I’m not much of a reality television fan, but one video from a few years ago recently caught my attention. The year was 2009, and a middle-aged Scottish woman was about to audition for a talent show in the United Kingdom, to sing her prepared song before a sold-out auditorium. She was not exceptionally attractive, plainly dressed, no extensive make-up job or hair design. Before she even had a chance to sing, she was prejudged, evident by the mocking expressions and sneers observed as the camera scanned the audience. It was a forgone conclusions that this woman was going to be a dud! But then, Susan Magdalane Boyles sang the opening notes of I Dreamed a Dream, and that singer from a remote, rural Scottish village skyrocketed to international fame. This plain Jane stunned her audience with her captivating vocal talents, causing those skeptical folks to rise to their feet within seconds of the first note. That was without a doubt the biggest surprise I have had in years…we were all being very cynical…that’s the biggest wake-up call ever! Those responses from the judges of the audition epitomized what results when a faulty prejudgment is made by outward appearance only, and to be completely honest, that trap is one in which it is very easy to become ensnared.
King Saul was on the warpath, driven by his raging jealousy of a young shepherd boy named David. One fact was becoming painfully obvious, “the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul” due to his overt disobedience to the commands of God, while that humble lad, David, had “found favour in my (God’s) sight.” After David’s monumental victory over Goliath and the Philistine army, the inhabitants of Jerusalem gathered in the streets to sing songs of praise, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” David was to be the object of the accolades of the Hebrew nation and the king could not bear that reality, it was the last straw. “Saul was very wroth,” and he “eyed David from that day forward,” pursuing him relentlessly with thoughts of eliminating this young champion.
David fled from the presence of Saul, eventually escaping “to the cave Adullam.” Soon some strange outcasts would join his team. They certainly were not prime candidates for the formation of a mighty army, for they were the ones “in distress…and in debt, and every one that was discontented.” As these misfits “gathered themselves with him,” David did not prejudge this mishmash of outsiders, he took them into his fold, and eventually those men would become David’s brave band of warriors, his mighty men of valor.
How often am I guilty of judging on appearance, apparel, or affluence? How many times have I brushed by someone in a store and formed my opinion of them without even striking up a conversation? Thankfully, the Lord does not see as we see, for we are prone to look on that outward appearance, “but the LORD looketh on the heart.” May God help me to see others as Christ would see them, through His loving eyes, the eyes of the One Who died for them. And who knows, perhaps someone that I view as too unworthy could be that special someone God wants to enlist in His army, become one of His mighty men. If He had enough mercy and grace to accept me, no one is beyond His loving reach.
I Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Let me see the world through the eyes of Jesus, Let me hear the voice of the people lost in sin. Let me feel the touch of the hurting reaching out for hope, Let me see the world, through the eyes of Christ! Ron Hamilton