Good, but not God.

Eliab – A Right Heart.

Hiiiii beautiful people, it has been a while since I put up something new. It just feels like there’s a never-ending list of things to do, and time is never enough. 2026 has brought its unique brand of challenges with it, but thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph. I hope you have remained joyful in the Lord, like the bouncing baby boys and girls you should be. Remember, you have the joy of the Holy Ghost, that Zoe life, inside you, and that’s more than enough reason to rejoice if you ask me.

Recently, there has been an emphasis on the state of our hearts as children of God and members of the body of Christ. For me, the realisation of this emphasis has been really subtle, so much so that it feels like I just woke up one morning and every teacher of the Word, minister, and evangelist is talking to the heart of the believer. But when I really think about it, that’s not exactly accurate. Because in a weird moment of enlightenment, I realised that I started writing the “Dear Hearts” when I launched the website last year. These are a collection of letters from the Master, through my heart, to yours. They’re here on the website, so if you haven’t read them yet, you should absolutely check them out. But truth be told, at the time, I did not know why I was writing them (other than the fact that I was told to), or understand how important these letters were. These questions have been answered now, though, and although we can only see in parts, we pray for the grace to obey the Lord in the present, so that when it becomes the past in hindsight, we can give thanks for the workings of God in and through us.

Today, we’ll be looking at one of those often-overlooked characters, sorry people, in the Word of God. You know, one of those ones people often gloss over in their haste to get to a main character or a sensational Bible story that is more popular. Well, he’s a man who looked right, at least from the outside, but today he’s going to be showing us how important it is to God that we are right, from the inside out. His story is not one of the mighty works of a man chosen by God, or of signs and wonders done through his hands. But it is an important story. Perhaps it is even important because it is none of those things, and we need to learn that although some stories are not popular, there are essential lessons to be learned in them too. Well, this is the story of a man named Eliab, and why he was rejected by God.

The first time we meet Eliab in the Bible, he’s introduced to us as the first son of Jesse, an Ephrathite who was invited to feast with the prophet Samuel when he visited Bethlehem. Let’s go back a little to provide context: Once upon a time, there was a nation called Israel, which had 12 tribes. Their stubbornness was legendary, but God had chosen them as His own because of their ancestor, and since He always keeps His promises, He couldn’t fling them aside and pick someone else. The Lord was their God, and Samuel was His prophet at this time, but the Israelites decided they wanted to be cool kids like the other countries and have a king who would look good at their head. Samuel tried to talk sense into their heads because what are you using a king to do when you have God? But as I said, they invented the concept of having coconut head. So God gave them a king, Saul, but he disobeyed God and was put aside spiritually for his sin. He was still king in name, and to the people he looked like the anointed one, but God moved on from him and although it really hurt Samuel, he eventually had to, too (1 Sam. 16:1). God decided on another king, so Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to locate and anoint this person. He got there, assured the elders that there was no problem because they were already afraid to see the man of God, and he just casually invited Jesse and his sons to the celebration (1 Sam. 16:2-5).

So Jesse packed his boys and went there. Now, mind you, Jesse had eight sons, but he went with seven of them because his last son was on an errand (as is the lot of last-borns everywhere). That’s how they left this poor boy and went to enjoy themselves with the prophet and other townspeople. When they got there, Jesse presented his sons to Samuel, starting with his eldest, Eliab. The prophet with his full anointing, looked at Eliab and thought he had hit the jackpot. One has to wonder what Eliab looked like, for a prophet of Samuel’s calibre to size him up and think to himself, “what a wow!” (1 Sam. 16:6). Eliab looked like everything a person could want, physically. Samuel was so sure, he was ready to anoint him there and then. But to his utter surprise, God asked him not to. Why? Because God had rejected him. Verse 7 of 1 Samuel chapter 16 tells us,

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

So the question now is, what was Samuel not seeing? Apparently, he was looking at what we all look at when it comes to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. He was seeing what he expected to see when he thought of a king. All the grandeur of Eliab’s physical stature was impressive enough for Samuel, but it was not enough for God. So what was missing? What actually matters to God. There was something in Eliab that was not right, not aligned with God’s desire for the one who was to lead Israel. So, regardless of how right he looked on the outside, he was not God’s will. He was good enough for Samuel, but he was not God’s plan for Israel.

How many times have you been in a situation where a decision looked good at the time, but you find out down the line that you’re walking in error and that it was not God’s desire for you to be where you are? Or when you have to make a choice, and all the available options look good enough, maybe even great, and you’re not sure what to do? That’s the moment when having the right heart will count, when it’s important to have a heart that is surrendered to God and His plan. When you need the grace to decide between what’s good and what is God, that’s when your heart matters. Because most times, they both look right, they both look like blessings, like answered prayers. But often, one path leads to God, and while the other might not necessarily be bad or wrong or any of those negative things, it might just not end at the same stop. But back to the Word.

