This week week’s theme is “Don’t Judge by Appearance.”

In my middle school, kids would regularly forget to bring their gym clothes to school. I don’t know how

gym works now; it’s probably an app. I once forgot my gym clothes the day after a decree that

henceforth, any kid who forgot his clothes had to sit in isolated timeout.

Our timeout area was an upturned wooden scorer’s table in the corner of the gym. That day a kid

named Steve and I got banished to folding chairs behind the scorer’s table. Probably because we were

the first to receive the new punishment, the teacher forgot we were there. And there we sat while our

classmates finished class, got dressed, and went to lunch without us.

We knew the teacher would have wanted us to remind him we were back there, but in a passive

aggressive ploy of tween revenge, we stayed quiet until the class returned. We got our “revenge” in the

form of a private cafeteria lunch seating and a note explaining why we were late to our next class. We

were proud of our scheming, but deep down it hurt that the teacher forgot all about us.

When Samuel was seeking a future king, he saw Eliab and was impressed, but Eliab was quickly

dismissed and forgotten.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected

him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

(1 Samuel 16:7 HCSB)

The Lord rejected Eliab. And then he rejected Abinadab. And next it was Shammah’s turn:

Then Jesse presented Shammah but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” (1 Samuel

16:9 HCSB)

Similar results followed when Samuel saw other brothers, until finally he (and God) got to David.

Rejection hurts, but the hard truth is that sometimes what we want is something God wants for

somebody else. While this passage is mostly about the anointing of David as a future king, the following

chapter mentions that Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah were with Saul on the battlefield. They got

rejected for King, but they still had service to offer.

Feeling overlooked? God hasn’t forgotten you.

“For I know the plans I have for you” - this is the LORD’s declaration – “plans for your welfare, not for

disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen

to you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-12 HCSB)

By Mark Stuart

Mark is the husband of Laura, father of Shelby and Jacob, and father-in-law of Bailey.