LORD SEETH NOT AS MAN SEETH !
And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:3-4.
This instance is a perfect example how God sees people. A leper is not outwardly healthy and good looking and therefore we do not give them respect. Our respect towards others is for their outward appearance. This happens even in our churches today. In the churches of God there should not be any partiality in respecting the believers. But this leper is great within. He has certain good qualities and the Lord has seen them. He has showed His love by touching this leper. Cannot our Lord, who created the heavens and the earth just by His word, heal this leper by saying a word? Is there any necessity in touching this leper? His touch denotes His love. A leper is considered to be unclean but still God has touched him. Why? Our Lord loves our hearts but not our appearances. His wounds of leprosy cannot stop God in touching this leper. God has no partiality. He never cares what and how you are in outward appearance. He sees your heart and he seeks only a pure heart that worships him. The Bible says the only thing that God wants from you and me is our heart. My son, give me thine heart, Proverbs 23:26.
The attitude of a man towards others’ is simply looking outward and thereby guesses their character. In this regard, even God servants and god fearing people also may make wrong guess at others. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. 1 Samuel 16:6. Prophet Samuel saw Eliab, he thought within himself that God’ anointed was before him. He made this guess just by looking outward appearance. As it is written –thou understandest my thought afar off. Psalms 139:2, God had known the thoughts of Samuel and immediately told him that his guess was wrong by saying – But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him : for the Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.1 Samuel 16:7.
In this connection, the word of God also advises the members of church not to show partiality and discrimination in the churches. Read this verse-My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment ; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place ; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool : are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts ? James 2:2. What is our basis to respect others in the congregation? Is it their gay clothing or goodly apparel? Is it their richness or gold? If so, are we not partial and becoming judges? We need to look other’s inward beauty as the Lord has seen in the above said leper.
Look at the inward beauty of this man which pleased the Lord:
(a) He came to Him: This would mean he humbled himself before the Lord. Read this verse- And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 2 Kings 5:11. Naaman came for his healing. He was a great warrior and honorable man but had leprosy. He was also a leper like other man whom Jesus healed. Naaman thought that the God’s Servant would come to him and heal his leprosy. He could not humble himself go to him before the Lord’s servant or even before the Lord as we may see that the Lord is with the prophet Elisha. Your greatness, your fame, your status in this world is nothing before the Lord. The Lord will love him who humbles himself before him.
(b) He worshipped him: Whatever may be your condition of your living on the earth, you need to worship him. This leper came and then worshiped Him. Now a day’s people coming to Him to receive a miracle, healing etc,. After receiving them they are worshiping Him. Sometimes, after receiving his grace they will not come to worship Him. Read this verse- And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine ? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. Luke 17:17-18. Jesus was asking for the other nine lepers who were healed by Him. Out of ten, ten were healed. One came to Him to worship Him. Remaining nine went away forgetting His goodness. Is not this leper who worshiped him before receiving his miracle is greater than the stranger leper who worshiped him after receiving his miracle? This is what is good to look inside beauty of this leper.
(c) He believed that Jesus can do it only if it be His will: This leper has faith because the same can be ascertained from his words –if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He has uttered that God can heal him which is nothing but his faith. Bible also says- But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6. Before receiving his healing, the leper has believed that Lord can do it. At the same time, it may be noted that he had good knowledge about how to ask the Lord. He has understood that Lord can do anything for him only if such thing is in His will. He has correlated his prayer with the will of the Lord. Many shall not understand this but ask the Lord. They wait sometime and they will not receive anything from the Lord as their prayers are not in the will of God. They neither have faith nor understand that their asking should be in the will of the Lord. Simply, after seeing their prayers unanswered they leave God by saying that there is no God. The Bible says- The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Psalms 14:1. Look at this what David had done when his prayer for the child was not accepted by the Lord. But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped : then he came to his own house ; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. 1 Samuel 12:19-20. Did David think that there was no God when his prayer was not accepted by the Lord?
Therefore, we may see that this leper’s faith has pleased the Lord. It made Him to touch the leper as a token of His love. Assessment of others by looking at their outward appearance may not be right always.