The other day while my family and I were in the doctor’s office waiting, Allie (our 5 year old daughter) started to get bored. We had been waiting for a bit in a small room without anything to do. So my wife, Erin, pointed to the magazine rack and asked Allie if she wanted to read a magazine. Allie then looked at the magazine rack and the first thing she saw was a food magazine with a pickle on the cover. The moment she saw it she shrugged her shoulders and said (with a whiney voice) “I don’t want to look at a pickle magazine!” She thought the entire magazine was composed with pictures of pickles. We all laughed and reassured her that the magazine was not just about pickles! I don’t think she believed us.
Allie did something at the doctor’s office we all do at times in life…we make a judgment about things based on the outward appearance. In the old school term we “Judge a book by its cover.” We are all guilty of looking at situations in our life and making a judgement based on what we can see. We look at the outside circumstances and decide what will happen based on the appearance. We do this when we see obstacles in front of us and think, “I’ll never make it pass these.” We do it when our bank account is depleting and we don’t see a way out. We say things like, “There is no way we are going to get the money we need.” Basically we cast a judgment based on what we see. When things look bad we throw our hands up and start thinking toxic thoughts of failure and defeat.
God has a totally different way of looking at things though. The Bible teaches us that we don’t have to live based on the appearance of things, after all appearances are deceptive kind of like the pickle magazine! What we see may not be what is really happening behind the scenes. I love this story about Samuel when he went to anoint the new king of Israel…
1 Samuel 16
16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
David was the least likely to get anointed as king, but God does not work like what we are made to think. We are made to judge a book based on its cover. We would have judged David as unfit to be king like his family did. David’s father Jesse didn’t even put David in the line up for a chance to be anointed. God does not work based on appearance He works based on His will. God has a way of taking the unlikeliest people to do the most unlikeliest things, in the most unlikeliest ways.
Whatever you are going through right now in your life know that God is working behind the scenes even when you don’t see it. Your future is not dependent on what you see, it is dependent upon God’s plans for your life. Take the time and energy you spend worrying about situations and start using it to pray and declare God’s plans for your life! Don’t be discouraged by what your physical eyes see, be encouraged by your spiritual vision seeing God’s power at work! Don’t focus on the problems, focus on God’s provision.
2 Corinthians 5:7
For we live by faith, not by sight.
Don’t get in a pickled predicament (like Allie) and judge something based on the appearance. Believe Big…Speak Life…And Live Faithful
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