after His heart…

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.’

Acts 13:22 NIV

In the three year reading through of His Word… we read about David in 2Samuel… and I wonder at what it means… to be a man after God’s own heart…

David took a woman who wasn’t his to take… she was the wife of another man…

When she turned up pregnant… he called her husband back from war (where he should’ve been himself)… he tried to get the husband to go sleep with his wife to cover up what he had done… but it was to no avail…

Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

2Samuel 11:11 NIV

David… in dealing with someone with more integrity than himself… saw no other choice but to eliminate the problem…

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

2Samuel 11:14-15 NIV

This is just a sampling of David’s shortcomings… but when confronted by God… he repented… and faced the consequences which resulted from his sin…

As David ran from his own son who was trying to overthrow him as king (a consequence of his sin)… he was cursed by one of Saul’s relatives…

One of David’s men offered to take him out… David said…

“… Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.”

2Samuel 16:11-12 NIV

David saw God’s sovereignty in everything… and willingly accepted what came from His hand… he trusted Him with whatever came next…

So today I find comfort in David’s story… and a clearer understanding of what it means to be a man after God’s own heart…

We will fall… fail… but if we see His hand in everything… come into agreement with Him when He convicts… trust His judgment in all things… truly let Him be Lord… then we too… are one after His heart…

In all my brokenness… failings… and frailties… I pray I will be one… who is after His heart… surrendered to who He is… and the truth of who I am before Him…