Unopened Books
June 2021 — Grace & Truth Magazine
Unopened Books
Today I was looking at a book catalog and making a list of books that interested me. I soon discovered that the ones I listed had interesting covers, while the others were boring or plain looking. It reminded me that it is hard not to judge a book by its cover. Then I thought of the many books that had impacted my life. Almost all had simple covers. Wow! Imagine if I had not opened those books simply because the cover did not appeal to me.
God brought to my mind the words He gave to Samuel: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7 NKJV). As I thought about this verse I looked out the tiny window in my door and set my eyes on brother Pablo: the scar on his cheek, his heavily tattooed body, his three gunshot wounds and his slick shaved head. This man’s appearance screams, “Back off!”
When I first stepped behind these walls I learned I could not judge anyone by the way he looked. The meanest looking guy could be the nicest, and the most saintly in appearance might just be a devil, so to speak. When I first met Pablo, I put away my fear, stuck out my right hand and said, “Welcome to this yard. May the Lord bless you.”
He let out a loud laugh, looked at me and said, “Sorry brother, but I am a hugger; a handshake is not enough.” Then he squeezed my fears out of me.
Many of the believers in this prison have very rough and hard-cover appearances, but the truth is they are the best books I have ever read. Unfortunately, most of these men go unread and unopened because their appearances are not appealing to the eye.
God had sent his prophet Samuel to Bethlehem, to the home of Jesse, saying, “I have provided Myself a king among his sons” (v.1). When Jesse’s son Eliab came before Samuel’s eyes, the prophet said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” (v.6). Samuel was never more wrong. The LORD said, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature ... For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (v.7).
One by one, Jesse’s sons appeared before Samuel, but none was the man chosen by God to be His king. Samuel inquired of Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” (v.11). Jesse informed Samuel that the youngest was tending the sheep. The young shepherd, David, as we know, had been chosen by God to be king. Surely, we see that God’s standards are inward.
We recall that God is omniscient. That means He knows everything. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place” (Prov. 15:3). “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether” (Ps. 139:1-4).
God knows a man’s heart, his inner thoughts and motives as well as his actions. Think about Jeremiah 17:10, which says, “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind.” “God knows your hearts” (Lk. 16:15).
He knows everything – inside and out – about David, Pablo and each one of us. He created and sustains us for His purposes. We are part of the plan God has made, “who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11)!
“He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” —Isaiah 53:2-3 NKJV
“Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’” —John 1:45-46
These verses speak of the One, ordinary in appearance and despised, about whom it is written: “‘They shall call His name ‘Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Mt. 1:23). Let us worship Him!