1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him… Judge not realities by appearances. Let me point out to you a most thriving and prosperous man, whose case will explain exactly what I mean. There is no question that in trade he is very successful. He drives into town every morning as well? Yes. And generally has a flower in his button hole? Yes. His name is seldom seen on a subscription list, and he makes but a poor figure amongst the charities which are popular in the circle in which he moves, he is called stingy and mean: people say sharp things about him when his back is turned. You saw him putting down five pounds just now, and you thought the figure looked shabby without a cypher at the end of it; but you don't know that last year be paid a thousand pounds of his father's debts, for his father, though an honourable man, had been ruined in business; nor do you know that only this morning, on which he gave the despised five pounds, he sent a cheque for fifty guineas to his two sisters, end that he sends them a cheque of the same value four times in the course of every year! nor do you know that he is paying for the education of two brothers, and that he is laying by what he can afford to give them a nice start when they are ready for business. Judge not, that ye be not judged! The Lord looketh on the heart! There is another side to this picture. Here is a fine dashing fellow, who is the charm of every circle into which he enters. A free-handed, genial, sparkling man. Many a ten-pound note he gives away; many a subscription list he nobly leads. Wherever he is known he is praised as a charitable man. Could you have heard as I have heard him, your feelings would undergo no trifling change. I have heard his words in secret, end seen his face when the true expression of the soul was upon it. "Why not lessen your expenses?" said a confidential friend. "Appearances," he sternly replied, "must be kept up. We must get money somehow. What securities have we in hand, we mortgage them, sell them, do what you like with them — only get me what money I want." He must keep the blacking on his boots and the nap on his hat, for if he fail in surface he will fail altogether. He is made up of surface. A pin point could scratch it off. So let him beware, for a touch may topple him over into his own place. Man has a heart life as well as a hand life. It is upon the heart life that God looks, and upon it that He pronounces His judgment. We cannot put all that is in our heart into our hand. God knows our advantages and disadvantages, and His judgment is the result of His omniscience. There was a sharp discussion the other day in a gentleman's kitchen. One speaker said to another, "I am ashamed of you; we ought not to be in the same house together; you are common and vulgar looking, besides being scratched and chipped all over. Look at me; there is not a flaw upon all my surface; my beauty is admired, my place in the house is a place of honour." The other speaker was not boisterous; there was no resentment in the tone of the reply: "It is true that you are very beautiful, and that I am very common, but that is not the only difference between us. See how you are cared for; you are protected by a glass shade; you are dusted with a brush made of the softest feathers; everybody in approaching you is warned of your delicacy. It is very different with me; whenever water is wanted I am taken to the well; when servants are done with me they almost fling me down; I am used for all kinds of work; and there never was a scullery maid in the house who did not think herself good enough to speak of me with contempt." It is so with men. Some of us live under glass shades; others of us are as vessels in common wear; but we could not change places; each must do his proper work, and each will have his appropriate reward. The Lord looketh on the heart! There are two gravestones in yonder churchyard which occasion a good deal of remark. You will be pleased to hear something about them. The first is considered a marvel of art. The marble and the granite of which it is composed are the purest that can be found, and what can exceed the brilliance of their polish? The stone tells you that it is put up to commemorate the life of the best of mothers. It was erected by her son, who resides in the chief mansion in the vicinity. He is proud of the stone. For nothing else is he known but for that stone He has never written his name on the holy roll of charity. No poor family would miss him were he to have a similar stone put above his own head. The other stone is modest, but really good. There is not one line of pretence about it. It, too, was put up by filial piety to commemorate motherly excellence You should hear how it is talked about by the man who owns the fine stone He says: "I am ashamed of such men! It is true enough that he was not very well off when his mother died. but look how he has got on since! Why, he must be worth some thousands a year. I wonder he is not ashamed of himself, to leg that thing stand there — he should take it up and put another in its place. I don't know how men can do such mean things." And having so said he walks towards his own stone, and heaves a sigh that has meaning in it. And how about that other son? Thus! He never allows a poor woman to go from his door without help. because her presence reminds him of what his own mother used to be in the days of her poverty, and never does he give the help without saying in his heart: "Sacred to the memory of my dear mother." He never sees a poor woman go along the road but he looks after her end says: "Once my mother was very much like that, and for her sake I must do something for this poor creature." It is in this way that he sets up his gravestones; in this way that he honours his mother, he says nothing about it. He writes epitaphs on hearts, not on stones; and though be is misjudged by man there is One who makes an imperishable record of his love — for the Lord looketh on the heart! 1. The Lord looketh on the heart, — This must be terrible news to a bad man. 2. The Lord looketh on the heart, — This is the joy of all men who live in truth. 3. The Lord looketh on the heart, — Then man's supreme concern should bear upon his spiritual life. Fool is he who filters the stream when he might purify the fountain. How is it with our hearts? (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. |
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