God Looks at the Heart

Seven brothers parade before Samuel — each impressive, each bypassed. Then comes the eighth son, the one nobody thought to call in from the fields. And the LORD says: this is the one. David's anointing begins with a principle that runs through his entire story and through the entirety of Scripture: God's selection criteria are different from ours. He is not uninterested in skill and capacity — David was both a skilled musician and a formidable warrior. But the foundation of his selection was his heart. What characterized David's heart? It was a heart oriented toward God. Passionate, worshipful, repentant, dependent. A heart that ran back to God even when it had run far away. This is what you are being shaped toward too. Not a perfect heart, but a directed one — turned toward God as its constant reference point.