6When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” 7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Today we are looking at (a fictional) Samuel’s diary entry based on 1 Samuel 16:6–7 above
Dear Diary,
Today was a day of revelation and humility! I was sent by the Lord to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, with a secret mission to anoint a new king for Israel. The situation was not ideal since the day at Mount Carmel when I parted ways with King Saul due to his disobedience to the Lord. Saul has been keeping an eye on me, but I will avoid his suspicion and follow my normal route of ministry.
As I prepared the heifer for the sacrifice and invited Jesse and his sons to the consecration, my mind wandered back to the day I anointed Saul, a man who stood head and shoulders above the rest, literally. I remember being awestruck by his stature and his kingly appearance. But today, the Lord reminded me of a valuable lesson.
As Jesse’s sons passed before me, I found myself looking for a man of similar stature to Saul. Eliab, the eldest, was tall and handsome, and I thought surely he was the Lord’s chosen. But the Lord’s voice was clear, “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.”
I was humbled. I had allowed my past first assessment of Saul to cloud my judgment, to make assumptions about who God would choose. I had forgotten that God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts.
Then David, the youngest, walked in fresh from the fields. He was not what I expected, yet the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” As I poured the oil over David’s head, I felt a profound sense of astonishment. God had chosen this young and unassuming shepherd boy to be king.
I am amazed because the Lord said that He would choose a man after His own heart to be king. But what special quality does this boy possess? Nothing! Perhaps this is what Moses meant in Deuteronomy, “The Lord did not set His affection on us and choose us because we were more numerous than other people, for we are the fewest of all people, but it was because the Lord loved us that He redeemed you from the land of slavery. He loved us because He loves us, nothing else!”
Today, I learned that our past experiences with God, while valuable, should not dictate our expectations of Him. God is not confined by our limited understanding or assumptions. He continually surprises us, challenges us, and calls us to deeper obedience and faith.
As I reflect on today’s events, I am left with the question: How does my past experience with God affect my assumptions about Him? How can I ensure that these experiences guide me, yet not blind me to His surprising and unconventional ways?
Yours in reflection,
Samuel
Think about your own experience and answer this, “How does my past experience with God affect my assumptions about Him? How can I avoid being blinded by my own assumptions and stay open to God’s surprising ways?”
[Do you know?] 1 Samuel 7:15-17 said that Samuel went every year in circuit through the designated cities. 1 Samuel 9:2 said that Saul was literally “a head taller than everyone else”.
Wow! What a great reminder! As what I remember as a child I would go to Catholic Church on Christmas and I was always in the back because I went there because that’s the only time my mom would go. I knew there was a God but I use to think was did my parents always leave me alone to go gamble which lead me to hang around the wrong crowd of people which lead me to really dark places. From what I remember I was stuck in a living hell for a very long time from what I remember. The day I fully surrender myself and cried out to God please save me, I didn’t want to live that way anymore of shame, guilt, and despair. Something just happened where as long as let God into my life and accept him. God works in mysterious ways, in times, we least expect, because the Lord loved us that He redeemed you from the land of slavery and pulls us into his kingdom into the light. I’m so grateful for the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father. I’m so grateful for the amazing relationships I have with my kids who are my life. I’m so grateful the relationship I have with my sister and family and I’m so grateful for the amazing community I have in Gods kingdom. I pray today that God continually surprises us, challenges us, and calls us to deeper obedience and faith. I pray that he would guide me through whatever gets put in front of my way to do his will, not mine. Happy Tuesday everyone 💕🙏🏻
My past experiences with God have undoubtedly strengthened my wholehearted trust in Him. He has shown me immense grace and has answered my requests when I needed Him most. Even during times when I had strayed from His path, He lovingly and graciously drew me back to Him. Reflecting on the blessings I’ve received through my relationship with Him, I can clearly see how He works in wondrous and mysterious ways. I always maintain an open mind and heart towards Him, recognizing that I cannot fully comprehend all of His ways.
Along the same lines as many of you have shared, one assumption I had about God when I first became a Christian was trying to be good enough. As I grew in my understanding of Him and in my relationship with Him, I learned that His steadfast love for me is not based on what I can do. His love will be the constant source of my motivation to grow. It’s not about what I can do; it’s about what He has done for me and will continue to do through me. It’s His goodness that covers my multitude of sins. It’s His goodness that renews me to become more like Him.
