The book Hidden Figures, which was made into a critically acclaimed movie, tells of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia.[1] Housed at NACA, the precursor to NASA, Langley was where production and experimental aircraft were developed and tested, especially during and after World Word War II. Langley helped develop the first supersonic aircraft in the U.S. Langley also participated significantly in the development and testing of the first U.S. spacecraft.
All of this work required extremely high levels of mathematics. Data from tests had to be processed by hand–much of this was before the advent of modern computers. Thus human computers or mathematicians were hired by the hundreds. They spent their days crunching all the data gathered in the lab’s wind tunnels and other tests. As the space race ensued, these human computers calculated the trajectories of the Mercury and Apollo missions as well.
The need for highly intelligent mathematicians to serve in these human computing pools was so great that Langley sought out employees who might ordinarily have been overlooked. For example, women comprised the bulk of these computing pools. In the male dominated culture of the 1950’s and 1960’s, this was a significant opportunity for women. In addition, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had issued an Executive Order preventing racial discrimination in hiring for federal work. This allowed African Americans, many of them also women, to find employment in Langley’s computing pools.
Yet even though African American women were technically welcome at Langley, they still faced great challenges. The larger country was on the cusp of civil rights unrest, as racial discrimination within the culture was finally beginning to be faced. And even within the progressive Langley lab, racial and gender discrimination persisted. These African American women were some of the most brilliant minds in the country working on some of the most critical projects in the country. Yet some at Langley could not see beyond their gender or their skin color.
Mary Jackson was one of the women at Langley.[2] Although she was one of the most gifted and valuable employees at Langley, she was forced to use a separate restroom even when it was terribly inconvenient or humiliating. And to get ahead at work through ongoing education, she had to petition the city to attend the whites-only school.
After two years in the computing pool, Mary received an offer to work for engineer Kaz Czarnecki in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel (SPT), a 60,000 horsepower wind tunnel capable of blasting models of airplanes and with winds approaching twice the speed of sound. Czarnecki offered Mary hands-on experience conducting experiments in the facility, and eventually suggested that she enter a training program that would allow her to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer. In 1958 she became NASA’s first black female engineer.
Kaz was one of the people at the lab who saw beyond gender and skin color. The book describes it in this way: [PP quote with book cover]
Kaz Czarneki only learned of Mary Jackson’s double major in Math and Science after he made her the offer to join the four-foot SPT group. Even so, without having reviewed her resume, something about her gave him the idea that she was both qualified and the right fit for the job. He was white, male, Catholic, and a Yankee. She was a black woman from the south, a devout member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It would have been easy for each of them to look past the other, to see the outside and assume that they could have nothing in common. But what Kaz Czarneki intuited, and what the years would bear out, was this: Mary Jackson had the soul of an engineer.
That’s the great tragedy isn’t it? So often we look past each other. We so often only see the outside of each other.
It’s something we humans have done our entire existence. It’s something our own American culture does in many ways. It’s something we, each as individual, do as well.
It’s the focus of 1 Sam. 16:
1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:1-7 ESV)
There is an emphasis in this text on the word “seeing.” One verb “to see/look” is used 5 times in 7 verses:
| “See/ Look” in 1 Sam. 16 |
| 16:1 – for I have provided [seen] for myself a king among his sons.
16:6 – he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”
16:7 – “Do not look on his appearance [face] or on the height [used of Saul in 9:2] or his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man (sees): man looks on the outward appearance, [eyes] but the Lord looks on the heart.” |
When God counsels Samuel not to look on the “appearance” of Eliab, this is the same word that is used multiple times in the book of Esther. It’s often translated “beautiful.”
- Queen Vashti is described as being “beautiful to look at” (Esth. 1:11), the word “beautiful” being the same word “appearance” in 1 Sam. 16.
