Psalm 139:1-16

The truth to be found in the text is that God knows us inside out.  Unlike man who quickly sees the outward, God looks upon the heart (I Samuel 16:7). Often we are captured by the immediate, the outward, or we might say the surface.  It is very common for there to be more than meets the eye. 

Near our home there is some pretty good trout fishing on the Little Red River.  The water is clear and the you can see deeply if you look deeply.  The first time I was there our guide said, “See the trout”? and I saw nothing. I was missing the fish swimming down deep as my eye trained on the surface.  Suddenly, I saw movement in the water but I had to adjust my depth perception.  Sure enough there were fish in the lower parts of the river shallows.  I needed to look deeper than the surface.

Immaturity or ignorance both tend to look on the surface.  How many times do we have misunderstandings because all we do is scan the surface of a person?  We fail to look deeper at the heart, the soul, and the mind.  How often do we label a person ugly only to find they are quite an engaging and attractive person inside?  If we look deeper than just the smile we might see or hear in that same voice a burden.  Occasionally I will hear a word fade off some ones lips that they wanted to say but hoped no one really heard.  That quick word told of an inner burden.  If we looked deeper than the rebellion we probably would see a hurting heart.  If we could look deeper than the critical spirit we might find a person with low self-esteem lacking self-worth. 

Many things are not as they first appear.  The same is true about people.  Be careful not to judge things by first appearances.  Look deeper than the surface.  Over time you will be able to see past the façade and into the soul.  That is what God sees and maybe is waiting on me to join Him there in reaching a soul.

Just a thought.