(from Roger)
Good morning all. It’s Roger again. Thanks for the shares from yesterday. I find this mornings questions a little difficult to answer but I will do my best. I have very little to no experience with god. I did not grow up believing in religion or any particular god. If there was any religion that interested me, it was Buddhism. So as far as how my experience affected my assumptions, I would say that I didn’t really believe god cared abt those that didn’t worship him. And I attributed many of my life’s hardships to this fact. Because I didn’t give him praise, he did not care abt me and allowed me to try and navigate through life as best I could. However the older I get the more I realize I don’t know as much as I once thought I did. And life is abt learning and experiencing new things and new ways of living. In order to not be clouded by my preconceptions, I will do the same thing as I have done in early recovery. I will listen to others testimony and watch their walk and how they carry themselves. Words can always be manipulated but actions cannot. While I didn’t believe I could ever get clean or ever go even a single day without using drugs, I found fellowship in others who I listened to and heard their story. They shared my story. They shared experiences that made me realize that I wasn’t alone and that others felt the same way as me and then I watched their walk. They were indeed clean. I will take this same approach to Christianity and god and belief in him. I will seek counsel from those old in faith and ask questions because I truly am an inquisitive soul. I will pray and ask for the openness and willingness to hear the message each of u share just as I do when other addicts share. Make it a great day. Thanks guys.
I think past experiences have let me see how good and just God is. I want things to happen in my life and I ask God sometimes, but he directs me to the path he wants me to go and it ends up being better for me or it shows me a valuable lesson I needed taught in that stage of my life. I think ways to avoid being blinded is by constantly remembering that God’s will will be done so sometimes in life just gotta be open to all possibilties and how the lord can lead you into each and everyone of them.
For most of my life ive lived a somewhat boring life without major events that would drastically shape me and transform me (like the typical testimonies you’d hear about how God’s transformed someone while they were addicted or through prison) so my view on who and what the Lord has always been positive. I sometimes wish I had more struggles and tribulations so I could say God has revealed Himself to me in more ways than I could count, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, I need to lift praise to God for providing me such loving and understanding parents, parents that support and walk with me daily and love me literally unconditionally. Highest praise to the Lord our God who is my Savior and Protector and Deliverer in times of needs, wants, or even unreasonable asks. I will surely use my positive experiences of how Christ is as an a constant reminder of His faithfulness and providence in all aspects of my life.
From sister Becky
I used to think whenever bad things happened to me, I take it as God’s punishment for me or that i’m not on God’s good list. I would always questioned God, “ what did i do wrong for this to happen to me?” I used to assume God was a punishing God and always here to reprimand us whenever we sin or not having our daily devotions & prayers with Him. However, over the years of learning more about Him and praying to God about these things and my questioning of Him.. God revealed to me that the bad i see in my life is bad in my eyes but in God’s eyes it has to happen for His Glory and for the good to come out of it for me. It was His ways to teach me to trust Him and His plan is not to harm me (Jeremiah 29:11). I’ve witnessed too many trials in my life that I look back after each trial and only better things come out from it in the end. If it wasn’t those trials i wouldn’t experience the blessings that came out of it. So even if I were to foresee those trials now.. would i wish to go through those trials again and i would say definitely because more goodness and blessings came out of it then if it didn’t occur. God has an interesting way to bring about blessings in your life that seems like punishment but it ain’t that way at all only if we meditate with God and ask for His revelation then we’ll see the goodness that came out of it.
i’m not sure if what i’m writing is relating to the bible passage today but these thoughts came to me after reading the passage.
In my previous experience, when I was in Japan and in my school dorm, I did not believe in God, much less have the opportunity to know Him. But that changed when I came to Jenney and Bumble’s house a year ago. They help people. They love people. I’ve been blessed to have seen that up close. I’ve been known how they are helping people. And I have become convinced that God is helping us.
My past experiences with God could range from being good and bad. For one, the Lord has blessed me a lot in the past, which helps grow my bond and faith; however, when God sometimes does not answer a prayer or has other plans for me, I end up assuming that what God wants for me was wrong or the God is ignoring me. To avoid being blinded by my own assumptions, I can let God take control of my life, no matter what. I also could acknowledge that God does not ignore what I have to say, and that he has a plan for me.