What Do You See?
I have learned that there are two types of people on this earth: cleaners and hoarders. The cleaners are forever finding things in the house that should be thrown away and hoarders are forever rescuing things from the trash heap to save and cherish. The interesting thing about life is that God usually marries a hoarder to a cleaner and vice versa. Dad is a hoarder … and Mom is a cleaner. Mom has struggled all her life to reduce the clutter in our home by throwing things away. Dad, on the other hand, believes that some day we will use each of the things that Mom wants to throw away, so he has carefully stored them away somewhere in our home. He has a hook… nail… or screw for every possible use man can conceive. He has his own tools… and all the tools he has collected along life’s highway. He has every book that has ever crossed his path …at least, the ones he has been able to save from Mom’s inclination to give them away… or throw them away. He has National Geographic magazines that date back to 1923… all of which have, by the way, been around the world at least once. He has balls of twine… bundles of twist-ties … bags of rubber bands… boxes of various papers… bubble wrap… and Styrofoam peanuts … scotch tape… strapping tape… duct tape… packing tape… small boxes… medium boxes … large boxes… storage boxes… filing boxes… single-use boxes – like the box for the telephone or the bathroom fan – and oddly-shaped boxes that even he has forgotten what they were originally used for. Dad can see the beauty in that one odd screw… a beauty that totally escapes my mother and me.
Now, I think that I have a world-class book collection. At last count, there were 65 boxes of books in storage… not bad for half a century of collecting! When I finally move into my office here and my home on Rose Drive, I know I will discover books that I never knew I owned … as well as books that I have purchased twice, because I wasn’t sure that I purchased them the first time. But, when it comes to anything other than books, my Dad’s collections far out-strip mine. He has the ability to see the beauty… the usefulness… the value… of every object on this earth.
I am convinced that God is a hoarder. Why? Because, apart from that one time when God lost his cool and flooded the earth to wipe out every living thing except Noah and his family, God has kept almost everything that might otherwise be considered useless. Who else could see the value of a gnat… or a platypus? And, when it comes to humans, God is a collector par excellence! God kept Moses, even though he stuttered. God kept Jonah, even though he tried to run away. God kept David, even after he committed adultery and murder. God kept Peter, even after he denied knowing Jesus. God kept Paul, even after he sent hundreds of Christians to the Coliseum. And God has kept you… and me… even though we have… many, many, many times… ignored God’s pleas… rejected God’s love… or refused to follow where Jesus leads us. So, I am convinced that God is a hoarder. The question is, why is God a hoarder?
Well, there are lots of answers to that question, but I am only going to propose two for you to think about today. The first answer is this: God is the creator of all things… and all that God created was created good… therefore, all that God created deserves to be saved. Now, I will agree with what some of you are thinking at this point and say out loud that some of the things that we as humans have created might not be as valuable… but what God created was created good and deserves to be saved.
We have made some strides in this country to preserve and protect our natural environment. Perhaps some of that was done for selfish motives, but most of us who make an effort to preserve our natural resources do so because we truly want our children… and their children… to have a better quality of life. I am not sure how many of us do this because we believe that God gave us dominion over the rest of creation… and with that, the responsibility to hold it in trust… to preserve it… to use its resources wisely as Christians. We have been given great power over the wonders that God has created and with that power comes some awesome responsibility.
But let’s just focus today on one particular aspect of God’s creation… and that is humankind. God created us… all of us… all people… good. And there is not one among us who… for that reason alone… does not deserve to be saved. Wasn’t that the message in the story of the Good Samaritan… that all men are our brothers… that each person is our neighbor… and we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourself? Think for a moment. Is there any person that you saw this week… either in person… or on the news… that you thought did not deserve to live? Or, if they did deserve to live… did not deserve to live in this country… in this city… or next door to you? What hideously horrible thing did they do? What took that person beyond the edge of redemption? Was it the way that they looked… the way they were dressed… the truck they drove… the faith they profess… what? And what do you think that God thinks… when God looks at that person?
