Outside
Appearances
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7, NASB
The above Scripture speaks of the time when the Prophet Samuel sought the one whom the Lord wanted to be anointed as the next king of Israel, replacing Saul. As you read the chapter, Samuel was expecting the “biggest and the best” from Jesse’s sons when he went to Bethlehem as the God of Israel had instructed the prophet to do.
So were
Jesse and his sons. Expecting that one of his “top seven” was the one.
“But Adonai said
to Sh’mu’el, 'Don’t pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I
have rejected him. Adonai doesn’t see the way humans see —
humans look at the outward appearance, but Adonai looks at the
heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7, Complete Jewish Bible
So too it is sometimes hard to “love” a person when we only
look at the outward appearance and see only the natural look. After all, aren't
all the beauty and masculine TV, Facebook, and social media ads based on the “Hollywood
look” that we are all to be as such?
On a recent outing to Panera Bread for my “Unlimited Sip
Club” coffee, or Mountain Dew (for only $5.00 per month, which I get no
commission for this ad!), it was a very cold January in Charlotte, North
Carolina. The restaurant was scheduled to open at 6:00 am, but even though I
could see two employees standing at the back of the restaurant talking, the
doors remained locked.
Outside in that frigid weather, with an electric hot heater
fan plugged into the brick wall outlet, a thin, black man sat at a metal table,
hunched over with nothing but a t-shirt under the light jacket he had pulled
over his head. When I approached him, I offered him a coffee when they finally opened.
He declined, saying, “I have a meeting at Harris Teeter across the street,”
then got up and left shortly after, carrying his three plastic bags of personal
belongings. So, I did too.
When I came back about 10 minutes later, he had returned to
the freezing position at the table. The Lord then directed me to get a spare
blanket from our car trunk, and I placed it around his shoulders.
From the outside, this was just “another homeless man”
wandering the streets of Charlotte. To the Lord, he was His creation, whom He
cared about.
Too often, we look at the outside appearance of each other
and make our judgments inwardly, if not spoken.
But as the Lord does, He looks at the heart and knows. While
others will reject the “Davids” we see in the field, or on the street, our
Father looks at the heart.
Maybe this man has great things in store for him.
Ahava and shalom,
Steve Martin
Message #2, 2026, “Outside Appearances”, Jan. 29, 2026, 4:02 am
#OutwardAppearances #SteveMartin #homelessman #Jesus #ProphetSamuel #PaneraBread #Hollywood #heart
