“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.” – 1 Samuel 16:7
It seems more and more that we are fascinated by image. It is often said that many of the great Presidents/Prime Ministers of the past would simply not be elected in today’s world. If we were to define what great leadership is, it would be somebody with charisma and obvious gifting. Somebody that you can look at and instantly say “That person seems great, I’d follow them”.
I think all of us, as much as we might like to deny it, have a tendency to judge by what we see in the external. Of course being human there’s not much else we can do – in the natural, anyway.
The problem arises when we start looking at everything in the way the world does, rather than the way God does. We flock to follow and imitate the latest and greatest. We seek to learn from people who seem great at what they do, and to emulate them. We focus on developing our external skills and abilities. We work on ‘stage presence’ and ‘stature’ so that we can lead and influence people. These external things are somewhat important, and usually necessary to ultimately be effective. However, they’re insignificant compared to the bit that God looks at: the heart.
God gives people gifts and abilities so that they can be used. God wants to use people who are attractive, charismatic, and dynamic to accomplish great things. God uses gifting, but that’s not what he looks for. In the test of ‘what determines if someone can be used by God’, the ‘gift-test’ doesn’t feature. Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. Where man judges based on what he sees of gifting, natural ability, and outward appearance, God searches the heart and decides based on character.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him”
There is no one who is stronger and more gifted than God. Although he wants to use the gifts and abilities he’s given us, he doesn’t need them. The Bible doesn’t say ‘on behalf of those who have exactly the charisma and gifting that he’s looking for’. It says ‘on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him’. When he finds such a people then HE will show HIMSELF strong. And there’s nothing we can do that compares to that!
So, what to do in response to this? Let’s simply commit to spending more time developing our heart and our character than we do our gifts or abilities.
