What God Looks At
1 Samuel 16:7
Hi everybody, it’s Pastor Dave. Thanks for joining us for another MyDailyChurch podcast. It’s Friday, January 29, 2021, and I thought I would go ahead and start a Bible study series for us on Fridays, maybe give you something to meditate on over the weekend.
Today, we’re going to start one of my favorite all-time Bible studies, the Life of David. I promise you you’re going to love it. So, grab a Bible if you can and something to make notes with. Remember you can always get more information, you can find out where to listen, all at MyDailyChurch.com.
The title of the message today in our first message of our Life of David series is, “What God Looks At.” Our key verse is 1 Samuel 16:7. And I want to start by thanking Alan Redpath and Chuck Swindoll for their biographies on the life of David. Both of those books have blessed me for twenty-plus years in study and in teaching the life of David. Thanks to those great men of God.
After Joshua conquered the land of Canaan, Israel began drifting away from the Lord almost immediately by the next generation. Eventually, they became oppressed or controlled by some of the nations that they were supposed to have completely run out of the land. And so, the Lord raised up leaders called Judges to deliver Israel from the nations that were oppressing them, or controlling them. Deborah, the only female judge, Gideon, Sampson, they’re all great judges and all raised up to deliver Israel from their oppressors.
The last of the Judges was the prophet, Samuel. And Samuel led Israel into the period of the Kings. And the first king who was demanded by the people was King Saul. And ultimately King Saul proved that he primarily served himself, like many kings today. And so, God rejected King Saul and God chose Israel’s second King.
And when God chose a king, he chose a man whose heart was after his own. And that was King David. And so, today, to start this series on the life of David, we want to just focus on what God looks at when he chooses a man or a woman that he can truly use. When God chose Israel’s greatest king, he chose him not because of his accomplishments, not because of his stature, his stage appearance, his social media influencer status. He chose him because of his heart. Because King David’s heart was fully and completely all in for God. King David’s heart chased after God’s own heart.
And so, King David holds this really unique place in the Bible. There is more written about King David in the Bible than any other person except Jesus Christ. Abraham gets fourteen chapters as the Father of the Faith. Joseph gets fourteen chapters – an incredible story of faithfulness and forgiveness. King David gets over sixty chapters. Plus he has over fifty nods in the New Testament, fifty references to him in the New Testament.
What this means is God wants you and I to know King David. But it’s not because David was some superhuman. It’s quite the contrary. It’s the exact opposite. King David was so much like you and me that it is shocking.
Listen, here’s the deal. Here’s what it boils down to. God chose an absolute nobody to make into Israel’s greatest king because he had one enduring life-long quality, and that was this. David had a heart that was relentlessly after God’s own heart. And guys, you and I are no different than David. We’re nobodies just like David was a nobody. But God can use us mightily if – if – we will allow him to fashion our hearts the way he fashioned David’s into a heart after his own.
So, let’s see what God looks at when he chooses a man after his own heart. Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could see as God sees? Wouldn’t it be incredible if we were able to see right through the surface impression of a person, right through that outer layer of put-on slickness or whatever, and look right into their very character? To look right into their heart? Guys, that’s what God does. And when God is looking for someone that he can truly use, God is looking at the heart.
And when the Lord sent Samuel to the house of Jesse, who was David’s father, to anoint the new King of Israel, Jesse brought out his eldest son and Samuel thought surely this is the Lord’s anointed. He brought out a good, strapping young man. And then in 1 Samuel 16:7, our key verse, underline it in your Bible and make notes, and date it.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT) says, 7 But 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.”
People, the world, American Idol, social media influencers and Instagrammers, and all the people that the world looks to, the end of verse 7 says this. People judge by outward appearance, and you and I know that’s true, but the Lord looks at the heart.
The truth is, that David’s father, Jesse didn’t even bring David to the house to meet Samuel. And so, that’s what David’s earthly father thought of him. And David’s brothers despised him (we’ll see that as we go on). And in fact, David was relegated to keeping the sheep, separated from the family. Talk about an outcast. He was out spending long, lonely nights with the sheep and with God.
