Joel M Bradshaw

6When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

7But 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.”–1 Samuel 16

Below verses with added thematic emphasis.

 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding… (Proverbs 3:5)

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

1. God taught Samuel a lesson regarding the kind of person that God chooses.
2. Our world prioritizes beauty, strength, success, and popularity.
3. God prioritizes the inside, unseen will of a person fully committed to Him.
4. The verses I underlined above are motivating and convicting.
5. If you are like me, there is daily sin that needs to be confessed and repented.
6. In my seasons of greatest hypocrisy, I communicated that God had all my heart, but I secretly lived otherwise.
7. Knowing what God prioritizes, join me today in committing our hearts fully to God. Every room in your “house” opened to God. Take off the old self and put on the new (Colossians 3).–JMB