“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.’”
1 Samuel 16:7
We have often heard the expression “the tip of the iceberg”. It refers to the fact that most of an iceberg is underwater and cannot be seen by ships that might be passing nearby. It presents a real danger to any ship if it hits the iceberg, such as the Titanic did in 1912, because of the unseen portion below the waterline that can damage a ship and cause it to sink.
The “tip of the iceberg” is also a metaphor that refers to any problem or situation we face in life where we can’t see the whole picture. If we base our decisions or conclusions on only what we can see, we risk making a poor judgment that could cause problems for ourselves.
The reality is that we humans do this all the time. It is because we often only trust what we actually see or experience ourselves. Jesus’ disciple Thomas exemplified this problem after Jesus’ resurrection. He famously said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) Similarly, if we are called to be witnesses in court, we can only testify as to what we actually saw or heard ourselves. Any other testimony is called hearsay and is not admissible during a trial, even if we got the knowledge from someone else who actually saw or heard it.
Because of this problem, we can easily misjudge the actions of another person because we only see “the tip of the iceberg” – the part that is visible to us. We do not see the “rest of the iceberg” that is out of our sight. The part we don’t see is often the motives for their actions or even what led up to what we witnessed. Although our observations are real and true, there is usually “more to the story than meets the eye” as is often said. Several years ago, Ameriquest Mortgage made a series of short tv commercials about judging situations too quickly. They humorously reminded us of this reality! Here’s my favorite one: Cat Commercial for Ameriquest Mortgage – YouTube.
The Bible addresses this issue of the “tip of the iceberg”. God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, that “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” We are not God, and yet we often try to act like we know what is in another person’s heart or know all the facts. When we do that, we make assumptions and rash judgments about others and their actions without knowing the whole story. As Christians, we must be careful not to judge other people based only on what we see because God will judge us in the same way as we judge others (Matthew 7:1-2). Instead, we must seek to discover the “rest of the iceberg” that resulted in the actions of the individual, whether those actions are good or bad, so that we can better understand them and their actions. If we don’t, we condemn others and bring judgment down on ourselves.
The same is true for information about people or incidents that we see on television or the internet. For instance, we often watch videos from news organizations, bloggers, and FaceBook posts that show some egregious or questionable action by someone. The video is often just a clip of something, and we don’t get to see what led up to the incident in question, or even what took place after the incident, that could provide some context as to what actually happened. As a result, viewers can be led to draw conclusions and form opinions about an individual or incident without knowing all of the facts or the whole story. Additionally, the video clips are often edited in such a way as to create a narrative about what happened that the provider wants people to accept, even though it may not be the whole truth. As a result, viewers can be manipulated to spread false or misleading information to others.
The same is true of attention-grabbing headlines or news articles that we see in newspapers or online. In an attempt to attract readers, the headlines are often misleading, and the news articles often present opinions instead of facts. This is especially true on the internet, where the goal is to get readers to click on the article link, or respond to a post, so that the originator can monetize them in some way (add subscribers, present advertising, gain revenue for their site, etc.)
Consequently, in the world we live in today, we need to be very discerning about what we watch and read. The news is no longer neutral or unbiased. The media (and those who share these videos and news articles) often have a financial motive or an agenda to influence their readers towards their beliefs, ideology, or political views. It is not to inform the public of the facts anymore. It has become more like propaganda.
So, the question then becomes, how do we discern what is truth and what are lies or distortions of the truth? There are two ways we can do this.
First, we can look to God’s Word, which is the Truth. Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17:17 saying, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” We need to examine what we see and hear according to what we know from the Bible to be true. If something we see or hear does not line up with Scripture, then it is false and not true.
Second, we can ask the Holy Spirit to give us discernment and to reveal the truth to us about what we see or hear. Just as God revealed the dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel, He can reveal the unseen to us as well today. Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13) God will give us His truth and discernment if we ask for it!
So, let us look beyond only what we see and ask God to reveal the “rest of the iceberg” we don’t see so that we can discern the truth and honor Him in all we say or do!