Acceptance

The Lord Looks on the Heart

1 Samuel 16:6–7 (GW)

6 When they came, he saw Eliab and thought, “Certainly, here in the Lord’s presence is his anointed king.”

7 But the Lord told Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart.”

Acceptance: the action or process of being received as adequate or suitable, typically to be admitted into a group

(David’s Secret Anointing)

6–10. The eldest son, Eliab, impresses Samuel as a suitable candidate, but his appearance is deceptive, as Saul’s had been.

1 Chronicles 28:9 GW

9 “And you, my son Solomon, learn to know your father’s God. Serve the Lord wholeheartedly and willingly because he searches every heart and understands every thought ⌊we have⌋. If you dedicate your life to serving him, he will accept you. But if you abandon him, he will reject you from then on.

The Lord sees not as man sees becomes an important maxim which illuminated the prophetic vision of the servant of the Lord, ‘marred beyond human semblance’, ‘despised and rejected by men’ but declared to be supremely great according to Isaiah.

Isaiah 52:14 GW

14 Many will be shocked by him. His appearance will be so disfigured that he won’t look like any other man. His looks will be so disfigured that he will hardly look like a human.

Isaiah 53:3 GW

3 He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn’t consider him to be worth anything.

A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: 1 & 2 Samuel (Exegetical and Critical)

The difference is sharply stated between the divine thoughts and human judgment according to human standards. The voice of God inwardly teaches Samuel two things:

1) In respect of Eliab’s person, he is not too infer from his imposing exterior that he was the chosen of the Lord.

With this humbling correction, which connects itself with vers. 1, 2, he is taught a general truth.

2) Respecting the difference between divine and human modes of thought and judgment:

Not what man sees—but what does “sees the Lord.”

This ellipsis is not so hard as to require us to suppose (Then.) that these words have fallen out of the text. The thought naturally fills itself out from what precedes. The ground of the truth, that human judgment and divine judgment are not the same but different, is now declared.—

For man looks on the eyes, but the Lord looks on the heart,

that is, man judges according to the outward appearance,—the expression “the eyes” is not to be exchanged for “countenance,” but to be retained as signifying the outward appearance, which concentrates itself in the eyes, in contrast with the heart or the center of the inner life, whence springs man’s will and his whole spiritual frame. Not according to the agreeable appearance which commends itself to the eyes, but according to the moral worth hidden in the depths of the heart, according to the disposition of soul that pleases Him does the Lord judge, who proveth the heart and the reins.*

Points

1. I believe every adult has found themselves at one point in life wanting to be accepted by a person, or a family, or a group or a company or an employer or a mother-father in-law. even a church..

whats interesting is the length some of us have been willing to go to be accepted.

Hey I am not knocking your hustle..

But some times we break our neck to prove to someone we deserve to be in the club and they could care less

what great lengths folks will go And join a golf club, motor cycle club, Ladies with big hat club, HE man’s haters club just to be accepted.

2. And what about us who haven’t gone to those great lengths because we have imprisoned ourselves with i could never be accepted because,

i am didn’t graduate from the right school

i am too old

I am too fat

I am too tall

i am to dark

i am too light

they won’t accept me because i am gay..

Because i am divorced

Because i am a former drug addict

3. David wasn’t accepted by his father or his brothers because the rumor was his mother had an affair and David was the conceived from that.

Psalm 51:5 AMP

5 Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].

Could you image being blamed for the sin your parents possible committed.

So His brothers didn’t treat him like a step child, they treated him like a bastard..

Deuteronomy 23:2 AV

2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Zechariah 9:6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

Hebrews 12:8 AV

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

If the scriptures are true than, David couldn’t have been a bastard child..

He wouldn’t have been allowed in the House Of God.. And 10 generations of his Children as well.

Bastards can’t stand being corrected. And David has had several episodes where Prophets brought correction to him and he never did it again…

Conclusion:

But yet he is unloved, unliked & unaccepted by those he loves dearly..

I am not sure if you realize this but God seems to always be on the side of the underdog.

Or the black sheep, or the one that folks counted out… The Most likely to not succeed..

But can i tell you its not up to man its up too God…

While most will focus on your faults & failures.. God focus is on your future succession.. What great thing will you leave behind for your Solomon..

You Might not be able to do it all, so having someone to take on where you left off and help build Gods Kingdom.. That’s succession

Tell me What do you see when you look at your self? Do You see what God sees? or what folks have told you are.. Are You Ready To Accept what God Says?

10 things that God say I am

1. Blessed

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 ESV

2. Loved

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV

Jeremiah 31:3 ESV

3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

1 John 4:16 ESV

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Tell Your Neighbor, God Loves You!!!!

So accept that....

3. Courageous

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

4. Redeemed

But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24 ESV

5. Free

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Romans 6:6 ESV

6. Beautiful

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14 ESV

8. Heir

So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God. Galatians 4:7 ESV

9. Chosen

For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. Ephesians 1:4 ESV

10. Forgiven

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7 ESV