A Man After my Own Heart
(Acts 13:22 NKJV) “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’
What Does it mean when we read that David was a man after God’s own heart?
1. It must mean that David carried out the Lord’s will (except in the case of Bathseba’s husband, Urijah the Hittite). The Lord tells us in 1 Kings 15:5, “David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” I am not quite sure why numbering the army was not mentioned here, but apparently numbering the people was not considered to be a matter of rebellion like murdering Uriah was.
2. More importantly there apparently was an intimate aspect to David’s relationship with the Lord. He was the sweet Psalmist of Israel. He was always loyal to the Lord, never being tempted to serve the heathen gods of the land or to use the services of mediums and witches.
3. David apparently learned a lot about the Lord by keeping sheep and studying the stars. In Psalm 19, he says the stars (heavens) declare the glory of God. He realized that God had created beauty and order in the sky and it caused him to worship God and not to worship the stars God had made.
4. He was always willing to defend the name of the Lord. When he took on Goliath, he said that Goliath was defying the armies of the Living God (See 1 Samuel 17).
There are likely other reasons why God called David a man after His own heart. Since God knows our hearts, that is, He knows what we love and what motivates us, He probably knew the extent of David’s love for Him. It must have been a real, consistent, loyal love. David wanted to build God a house so the LORD could dwell among them in Jerusalem. He didn’t get to do that, but he did draw the plans by divine inspiration, and he did provide much of the material for the temple his son would build.
What About Us?
Are we truly loyal to the Lord? Do we love Him? Without coming as a lost sinner to the savior and trusting Him for salvation, it is not possible to be a man (or woman after God’s own heart). Our hearts are desperately wicked by nature. But they can be supernaturally changed into hearts that love the Lord by the Holy Spirit when we come by faith to the Savior. However, after we are saved, do we then maintain an intimate loving obedient relationship with the Lord? Do we let Him tell us what pleases Him and to the extent that we can, do we show that love both in our ceremonies and in our relationship with others?
Oh to be like David!
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of July 4, 2021