- When Queen Vashti is fired for insubordination, a decree is sent out requiring “beautiful” young virgins to be brought to the king (Esth. 2:2). The word “beautiful” is the same word translated in 1 Sam. 16 as “appearance.” It basically refers to what we see on the outside of a person.
Literally, God tells Samuel that we humans tend to look, to see, only the eyes. That is, we tend to only see the face, a symbol for what’s on the outside.
Samuel is doing this very thing. He sees a tall man, just like the current king Saul was tall, and he thinks, “This must be the next king!”
But God says that when he looks among the sons of Jesse (v. 1), he sees a king. Only he’s looking with different eyes. He’s seeing in a different way. He’s not looking on the outside. He’s looking at the heart.
Let’s consider that word heart. It’s one of the most important words in the Bible.[3] When we are told that God can see the heart, what, exactly, does that mean? What can God see that we cannot see? There are at least four features to the word “heart” in the Old Testament–four internal features of people God can see that we cannot.
| Four Features of “Heart” |
| 1. Emotions
a. Positive i. Hannah’s heart rejoiced (I Sam 2:1) as should the hearts of those who seek the Lord (I Chr 16:10). ii. Love may be centered in the heart, as when Delilah complained that Samson’s heart was not with her (Jud 16:15). iii. The joyful excitement from the news that Joseph was alive made Jacob’s heart faint (Gen 45:26). Reception of comfort is seated in the heart as in the idiom “to speak to the heart” (Gen 34:3; Isa 40:2). b. Negative i. Grief is “evil of heart” (Neh 2:2; RSV “sadness of heart”). ii. David’s regret or bad conscience at cutting Saul’s garment is expressed as “his heart struck him” (I Sam 24:6; cf. II Sam 24:10). iii. God’s regret at creating man is centered in God’s heart (Gen 6:6). iv. Contempt (II Sam 6:16), envy (Prov 23:17), and anger (Prov 19:3) are all functions of the heart. |
| Four Features of “Heart” |
| 2. Thinking
a. To “set the heart to” may mean to “pay attention to” (Ex 7:23) or to “consider important” (II Sam 18:32). b. The RSV translates “which came upon Solomon’s heart” as “all that Solomon had planned” (II Chr 7:11). c. Wisdom and understanding are seated in the heart. The “wise heart” (I Kgs 3:12: RSV, “wise mind”) and “wise of heart” (Prov 16:23) are mentioned. d. The heart functions in perception and awareness as when Elisha’s heart (i.e. Elisha’s perceptive nature; RSV “spirit”) went with Gehazi (II Kgs 5:26). As the seat of thought and intellect, the heart can be deluded (Isa 44:20; RSV “mind”). |
| Four Features of “Heart” |
| 3. Will
a. The heart is the seat of the will. A decision may be described as “setting” the heart (II Chr 12:14). b. “Not of my heart” expresses “not of my will” (Num 16:28). c. The “hearts” of the Shechemites inclined to follow Abimelech (Jud 9:3). Removal of the decision-making capacity is described as hardening the heart (Ex 10:1; Josh 11:20). d. Righteousness is “integrity of heart” (Gen 20:5). Moral reformation is to “set one’s heart aright” (Job 11:13). |
| Four Features of “Heart” |
| 4. Personality
a. Some typical dispositions located in the heart are generosity (“generous heart”; Ex 35:5), b. pride (“ his heart became high”; II Chr 26:16), c. and faith (“the heart made firm”; Ps 78:8). |
When God looks at you and and any other human being, these are the kinds of things he can see.
- God can see personality traits. He can see immediately if a person is generous or prideful or full of faith. Unless you spend a considerable amount of time with someone, you cannot see that. You can only see those traits exhibited in behavior over time. God can see those personality traits as they exist in the heart of a person.
- God can see the will of a person. He can tell what a person is setting his or her heart on. He can see the direction his or heart is leaning. We cannot see those things. Again, perhaps over time, we can observe behavior which might give us clues as to the direction of a person’s heart. But God, alone can see the will of a person’s heart.
