Daily Lesson for July 5, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 16 verses 6 through 13:

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’7But 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.’ 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ 10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ 11Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ 12He 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.’ 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

I love this story because what happens is so humorous. 

Samuel has been sent to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king. Samuel sees Jesse's eldest son who very much looks the part. "Surely this is the one," Samuel thinks, "the LORD's anointed before my very eyes."

But the LORD speaks to Samuel. His eyes will mislead him. "Do not look with your eyes;" Samuel is told, "for the LORD looks not on the the outward appearance but on the heart."

So, then all of Jesse's other sons are brought before Samuel, six in all. But none seem to be right. "Isn't there another?" Samuel asks in desperation.  "Don't you have any more sons?"

"Well, there is one more," Jesse says. "But he's just a shepherd boy."

"Get him," Samuel says. 

And when Jesse goes to get him, this seventh son David is clearly the one, the anointed one of Israel. 

And here's the humorous part. When Samuel sees David standing before him, he sees a young man handsome as all get out, one who absolutely looks like he was cut out to rule an army and a nation. (Shame on you if you're now thinking of Michaelangelo's David; shame on me also.)

This is where irony comes in. It doesn't matter. Physically look the part or not, it simply does not matter. Not look the part, or look the part too much, it does not matter. For LORD looks not on human appearance, but on the heart. 

And that's the one thing the human eyes cannot see nor human hands like Michaelangelo's sculpt.  For the heart can only be made known by the eyes of the Spirit within.