself and think that he could do whatever he wanted. And the things that he did that made God upset, weren’t even bad things per se, they simply weren’t the things that God had told him to do. So God rejected Saul as King and declared that he would anoint another. That is where we come into the story.
[2] Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' [3] Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you." [4] Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"
No remember, Samuel was the prophet of God, the spokesperson for God. He wasn’t always as welcome as you might think. When he comes into Bethlehem, the men of the town are a little nervous. Who knows if God is going to cast down judgment on them, or tell them they must repent or some other news that would upset their normal lives. Although we no longer view pastors or priests in those ways, sometimes when people aren’t accustomed to seeing one, the welcome is the same. They immediately try to straighten up, or they fear that some bad news will be given or that they will be told to repent or perish. They have formed an opinion merely at the sight of the pastor, just as the elders began to form an opinion simply at the sight of Samuel. He allayed their fears however.
[5] He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
He told them he came in peace, yet he did not tell them his purpose, other than to have a sacrifice. Now at this time there was no temple, so sacrifices were performed at local sites, however, there were still rules governing who could be present and ritual cleansings and sanctification that had to occur. For this reason, Jesse had to be invited and sanctified by Samuel, as well as his sons. This may have seemed strange to the elders who were there, but they were not going to interfere with Samuel.
[6] When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord."
Now it is Samuel’s turn to form an opinion, for as Eliab passes by, Samuel thinks to himself, My My my, this looks like the next king. He was probably the oldest son, he was clearly tall and rather handsome, judging from what is said in the next verse, plus his name was God is Father. This seemed like a perfect match. This was the one God sent Samuel to Bethlehem for, or so he thought.
[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 does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
There it is, the crux of the matter, God tells Samuel, You do not see what I see. You cannot know what I know. If all you are doing is looking on the outside, you are missing most of the person. God does not see as we see, because we look from the outside in, but he sees from the inside out. He sees what will become, more than what has become. He is not judging books by their cover, he is writing the pages on the inside. It’s as though he says to Samuel, “What are you looking at?” So Samuel just waited for God to tell him, “This is the one.”
[10] Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these."
No Samuel may have been getting a bit nervous for he knew that God had told him he was to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, yet none of these had been chosen. But he knew God was faithful and true and he knew that God had not made a mistake, so he asked Jesse a simple, but pertinent question.
[11] Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep."
Now remember, Jesse did not know what this was all about. It is doubtful that he was withholding David from Samuel; he probably didn’t realize that David was invited for he was only a youth and he was out working in the fields. And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." [12] He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one."
This was the one, this ruddy, yet handsome boy, who was working in the fields, is the one who God had called. Now ruddy is often translated as red, and it is unclear in the text if this means he had red hair or red skin tone or was sunburned. I’d like to think that maybe it means he was a redneck farm boy who God called to be king. Whether or not that is true, it is true that God saw beyond what others saw. He looks further than we do. He is not content with looking at our painted faces, and divergent fashions. He isn’t concerned about that. He is concerned about what is in your heart. Because this is where the measure of the person is. And just as God declared it, we cannot see inside another person’s heart, unless they show us. Only God can. But what that means is that we cannot pretend to know what is inside another person’s heart unless we are God.
So let’s stop looking at a person and trying to define them. We cannot, nor do we need to. While the outside may be a clue as to what lies underneath, there is so much more than meets the eye, in each one of us.
However, there is another side to this story that we need to really grab a hold of. God sees our heart. Now for some of us, that may be scary, to think that God sees all the blackness that we hide away in there, well, he wants to help us clean it up. But for others this is encouragement, because God does not judge you like the rest of the world. God does not see those things that the world tries to demean you with as having any value. What the world things about you is really of no consequence to God, because He sees the real you. The you that the world would be blessed to see, if they had the chance. So hold on to Jesus, because if God sees this in you, he may decide to show the whole world as he did with David, the man who is still considered the greatest King Israel has ever had, and the man after God’s own heart.