“But the LORD said to 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.”” (1Sam 16:7NIV)
Who is the Lord referring to here, in our opening text? He is referring to Eliab, Jesse’s eldest son and David’s eldest brother. And what does the Lord say about him to Samuel? He says I have rejected him. What has He rejected him for? He has rejected for kingship over Israel.
Now I am sure you know that you cannot say that you have rejected someone, if you have not yet considered him. So, the reason God freely said to Samuel that He had rejected Eliab as king over Israel was that He had already considered him. When did He consider him? We would not know. But it is clear from this text that God often carries out hidden examination on people. And when He is done, the result is what will determine whether He will exalt us, leave us where are, demote us or even extinguish us.
Remember King Belshazzar. Remember that on his last day here on earth God told him the following:
“Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Dan 5:26-28NIV)
When did God start numbering the days of this man’s reign? We would not know. And when did He begin to weigh his life and performance? We would not know. Everything was hidden from him and everyone else until the last few hours of his life. And even when it was made known to him that his time was up and that his kingdom and authority would be given to someone else, did he do anything to change God’s mind? No!
Why did he do nothing to change God’s mind and verdict concerning him? Did he not believe the words of Daniel, the man of God that explained this revelation to him? He believed them. Otherwise, he would not have celebrated and exalted him that day. Why, then, did he make no move to save himself? Perhaps he thought he still had more time to repent. Or perhaps he was ignorant of the forgiving nature of God. Whatever the case may be, he perished that same night because he had failed God’s examination. (Cf. Dan 5:29-31)
Well, the point of it all is that we all are under God’s examination, whether we are aware of it or not. And what He finds in us is what will determine what He does to us or with us when He is ready to judge. So, we need to constantly work towards being successful when examined by Him. Otherwise, God forbid, our fate may end up being like Eliab’s or Belshazzar’s.
But can we work towards passing God’s examination, if we don’t even know what He is looking for? What is He looking for in our lives? What is it that He wants to see in us in order to elevate us, prosper us or prolong our days here on earth? Is it our beauty, our colour, our language, our education, our wealth or our social status? No!
As we see in our opening text, it is man that looks at outward appearances – what God looks at is the heart. So, what is your heart? What is in my heart? When God saw pride in the devil, He brought him down. And when He saw greed in King Saul, He rejected him as king. We are not told what He saw in Eliab too that made Him reject him as king. But certainly, He must have seen in him something that should not be there or He must not have seen in him something that should be there.
My prayer, in any case, is that your heart will be rid of everything that may make God reject or cast you down and instead filled to overflowing with everything good and precious enough to make Him continually honour, lift and protect you. Amen.
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