INSIDE OUT
Pencils may be out-of-style today, but as metaphors, they provide image-rich illustrations for understanding how God thinks and what He sees in us.
Imagine there is an assortment of pencils sitting in a pencil holder. Some are new, some have seen better days, some long, some shorter, some with darker lead than others, some branded, others are plain. If you need to pick one from the bunch to write an important note – which would you choose? Or does it really matter?
Seriously, the pencil is not just a piece of wood or a hollow barrel. The lead inside determines the quality of the pencil and the quantity of output it is capable of.
When we judge by what we see
Let’s draw some lessons from 1 Samuel 16:6-13 where the prophet Samuel was sent by God on a clandestine operation to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the king of Israel to replace the existing King Saul. According to God’s plan, his time was up.
Jesse had many sons and David was the youngest among his more accomplished and impressive siblings. As common in every family, there is a model child; and Abinadab was presented as a showpiece. When he was rejected, his father, Jesse, pulled out another feather in his cap that was Shimea who was also rejected by God. Meanwhile, another brother Eliab, a poster boy of kingship, also caught the prophet’s eye.
By birth order, life experience, and physical attributes, David didn’t make the cut to Jesse’s list of ‘Top Sons’ to appear before Samuel.
Imagine being left out of the family line-up to be shown off to an esteemed visitor. Imagine being thought of only as a caregiver for the family’s sheep and goats, and who occasionally got sent out on food delivery errands to dangerous battlefields where his brothers were groomed to become valiant warriors. Imagine being eliminated even before you had a chance because no one thought you were up to snuff.
It is the Lord who chooses, not man.
Scripture tells us that Samuel was rather taken with Eliab. He likely made small talk with him to get a quick assessment of his ability to think on his feet and respond with diplomacy. And he likely concluded that he had found the man for the job until God swiftly interjected his reverie:
“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.”
Yes, God can ‘hear’ our thinking, and He responds in very real conversations with us without anyone knowing what’s going on inside our minds! Think about how your gender, age, marital status, and education have led you to take certain paths or make certain decisions in the different stages of your life. At the same time, consider how you have also disqualified yourself from other opportunities because you didn’t think you fit the bill or had what it took, so you wrote them off to avoid humiliation.
We also know that people judge us by how we present ourselves in public and on paper. But while our resumes describe our education and work experience, they don’t reveal how we think, how we relate with others, resolve conflicts and solve problems. During an interview, we put in the effort to impress an audience and give them what they want to see and hear. A candidate who puts in a good performance will check all the boxes and increase the likelihood of snagging the job.
But when God is involved in the process of qualifying us for His purposes, the decision matrix changes because He favors those whose hearts are true to Him, regardless of their strengths and shortcomings, now or in the future.
In the same way, God knew the heart of young David. Although he would commit missteps and moral indiscretions later, his heart was always true to God, the Father. How do we know this? David penned numerous psalms (prayers and poems) where he bared his heart to God, and they have been replayed more than any hit songs over generations. Whether he felt cheated, conflicted, confused, or convicted, David kept his heart tender, transparent, and vulnerable before God who sees, knows, and hears everything. It was a heart that stayed intimately connected to God no matter what life threw at him, and this steadfastness drew God’s attention.
When Jesse’s sons paraded before Samuel, God was scanning the room for “a man after his own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Just like how our mobile devices scan for trusted connection networks, God’s Spirit scans our hearts to detect trustworthiness in our connection with Him.
Pencil In Time for Connection With God
Perhaps you feel that you are just going about the routine and the mundane like David when he was out in the fields tending needy and dependent sheep and goats. And you think it is unlikely that God will have important conversations with you in that place of ordinariness.
Or perhaps you have done everything that any responsible adult could possibly do to sustain your present and secure your future, but you are not making any headway and things are so slow-moving that you wonder if God has checked out and forgot to tell you about it.
We want you to know that God has not forgotten you. Beyond anything that you do, He wants your undivided heart in the relationship because your connection to Him is important not only for your well-being, but also for the well-being of the family He sets you in, and for the people, He sends into your life.
Inside out, He will begin to outline His purpose in your daily existence, in your short-term plans and long-term picture. Faint traces will begin to appear that gradually turn into bolder outlines as you turn your heart to Him and let Him in.
