Day 2: God sees what we can't

We see behaviour. God sees hearts, all of them, including ours.

When we are disappointed with the church, we are reacting to what we can see: what people say, how they spend their time, how they treat each other. That is real, and it matters.

But there is a limit to it. We only ever see the fruit. God sees the root. He knows the person who looks faithful and is far away, and He knows the person who looks like nothing much and is quietly His.

That cuts two ways, and today’s story shows both. It means God sees the emptiness that bothers you more clearly than you do. And it means He sees your heart too, not just your opinions about everyone else’s.

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Check in

This is where you will look back at yesterday. For today, just notice how you are coming into this.

Anything you want to note before you start?

An honest prayer

Pray this as it is, or in your own words.

Lord, You see what I cannot see in other people, and what I would rather not see in myself. Teach me to look the way You look.

Read

1 Samuel 16:1-13 (OTB)

¹The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself from among his sons.” ²But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I indicate to you.” ⁴So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” ⁵He said, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. ⁶As they arrived, he observed Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before Him.” ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” ⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. But he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹Next Jesse made Shammah pass by. But he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ¹⁰So Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the boys?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is tending the sheep.” So Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” ¹²So he sent for him and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” ¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and from that day onward, the Spirit of the Lord was powerfully with David. And Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

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Listen to the reading

Read it twice

Retell it

Put what you just read into your own words, as if you were telling a friend.

Three questions

What does this say about God?
What does this say about people?
If this is true, what would I do today?

Today, I will

One specific thing you will do today because of what you read.One person you could tell what you read today

One line

Where might God have been in my day?

Scripture quotations are from the Open Translation Bible (OTB), used under CC BY-SA 4.0.