Seeing straight
The moment we meet the young shepherd boy in this episode, his life teaches us a vital truth about God - and that is that God does not look at things in the same way that we do. When Samuel learned that the Lord had rejected Saul as king, and went on a covert operation to find a new royal candidate, he thought that he had found the person of choice in Eliab, a tall, good looking man. But God’s hand was upon the youngest of Jesse’s sons, the one that he’d not even bothered to call in from his shepherding duties. Surely God wouldn’t select young David as king….would He?
Our cultural obsession with fashion and our physical appearance is proof that humans look at the outward - what turns the head, the superficially impressive. But God values not looks, but heart. As someone with little hair and a rather unusual nose, I’m grateful…..
Most of the disasters of my life have come as a result of thinking that God shared my viewpoint, and I arrogantly believed that I was looking at life with 20/20 perspective. But I don’t have that clarity, and that has prompted me, over the last few days, to ask God a question: ‘Lord, where, in my life, am I seeing things from my angle, but your perspective, is quite different? Let me see opportunities, decisions, and people in the way that you see them, and not in the way that I see them’.
Pastor Bruce Enns:1
‘God is continually teaching me to see with new eyes. The prophet Isaiah (in ch. 6) tells us that rebellious people have ears that can’t hear, eyes that can’t see, and hearts that can’t understand. Being naturally rebellious myself, I pray with the Psalmist that God would “open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law” (Psalm 119:18). In Ephesians 1:18, we are encouraged to see with the eyes of our heart. Seeing is a big deal. Seeing with God’s perspective is an ongoing challenge for each of us. Learning to see things with God’s eyes has become increasingly important in how I “see” being a pastor’.
You and I suffer from a myopia that comes from being fallen and human. God has no eyesight issues. Let’s ask Him to help us see as He sees.
1 https://directionjournal.org/36/2/perspective-seeing-with-eyes-of-god.html