Just a Piece of the Bigger Picture

So this week at CSM, we were in 1 Samuel: 16 starting our series ‘Honor and Respect’. We studied how David came to be anointed as the king of Israel even though he seemed like the LAST pick to take on such a huge job. David’s brothers were all stronger, tougher, and better looking. Even Samuel, a prophet that God specifically picked to find the next king didn’t get it. When Samuel saw David’s oldest brother, Eliab, Samuel thought, “SURELY this is who God is going to pick!” But Eliab wasn’t the guy; and neither were the next six brothers.

If you back up to 1 Samuel 16:5 you will notice that when Samuel arrives he has David’s father and brothers consecrate themselves—which means “to make holy/ready”—by cleaning themselves thoroughly and washing their clothes. [See Numbers 8:21; 11:18] But as we know from later in the passage, David isn’t there when this happens. He is out in the pasture tending to the sheep. So, not only was David the youngest, weakest brother, he was also not “made ready” for the ceremony because he was dirty, sweaty, and smelled like sheep poop…. Despite ALL of this, God selected David as the next king. But WHY?!? Why would God skip past so many people that seemed so much more qualified to be the next king???

Well, 1 Samuel 16: 7 tells us exactly why! When Samuel sees Eliab God tells Samuel, “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.” (NIV 1984)

David’s older brothers all looked better, because Samuel, or anyone else, was really only seeing a small piece of the whole picture. When we look at each other, we see an appearance, achievements, and some basic facts we know about one another. This doesn’t even scratch the surface of what God sees. God can see to the very depths of our hearts and minds. This is the reason why NONE OF US, not even a prophet like Samuel, can make an accurate judgment of someone’s true potential.

We may see someone as the “last pick”, but God may be planning on using that person in big ways because He can see their heart. Like David’s brothers, there are many people that look great on the outside, but their hearts are far from God [See Matthew 23]. It is easy to focus on how others see you and forget that God sees and judges your heart as well. [1 Thes. 2:4]

Check out Isaiah 53. This chapter is talking about the “suffering servant,” which if you read the whole chapter, is a very detailed prophecy about Jesus, hundreds of years before he was born. In verse 2-3, Isaiah writes, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men.” Again, Isaiah is writing this prophecy about how Jesus’ life was going to look. So, just like David, Jesus was also seen as the “last pick” by many. The Bible tells us that, among other things, Jesus was harassed for not living in a pretty city and for coming from a poor family. How terrible is that!? God himself actually came and lived on the Earth as Jesus Christ, and we are so caught up on the outward appearance that many missed GOD IN THE FLESH. We simply do not and cannot see the whole picture.

So, how can we, just normal human beings, ever move past the “outward appearances” that usually distract us? First, we need to remember that every person is made in the image of God, and that God has a plan for every single person he brings into the world. But, we can’t see the big picture of someone’s heart and what God has in store for them. For this reason, we need to let God be the captain and leave the “picking” up to him. Just like 1 Peter 2:17 says, all we can do is treat every person we meet with Honor and Respect, no matter how we see them from our perspective.

Post By: Michael Weber