Sunday, June 4, 2023

THE MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

 


 

I find King David’s life intriguing. Why? He is prominently remembered in the Bible. Paul declared that he was a man who pursued the heart of God:

·       Acts 13:22–23 And when he [God] had removed [King Saul], he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
 
What an honor to be promised that the Savior of this world would be his descendant! But why David? He consistently entrusted himself to God instead of to Himself. We can see this early in His life. He would continually ask for God’s direction rather than proceeding without prayer, unlike his predecessor, King Saul.
 
How did David become this way? Through hardships he was taught to despair of himself and to abandon his own thinking and planning in favor of God’s. When he volunteered to fight against Goliath, he had recounted how the Lord had delivered him repeatedly from both bear and lion. David therefore trusted that the Lord would now deliver Him from Israel’s enemy:
 
·       1 Samuel 17:45–46 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
 
David had been disdained by his own family, but the fact that he knew that God was with him made up for the disdain. Therefore, he was more zealous for God’s honor than for his own, but God continued to teach him dependency upon Him alone.
The Psalms reveal the heart and suffering of David:
 
·       PSALM 57:1-3 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
 
His hope was no longer in himself but in God. Whatever desires and purposes he might have had, David abandoned them in favor of God’s purpose and plan for him, which He would fulfill. However, it seems plain that these changes required suffering:
 
·       PSALM 119:25 - 32 My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame! I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
 
Later, David credited the suffering for making him a man of God:

·       Psalm 119:67–71 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
 
Through suffering, the Lord drew close to him. Knowing God in this intimate manner, David only wanted God’s purpose for his life:
 
·       PSALM 138:6–8 For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
 
He must first break us of our self-trust so that we can trust in Him, our peace and joy:
 
·       Psalm 33:21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
 
Peace and joy are the result of knowing and trusting God, and trust is a matter of dying to self and its selfish ambitions and other sins, and this can only be taught by God:

·       Psalm 9:10 And those who know [You] will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

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