But it didn’t matter how his family or anyone else saw him because God was looking at something different. God saw past everything that you and I would naturally base our choice on. God saw past all of that and he saw right into David’s heart, right to the core of his character.
Guys, it’s the world, it’s us. We chose people based primarily on external criteria. But God doesn’t work like us, he works opposite of the world, and God chooses people that he can truly use based on the purity of their heart and their heart being after his own heart. And that should give us great confidence. Great hope, that the life of David brings to us this truth that God can use us, no matter how we look, no matter how the world judges us, no matter if we’re an Instagram influencer or not, God can use any one of us who have the qualities that God is looking for because God is looking for the qualities of the heart.
And what’s more, God’s entire business is the transformation of the heart. By God’s supernatural rebirth, the born-again experience, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you and I can have our hearts transformed by the life of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Our hearts can be transformed into a heart after God’s own heart. We just have to be willing. We just have to chase after it, to run after God. To follow hard after the Lord.
Listen. Psalm 139:23-24. This about you being willing, you being a willing participant. You taking on your role here.
Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) says, 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
That’s a desire to have a heart after God’s. To have a heart aligned with God’s. Guys, David was nothing more than a teenage shepherd, hardly noticed by his own family. And God chose him, pulled him out of the sheepfold, and said, you’ve got the heart I’m looking for to lead the Nation of Israel. And that should encourage us.
In 1 Samuel 13, Saul (Israel’s first king) proves here that his heart is not after God’s own heart. That his heart is really after himself and his own concerns. And it’s the first time that Saul hears that God is going to take his kingdom from him.
1 Samuel 13:14 (NLT) says, (Samuel says to King Saul) 14 But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
A man who was after his own heart! Guys, God is not searching for a superman. Israel’s first King Saul (we’ll see when we meet him), he’s good-looking. He would make all the impressions in the world today, and God rejected him because God is not looking for a superman or a superwoman, God is looking for regular men and women like you and me who have hearts that are after his.
So, what does it mean? What does it mean to have a heart after God’s own heart? Well, having a heart after God’s own heart is having a heart, first of all, that’s chasing after God’s heart, that’s running after God’s heart, that’s pushing toward God’s heart, striving for God’s heart. Pressing in to know and to be in communion with God’s heart. And it’s a person whose heart is in harmony with God’s heart. Meaning what’s important to the Lord is important to you. And what burdens the Lord burdens you. It means that you have a heart that is sensitive to, that is aligned with the things of God.
Just make this note in 2 Chronicles 16:9.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT) says, 9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him… Guys, that’s not what the world is searching for, that’s what the Lord is searching for. So, if you want to impress the world, that’s another avenue. If you want to impress the Lord, he’s looking for a heart that is fully committed to him, that is sold out and all in, all the way for all the time committed to the heart of God. A person who is truly chasing after God’s heart, and a person whose heart is fully committed to God.
So, listen. How did God train David to have a heart after his own? We know that David had a heart after God, but we also know that David was trained to have a heart after God. And so, we need to say, God, how did you train David, because that’s how I want to be trained. (Be careful what you ask for.) What was God’s press like? (Like the three-phase olive press.) What was his press, what was his training ground to create in David a heart after his own heart?
Well, Chuck Swindoll lists four areas where David was trained by God. (Thank you to Chuck Swindoll for these).
Number one, David was trained in solitude. Guys, David was trained in solitude. That’s where God trains and that’s where he first trains us. Away from the limelight, alone with God. That’s where we begin our training. Many, many nights David sat in solitude with the sheep and with God’s creation as his teacher. And with his acoustic guitar, his lyre as he worshipped the Lord and as he wrote the Psalms. In that place, alone with God, is where God first trained David. And I’m sure it’s where David learned to worship and to have his life driven by worshipping God. First, our training starts alone with God.
Number two, God trained David in obscurity. David was faithful in the little things. The unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and unapplauded things, in the relentless demands of obscurity, is where God built David’s character. And, guys, it’s the same for us today. It’s the same today as it was when God trained David. God first trains us in obscurity. He trains us there to rightly prepare us for any type of recognition we may have later on (which we know is the most dangerous thing to our flesh – if we don’t know it, we should).
