A Heart like God’s #388

So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:6–7)

When the prophet Samuel looked at Eliab, the firstborn son of Jesse, he was confident this was the young man God was selecting to be king over His people Israel. But God does not base His decisions on appearance and other physical attributes when deciding His purposes. God sees the heart, and in the youngest son of Jesse God saw “a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). We should not conclude that outward actions do not matter to God – “as long as our heart is sincere”. God saw a heart in David that would “do all My will”. God expects our obedience to be from the heart. Like David, obedience from the heart is thorough (“all”). What kind of heart does God see in you today?

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