David's Heart

Acts 13:22

And when He had deposed him, He raised up David for them as king, to whom also He testified and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to My heart, who will do all My will.

But now your kingdom will not continue. Jehovah has sought a man according to His heart for Himself, and Jehovah has appointed him ruler over His people; for you have not kept that which Jehovah commanded you. 1 Samuel 13: 14  

In my pursuit of the Life-study messages on 1 and 2 Samuel, the Lord touched me so much in the matter of "David's heart." David, while being chosen by God was tagged with and whose epitaph today is "a man according to God's heart." Indeed he was, as such a man, he honored God to the uttermost and respected God's sovereign arrangement. Though he was anointed as a king after God rejected Saul, he never fought to claim for the throne. He left the matter of being enthroned, to the Lord in His own time. For fifteen years he had been wandering like an estranged vagabond in his own land where he was anointed to be king, and that too running for his own life as Saul determined to kill him. Although, God gave David the opportunity in which he could strike Saul to death and claim the throne of Israel, he never did it. But he honored "God's anointed" and dared not cast his hand upon Saul.

Later, when God allowed Saul and his son Jonathan to be killed in the battle field, an Amalekite came to bear "glad tiding" of Saul's death according to his own version, expecting a reward from David assuming "his enemy" was killed. But David's reaction was the opposite. He charged the harbinger instead, questioning, "How is it that you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Jehovah’s anointed?" 2 Samuel 1:14. And did away with the Amalekite who reported the news of  Saul's tragic death.

Similarly David killed the ones who killed the kinsmen of Saul who thought by so doing, they bore good news to David. In these cases, in  David's heart there was no traces of hatred or enmity towards Saul at all, for whatever reason.Though Saul did his best to kill David, David did his best to preserve Saul. Here we see David's heart.

This matter of "David's heart" was a driven into my heart, to be such a man of God all the days of my life. Today, in my service and in my living, wherever the Lord placed me, I must always honor the Lord's sovereignty and never fight for "my rights." In due time, the Lord will do what He has determined to do. He does not need man's natural maneuvering. though He need man's cooperation. I must be graced by the Lord to be such a man who has "David's heart" too, "to be a man after God's heart." May the Lord grace me so.