Love God with Your Heart, Soul, and Mind

1 Samuel 16

Samuel is looking for the next king of Israel:

Samuel calls the sons to the sacrifice. He looks at Eliab and says, “Surely the Lords anointed is before me.” And God says, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” Wow, the application here is very obvious: God doesn’t care how good we look on the outside, how “christian” we appear to everyone else. He cares about your heart. So often we get so caught up in not sinning and putting on godly airs but, God looks at you and says, “I have refused you.” It reminds me of the verse that goes, “Lord, I did all this great stuff for you. I have even healed the sick and prophesied of your goodness. I can quote more scripture and give godly advice. I mean, I was a leader in our church. Even the older people respected me.” And God says, “depart from me ye cursed, I never knew you.” The Pharisee’s had this attitude. They were the spiritual leaders in Israel. But, Jesus knew the reasons for their spirituality was personal gain; this shallowness was demonstrated when they crucified Jesus. They thought they were doing the right thing by killing the blasphemer because, it was what God had said to do. If they would have had a relationship with God they would have realized who Jesus was. John the Baptist had a relationship with God so, when he saw Jesus he recognized who he was and cried out: “Behold the Lamb of God!” Because God’s ways are not our ways, we cannot always know what is of God and what is not, without asking Him. Sometimes what we are doing might be what God wants, just not the way God wants it. For example: The Israelites fought the city of Ai without inquiring of God. They lost. Then they ask of God and God tells them to go fight again but, to use his strategy. All this to say: God wants your heart and your fellowship! If you want to know the will of God, God reveals it. He wants to show you. I believe that if you are submitting to God daily in the little things, He won’t allow you to go down a path where you will not receive his fullest blessing.

John