“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’
-1 Samuel 16:7
Oh, what an amazing line, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” God sees differently than we see, which means we need help to see as God sees. We have a perspective that is totally different than God’s.
God, we want our hearts to be pleasing to you.
The Shepherd of Our Hearts
The whole picture here in 1 Samuel 16:7 is Samuel thinking, “Okay, the next king of Israel is going to look like this or that.” And God says, “You’re missing the whole point. I see the heart, and that’s what matters most.” So as you think about that reality, it changes the way you view the world around you and everyone in it. Right? This changes my parenting when I look at my kids and I think about that great title of that great book, Shepherding a Child’s Heart.
God, I want to see their heart as you see their heart and has shepherded their hearts well. And then to see other family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, to see beyond the outward appearance, to see their hearts, to see the hearts of people. And even in all of this to realize God sees my heart and I want a heart that is pleasing and glorifying to Him. So, so many different directions we can pray based on 1 Samuel 16:7. Let’s just go for it.
1 Samuel 16:7 Desires God to Purify Our Hearts
God, we know you see our hearts right now. You see what is true about my heart, our hearts. God, we want our hearts to be pleasing to you. Purify our hearts, we pray. Humble our hearts, soften our hearts, make our hearts like yours, we pray. God make us as we prayed in previous podcast episodes through 1 Samuel.
Make us men and women after your heart and give us your heart for others, we pray and help us to see others as you see them. God, help us not to see that outward appearance or this or that, according to the way the world sees. Father, help us to see hearts, to love hearts, to shepherd hearts, to lead hearts to know you. God, we pray that you would give us your eyesight, your perspective that we might see as you see and live accordingly.
1 Samuel 16:7 Prays for God’s Heart to Aid in Reaching the Unreached
We pray that you would help us to point others’ hearts toward you. God, even as we think about, we pray all the time on this podcast for different people groups, and many of the Muslim people groups, and even as we’ve prayed for the Pashtun of Afghanistan, or other people groups where there are pictures of terrorist groups represented in those people groups. God, help us to see hearts, we pray. Help us to see as you see and God to have compassion like Matthew 9 describes your compassion, Lord Jesus, for those around us, for those without you.
God give us your heart for the lost around us. Lord, give us your heart for unreached people in the world. God give us your heart for the people who live right around us, even in our homes. God help us to live with your heart and to look upon others as you look upon them in their hearts. We pray this in Jesus’ name. According to your Word in 1 Samuel 16:7, change the way we view people around us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
