But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
Samuel is standing in front of Jesse's tallest, most impressive son, ready to anoint him — and God stops him cold. Not that one. You're looking at the outside. I look at the heart.
It's a strange kind of relief, if you let it land. So much of life trains you to be evaluated on visible things: how you look, what you've accomplished, how you come across. This verse suggests that isn't how you're actually seen, at least not by God. There's a different measure running underneath the one everyone else is using.
That cuts both ways, though. It means the parts of yourself you're proudest of showing off aren't the point. But it also means the parts you'd never let anyone see — the doubts, the mess, the ordinary unimpressive middle of your life — aren't disqualifying either. The heart is what's actually being read.
If you were being read by your heart instead of your résumé, what would that reading actually say?
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.