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
Wow! A man after God’s own heart! That is amazing! But this fact made me wonder “What was it about David that made him a man after God’s own heart?” And I’ll bet that you, like me, have heard many sermons on what it was that made David so special. And I’ll also assume that not many of those preachers agreed on what was the secret of King David—why he was so God’s pick over all the other men of that era.
I’ve heard many times that it was David’s quickness to repent after having Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle so he could take her as his wife. But if you look at the story in 2 Samuel 11 & 12, David was quick to repent only after he got caught. David’s son from Bathsheba was already born so it had to be a minimum of 9 months later that he repented. Besides, God called David a man after his own heart long before the Bathsheba incident (1 Samuel 13:14).
I’ve heard, too, that it was David’s many praises recorded in the Psalms that made him special. It’s true that praise is certainly important. And David appears to have done it more than most. But is this what prompted God to tell Samuel to go and anoint David King of Israel? Besides, the Psalms were written after David became king. And God called David a man after his own heart before he became king. (1 Samuel 16)
Recently I was studying about grace—God’s unmerited favor. I wondered if there was a counterpart to the word “grace” in the Old Testament. There is a Hebrew word for God’s favor in the Old Testament. It is chesed. Of course, under the terms of the Old Covenant, this favor was earned. It is a powerful Hebrew word that is not easily translated into English. In a nutshell, this is God’s Covenant Love for His people. The New American Standard is pretty consistent in rendering this word as lovingkindness. And more than half the references to this word are used in just one book—Psalms.
When I stumbled across this I was almost sure that I had found what made David so special. I felt like he was more familiar with his personal relationship with God than anyone else. And David knew intimately God’s love and favor toward him. As I read through Psalms again it was easy to see how many times David made mention of God’s favor—chesed. I was close. I had part of it. In fact all those other things are part of it, too.
Sometimes my lightning fast mind gets in the way of itself. This was one of those times. I spent years wondering and looking. And then recently my eyes were opened. The answer was right there in front of me all along. You all probably already came to that conclusion long before me. It is right there in the first verse I referenced at the top of this blog. Here it is again:
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 (bold is my own emphasis)
I finally read that last part of the verse: “…he will do everything I want him to do.” It is simple obedience borne out of David’s relationship with God. Hear and obey. It is so uncomplicated that I missed it over and over again. It seems anticlimactic, too, doesn’t it? Weren’t you expecting something more fantastic? I was.
At the end of all this it made me wonder. Why was I so intent on finding out what made David a man after God’s own heart? Looking inside myself I found that I wanted to be like that—a man after God’s own heart. But I already know that God loves me unconditionally. There is nothing I can do to make Him love me more. And there is nothing I can do to make Him love me any less. His Love is not performance-based. So how does obedience factor in with grace?
It is like this: how God motivates us—how He leads us is key here. God loves us first. As a result we are able to love others. God proves Himself to us. We trust Him. And the overflow of love inside us spills out to those around us. It is not forced. It results in outward actions that were birthed on the inside of us as a result of God’s abundant love.
Yes. God wants our obedience to Him. But not from our outward behavior modification. Man tries to emulate the outward actions without changing the heart. But God looks at the heart. It is the treasure on the inside of us that brings forth the fruit of obedience. When we value the things that God values on the inside then our outward actions will change.
Prayer: Lord help me. Show me what is truly important to You. Show me the things that you hold most valuable. Show me what has the greatest worth. Open my eyes to see and understand what You want me to see. Open my ears to hear and understand your voice. I give up all my opinions of what I think is right. Make my mind new today. Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer.
Duct Tape Rx 