As a kid, memory Bible verses like Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” was one of the scriptures I still remember and will always cherish until my last breath! I believe the same might be true for many of you as well.
Not only is this particular Bible verse special, but reading the Book of Psalms is a profound uplift to the spirit and strengthens your faith in God. The majority of the Psalms were written by David!
David was called “a man after God’s own heart.” This phrase wasn’t spoken by any human being, but by God Himself.
In 1 Samuel 13:14, we read: But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
This was God’s message to Prophet Samuel when Saul, the first anointed king of Israel, disobeyed God.
I used to marvel at this – Wow, what a righteous and good man David must have been for God Himself to say he was “a man after my own heart!”
However, as I read the Books of Samuel, David was far from what we would call righteous or good!
David’s life was much darker than many of us might imagine. Not only was his hands stained with blood, but David also slept with the wife of one of his most trusted friend and commander, Uriah! And that’s not all. David even had Uriah killed in battle to cover up his adulterous deed. He ordered that Uriah be placed in the front lines where he would surely die. Gosh! That is what we would call devilish! Isn’t it?
How could someone like David be called “a man after God’s own heart”?
If you are also wondering why David was called a man after God’s own heart despite his mistakes, here are some reasons:
1. David’s Trust In God Alone
David was the eighth son of Jesse and spent his days in the wilderness tending his father’s flocks. He was never afraid of the bear or the lion that attacked the flocks, knowing that the God of Israel protected him.
While the Israelite army and even Saul were shaking with fear at the sight of Goliath, David confidently stood before the giant with only a sling and five stones. He said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45-46: Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, 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 and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”
2. David was Obedient and Respectful
David never refused any command given to him. When his father asked him to check on his brothers at the battlefield, David could have ere doing, David could have said to his father, “It’s a war zone, I am afraid to go. What if something happens to me? Do you want to die there?”
But, no. David obeyed his father without any question.
David also respects and listens to whatever the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and Gad said to him. There is no account in the Bible that he question them – rather, David obeyed whatever they said!
He also respects Saul and did no harm to him because of the anointing even though Saul insulted him numerous times and seek to kill him.
3. David Was Humble At Heart
Saul offered one of his daughters Merab for David’s wife and David responded – So David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 1 Samuel 17: 18.
However, Merab was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
Later on, Saul learned that his daughter Michal was in love with David and he offered to give him as a wife again – So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?” 1 Samuel 18: 23.
Another example is the lifestyle of David after the prophet Samuel anointed him to be king. He didn’t boast nor tried to become the king, instead, he continue tending his father’s sheep!
These are a few incidences that show David’s humbleness. If you read the Books of Samuel and Psalm, you will see the humbleness of David.
4. David Did Not Have A Hatred And Revengeful Heart But A Forgiving Heart
Saul dealt treacherously with David numerous times. Like offering his daughter Merab to David for his wife but giving her to another man. Yet, David didn’t go about getting furious with Saul. Not to mention him giving David’s wife Michal to another man.
This sounds like a reasonable ground to avenge Saul but David didn’t try to harm Saul at all – even when David got an opportunity to kill Saul.
On the other hand, Saul became so jealous of David and feared him so much that he tried to kill David and hunted for him high and low every day – even to the point that David had to flee to Gath and changed his behavior before them, feigned madness in their hands scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. (1 Samuel 21:1-15).
David had the opportunity to get even with Saul and kill him when he saw him in a cave – Instead of harming Saul, he cut the corner of his cloak while he was sleeping and showed Saul that he don’t want to harm him.
If we look at our lives, surely, most of us do not suffer humiliation and betrayal or be tormented mentally and physically as much as David does!
However, we fret and fume with anger and can’t stop thinking about how to get ‘even’ with those who hurt us! We can’t wait for the moment to show them who we are and so we held on to the anger and refused to forgive them.
Saul’s hatred and jealousy for David were so strong and devastating that he went with 3000 chosen men to hunt for David.
In 1 Samuel 22: 18-19 we can see what Saul did – So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod.
Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep – with the edge of the sword.
However, David did not carry such hatred or revengeful feelings towards Saul or those who tried to harm him.
As a matter of fact, even if David killed Saul, the Israelites will stand with David because he has become a ‘heart-throb’ for Israel! David was a celebrity and loved by all!
David’s reaction when he heard king Saul and Jonathan died will surprise you more!
When he heard the news, David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son. He also lamented over Saul and Jonathan and composed the Song of the Bow for Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:17-27).
What a beautiful heart David has! He sure has a clean heart even though he has other weaknesses.
5. David Owns His Mistakes And Takes Responsibility
When the prophet Nathan was sent by God to rebuke David for sleeping with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, David repented and fall before God.
Another incident was when David gave orders to take the census of Israel. God’s anger killed 70,000 men of the people from Dan to Beersheba.
God sent the prophet Gad to speak to David.
In 2 Samuel 24:17 – Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
David didn’t make any excuse nor blame someone for anything. He admits his mistakes and takes responsibility for what he did and what happened.
6. David Loves God Deeply And Seeks His Face
Let’s read 2 Samuel 6:12-15 together.
12 Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness.
13 And so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep.
14 Then David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod.
15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
David danced with all his might and did not feel ashamed to praise God in front of everyone. Even though David didn’t mind it, God mind it when his wife Michal showed her disapproval and despised him in her heart for dancing like a madman in front of everyone!
This is what David said to Michal in 2 Samuel 6:20-23:
20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
21 So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord.
22 And I will be even more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them, I will be held in honor.”
23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
On another occasion when the anger of God burned against Israel, He provoked David to take the census of the people and the angel of the Lord killed 70,000 men of the people.
God then sent the prophet Gad to tell David to erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David went as the Lord commanded and Araunah offered to give David whatever he want for free.
2 Samuel 24:24 reads – Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
David loved the Lord and never offered anything that cost him anything.
Conclusion On Why Was David A Man After God’s Own Heart
To sum up, even though David have his own weaknesses, God called him a man after His heart because of the following reasons:
- David trust in God alone.
- David was obedient and respectful.
- David has a humble heart.
- David didn’t harbor hatred or revenge but had a forgiving heart.
- David owns his mistakes and takes responsibility without any excuse or blaming someone.
Contrary to what most churches go by in judging people who sinned or make mistakes, Jesus said he came for the sinners, not the righteous (Mark 2:17).
Looking at David’s life, he doesn’t fit in the category of those people God will use when we look at his mistakes! However, God said he was a man after His own heart!
People will point fingers at you, criticize you, make fun of you or humiliate you for what you did in the past. However, I want you to know that your past didn’t determine your future!
There is no one who is free from sin – unless someone died! As long as you live, mistakes will happen!
So, shake off every shame or feeling of guilt of the past mistake which is holding you and move ahead.
The same is applicable if you held unforgiveness towards someone who hurt you. You need to let go and forgive so that God can work in your life.
Our righteousness can never be achieved by our hard work no matter how hard we tried. Even if you become a saint, you can never become righteous by yourself – We become righteous only by the blood of Jesus and this righteousness is the grace of God!
And so, everyone falls short of the glory of God and needs salvation – the forgiveness of God and eternal life. It is God alone who sanctifies you!
So, regardless of your past or who you are, what matters is not how you start but how you finish!
You will see it in Matthew 20:1-15, the parable of Laborers in the Vineyard, each laborer who came early, on the third hour or the eleventh hour was given a denarius each!
We must have a heart like David and be aligned with God because even though we start first we can end up the last or be not chosen at all because many are called but few are chosen!