BoldGrace

God Looks At Our Heart!

1 Sam 16:1-7

And the Lord  said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord  said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord . And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. And Samuel did that which the Lord  spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord : sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord ’s anointed is before him. But the Lord  said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord  seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord  looketh on the heart.

In the above scritures we see something quite wonderful about our God of Perfect Love.  God was about to choose a new King for Israel and He made it quite clear to Samuel that He made His choice by looking on the heart of David, not on his outer appearance.

Now as we think about that in hind sight, just what did God see?  We know that David would later become an adulterer, murderer, liar, thief, and well I think you get the picture.  We know that God knew in advance the terrible mistakes that David would make in his performance as a human in the flesh, but God also knew that David wanted desperately to be in touch with what God could see was in his heart.   In the next set of scriptures we see David speaking about his failings and in his words we also see what God saw all along……..a heart that longed to be pure. 

Ps 51:1-10  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.  Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.  Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

God did not have to give David a new spirit.  David’s spirit (just like ours) only needs RE-NEWING.  Even David’s view of God was tarnished by his own fear of God.  All of us have been just where David was, gripped by fear of what our life has added up to.  None of us have bragging rights before God and yet none of us have any need to be afraid of Him.  We all can approach Him with a perfect confidence, not because of what we have done, but because of His UNFAILING LOVE. Paul makes this very clear:

Like Paul, I feel compelled to share what is this fellowship of the mystery.  We are all partakers of this mystery and our fellowship together is not and has never been based on us but rather on the FAITH OF HIM.  It is a faith that sees past our terrible choices in this flesh and reveals to each of us the beauty of what God created in our hearts from the very beginning.

Anyone who comes to this site and sets themselves up as separte because they think they have the answers have completely missed the point of where our confidence lies.  The whole point of the hidden mystery was that mankind NEVER got IT!  Jesus DID GET IT and He didn’t ask for help.  It was because of his one act of obedience that righteousness has fallen upon us ALL.

I now get up each new day with a burning desire to see what God has always seen…….THE BEAUTY OF WHAT WAS MADE IN HIS IMAGE (US).

Eph 3:7-12 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.