God Sees the Heart - 1 Samuel 16:1-13

During George Washington’s presidency, he’d have to host various politicians for dinner. It was during dinner that a few guests noticed a particular tick of Washington’s – apparently he would tap a fork or spoon on the side of the table as if he was waiting for the dinner to end. Many dinner guests took him to be ambivalent, disinterested, or even bored with their presence.

Truth be told, Washington was nearly deaf. In several of Washington’s letters he complains of being hard of hearing. Which would certainly make sense, given the fact that so much of the man’s life was spent out on the battlefield near musket and cannon fire. But it would also explain his disinterested behavior at dinner. He probably couldn’t hear what people were saying. And because Washington was an extremely polite man, rather than interrupting conversation he instead chose to sit there quietly, passing the time as best as he could, unaware of what was being said.

I share that story because it illustrates how easy it is to misjudge someone. At various times, we’ve all sized someone up, made assumptions about their character, only to learn that our assumptions were completely wrong.

We have a natural inclination to judge people based on outward appearances, but as our passage reminds us this morning – God does not judge people based upon their outward appearances, but upon their heart.

We’ll see three things this morning: first, man looks at outward appearance (vv. 1-6), second, God looks at the heart (v. 7), and lastly, we’re reminded that God often equips the overlooked (vv. 8-13).

The heart is where your fundamental beliefs reside. The sort of stuff that makes you - you is what’s tucked away in your heart. And interestingly enough, that’s been a recurring theme through the book of 1 Samuel.

Saul seems to think that if he just says and does the “right things” that’s good enough. But your heart reveals who you really are. Jesus actually makes this point throughout the gospels:

He famously said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Saul thought that he could fake his way into heaven as if God couldn’t see what he was really hiding in his heart. It was only after God told Saul that he was going to rip the kingdom of Israel out of his hand and give it to another, that Saul was very sorry for the sins that he had committed.

And that raised an important question: was he genuinely broken over his sin, or was he sad over the results of his sin? He was sad over the results of his sin, because as we saw last week, even though he was more than willing to confess his sins, he wasn’t truly repentant.

And so the Lord had determined to strip the kingship from Saul and “[give] it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” We know that that person was King David.

Man Looks at outward appearance (vv. 1-6)

And that’s where our passage picks up this morning. We’re looking at the anointing on King David. But of course, Samuel didn’t know he was going to Bethlehem to anoint David. He just knew that God had sent him there to anoint the man who would replace Saul.

But Samuel is grieved over Saul. He’s grieved over his disobedience and lack of faith in the Lord. But the Lord tells Samuel to stop grieving Saul. It’s time to move on and anoint a new king.

But anointing a new king would create all sorts of problems. For one, Saul would try to kill him, and secondly, it would create chaos in Israel.

The anointing of the new king needed to be a covert ops mission. He couldn’t tell people that he was in Bethlehem to anoint a new king, which is why God told Samuel to take a heifer to sacrifice in Bethlehem. He needed plausible deniability. So when the concerned elders of Bethlehem approached Samuel worried about why he was in town, he could tell them that he was there to make a sacrifice to the Lord.

But God gives Samuel one piece of information: the man he was to anoint would be from among the sons of Jesse the Bethlehmite. Most of you are probably familiar with this story, but all of Jesse’s sons are presented to Samuel beginning with the oldest, Eliab, and working their way down to the youngest, David.

On paper, Eliab appears to be full of potential. Based upon what the Lord tells Samuel in verse 7, Eliab probably looked a lot like me, a tall handsome man. He was the sort of young man you could see with a crown on his head. He looked like a king.

But the Lord famously tells Samuel in verse 7, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.”

Everything we read here is very similar to the anointing of Saul in 1 Samuel 10. We’re told what made Saul so impressive in 1 Samuel 10:23-24:

“And when [Saul] stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!””

Saul was taller than all the people. The thing that they were the most impressed with about Saul was his appearance. He looked like a king. And that was really important to the people of Israel. They wanted to be like the other nations, and guess what? They got exactly what they were looking for in Saul. A man whose heart was far from God, but looked like a king.

