“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature... for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
The Face
Samuel had already begun assuming Eliab, tall and impressive in appearance, was surely God’s chosen king, before God corrects him directly, naming the exact mechanism of this misjudgment, man looketh on the outward appearance. This is not a minor observation. It is named as the actual, ordinary way human judgment tends to work, and God’s own way of seeing named as genuinely different.
This offers real relief against whatever your own sense of worth has quietly absorbed from others’ outward judgments, appearance, height, stature, whatever visible measure others have used, consciously or not, to assess your own value. This verse insists God’s actual seeing operates by an entirely different, deeper measure.
Notice but the LORD looketh on the heart, the specific contrast named, not appearance, but heart, the actual, interior reality outward appearance often does not reveal accurately at all. This is the measure that genuinely matters, according to this verse, regardless of whatever outward judgment has also been made.
Whatever outward judgment, yours or others’, has shaped how you see your own worth, return today to this verse’s actual claim. The LORD looketh on the heart, not the outward appearance so many other judgments, including sometimes your own, have mistakenly relied on instead.
Turn Your Face
- Notice any outward measure, appearance or achievement, that has shaped your own sense of worth.
- Return today to the heart as the actual, deeper measure God uses, not outward appearance.
- Examine your own heart today, specifically, as the place genuine worth is actually located.
Prayer
Lord, you look not on outward appearance, but on the heart. Let this be the actual measure I trust for my own worth, not whatever outward judgment others, or I, have made. Amen.
Carry this today
God’s measure is the heart, not the outward appearance so many other judgments rely on.