God has rejected Saul as the king of
Israel due to his recalcitrance. God
sends Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem, telling Samuel that he has chosen the new
king of Israel from among Jesse's sons.
Samuel takes a look at one of Jesse's sons, Eliab, and is certain that
he is the one whom God has chosen.
However, this is the response God gives to Samuel: “Do not judge from
his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because he sees
the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”
One thing I have learned so much about
in my first few years as a priest is that we think we can know someone's
situation from what we ourselves observe and from the outward appearance, but
what is going on in someone's heart can be so completely different. In our society, we can get so caught up into
looking at what's on the outside, to the externals that we see. And that can be true of ourselves as well. We are conditioned in our society to make
everything look good on the outside, to give a good appearance to the world, to
try to get others to think well of us.
But, when we come down to it, it does not matter what everyone else
thinks or what our appearance is. What
matters is what God see, is what God knows is going on in our hearts.
So, God chose David, a young man whom
Samuel and the world thought to be an unlikely choice for king. May we not be quick to judge by outside appearance. May we cultivate virtue & integrity in
our hearts & not be so concerned with some of the superficiality of outward
appearance alone that can occupy so much of our time.
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