So Samuel was shocked, but he moved on to the next son, Abinadab. But again, God said no. And on, and on, until Jesse ran out of sons to present. Still, there was not a king found among them. When they got to the end, because Samuel knew that he had heard God correctly and he was in the right place, he had to ask Jesse if he had any other son somewhere else (Verses 8-10). That’s when this man remembered his lastborn son, who was somewhere watching the family flock. He told Samuel about him, almost like an afterthought, and I’m sure he must have been confused when Samuel insisted on waiting for him to come before they ate (vs. 11). You know the rest of the story from there, David shows up, is anointed and Bob’s your uncle. I cannot imagine how Eliab felt in that moment, having been passed over and openly rejected in favour of his youngest brother, in front of the whole town. He must have wondered why, what he did wrong, and the worst part was, God wasn’t talking to him, so he didn’t even know that the problem was his heart. All he knew was that he had been rejected, and that would definitely have stung terribly, especially for a firstborn son.

You see, there’s this tendency we have as human beings to bend to society’s expectations of us. We tend, sometimes, to look down on the people closest to us. Partly because we know their origins and so we take for granted the fact that we know them. But oftentimes, it’s because we are so focused on being the centre of our own lives that we find it hard to conceive in our hearts that we’re not the same in other people’s minds, and they may have their own potential for greatness which might be more than ours. Our hearts are so full of our own desires and goals that we tend to have tunnel vision, so single-minded about ourselves that everyone else becomes an afterthought, or somehow less important. As a firstborn son, Eliab was automatically his father’s heir, and he definitely would have been treated as the most important member of that household, aside from his father. Now he, the one who had the seat of power in his family, had been set aside for someone who did not even have an inheritance in that same house. If they were to share everything, it would finish before they even got to David, the eighth son.

If that’s all we had heard throughout the Word about Eliab, though, we would have been left wondering about the type of person he was and what kind of heart he had. But we meet him again in the very next chapter, 1st Samuel 17, when David, the same lastborn who was anointed by the prophet Samuel, was sent to deliver food to Eliab and his brothers who were at the war front. So in the time since the prophet’s visit, David had gone back to his sheep and somehow wound up as a musician in the deposed king’s court (1 Sam. 16: 14-23), while Eliab and his two immediate younger brothers had joined the army to defend the kingdom (1 Sam 17:13-15). One bright and sunny day, Jesse decided to send David to go and check on his brothers at the battle front (such is the plight of lastborns, but God delivers us). He asked him to carry food for them, and confirm that they were okay, although how you can be okay when fighting Philistines I don’t know, but oh well. He gave David directions, and the following day, the innocent boy set out on his errand (Verses 17-20).

When he got there, he went to look for his big brothers to deliver his message, and it just so happened that there was a 9-foot-9 bully who was terrorising the Israelites at that time (1 Sam. 17:4). While he was talking to his brothers, this giant came out to taunt the Israelites as usual. But David was confused as to why they had let this giant torment them and insult God, so he started asking questions. Next thing, Eliab almost devoured him in anger. On top ordinary question that he asked? The anger Eliab showed in that moment was so unwarranted, it had to have been born from something else. All the boy wanted to know was what the reward was for killing the giant, and Eliab retorted by demeaning him and accusing him of wickedness (1 Sam. 17:22-25). From where to where, sir? How did we get to wickedness? What was his offence? David was so taken aback by the abuse and unfair accusation that he had to ask, “Now what have I done? Can’t I even speak?”

I think Eliab’s pride had been hurt, and he was bitter. I think Eliab underestimated his brother and could not understand his audacity. I think he might even thought David was being arrogant because he was anointed by Samuel. Those are the not-so-good reasons why Eliab might have reacted the way he did. Or, he might have been worried for his brother, afraid that he was being reckless and wanting to shut him up before he ended up in a fearful position of fighting a giant he did not think he could defeat. His reaction could have come from a desire to protect David, and that is good. This reason sounds absolutely reasonable and would be acceptable on any given day. Except, no matter how good they sounded, they still weren’t God’s will for David. Because regardless of why Eliab reacted like that, his heart was not in the right place. Whether he was hurt or worried, his intentions were still not about God. His goal was not to glorify God, and his desires were not fixed on God. But David’s were.

In this season, God is calling us to examine our hearts and realign them with His. He’s asking us to look to Eliab, the one who by every human standard was good, but still was not God’s plan, and understand that not every good thing is. He’s asking us to learn from Eliab, who appeared to have it all, in the eyes of men, even powerful men like Samuel, but lacked the only thing that mattered to God. A right heart. One that was not only good before men, but also submitted wholly to God. A heart held by God that brings forth His goodness. Sit with your heart this period, beloved, and search it thoroughly, then bring it to God in humility, repentance and submission. He will not reject your heart, David already told us this (Psalm 51:17).

God is calling His children to be intentional about our hearts. Intentional about what we let in and what we allow to remain there. Intentional about what we allow our hearts to birth and bring forth. But most importantly, He’s calling us to be intentional about where our hearts are rooted and who holds our hearts. Not because He’s trying to scare us into submission or obedience, but because He wants us to recognise how much of our lives are affected and influenced by what is in our hearts. Not all is good, not all that looks good, is from God.

“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” – Proverbs 4:23

A discerning heart is a heart that is led by the Lord, submitted to His will. Be careful with your heart, or better still, give it to the One who made it to hold it. Trust that He won’t break it, He would never let it fall. So, child of God, heed his call.

“...for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness…” (Psalm 95: 7-8).

Calvary greetings from my heart to yours,

Gabrielle…

Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash