January 16: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Key Verse: 1 Samuel 16:7
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 people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’

Devotion:
One of the most important things we learn from the bible is to not judge people by their outward appearance – or as we say in the West don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Samuel was now facing worrying times because Saul had fallen out of favour with God and a new king was being sought after. Samuel was worried for his own life in case Saul found out and wanted to kill him, but God had other plans.

God knew what might happen if Samuel declared he was going to anoint a new king, so he sent Samuel out with a heifer as if he was going to make a sacrifice to God. When Samuel got to Bethlehem the people there were worried in case Samuel had come to prophesy against them; they had that guilty feeling knowing they had each done something wrong…

Samuel called on Jesse to be consecrated along with all of his sons. Each of them came out to meet Samuel and Samuel looked at the outward appearance of the first son just as he looked at the outward appearance of Saul: he was impressed with what he saw.

But, as we said earlier, God had other plans. Each of the sons came forward and God said no. After enquiring if there were any other sons, they called for the youngest son who was tending to the sheep. A son who had not gone to join the army but stayed at home to care for their father’s sheep. This is the man God had chosen!

Points to Ponder:
Do you judge people when you first look at them?

How many people have you given a chance and been surprised by?