Which leads me to my second answer. Why do I believe God is a hoarder? My second answer is simply this: God sees and knows what we can never see or know. Let’s take a look at this from Samuel’s perspective first. Samuel was the prophet who, on God’s command, anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel. In 1 Samuel 9:2, we are told that Saul was a handsome man who stood head and shoulders above the men around him. In our text for today, God ordered Samuel to fill his horn with oil and go where he was sent, saying that God had “seen” a king “for myself” in the sons of Jesse. Now this word “seen” is an interesting one. We have several options for translating the word “seen” from Hebrew. Did God simply “see,” or did God “look at,” or “have a vision,” or “receive a revelation,” or “observe”… “watch”… “discern”… “distinguish”… “inspect”… “consider”… or “gaze at with interest, apprehension, kindness, pleasure, or joy?” The given translation for this word is “select”… in other words, “to look at something with the purpose of choosing.” So God has selected… has chosen... a king for himself form among the sons of Jesse.
Well, when God ordered Samuel to go out to find this second king for the Israelites, Samuel naturally assumed that God had “seen” another tall, handsome man… like Saul... one who looked like a king. And, one of Jesse’s sons, Elihab, fit the bill. Samuel, in fact, was very pleased with Elihab’s appearance and thought that he would be the Lord’s anointed. Instead, God chided Samuel, telling him not to look at this man’s outward appearance, because God had rejected Elihab as the future king of Israel. God continued, explaining to Samuel that the Lord does not “see” what humans “see.” For humans “see” as their eyes see… in other words, we see the outward appearance or visible form… while the Lord “sees” as the heart sees.
In Hebrew culture, the heart was the seat of wisdom and discernment. So, if God saw with the heart, then God saw with wisdom and discernment. If God could see David’s heart, God could see David’s wisdom and discernment… things that Samuel could not see.
God’s perception of human beings is not the same as our perception. God can “see” … or observe, discern, distinguish, and consider… things that we, as humans, have much more difficulty “seeing” – if we are able to see them at all – because God is able to “see” with the heart… into the heart. So, the very human Samuel is simply not able to “see” these sons of Jesse as God sees them. He does not know them as God knows them… and he never will. Thus, Samuel is unable to choose the correct son of Jesse to be God’s king for Israel… simply by looking at him. Samuel’s only recourse is to listen to God and to obey.
What do you see? What do you see? Can you see with the heart of God… with the wisdom and discernment of God? How many times have we misjudged people because we were only looking at their outward appearance… or some other piece of tangible evidence? How many of us have jumped to a quick conclusion about the person standing in front of us in line at the cashier at Wal-Mart or HEB because of what we saw in their shopping cart? How many of us have made a snap judgment about a young person… or about their parents… because of the way that they were dressed? Conversely, how many of us have made a snap judgment about an older person because of the way that they were dressed? How quick we are to judge others! When will we learn to look at others the way that God looks at them… as beloved children… cherished beyond belief? A sloppily-dressed child of God… a hurt child of God… an angry child of God… a rebellious child of God… a poor child of God… a defiant child of God… a lost child of God, perhaps… but none the less a child of God? When will we learn to see with the heart… rather than with our eyes?
God is a hoarder. God saves everyone… or tries to. That is why the verse in the third chapter of John reads, “For God so loved the world…” Not just you. Not just me. The world! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.” Everyone! Not just the beautiful… not just the handsome … not just those who have a job… not just those who look like us… not just those who tuck in their shirttails… not just those who eat the right foods… not just those whose trucks don’t belch blue smoke… but everyone. When you look around Stephenville… around this church… what do you see? And, if God is a hoarder, who are we to be cleaners? Are we so into “reducing the clutter” of life that we reject anyone who does not fit our ideal of what a Christian should look like? When we will look at others in the way that God looks at them… the way God looks at us… with love… with compassion… from the heart? Be a hoarder! Especially a hoarder of people! Amen.