I'm Going to Need Jesus With This One

"For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

Well, we made it to September.

The bulletin boards are up, the lesson plans are moving, and we've learned most of the students' names. Or at least gotten pretty good at pointing and saying, "Yes... you."

Give a teacher two weeks and a class list and we'll give you a scouting report. This one's going to remind me when I forget to collect homework. This one will ask, "Is this for a grade?" the second I hand something out. This one will ask, "Are we doing anything today?" while I'm literally teaching. And this one... Lord, I'm going to need Jesus with this one.

One of those "this one’s" walked into my classroom a few years ago. I'll call her Trouble, which, if I'm honest, is the name I had pretty much given her before she ever became my student.

I'd heard the stories. Strong-willed. Defiant. Pushed back when corrected. By the first day of school, I'd already decided how this was going to go. She hadn't even received a syllabus yet, and in my head, we'd already had three arguments and a parent conference.

There was only one problem with my scouting report. She hadn't actually done anything to me yet. I'd taken what I'd heard about a sixth-grade girl and turned it into a prediction about who she was going to be. Thankfully, it occurred to me that if I walked into the year expecting a fight, I might just help create one.

So I started praying for her. From day one, I made a point of checking in. I told her I wanted this year to be different. "I think you want that too, right? Neither one of us wants to spend the year butting heads."

We kept checking in throughout the year. She knew my boundaries, but she also knew I was in her corner. And the terrible year I'd already written in my head? It never happened.

I still had to correct her. She was still strong-willed. But the blowups I'd expected never came. The student I'd braced myself for became a student I genuinely cared about. She's fifteen now, and she still shows up to youth group sometimes.

Apparently, my scouting report needed some work. The Prophet Samuel could relate.

When Jesse's sons paraded past him in 1 Samuel 16, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, There's our guy. Eliab looked the part. Tall, strong, every inch a king. If kings had recruiting rankings, this guy was a five-star prospect. God said no.

Seven sons later, Samuel had to ask Jesse, "Are these all your kids?" They weren't. David was still out with the sheep. The kid nobody thought belonged in the lineup was the one God had chosen.

We still do what Samuel did. We've just changed what "tall" looks like: gifted, athletic, popular, successful. And we have labels for the others too: difficult, lazy, defiant, attention-seeking.

God's correction to Samuel wasn't simply, "Take another look." Samuel was looking at the wrong thing. "People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

At St. John’s this year, our school theme is “God Sees the Heart,” based on 1 Samuel 16:7. So I’ve been spending a lot of time with this verse lately, and the more I teach it to our students, the more I realize I need to hear it too

For those of us who teach in a Lutheran school, that's not just good advice. It's part of the job description.

But there's an uncomfortable part of that verse for us too. The God who sees past the exterior of our students also sees past ours.

He knows when my "discernment" is really impatience, when frustration has become a label, and when I've already decided who a student is going to be.

Years later, David would pray, "Search me, God, and know my heart" (Psalm 139:23).

That's probably a prayer worth praying before first period. Lord, help me see this kid the way You do. And while You're at it, search my heart too.

God sees things in our students that we don't. The fear underneath the attitude. The insecurity behind the bravado. Most importantly, He sees someone Jesus died for.

We teach, correct, encourage, set boundaries, and share God's Word. God works through those things, but changing hearts is His work.

And thank God for that, because the teacher needs Jesus just as badly as the student. The same Savior died for both of us. We both need His forgiveness and grace.

So, this week, think of one student you've already decided you understand. Maybe the difficult one. Maybe the quiet one. Ask God to help you see that student differently.

I'll be doing the same. Because if the Prophet Samuel needed that reminder, I probably do too.

And the first heart God rearranges this September might not be a student's.

It might be mine.

Heavenly Father,

Forgive us when we reduce people to labels or assume we already know their story. Help us see our students the way You do, and search our hearts when pride, frustration, or impatience gets in the way. Use our words and example to point them to Jesus and remind us that changing hearts belongs to You.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

                                                 Damon Puckett, St. John's Lutheran Ministries, Hemet, California