THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART

"For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

God spoke these famous words to His prophet Samuel in preparing him to anoint David king over Israel. God knew that Samuel's limited perspective would compromise his objectivity. He was about to make a major decision, which had massive implications, with very limited information. The decision Samuel would make was not just going to affect a specific man, but an entire nation, and in fact the whole world. History itself would be shaped by this decision. And God's kindness to give clear instruction to Samuel indicates that, left to himself, the prophet would have made the wrong decision.



Samuel was a man. Samuel would have given undue weight to outward appearances. Samuel would have trusted his eyes. Samuel would have identified the strongest, most charismatic, most confident and assertive leader among the brothers and anointed him king. Any one of us would have butchered that anointing because our perspective is so limited and we lean heavily into appearances. Even David's own father was trying to set forth the other sons as the viable candidates for kingship. David was not on dad's radar. But God looks at the heart.

It's easy to see that that worked out well for David, but have you ever considered the ramifications of that reality for his brothers? Not only did God see in David a heart that was inclined toward Him, but God also saw in his brothers a heart that was oriented toward something else. God didn't just see into David's heart, but he saw into the hearts of his brothers. And what He found there steered him away from them.

I often hear this phrase repeated in ministry circles, that "man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart." It's generally offered as an encouragement and reassurance for people. But I wonder if that's really best way to appropriate this truth.

That statement wasn't just part of the beginning of David's story in the Scriptures, but it was there at the end as well. When commissioning his son Solomon to rule over Israel in his place, David's charged his son to "know the God of your father and serve with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought." (1 Chron. 28:9-10) At the seminal moment in the life of his son, David offers this sobering reminder that God knows every thought, motive, idea and inclination of our hearts. This is not a warm fuzzy for Solomon to cling to, it's a warning for Solomon to pay close attention to. David's point isn't that Solomon's heart toward the Lord is incorruptible and will therefore never suffer from negligence. Rather, David's point is that Solomon's heart is entirely corruptible and will therefore always require vigilance.

David's deep desire for his son, is that Solomon be absolutely persuaded that God is altogether unimpressed with his outward appearance - his attractiveness, wealth, popularity, position, power, charisma, wisdom, leadership and success - so that he would instead live with an abiding awareness that God's gaze is fixed on his heart - his thoughts, motives, passions, desires and plans.

The Scriptures teach us that our hearts are oriented toward sin and rebellion against God, a dark picture that history and experience confirms. So if God looks at the heart and the heart is naturally inclined to resist the things of God and indulge sinful desires instead, is this heartening or haunting?

We all have to confront the reality that our hearts are corrupt, selfish, rebellious and perverse. We must also face the fact that God is not fooled by our outward attempts to make ourselves presentable to him. He is fully aware of how dark and distorted our hearts are. We do not just need new habits and we need new hearts. We are obsessed with getting the newest of everything, but we are content to live out of the old heart.

But God promises in Ezekiel that, "I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ez. 36:26) Our stoney hearts resist God's truth, authority and instruction as well as his love, grace and affection. But he wants to remove those stoney, hard hearts, and replace them with soft, tender hearts that receive his forgiveness, mercy and love and submit to his authority and leadership.

So many people in, around, and outside of the church have labored to clean up the outward appearance of their lives so that God would accept and affirm them. They have successfully worked extraordinarily hard to adopt and afford a lifestyle that has all the outward appearances of what men regard highly. But God isn't looking at any of those things. He's looking at a heart that wants to earn it's salvation and deserve God's love and merit God's favor. God sees the self-righteousness that permeates our hearts and the self-justification that drives our action and he doesn't just want you to turn over a new leaf. He wants to give you a new life.

That's what happens when we are born again, by the power of the Holy Spirit. He replaces our old heart with a new heart. And because the heart is the center and core of our being and the seat of our mind, will, emotions and motivations, when we get a new heart, we get a new identity and a new life. When the Holy Spirit awakens our dead hearts to faith in Christ's life, death and resurrection for our salvation, we become a whole new person with a whole new power. And the Holy Spirit then makes it His mission to continually and constantly apply the work of Christ on our behalf to our lives, so that when the Lord searches our hearts, he finds one that belongs to Him. He doesn't find a perfect heart, but he'll find a perfect Son who is perfecting your heart.

If you think yourself impressive, the reality that God looks at the heart should haunt and humble you. The thought of God looking into our hearts continually should not comfort us so much as compel us to search our own hearts diligently. For the moment we find comfort in the cleanliness of our own hearts, pride is lurking behind the corner.

Men may be very impressed with how put together your life seems. But the Lord is looking for people whose hearts know what a broken mess they are. He isn't impressed with dependable. He is impressed with dependent. He isn't impressed with charisma. He is impressed with contrition. He isn't impressed with your accomplishments for Him. He is impressed when you rest solely in His accomplishments for you.