Number three, God trained David in monotony. David learned to be faithful in insignificant little tasks, not just in obscurity, but in monotony – in the menial, routine, unexciting, uneventful daily tasks. That’s where God trained David, and that’s where God trains us. It’s only by serving in obscurity and in monotony that we see who we really are serving and why we’re serving him. Right? That’s where your true colors show, in solitude, and obscurity, and monotony. That’s where you know if you’re really serving the Lord or not.
Number four, God trained David in reality. And God wants to train you in your reality right now. Right where you’re at today in the reality of your life today, that’s where God wants to train you. God trained David in the daily reality of being a shepherd. We would compare it maybe to the daily grind of being at home and caring for small children, and just that same grind every day, loving on your kids. Or the daily grind of paying the bills, showing up on time, and working hard as unto the Lord, in order to provide financially, and then going home and providing the spiritual nourishment for your family. It’s every day. Every day. And that’s where our training comes. It’s in real-world assignments that God gives us, that he trains us.
Here's our final question. Do we recognize the training and shaping of God? When we find ourselves in solitude, in obscurity, and monotony, and reality, do we wake up in the morning and say, “Man, I’m being trained and shaped by God!”? In the solitude, and obscurity, and monotony and reality? No. That’s the truth. No, we don’t. But we need to. We need to say, “God. You’re training me just like Israel’s greatest King. You’re training me the same way you trained King David.” Because these are the training grounds of a man or a woman after God’s own heart.
The true test of our heart for God is in the seemingly insignificant things and that is where God is preparing us.
And so, finally, remember this. Alan Redpath says, “The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment. The manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.”
Guys, God will prepare and he will train your heart right where you’re at. And he will use you in his great plan and purpose for his Kingdom if you’re heart will be trained to be after his heart, to follow hard after God’s heart. To align your heart with God’s. Your heart to be in communion with God’s heart. Guys, God is looking for faithful hearts, today, in the same way as he was in the days of David. The good news – the best news – is that God will create that heart in us if we are willing and dedicated and obedient to him. He will create in us a heart that is after his.
Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) (again) 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Today, we’re going to start one of my favorite all-time Bible studies, the Life of David. I promise you you’re going to love it. So, grab a Bible if you can and something to make notes with. Remember you can always get more information, you can find out where to listen, all at MyDailyChurch.com.
The title of the message today in our first message of our Life of David series is, “What God Looks At.” Our key verse is 1 Samuel 16:7. And I want to start by thanking Alan Redpath and Chuck Swindoll for their biographies on the life of David. Both of those books have blessed me for twenty-plus years in study and in teaching the life of David. Thanks to those great men of God.
After Joshua conquered the land of Canaan, Israel began drifting away from the Lord almost immediately by the next generation. Eventually, they became oppressed or controlled by some of the nations that they were supposed to have completely run out of the land. And so, the Lord raised up leaders called Judges to deliver Israel from the nations that were oppressing them, or controlling them. Deborah, the only female judge, Gideon, Sampson, they’re all great judges and all raised up to deliver Israel from their oppressors.
The last of the Judges was the prophet, Samuel. And Samuel led Israel into the period of the Kings. And the first king who was demanded by the people was King Saul. And ultimately King Saul proved that he primarily served himself, like many kings today. And so, God rejected King Saul and God chose Israel’s second King.
And when God chose a king, he chose a man whose heart was after his own. And that was King David. And so, today, to start this series on the life of David, we want to just focus on what God looks at when he chooses a man or a woman that he can truly use. When God chose Israel’s greatest king, he chose him not because of his accomplishments, not because of his stature, his stage appearance, his social media influencer status. He chose him because of his heart. Because King David’s heart was fully and completely all in for God. King David’s heart chased after God’s own heart.
And so, King David holds this really unique place in the Bible. There is more written about King David in the Bible than any other person except Jesus Christ. Abraham gets fourteen chapters as the Father of the Faith. Joseph gets fourteen chapters – an incredible story of faithfulness and forgiveness. King David gets over sixty chapters. Plus he has over fifty nods in the New Testament, fifty references to him in the New Testament.
