1 Samuel 16:6-8 (New Living Translation)
6 When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
As I along with countless others watched Susan Boyle, the woman from Britain, come onstage and began to speak, immediately everyone judged her because of her appearance. Of course when she began to sing, that changed and you could see the shock on their faces. Why is it before a person even has a chance to open their mouth, they already have been sized up? We are so cruel, so ready to hang someone out to dry. We don’t give people a chance! When Miss Boyle began to sing, I began to cry for what she had experienced, she knew what those people thought, yet she had a song in her heart, and sing, oh my goodness, did she sing. I am not sure I have ever heard such an amazing voice. No one could deny her the applause she deserved. I have watched the video a few times since then, and it still breaks my heart to know how cruel those people were to her. When I was reading the scriptures mentioned above, I immediately thanked God that He doesn’t see things like we do, He just looks at our hearts. How can we and is it possible to not be so quick to judge someone? I believe as we study Gods Word, and get closer to Him, it is not only possible, I believe we are commanded to love people, to treat people as we want to be treated. Our hearts should hurt when we see someone mistreated. My prayer today is to listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to my heart, praying always. Gods word said we are to take an honest estimate of ourselves, that should put an end to a lot of things like this, don’t you think?
