LIFE'S SURPRISES : THURSDAY 20

[cimi]

November 20
Thursday


LIFE'S SURPRISES

READ:
1 SAMUEL 16:1-7
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The Lord does not see
as man sees; for man
looks at the outward
appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart.
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No one watching Britain's Got Talent (a popular televised talent show) expected much when mobile phone salesman Paul Potts took the stage. The judges looked skeptically at one another when the nervous, unassuming, ordinary-looking chap announced he would sing opera__until Potts opened his mouth.

He began to sing Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" __and it was magical! The crowd roared and stood in amazement while the judges sat stunned in tearful silence. It was one of the greatest surprises any such television program has ever had, in large part because it came wrapped in such an ordinary package.

In the Old Testament, the rescuer of Israel arrived at the battlefield in a most unlikely form-a young shepherd boy (1 Sam. 17). King Saul and his entire army were surprised when David defeated Goliath and won the day. They needed to learn the way that God looks at people. He said to the prophet Samuel, "The LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (16:7).

If we judge others only by their outer appearance, we might miss the wonderful surprise of what's in their heart. __Bill Crowder
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````````````````````O Lord, we are so quick to judge,`````````````
```````````````````Though much is veiled from sight;``````````````
```````````````````Lord, may we see how just You are`````````````
`````````````````To guide us in what's right. __D. De Haan`````````
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It's what's in the heart that counts.

***************Today's Bible Reading __ 1 Samuel 16:1-7**********

1 Now the LORD said to
Samuel, "How long will
you mourn for Saul, seeing
I have rejected him from
reigning over Israel? Fill
your horn with oil, and go;
I am sending you to Jesse
the Bethlehemite. For I
have provided Myself a
king among his sons."

2 And Samuel said, "How
can I go? If Saul hears it, he
will kill me."

But the LORD said, "Take
a heifer with you, and say,
'I have come to sacrifice to
the LORD.' 3 Then invite
Jesse to the sacrifice, and I
will show you what you
shall do; you shall anoint
for Me the one I name to
you."

4 So Samuel did what the
LORD said, and went to
Bethlehem. And the elders
of the town trembled at his
coming, and said, "Do you
come peaceably?"

5 And he said, "Peaceably;
I have come to sacrifice to
the LORD. Sanctify
yourselves, and come with
me to the sacrifice." Then
he consecrated Jesse and
his sons, and invited them
to the sacrifice.

6 So it was, when they
came, that he looked at
Eliab and said, "Surely the
LORD's anointed is before
Him!"

7 But the LORD said to
Samuel, "Do not look at his
appearance or at his
physical stature, because I
have refused him. For the
LORD does not see as man
sees; for man looks at the
outward appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

When Thomas Aquinas began to attend classes at the University of
Paris, he seldom spoke up in class. His fellow students nicknamed him
"the dumb ox." But he excelled at study and eventually wrote great
works of theology. His classmates judged him outwardly and not by
what was within him. __Dennis Fisher