And as Samuel was standing there looking at Eliab a question simmers in the background: will history repeat itself? Like Saul, Eliab is an impressive looking young man. He looked like a king. But the Lord had rejected him as king. Why? “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance…”

Sometimes in sports, but especially in football, coaches will say that a player passes “the eye test.” That is, he looks like a football player. That could mean he’s a big boy that would make a great lineman. Or it might mean that he’s tall and has a strong arm making him a prototypical quarterback. When a coach sees a young man who’s six-four two-hundred and ninety pounds of muscle - he’s going to pass the eye test.

But as I’m sure some of you know, someone who passes the eye test doesn’t always translate well onto the field. Every coach has a story about a kid who looked like a stud, but never really materialized on the field. I had a coach who would say a kid looked like Tarzan but played like Jane.

Outward appearance isn’t only important in sports. We emphasize outward appearance in the market place. It’s almost standard career advice to tell someone to “dress for the job you want, not the job you have.”

The message is clear: if you just look the part, everything else will fall into place. Frankly, our society is obsessed with outward appearance, so much so, that you can land jobs or get accepted into colleges simply based upon the color of your skin. Too often the way you look is more important than your qualifications or ability to do a job.

So before we jump all over Samuel and shake our head in disapproval of him, we have to recognize that things have not improved! The temptation to judge one another strictly on outward appearances still persists today.

And what’s scariest of all is that we can reduce our faith to mere outward appearances as well. If we’re not careful, we can reduce Christianity to how we act and use the right lingo in an attempt to convince those around us of our spirituality.

All of this simply reinforces the point that God makes to Samuel doesn’t it? Man looks at the outward appearance.

God looks at the heart (v. 16:7)

And it’s almost as if we believe that we can fool God. Isn’t that what Saul thought? Saul thought he could fool God just as easily as he could fool man. He confesses his sin in a rather dramatic way, but as I’ve already said, he didn’t repent. The same thing is true for Esau.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that “...Esau sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”

Esau is another example of confession without repentance. It probably looked sincere because there was sadness, emotion, and even tears, but there wasn’t repentance. From a human perspective it’s incredibly difficult to tell the difference between the two. At times, an insincere confession might look like genuine repentance.

You might be able to fool people with outward appearances, but you’re not going to be able to fool God. God’s perfect judgment has nothing to do with outward appearances. The Lord is not going to be fooled into reading a lame book because of its fancy cover art. He doesn’t care where you were born, or what you look like. He sees through the facades, charades, and posturing and looks directly at your heart.

Which is exactly what the Lord tells Samuel at the end of verse 7. “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

God’s judgment is based entirely upon your heart. And what he’s looking for is a heart that is surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what God looks for.

Isn’t that the point when God makes all of Jesse’s sons pass before Samuel? Look at verse 8:

“Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.””

God is emphasizing the point that his judgment has nothing to do with outward appearance or important cultural emphases like birth order. He was evaluating them using an entirely different set of criteria.

And of course, we know what happens – eventually David was anointed King in Israel.

…And in case you were worried whether or not the handsome streak was going to end with Saul – fear not, because David was handsome too.

He was also ruddy too, which is a reference to the reddish hue of his skin. But of course, the point being, God chose David for other reasons. He knew something about David that wasn’t apparent to anyone else. He knew the sort of man that David was when no one was around.

The Psalms give us a window into the heart and mind of David. Like the Psalm we sang earlier, Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”

The Lord knew David’s heart. We see his heart in passages like Psalm 23, but God was already aware of it. The Lord was ruling and reigning in the heart of David. In order for David to be a great King in Israel, God had to King over him.

Doesn’t that challenge our preconceived notions?

Because we tend to measure success by outward appearances. We see the big house, the fancy car, and automatically assume that they’re successful.

Even churches can get caught up in his lie. So often the success of the church is defined by buildings, budgets, and attendance. But what does it even mean to be successful?

The commentator William Blaikie noticed this about the church as well. Commenting on 1 Samuel 16, he wrote:

“Let everything be outwardly correct, the church beautiful, the music excellent, the sermon able, the congregation numerous and respectable – what a pattern such a church is often regarded! Alas! How little satisfactory it may be to God.”

What is God looking for among his people?

