God Looks At The Heart
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 1 Samuel 16:7.
Human beings have a big problem. We judge people based on appearance. We look at that person with the gold ring and goodly apparel, and we invite him to come up higher. But the poor man in the vile raiment has no voice, no matter how wise the counsel he has to offer (see James 2: 1-3) We look at people and form opinions, and often we are far off.
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone,
and slang it, and smote the Philistine (Goliath) in the forehead...So
David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and slew him;
but there was no sword in the hand of David 1 Samuel 17: 49-50. If we had
been a spectator that day, there is no way we would have picked David to win
that battle. Goliath was a giant, and David was a runt. Goliath was a champion
at beating up on people. And David? Well, he played a mean ukulele. So when the
two met on the battlefield, the majority picked Goliath to win. But the majority
was wrong.
Everyone was afraid of Goliath. He was big and vicious, and his rough taunting voice terrorized the entire Israelite army. But when David saw him, he wasn’t impressed. No matter how big and powerful the giant was, David knew his God was greater. And when you know that you have the greater one backing you up, you can speak with boldness and confidence.
The fight between David and Goliath took place on a battlefield. Goliath was almost ten feet tall. He made Shaq look like a midget. He was covered with 200 lbs of taylor-made armor. The head of his spear weighed twenty-five pounds. For over a month he had been coming out morning and evening daring anyone to fight him.
That’s the way giants do. They come back over and over again with their intimidation. They do things and say things to worry and pressure us. It may be a person close to you, an illness or a financial dilemma. If it comes back over and over again, and it’s troubling and distressful to you, you are dealing with a giant.
God has a plan on how to take care of the giant. While Goliath was presumptuously chanting his threats, about ten miles away in Bethlehem was a teenager named David. He was in the field keeping his father’s sheep. He was too young to fight in the army, and really didn’t know anything that was going on. All he knew was that his brothers were in the army.
One day, David’s father sent him on an errand. He had no intention of getting involved in a fight. His job was to take his brothers some refreshments and make sure they were all right. That morning, the sun rose on David and it rose on Goliath. There was nothing out of the ordinary; no warning lights; no angelic announcement. But this day was David’s beginning and Goliath’s end.
David did exactly what his father told him to do. But when he got there, he heard Goliath’s words and saw the fear of the army. He was shocked. The army had been listening to those words for 41 days, yet in one day, David said, "This isn’t right".
Notice in 1 Samuel 17:8, Goliath said, "Let him come down to me." But in verse 25, the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man that is come up?" That giant had crossed the valley and was coming up Israel’s side. If you tolerate the devil long enough, he will take over your camp. He will have you talking about him when you should be talking about God. You cannot co-exist with the devil.
King Saul tried to make David think that he was interested in him. But I doubt it. All he wanted was somebody to go and fight. Out of all the negative things that Saul said (see verses 32, 33), David didn’t pick up on any of it. When you know God, you don’t think like others think. You see problems differently. You handle stress differently. When others faint in despair, you are reaching your cruising speed. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword...For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 8:35, 38-39.
When David remembered how God delivered him from the bear and the lion, he was encouraged to face Goliath. All Goliath ever fought was scared little men. He always had the advantage. He had never been proved. Too often we remember our failures, weaknesses and shortcomings. When facing giants, we need to remember our victories.
Saul tried to give David his armor, but David refused it. Just because it worked for you doesn’t guarantee that it will work for me. We try to copy someone else and end up getting shipwrecked. I thank God for your testimony, but I need my own testimony. God can use me just like He can use the greatest preachers. But He needs me to be me.
When the moment came, David stood there with that sling it his hand; His strength wasn’t in his eloquence, good looks or brilliance. It was in the faith he had in the power of God to deliver.
It we walk in faith and trust God, God will give us the victory. The odds may be stacked against us. We may not have anyone cheering us on. When we look up, all we may see are the angry eyes of a bloodthirsty giant intent on taking us out. That is the time when God will step in, and give us strength to succeed.
By: Edmund Brown