David
“…the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people…” (1 Sam 13:14)
After years of wondering why David was a man after God’s own heart, I finally realize that I’ve wasted valuable time on a question God plainly offers the answer to. According to God Himself, if we desire a glimpse into God’s heart, then we should ponder David’s heart! This revelation helped me understand why, even as a boy, I loved David so. Even though he is a pre-Christ character, David is an outstanding model of everything that a Christian should hope to be. He is the very best and worst of us all and studying him is like beholding a marvelous flower blossom petal by petal with each petal being another element revealing why David is a man after God’s own heart – so much so that to this day much church liturgy is modeled after David’s own contrition expressed in the Psalms.
David was blessed in that shepherding, being a solitary vocation, afforded him intimacy with God. And it is abundantly clear that David did not squander that time. He loved God with all his heart. He brought that magnificent and inspiring love for God straight from the field to King Saul’s palace through his music. David was not afraid or ashamed to praise God in singing and dancing.
It was this love for God that fueled the fiery zeal that transformed David from a shepherd into a giant slayer. He saw Goliath’s boasting as a direct affront to God and was compelled to do what “the armies of the living God” (I Samuel 17:26) were too fearful to do. Goliath had to be put in his place. He had to die. And David was fully convinced that God would deliver Goliath into his hands in declaring, “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.” (I Samuel 17:46)
David, like Paul, was a chief among sinners – an adulterer that went so far as to carefully arrange the murder of the husband of his mistress, Bath Sheba, to avoid the exposure of his own transgression. And when accused of his sin by the prophet, Nathan, David so naturally, sincerely and confidently sought after and believed whole heatedly in God’s grace and forgiveness that God declared through Nathan, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” David understood the importance of confession, contrition and repentance.
David had a similar heart toward his children that God has toward us. One of David’s sons, Amnon, raped his daughter, Tamar. And, his son Absalom patiently waited for an opportunity to successfully have Amnon killed for it. Absalom slept with David’s concubines during his attempt to steal David’s throne. David’s own field commander ended Absalom’s life for his treason. And yet, David’s heart ached and his tears flowed for his children and his family’s dysfunction so common in families to this day. David’s faith in God was steadfast and he was thereby uniquely familiar with God’s heartache for us.
What is particularly unique about David – setting him apart from all other Old Testament characters, is his clear vision of God as his redeemer, although Christ had not yet arrived. David knew God’s mercy.
This article barely scratches the surface of the outstanding relationship between David and Our Father. It is invaluable for us, as Christians, to recognize the importance in getting to know David through scripture. He is an immeasurable model of a complete man of faith. He had a post-Christ heart in a pre-Christ world. I no longer wonder why God found David to be “…man after His own heart…”