The lowly sense of personal unworthiness, the wondering contemplation of the Divine love, the eager longing for mercy to pardon and grace to help, faith that grasps the promises, the hope that is anchored within the veil, the kindness that breathes benediction all round, the love the beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things – it is these things, breathing forth from the hearts of a congregation that give pleasure to God.

Blaikie’s point is quite simple: True success is not found in wealth, status, reputation, or strength, but in a heart that is fully surrendered to Jesus Christ. And so it’s out of a heart for the Lord that you obey, honor, and glorify him with your life.

That’s of course what is meant when God says that he’s seeking “a man after his own heart.” Man may look at outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

God equips the overlooked (vv. 8-13)

Because God sees the heart, sometimes that means His decisions may not make immediate sense to us. When you read this passage, one of the things that stands out is after Jesse presents all his sons to Samuel and God rejects them all, Samuel asks, ““Are all your sons here?” And [Jesse] said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.””

Jesse is pretty dismissive of David isn’t he? It’s like he just assumes there’s no way Samuel would anoint David. After all, David was the youngest, which was the lowliest position in the family, but he was also a shepherd, which wasn’t a glamorous job either.

Judging by outward appearances, anointing David to be the next King in Israel made no sense, which is why Jesse was so dismissive. He’s thinking if God’s rejected all my sons thus far, David doesn’t stand a chance!

In many ways it reminds me of William Carey. William Carey was an obscure English shoemaker with no wealth, no high social status, and no formal theological education. By all outward appearances, he was an unremarkable man. He was not from a prominent family, nor did he have the eloquence or presence that would naturally make someone a great leader.

Yet Carey was deeply burdened by the reality that millions of people around the world had never heard the gospel. While others dismissed the idea of missions as impractical or even unnecessary, Carey studied, prayed, and committed himself to the cause.

When he presented his vision for world missions to a gathering of pastors, one well-respected minister famously told him, “Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine.” Many dismissed Carey as an idealist who didn’t understand reality.

William Carey sounds a lot like David. David wasn’t from a prestigious family either. David wasn’t born into a political dynasty. He wasn’t related to Saul. If Samuel had anointed Saul’s son Jonathan, that would have made sense. Nor had David been quietly working in Saul’s administration preparing for this great opportunity. He hadn’t even studied political science at a prestigious undergraduate institution like VMI.

Then you combine all of that with the fact that Bethlehem was a small meaningless town. Micah 5 tells us that Bethlehem was, “too little to be among the clans of Judah.” In other words, Bethlehem was a little po-dunk town. It wasn’t a prominent city.

And so, you can only imagine the look on David’s brothers’ faces when Samuel poured the anointing oil on his head. Because on paper David is completely unqualified to be king! And that is exactly the point! God is going to take someone that has no business being King in Israel and he’s going to make him Israel’s greatest King.

It reminds me of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29:

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

And if you know the story of William Carey, the same thing can be said of him as well. Despite all the opposition, Carey went to India, where he faced unimaginable hardship, including financial struggles, the loss of his son, and years of what seemed like fruitless labor. But he never gave up, and over time, he translated the Bible into multiple languages, planted churches, and laid the foundation for modern missions. Today, William Carey is remembered as the “Father of Modern Missions.”

Isn’t that God’s modus operandi to pick, choose, and use the unexpected, downcast, the forgotten to accomplish his will and display his glory.

Jesus, The unexpected King

When Samuel arrived at Jesse’s house, he expected Israel’s next king to be someone strong, impressive, and regal. But God had a different plan. He rejected the sons who outwardly looked the part and chose David—the youngest, least likely candidate. Why? Because God looks at the heart.

This moment in redemptive history foreshadows the coming of Jesus Christ, the true and greater David. Like David, Jesus was not the king people expected. Israel anticipated a powerful political ruler who would overthrow Rome, yet Jesus arrived in humility—born in a manger, raised in obscurity, and rejected by the religious elite. He did not come to sit on an earthly throne but to reign in the hearts of His people.

God calls each of us to recognize Christ as King. The Pharisees and leaders of Jesus’ day judged by appearance and failed to see Him as He truly was: the promised Messiah, the Son of God.

For so many the Savior they weren’t looking for was the Savior that they needed. Amen. Let’s pray together.