But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of this stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 SAMUEL 16:7, ESV
The terrain in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico is very flat, but it contains a lot of karst rock in the ground, which is rock that dissolves easily. Because of this, the countryside is filled with sinkholes-underground caves where the root has a cave in. In Mexico these sinkholes ate called cenotes.
We rented a car and drove off following our map to where the cenotes were. It was almost impossible to spot the sinkholes. Arriving at one, we saw that the hole was probably one hundred feet across. When we got to the edge we looked down saw there was water at the bottom=about one hundred feet below us. We walked around the corner to a staircase carved into the ground, leading visitors all the way down to a little platform at the edge of the water. A posted sign reminded us not to be deceived by appearances- the water in this cenote was actually two hundred feet deep! Since we had brought our swimsuits, we made our way to the upper platform and jumped in!
Appearance can be deceiving. I never would have guessed that the water was two hundred feet deed, and I almost didn’t find that cenote hidden in the jungle either. We often make conclusions about people based on their appearances. We see what they’re doing or saying or how they dress, and we end up judging people unfairly.
God doesn’t want us to fall into the trap of deciding what a person is like you spend some time getting to know them. If today you see someone who is often misjudged, make a point of trying to get to know their heart.