The Lord Looks at the Heart: An Analogy

Twice a month, the ladies from my church and a few others get together for a Zoom Bible study. This week, a precious sister in Christ shared her testimony about how God was with her during a recent ordeal with her health. Then another sister, who had just been through a trial herself, shared a touching analogy. It was about the Bradford pear tree on her property, and it was a great reminder that while people tend to look at outward appearances, the Lord looks at the heart.

The Verse in Context

“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.’”

1 Samuel 16:7

When the Lord sent Samuel to the sons of Jesse, He sent him to find a king. One by one, big, strapping men were paraded by the prophet, and one by one the Lord rejected them all. In the process, God reminded Samuel that it wasn’t about looks or build. It was about the heart, and the first seven brothers were not the Lord’s choice to rule His people. Finally, Samuel asked if Jesse had any more sons, and David was called in from the field. It seems that the Lord had picked the least likely candidate, the youngest son who hadn’t even been invited to meet the prophet at all. But God had seen something inside David that no one else had. He was a man after the Lord’s own heart.

The Bradford Pear Tree

Sister Renae brought the analogy. She has recently been fighting a great battle with breast cancer and has just completed six weeks of radiation therapy. The day after it was over, she and her seventeen-year-old daughter decided to go for a walk. As they went, they were admiring a beautiful tree on their property that was just beginning to bloom, a lovely Bradford pear tree. Sister Renae said it was just glorious and stood out from all the other trees around. But just then her daughter asked her to wait a minute. She ran to the tree, broke off a little piece, and brought it back to her mother. Then she asked her to smell it.

Sister Renae said it was possibly the most hideous thing she has ever smelled. In fact, while blooming, the Bradford pear tree’s aroma has been described as “rotting fish, urine, and baby poop.” At first, Sister Renae was confused. (“Why did you give me that?”) Then her daughter explained.

The Analogy

She said that so many times when she was with her mother at the radiation treatments, people would come in and seem like everything was fine. Like the beautiful blooming flowers, they were smiling and seemed to be going on about their lives. But as soon as she started to talk to them about the Lord, they began to break down and cry. Then the reality of the terrible stench of hurt on the inside was revealed. Just by looking at them, you could never tell which ones might be ready to give their lives to the Lord.

Then Sister Renae shared something else. She said that sometimes it is hard for her to “climb her way out of the self-pity party” that she might be having that day and look to others to say, “How are you doing? How are you dealing with this situation?” Then, to listen to their stories and try to be an encouragement to them. But, she said that as soon as she would follow the leading of the Lord to encourage someone else, amazingly enough, she would be encouraged herself and experience feelings of relief and peace.

The Lord Looks at the Heart.

Like Bradford pear trees, what you see on people’s outside is not necessarily what is going on inside. People can put on smiles and breeze through life like everything is great, but only the Lord really knows the condition of their hearts. That’s why it’s so important for us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must get out of our own heads and make ourselves available to others, no matter what we might be going through at the time. Our witness may bring others to Christ and be just the encouragement we, ourselves, need to carry on.

If you like analogies about plants, try Beware of Spiritual Mistletoe: An Analogy. Or, try Waiting to Bloom: Christians Are Like Century Plants. Please sign up to receive my blog in your email. Also, check out my YouTube Channel, where I read the blogs out loud. I also have a playlist of hymns from my church. For Scripture memorization through music, visit The KJV Rocks, featuring word-for-word KJV Scripture songs. Sing them until you know them by heart!