- God can see a person’s thinking. He knows what is in the mind of a person. He knows what a person is paying attention to. He knows what a person believes is important. He knows what a person is planning. We do not see these things.
- And God sees all the emotions swirling around in the heart. He can see past the masks people wear and can see the feelings and emotions deep in the heart. He can see the happiness or the hurt.
In other words, God sees the whole person. Inside and out.
We only see part of the person. We usually only see the outside. We tend to only see a person’s body shape, skin color, height, hair length and color, presence or absence of muscle tone. We see the brands: shoes, shirt, and skirt. We see gender.
And here’s the problem according to the text: we tend to judge, evaluate, by the externals. We judge so much by so little. And miss so much as a result.
A story from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink illustrates[4] In one of his many examples Gladwell shows how the classical music world realized just how deeply their system for auditioning new musicians was affected by this tendency to judge by the outside. Though they believed their first impressions of listening to someone play an instrument were unbiased, they were disproved once screens were erected between the judges and the individuals who were auditioning.
For example, in the past 30 years, with the screens in place, not allowing those who are making decisions on applicants for orchestra positions to see the musicians, only hear the musicians, the number of women being hired in the top U. S. orchestras has increased fivefold.
Gladwell tells of the time when Julie Landsman auditioned for the role of principal French horn at the Met. Screens had started to be used in the auditioning process. At the time, there were no women in the brass section of the orchestra. But Landsman came and sat down behind the new screen, unseen by the judges, and played—and she played well. But when they declared her the winner of the position and she stepped out from behind the screen, there was a gasp among the judges. They couldn’t believe a woman had played that well.
What made the whole thing so interesting was that Landsman had actually played for them before, as a substitute in the orchestra. They had heard her play before! But they never could see beyond her gender before.
The way we see people is so limited.
It’s true even about the way we see ourselves. Even in our skin, we tend only see ourselves skin deep. We don’t see our whole heart.
God does. God knows all of us. And he loves us for it.
Jesus suffered the same problem. Isaiah the prophet used the same word “appearance” used in the first part of 1 Sam. 16:7: “Do not look on his appearance [face]…” This same word is used of Jesus in Is. 53:2. Here, as in the book of Esther, it is translated “beauty”:
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him. (Is. 53:2 ESV)
When people looked at Jesus, there was nothing on the outside that drew them to him. It’s hard for us to imagine that. Most of the drawings and paintings and sculptures of Jesus betray this truth. Almost all of the visible depictions of Jesus we see of Jesus these day show him with great beauty, a fantastic appearance. The truth is just the opposite. He had no beauty. He had nothing in his appearance that was appealing.
When it came to Jesus, you had to get past the externals. You had to get past the outside. Jesus had a “Well bless his heart” kind of outside. You had to get to the heart. You had to learn to see as God sees. Otherwise, you would walk right past Jesus. You would judge him as someone just not worth hiring to play in your orchestra.
This text is a challenge to the wrong, the short-sighted way, we see almost everyone around us. The way we evaluate and judge people based on all the superficial skin-deep things like body shape, weight, gender, skin color, and all the kinds of labels we attach to people, including ourselves. It’s a reminder that there is so much more to a person than that. It’s a reminder how many people walked right by Jesus himself for these very same reasons.
And, it’s a comfort that when others treat us this way, God knows what others don’t. He knows our heart. He sees what no one else seems to see. He sees all that wonderful stuff that make us who we really all. All those emotions, those thoughts, those intentions, those personality traits of ours. He sees our heart. God sees us for who we really are. And he loves us for it. All of it.
[1] Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, 142ff.
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/mary-jackson-at-nasa-langley-0
[3] Bowling, A. (1999). 1071 לָבַב. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 466). Chicago: Moody Press.
[4] Malcolm Gladwell, Blink (Little, Brown & Company, 2005), 250-254.
