Many times over the years, I've witnessed those who “judged” someone. Not knowing the person, or have known them for years, they make a statement about this person without knowing the full story.
For background purposes, Israel had been given from God what they wanted; a king, like surrounding nations. Samuel had anointed Saul as king of Israel. King Saul disobeyed the Lord. In the scripture for today, Samuel is to anoint a new king in place of Saul. According to the Lord's instructions, he had gone to anoint a new king in this particular household.
When the first son was introduced to Samuel, he looked at the young man and thought to himself this would be the king which the Lord wanted to be anointed. He was tall, good-looking, and muscular. You know how it is; you see someone to hire and you think the person will be perfect for your company. Yet he/she turns out to be the worst employee. That's because you couldn't see inside the person. You asked a bunch of questions, they answered them just right, and they're hired.
But there's a catch. Samuel was ready to anoint this guy when the Lord said no. He told Samuel the young man wasn't who he wanted to be king over Israel. After talking to all the sons this man had available, none of them were the right one to be king. After asking, it turned out this man had one more son. The youngest, and he was out in the field watching the sheep.
They brought this young man to Samuel. His name was David. This was the one the Lord wanted Samuel to anoint. Now here's the catch I mentioned earlier. The Lord was looking at the heart of each man who was brought to Samuel. Now we don't know what was wrong, but the Lord rejected them. In later scripture, we find that David was a man after God's own heart.
He was human, and he failed many times. But he listened to God. When God rebuked him for doing something wrong, he was quick to repent. He went through a lot of trials before becoming king of Israel. Even though King Saul had been rejected, he still remained on the throne until his death.
The point is we should never speak quickly and judge someone. Only God has that privilege. As a pastor once taught me, we can be fruit inspectors. We can look and see what their lives as a Christian produces, but we can't say whether or not they are Christian. We can't look at a picture or person and know what kind of Christian they are. Only God can look at the heart of man.
I'm including myself cause I have the tendency to be judgmental. But I ask the Lord to forgive me and simply pray for that person. That's what all of us should do. Instead of talking about that person, let's pray the Lord will meet each need in the heart and life of that person.
No comments:
Post a Comment