“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m away chaperoning camp again this week. That means posts will be on a slightly different schedule and will run a bit shorter than the norm. And, instead of plunging ahead into the plagues in Exodus, we’re going to reflect together on some of what the kids are learning. The theme for the week is Beyond the Surface. All week they will be learning about how God sees beyond the surface of our lives into our hearts. Because of that, what kind of a heart should we have? Let’s dig in beyond the surface today.

This verse out of 1 Samuel is the theme verse for the week. The story is one that may be familiar. Samuel has been sent by God to anoint a new kind of Israel who will replace Saul on the throne. This was a dangerous calling for Samuel to receive because Saul’s character of insecurity and paranoia had already begun to show itself and he moved quickly to strike down any potential threats to his reign.

Samuel told God as much when He called him to go and anoint a new king. The chapter starts like this: “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.’ Samuel asked, ‘How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!’ The Lord answered, ‘Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’”

We could give those two verses their own day’s worth of attention someTime exploring the implications of God’s willingness to use deception to accomplish His plans when the situation called for keeping things clandestine, but that’ll have to be for another day. Ultimately, Samuel leaned into a lifetime of trust in the Lord and did what He commanded.

This task was difficult for Samuel, though, not just because of the dangerous nature of the task. It was difficult because of the fact that he was also the guy who had anointed Saul as Israel’s first king. To a certain extent, he took Saul’s failure as his own failure. In anointing a new king—even at God’s command—he was owning just how completely Saul had failed as a king.

Yet, when Samuel arrived at Jesse’s house and asked to see his sons, we discover that he hadn’t learned very much since the last time he anointed a king. Saul was the king the people wanted. They had asked for a king so they could be like everybody else. Their request was in large part a rejection of God. They had tried things His way and those leaders had proven to be very fallible. They wanted to try what all the other nations were doing because that seemed better to them. Because they wanted to be like everybody else, then, God gave them a king who looked like their ideal of a king. He was tall, handsome, and powerful. Saul looked the part on the outside. The people never looked beyond the surface. They didn’t care about that.

When Samuel asked to see Jesse’s sons, he wasn’t looking beyond the surface either. When Jesse brought in his first son, Eliab, Samuel was certain this must be the guy God wanted him to anoint as king. Why? Because he looked the part. He was tall and handsome and powerful looking. But he wasn’t the one God had chosen. God revealed that by saying what He did here in v. 7. God doesn’t look only on the outside. He sees beyond the surface to the heart. He was looking for a king with the right kind of heart. He wanted a king with a pure heart.

This lands for us in a couple of different places. One is an observation. One is a question. First the observation. God beyond the surface of your life. Whatever mask or costume you happen to be wearing to fool the people around you into thinking you’re one way when you are really a total other way doesn’t fool God. He sees straight through it. He knows what’s really going on in your heart and mind. He knows the dark secrets you keep so carefully hidden. He knows when you’re hurting. He knows when you’re broken. He knows when nothing is really wrong and when nothing is going right. He knows. All of it. You can’t hide from Him no matter how hard you try. So don’t try.

All of this leads us to the second thing which is the question. What is the most important thing about you? That’s a big question that could lead your mind in all sorts of different places, so let me just give you the answer. The most important thing about you is what God thinks about you. You may have been compiling a list with a variety of other things on it, but all of those come second (at best) to this first one. What God thinks about you matters most. After all, He’s the Lord of all creation, the Creator of all we see and don’t, and the author of life and death. In the final analysis, His thoughts about you aren’t merely the most important, they are literally the only thoughts that matter.

Now, combine these two things. God’s thoughts about you matter most and He knows you completely. He sees beyond the surface. That’s a terrifying thought at first. But then we run into this: God’s thoughts about us have already been made clear. We don’t have to wonder or worry. And what does God think about us? He told us: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” In short, God loves you. Period.

He sees beyond the surface and loves you anyway. He loves you because He is love. It is simply in His nature to love. His love for you is not rooted in anything about you, but rather in who He is. Any thought you might be tempted to harbor to the contrary isn’t simply wrong, it’s a lie. The truth is that God loves you. That truth won’t change either. Ever. Because He won’t change. This is good news indeed. That’s why it’s called the Gospel.