A Man After God's Own Heart
The Jewish historian Josephus praised David by
saying, "This man was of an excellent character, and was endowed
with all the virtues that were desirable in a king."
But even higher praise came from God Himself
through the speech of Stephen in the Book of Acts. Stephen quoted
the Lord as declaring, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man
after My own heart."
What is in the heart of David that God would
say that he is a man after His own heart?
Acts 13:22
After removing Saul, he made David their king.
God testified concerning him:
‘I have found David son of Jesse,
a man after my own heart;
he will do everything I want him to do.’ (NIV)
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.’ (NKJV)
It is
definitely more than a heart of worship!
David was a man who would do all of God's will.
He would do everything God wanted him to do. God Himself can testify
to this! What an excellent example and testimony!
David is a son of Jesse, a respected citizen
of the city. Jesse is the grandson of Boaz, a wealthy and honorable
man of Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah.
Being a kinsman of Elimelech (Naomi's
husband), Boaz became the husband of Ruth (Naomi's widowed
daughter-in-law). Through their grandson Jesse, Boaz and Ruth became
the ancestors of King David and eventually of our Lord Jesus Christ
(Matthew 1:5).
To be a respected citizen in Judah, you have
to be a true religious Jew who knew God and His Holy Scriptures.
Jesse proved himself again as a godly man by his obedience to God's
words and instructions when the Lord sent His prophet named Samuel
to his household.
David's mother was tenderly remembered for her
godliness (Psalm 116:16; 86:16). She was known as a handmaid (or
maidservant) of God, very similar to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
So, what could
be in the heart of David since he had two godly parents?
- He has
God's Word in his heart (Psalm 119:11).
- He
meditates on His Word in his heart day and night (Psalm 1:2).
- He loves
His Word with all his heart (Psalm 119:97).
- He delights
to do His Word with all his heart (Psalm 40:8).
- He sings
His Scriptures with all his heart (Psalm 101:1)
- He lives
His Word with all his heart (Psalm 119:17).
- Therefore
he found favor in the sight of God (Psalm 119:58).
- Because
David
seeks the Word of God and does accordingly, he truly loves God, and
His (God's) and his (David's) people (1st and 2nd Commandments). He was willing to
sacrifice his own life to fight the Philistine giant, Goliath
for His and his people despite the fact that he was
comparatively "undersized" (I Samuel 17).
- God's Word
living in his heart made him the man that is after God's heart
(Acts 13:22).
- He then
taught these same precepts to his son, Solomon who wrote
Proverbs 3:1-4:
My
son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands;
for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart,
and so
find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
The only one
thing different about the Old and New Covenants is the heart factor;
a heart of stone or a heart of flesh.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
"Behold,
the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new
covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah--
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand
to lead them out of the land
of Egypt,
My covenant which they broke,
though I was a husband to
them, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with
the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD:
I will
put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;
and I will
be their God, and they shall be My people.
No more shall
every man teach his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying,
'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me,
from the least of them
to the greatest of them, says the LORD.
For I will forgive their
iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more."
Ezekiel 36:26-28
"I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;
I will
take the heart of stone out of your flesh
and give you a heart of
flesh.
I will put My Spirit within you
and cause you to walk in My
statutes,
and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Then
you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers;
you shall
be My people, and I will be your God."
2 Corinthians 3:2-4
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known
and read by all men;
clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us,
written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh,
that is, of the heart.
And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
Remember that
the Lord gave the new covenant to the Jews many hundred years before
the Last Supper. In fact, Jesus did not create a new "New Covenant," He simply
fulfilled it in Matthew 26:28:
"For this is My blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
He did not say,
"This is the New Covenant." But He said, "For this is My blood of
the New Covenant…" He came to finish the task! And not to create a
new one! He sealed the New Covenant with His blood! The blood of
Christ was not the New Covenant, it was the signature to seal and
confirm the New Covenant!
I will hereby
not talk too much about this New and Old Covenants. But I must
stress that the Jews have something we do not yet have, and we have
something that they do not yet have or have lost. Both are
important. The Word and the Heart.
When we, Jews
and Gentiles, have God's Word in our hearts, we can then all become
like David, a man after God's own heart.
We will become a people who will do all of God's
will. We will do everything God wants us to do.
May we all be like David seeking God's heart
desire and doing His will.