What this means is God wants you and I to know King David. But it’s not because David was some superhuman. It’s quite the contrary. It’s the exact opposite. King David was so much like you and me that it is shocking.
Listen, here’s the deal. Here’s what it boils down to. God chose an absolute nobody to make into Israel’s greatest king because he had one enduring life-long quality, and that was this. David had a heart that was relentlessly after God’s own heart. And guys, you and I are no different than David. We’re nobodies just like David was a nobody. But God can use us mightily if – if – we will allow him to fashion our hearts the way he fashioned David’s into a heart after his own.
So, let’s see what God looks at when he chooses a man after his own heart. Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could see as God sees? Wouldn’t it be incredible if we were able to see right through the surface impression of a person, right through that outer layer of put-on slickness or whatever, and look right into their very character? To look right into their heart? Guys, that’s what God does. And when God is looking for someone that he can truly use, God is looking at the heart.
And when the Lord sent Samuel to the house of Jesse, who was David’s father, to anoint the new King of Israel, Jesse brought out his eldest son and Samuel thought surely this is the Lord’s anointed. He brought out a good, strapping young man. And then in 1 Samuel 16:7, our key verse, underline it in your Bible and make notes, and date it.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT) says, 7 But 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.”
People, the world, American Idol, social media influencers and Instagrammers, and all the people that the world looks to, the end of verse 7 says this. People judge by outward appearance, and you and I know that’s true, but the Lord looks at the heart.
The truth is, that David’s father, Jesse didn’t even bring David to the house to meet Samuel. And so, that’s what David’s earthly father thought of him. And David’s brothers despised him (we’ll see that as we go on). And in fact, David was relegated to keeping the sheep, separated from the family. Talk about an outcast. He was out spending long, lonely nights with the sheep and with God.
But it didn’t matter how his family or anyone else saw him because God was looking at something different. God saw past everything that you and I would naturally base our choice on. God saw past all of that and he saw right into David’s heart, right to the core of his character.
Guys, it’s the world, it’s us. We chose people based primarily on external criteria. But God doesn’t work like us, he works opposite of the world, and God chooses people that he can truly use based on the purity of their heart and their heart being after his own heart. And that should give us great confidence. Great hope, that the life of David brings to us this truth that God can use us, no matter how we look, no matter how the world judges us, no matter if we’re an Instagram influencer or not, God can use any one of us who have the qualities that God is looking for because God is looking for the qualities of the heart.
And what’s more, God’s entire business is the transformation of the heart. By God’s supernatural rebirth, the born-again experience, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you and I can have our hearts transformed by the life of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Our hearts can be transformed into a heart after God’s own heart. We just have to be willing. We just have to chase after it, to run after God. To follow hard after the Lord.
Listen. Psalm 139:23-24. This about you being willing, you being a willing participant. You taking on your role here.
Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) says, 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
That’s a desire to have a heart after God’s. To have a heart aligned with God’s. Guys, David was nothing more than a teenage shepherd, hardly noticed by his own family. And God chose him, pulled him out of the sheepfold, and said, you’ve got the heart I’m looking for to lead the Nation of Israel. And that should encourage us.
In 1 Samuel 13, Saul (Israel’s first king) proves here that his heart is not after God’s own heart. That his heart is really after himself and his own concerns. And it’s the first time that Saul hears that God is going to take his kingdom from him.
1 Samuel 13:14 (NLT) says, (Samuel says to King Saul) 14 But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
A man who was after his own heart! Guys, God is not searching for a superman. Israel’s first King Saul (we’ll see when we meet him), he’s good-looking. He would make all the impressions in the world today, and God rejected him because God is not looking for a superman or a superwoman, God is looking for regular men and women like you and me who have hearts that are after his.
