Give me Your Eyes

-

 


I Samuel 16:6-7 ~ 

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD." 

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." 

God sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem’s home. His task was to find a new king for Israel. Jesse had many sons and they all took turns parading in front of Samuel. When he saw the eldest, Eliab, he was impressed. This guy was a strapping man and Samuel thought for sure he would make a great king. 

However, it ended up being the youngest boy, David who was chosen. He hadn’t even been invited to the sacrifice. Instead he was out in the field watching the sheep. 

The Lord responds to Samuel by telling him to stop looking at the outward appearance. God does not look at people the way we do. As humans we love to categorize people. We look at someone or listen to their viewpoint on something and size them up very quickly. Then we slap a label on them. The label may have to do with their political view or the particular sin they struggle with or the fact that their personality just doesn’t mesh with ours. 

If we could only at people the way God does we would be so much better off. He doesn’t see the label “liberal” or “conservative”, “adulterer” or “thief”, “Catholic” or “Protestant”, and “black” or “white.” What He does see is our hearts. He looks deep inside and sees our motives and what is really going on inside of us. 

There is a song called Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath that I love. The song reminds me of this truth. The chorus says, 

Give me your eyes for just one second 
Give me your eyes so I can see 
Everything that I keep missing 
Give me your love for humanity 

Give me your arms for the brokenhearted 
The ones that are far beyond my reach 
Give me your heart for the one’s forgotten 
Give me your eyes so I can see. 

Today as you go through your day, ask the Lord to help you see past the labels and see the heart of the people you interact with. Ask Him to help you see through His eyes. You may be surprised at what you find.

Comments

Post a Comment

I love your comments and encouragement! I can't always respond back but do read each comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Oh What to Do; I'm Sixty-Two!

-
Image
Today is my sixty-second birthday and it's hard to believe I've achieved that....um....seasoned age! My first thought this morning was one of not being sure that I like it. However,  as I thought I about it, I decided to take joy in the fact that I've reached an older age. Because age comes with benefits. Benefit #1 - I'm a bit wiser.   When I look back at some of the decisions I made when I was younger, I cringe. With age has come the ability to slow down and think things through before I make major upheavals in my life. I've also discovered that getting worked up about certain things is just an absolute waste of emotional energy. Benefit #2 - I'm enjoying my life.   As I've aged I've learned all kinds of skills and hobbies and can honestly say that I'm never, ever bored. I love all the different things I'm able to do and it's fun! Benefit #3 - I've learned to appreciate my relationships. With age I've learned to work on developing a...
Read more

Eating to Live

-
Image
  Despite the unexpected busyness and interruptions, I have been plugging away at my weight loss as well as writing the plant-based, whole food cookbook. Recipe testing fell by the wayside the past two weeks, but I've still gotten a good chunk of the book done. I also got on the scale this morning for another one pound loss which makes a total of 61 lbs. since I started this journey back in July. It's second nature at this point and I have so much more energy and feel healthy. The only negative is that because I've lost so much weight I'm seeing some sagging, crepe-papery skin happening. Yuck. Some of that is age and I need to figure out some toning exercises. It's definitely a life-style change, but a positive one which I'm so thankful I started on. The pictures above are a small selection of meals I've eaten the past two months and many of those will be included in the book.  This will be a printable e-book as I find that will be the easiest and most cost ...
Read more

When the Unexpected Pops Up

-
Image
On Thursday afternoon, just as Dan and I were getting ready to leave for a meeting, we received a phone call from our son. He was sitting on the side of the road with a blown engine in his car. The problem is he lives 3 1/2 hours away. After back and forth phone calls he called a tow truck and got it towed to a garage. He ended up renting a car and headed here for the holiday. We've been working with him to figure out his next steps because he still owes thousands of dollars on the car which will also take a significant amount to replace the engine. His rent is going up in the new year. His seasonal job ended and he is trying to find something else, but needs a car for that to happen. His car still has not been looked at by the mechanic. It is all more than a little overwhelming. Long story short, we extended an invitation for him to live here temporarily so he can get out from under all of this. It would save him money on expensive rent and utilities.  The timing was right since h...
Read more