Introduction. (I Samuel 16:1-13) In this beautiful account of the anointing of king David we are touched by a few elements:
A. By outward appearances someone else seemed suitable to be king.
B. Samuel learns that appearance alone is not a true gauge of someone’s character.
C. God evaluates the heart of man.
D. God sees differently than man does.
     I don’t fly much. During my recent trip to lectures at Florida College, my parent’s used some frequent flyer miles and I was able to fly down to Florida. On the trip to and from Tampa I was fascinated by the view from the window.
-- First just like view from tall building
-- human beings are the first things that pass out of sight
-- cars become small dots floating on the thin lines that become highways
-- buildings become little boxes that litter the landscape
-- fields and forests become a quilted checkerboard of patterns and colors
-- the only evidence of the recent icestorm was a thin lace of white that trimmed the edge of each section of the quilt pattern.
     I thought about this a great deal and it occurred to me that to a small degree this illustrated how much different God’s view of things spiritually must be from our own. This evening I’d like for us to consider together how we can “see things as God sees.”

I. God Sees Time Differently.

1. Time is not as long as it seems. (II Peter 3:8,9) When a plane gets to a certain altitude it is amazing to note that it hardly seems that you are moving at all. A trip that would take 24 hours in a car passes in a little over two hours.
2. Our lives are very short. (James 4:13-15)

     When I was in high school I was in a few plays. The stagecrew builds a set for the backdrop as carefully constructed as the interior of a house. Yet, when the play was over the set was torn apart. In the same way we see our world as permanent -- to God it is a temporary backdrop for a limited time.

1. This world is temporary. (II Corinthians 4:17,18)
2. The world is passing away. (I Corinthians 7:29-31) KJV “fashion” Gr. schema = English scheme -- (I John 2:16,17)

1. Troubles are not as significant as we may see them. When I left on the trip for the lectures I was overwhelmed by the icestorm. Our power out had been out until the night before, trees were down all over the house. Yet as we took off in the plane you couldn’t even see evidence of the storm. -- Our problems are small in the whole scheme of things. (II Corinthians 12:7-9)
2. Troubles are not setbacks but opportunities for growth. (James 1:2-4; Romans 5:1-5) Another thing which was evident when viewed from the plane -- there are millions of other people with the same problems.

1. Man is small in the universe. (Psalm 8:3,4; Psalm 144:3,4) As small as we are -- God has considered us.
2. God has valued us over other parts of creation. (Hebrews 2:1-16)
3. God sees souls that need salvation. (James 2:1-5; Acts 10:34,35)

     As you fly occasionally you feel times when the plane begins to shake -- they call it turbulence -- it is wind pockets of “rough air” -- You can’t see it, but it is very important to the safety of the flight.
     What God asks us to avoid what He asks us not to leave off often may not make sense to us. We fail to see the importance of it but God sees and understands (like turbulance) how dangerous it is to our eternal security.

1. Sin leads to death. (Romans 6:23)
2. As sinners God loved us. (Romans 5:6-10)