So, what does it mean? What does it mean to have a heart after God’s own heart? Well, having a heart after God’s own heart is having a heart, first of all, that’s chasing after God’s heart, that’s running after God’s heart, that’s pushing toward God’s heart, striving for God’s heart. Pressing in to know and to be in communion with God’s heart. And it’s a person whose heart is in harmony with God’s heart. Meaning what’s important to the Lord is important to you. And what burdens the Lord burdens you. It means that you have a heart that is sensitive to, that is aligned with the things of God.
Just make this note in 2 Chronicles 16:9.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT) says, 9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him… Guys, that’s not what the world is searching for, that’s what the Lord is searching for. So, if you want to impress the world, that’s another avenue. If you want to impress the Lord, he’s looking for a heart that is fully committed to him, that is sold out and all in, all the way for all the time committed to the heart of God. A person who is truly chasing after God’s heart, and a person whose heart is fully committed to God.
So, listen. How did God train David to have a heart after his own? We know that David had a heart after God, but we also know that David was trained to have a heart after God. And so, we need to say, God, how did you train David, because that’s how I want to be trained. (Be careful what you ask for.) What was God’s press like? (Like the three-phase olive press.) What was his press, what was his training ground to create in David a heart after his own heart?
Well, Chuck Swindoll lists four areas where David was trained by God. (Thank you to Chuck Swindoll for these).
Number one, David was trained in solitude. Guys, David was trained in solitude. That’s where God trains and that’s where he first trains us. Away from the limelight, alone with God. That’s where we begin our training. Many, many nights David sat in solitude with the sheep and with God’s creation as his teacher. And with his acoustic guitar, his lyre as he worshipped the Lord and as he wrote the Psalms. In that place, alone with God, is where God first trained David. And I’m sure it’s where David learned to worship and to have his life driven by worshipping God. First, our training starts alone with God.
Number two, God trained David in obscurity. David was faithful in the little things. The unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and unapplauded things, in the relentless demands of obscurity, is where God built David’s character. And, guys, it’s the same for us today. It’s the same today as it was when God trained David. God first trains us in obscurity. He trains us there to rightly prepare us for any type of recognition we may have later on (which we know is the most dangerous thing to our flesh – if we don’t know it, we should).
Number three, God trained David in monotony. David learned to be faithful in insignificant little tasks, not just in obscurity, but in monotony – in the menial, routine, unexciting, uneventful daily tasks. That’s where God trained David, and that’s where God trains us. It’s only by serving in obscurity and in monotony that we see who we really are serving and why we’re serving him. Right? That’s where your true colors show, in solitude, and obscurity, and monotony. That’s where you know if you’re really serving the Lord or not.
Number four, God trained David in reality. And God wants to train you in your reality right now. Right where you’re at today in the reality of your life today, that’s where God wants to train you. God trained David in the daily reality of being a shepherd. We would compare it maybe to the daily grind of being at home and caring for small children, and just that same grind every day, loving on your kids. Or the daily grind of paying the bills, showing up on time, and working hard as unto the Lord, in order to provide financially, and then going home and providing the spiritual nourishment for your family. It’s every day. Every day. And that’s where our training comes. It’s in real-world assignments that God gives us, that he trains us.
Here's our final question. Do we recognize the training and shaping of God? When we find ourselves in solitude, in obscurity, and monotony, and reality, do we wake up in the morning and say, “Man, I’m being trained and shaped by God!”? In the solitude, and obscurity, and monotony and reality? No. That’s the truth. No, we don’t. But we need to. We need to say, “God. You’re training me just like Israel’s greatest King. You’re training me the same way you trained King David.” Because these are the training grounds of a man or a woman after God’s own heart.
The true test of our heart for God is in the seemingly insignificant things and that is where God is preparing us.
And so, finally, remember this. Alan Redpath says, “The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment. The manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.”
Guys, God will prepare and he will train your heart right where you’re at. And he will use you in his great plan and purpose for his Kingdom if you’re heart will be trained to be after his heart, to follow hard after God’s heart. To align your heart with God’s. Your heart to be in communion with God’s heart. Guys, God is looking for faithful hearts, today, in the same way as he was in the days of David. The good news – the best news – is that God will create that heart in us if we are willing and dedicated and obedient to him. He will create in us a heart that is after his.
Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) (again) 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.