Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2007 : January 7, 2007

Theme: God Looks at the Heart

Church year occasion: Epiphany 1

Many questions in this life just don't have answers. Like, why do we press harder on the remote control buttons when we know the batteries are going dead? That's tough to answer. Or, why do banks charge an insufficient funds fee when they know there aren't sufficient funds in the account in the first place? Why do people believe that E=mc² without even questioning it, but have to personally check to see if the "Wet Paint" sign really means what it says? All of these questions defy answer, and they are just silly questions we might ask. But many questions aren't so silly. Why did I contract cancer? Why was I sexually assaulted when I was young? Why don't I have any friends? Why did God let my spouse die? Sometimes, many times, we just don't have the answers to those very serious questions because they get us into the mind of God, and the answer of "Why?" things happen the way they do is known only to God. But that really gives us the answer to every tough question -- even though we don't know why, God does, because God knows everything. And that is a comforting thought.

We see that clearly in the account of Samuel anointing David. God was directing things according to his will, even though it wasn't the way any of us would have done it. We look at outward things, superficial things, but God looks at the heart.

Samuel needed to learn that lesson. A little background might be helpful. Saul was the king of Israel, the first king Israel had. He was a great king -- at first. Toward the end of his reign he was struck with a bad case of self-importance and pride. It dominated his life and actions. In the chapter before our reading, God had instructed Saul to attack and destroy the Amalekites, because they had attacked God's people when Israel was going into the Promised Land. God commanded the total destruction of people and animals. Saul obeyed -- sort of. He killed every person and animal, except he spared the life of the king and some of the best animals. Later, when Samuel confronted Saul with his sin, Saul lied and said he was going to use these animals to sacrifice to God. But God knew Saul's heart and the lie that came from it. Saul thought he knew just a little bit more than God. God said, 'Saul, you can no longer be king.' When Samuel, the prophet, heard this, he thought God had been a little bit too harsh with Saul. He thought he knew a little bit more than God. All night long, Samuel cried to God for Saul, not agreeing with God's judgment.

Do we sometimes think we know a little bit more than God? Several of you just this past week have lost your jobs. How are you going to deal with that? Get all down in the dumps? Think that you've just hit an impassable wall in your life, and you don't know where to turn? If so, then you must know a little bit more than God. Can God bring blessing even through difficult times? Absolutely! In fact, that is usually how God blesses us -- he allows us to go through the tough times when we have to turn to him, and then we see God's hand in everything. Then we are content to let God direct us. Then we let the Word of God guide our faith instead of our own intellect and power leading us blindly. Because maybe -- just maybe -- God knows what he's doing.

Even Samuel, the great prophet/priest/leader of God's people at this time, needed to learn that lesson. God told Samuel to head for Bethlehem, the same Bethlehem that has occupied our attention for the past weeks. But this incident took place about 1000 years before Jesus' birth. In Bethlehem, Samuel was to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next king. When Samuel arrived in Bethlehem, the people were shocked. At times God had used Samuel to carry out harsh capital punishment on certain people. They also knew that Samuel had just told King Saul that he would no longer be king because Saul had rejected God. Saul was angry. Samuel himself feared for his own life. Now Samuel was going to tiny Bethlehem, close to Saul's hometown. If Saul wanted to attack Samuel, he could. That would be like President Bush announcing his intent to travel to eastern Afghanistan or Baghdad and publishing his itinerary to make sure everyone know where he was going to be at what time. You would expect an attack of some sort. That's the danger Samuel was in, but he stuck to God's plan and went to Bethlehem. People were afraid because anything could happen. Samuel said he had just come to sacrifice, to conduct a worship service, and invited everyone to come. But his main intention was to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next king of Israel.

Then Samuel proceeded to make another mistake in judgment. When he saw Eliab, Jesse's oldest boy, Samuel thought, "The future king." God stopped him and spoke the words of our text: "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." When all was said and done, six other brothers had been sized up for the position; none qualified according to God's standards. When Samuel asked, "Are there any more sons?" Jesse said, "The youngest is out in the fields tending sheep." He didn't even give his name. When David was summoned, God said, "Anoint him king." Samuel learned a valuable lesson: Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. The Bible describes David in a way used for no one else: A man after God's own heart. The Lord loved the way David submitted to God's will; the way he loved God's law; the way he recognized God's grace in choosing him king; the way he relied on the Lord as his Shepherd. He was a man after God's own heart.

Would that describe us? Or would we be characterized more by Frank Sinatra's line: "I did it my way"? What might our first thought be when tragedy strikes us or our family, when things don't go at all according to our plan, when something happens in our lives that we don't know what to do next except throw in the towel? Our first thought might be, "Why?" And that is natural. But in trying to find the answer to that question is where we can fall into the devil's trap. We might think that if God is treating us like that, then we won't come to his house as often. Trying to answer the many "Why?" questions in life might eventually lead us to forsake God altogether. Even righteous Job tried to find the answer to that question and was questioning God's work in his life, until the almighty, all-knowing God appeared to him and told him that maybe -- just maybe -- the God of all creation knew more than Job did.

Instead of asking "Why?" when we experience difficulties in life, a much better question would be: "Why, in spite of the many times I've wandered from God's will and Word, did God love me so much that he would still live and die for me to make me his own child?" Because that is exactly what God was doing in Bethlehem that day -- he was already putting his plan of saving you into motion by having David anointed as king. Jesus would be the one to reign on David's throne and usher in the kingdom of God when he took all our doubts and fears and know-it-all attitudes and every other sin on himself and paid their horrible penalty of eternal death when he hung on the cross. David didn't look like much of a king. Jesus didn't look like much of one, either -- at least not in man's eyes. But in God's eyes, David was exactly what Israel needed. And in God's eyes, Jesus was exactly what you and I and every sinner needed. Jesus also was a man after God's own heart because he was God. And after living that way perfectly his whole life, he laid down his life to take all our sins away. Now, through faith, God sees you as one who can be described as David -- after God's own heart.

With faith in your heart, God no longer sees you as lost and condemned, but cleansed, purified, holy, belonging to God. Unfortunately, we still get caught up in the outward appearance in this life. To a greater or lesser degree, all of us have something about our looks that we don't like. When we become preoccupied with it, however, there's a fancy name for it: body dimorphic disorder. It afflicts people who are so dissatisfied with their appearance that they have a difficult time functioning normally. Although we can all find something about ourselves we would like to change, here are a couple of biblical truths to help us be satisfied with the way we are put together. God looks at the heart. God is far more concerned with what he sees in our hearts than with what we see in the mirror. And because of Jesus, God sees our hearts as pure and holy -- the heart of a person who has eternal life.

God looks at the heart. As for what's on the outside, that is now how we can show the world what is also on the inside -- that our hearts are right with God because Jesus followed God's will and saved us and all people. Now we can even rejoice in our sufferings because we realize that, even though we might not know what's going on, God does, and even through it God wants to display his glory to you and others. God sometimes does things in our lives that we can only sit back and say, "Why?" Even though we might not know the answer to that question, God knows. And that is good enough for us. Amen.