Seeking God Faithfully - A Study of the Life of David
Message #1
"Meet the Man After God’s Own Heart"
INTRODUCTION
One of the many things I appreciate about the Bible is the fact that the writers do not flatter the hero’s of the Bible. Within the pages of the Bible we read about both the good and the bad of the major personalities of God’s people. We learn of the many great things the Bible characters accomplished for God, and we learn of the many failures they experienced in their lives. If we learn anything from the Bible, we learn that God isn’t looking for perfect people.
This is true more so in the life of David, then in the life of any other Bible character. David was a great man of God. He was known as a man after God’s own heart. He accomplished some pretty amazing things as a young shepherd boy, and later as the king of Israel. On the other hand, he had a glaring and devastating personal failure in his life.
This morning we begin a two month walk through the life of David. We’ll take a frank look at a man gripped by destructive passion, rocked by family chaos and personal tragedy, yet a man who became the national hero of God’s chosen people. We’ll see how devotion doesn’t mean perfection- that God loves us in spite of our weaknesses and He can do extraordinary things through ordinary people whose lives are wholly devoted to Him.
A look at the life of David will teach us that in spite of mistakes and devastating troubles, a life that God considers great is within the reach of everyone who submits to Him.
David’s life was not all success. He also experienced bitter failure - and yet, his life was ultimately a glory to God. How could that be? Well, I hope that is one thing we will learn from his life.
One author has said that David’s life reminded him of a compass needle: It wiggled quite a bit from side to side, but it always returned to due north. And I have a hunch that a description like that has something in common with where you and I might be living for God. I believe you will be able to relate to David’s story as we study it.
David took the throne of Israel about 1013 B.C. He was the middle of three important Kings during what is called the "United Kingdom" period of Israel’s history. The three important kings were Saul, David, and Solomon.
His young life was spent tending sheep with his father Jesse.
Saul had been appointed as the first King of Israel, but it didn’t take long for Saul to show what he really was made of.
This whole concept and idea of appointing a king to lead the people of Israel was not an idea from God. Up to this point, and for over 300 years, God had led the nation of Israel. He had been their king. He raised up people, known as judges, to govern the daily affairs of the nation, but pretty much, God was the king.
But that wasn’t enough for the people. They wanted to be like the nations around them. They wanted an earthly king. Demanding a king to be like the nations around them would bring misery on Israel for years. Ultimately, the nation would fall because of it.
You see, the Israelites in the days of Saul weren’t interested in things like character and commitment to God’s ways. To put it simply, they wanted someone who looked good, someone who could represent them in the public eye, someone with Charisma and a good image. They were looking at outward appearance only. If they were making their decision in our day it would be someone who would look good in front of the camera. So that is exactly what God gave them. Saul looked great, but he proved to be hollow within.
But he didn’t have a heart for God. And for that these people would pay dearly once he became king.
Eventually God decided that Saul needed to be replaced as the king of Israel. Saul had rejected the word of God and now God was rejecting Saul.
So God needed to select a new person to be king of Israel. And this time he chooses someone who on the surface was not impressive at all. David was a common Jewish boy . He was on the handsome side, scripture tells us, but he was nothing more than a teen age boy who was working on his father’s sheep farm.
David was born about ten years after Saul became king. The people of Israel were on a long drift from God, and now, to make matters worse, they were becoming disillusioned with the leader they had chosen.
Yet God said to David, "You have what I am looking for young man. You will be the future king of Israel."
So for the next two months we are going to examine the life of King David, not a perfect man, not a sinless man, not a man who never failed, but a man who was seeking God faithfully.
Let’s learn a few lessons this morning as we introduce David and his life story.
TRUST IN GOD INSTEAD OF INSISTING ON YOUR OWN CHOICES
As mentioned, before David became King of Israel, Saul served in that position for 40 years. For 300 years, God led the nation of Israel. Now the people wanted to be like the nations around them and they insisted on installing their own king.
People have a tendency to always want to be like everybody else. We don’t want to be different. We want to do the popular thing.
And the folks that lived one generation prior to David were no exception.
The pride of nations in those days was their king. Surrounding nations would ask the Israelites, "Where’s your king?" And they would have to answer, "Oh, he’s in the heavens." The Israelites wanted a leader on earth. "We want to be like all the other nations. Look at them, they all have kings. We want to be just like them."
Folks, when we take situations into our own hands, and start insisting on our own choices, we cause ourselves all sorts of problems. These people insisted on a king, and God gave them exactly what they asked for. A good looking, tall man. "Wow, he’ll be a good image for Israel. Saul’s our guy."
But "their guy" turned out to be a thin-skinned, hot tempered, depressed guy. So much for the man who was the people’s choice.
Perhaps some of you singles would do well to perk up for a moment and hear what I just said. You can insist on your own choice for a spouse or you can be patient and wait for someone who will meet God’s qualifications. If you insist on your own way, God will probably let you do it, but then He will also let you live with the results of your choice.
That guy or gal you are so head over heals over looks so good right now. And he/she may on the outside look like just the right person for you. But you need to give serious prayerful consideration to whether or not the person is God’s choice for you or are you insisting on your choice. God may give you what you want, but just like the Israelites who paid a dear price for insisting on their choice, you also will pay a dear price for insisting on your own choice.
It is a very dangerous thing for a Christian to want to be like everyone else. The Bible says that we are a royal priesthood, we are set apart, we are a holy people. We Christians are to different from the rest of the world. We are not supposed to be like the world, nor should we want to be like the world.
The Israelites wanted to be like the world, so they insisted on their own choices and it got them into all sorts of trouble. The lesson here: stop wanting to be like the rest of the world. It will just lead you to insist on your own will, which will cause you all sorts of problems in the long run.
GOD CHOOSES NOBODIES AND TURNS THEM INTO SOMEBODIES
1 Samuel 13:13-14 "You acted foolishly," Samuel said to Saul. "You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. [14] But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command."
Look at the three letter word in verse 14 man. God had sought out a man. Only a man, but he was the man God chose.
David is described as a man after God’s own heart, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about David or about why God chose David, or why he chooses anyone for that matter. You might get the feeling that David was some sort of super phenomenal person. A spiritual superhero.
Why does God chose people? What kind of people does God choose?
1 Cor. 1:26-28 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. [27] Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. [28] God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
God doesn’t chose people that the world finds impressive. When we look for people to admire, when we chose our role models, our heroes, we are often swayed or impressed by things that are so superficial. We want the beautiful people, the brilliant people, the "successful people." We want the best and the brightest. The superficial impresses us much more than we want to admit.
But God says, "That’s not the way I make my choices. I choose the nobodies and turn them into somebodies" And that in a nutshell is the life of David.
When God scans the earth for potential leaders, He is not on a search for angels in the flesh. He is certainly not looking for perfect people, since there are none. He is searching for people just like you and me, people made up of flesh. But he is also looking for certain qualities in those people- the same qualities he found in David.
The first quality God saw in David was spiritual maturity. David was a man after God’s own heart. What does that phrase imply?
I think it means that David was a person whose life was in harmony with God. And that is what he is looking for in you and I.
What is important to God is important to us. What burdens Him burdens us. When God says to you, "Do this" your do it. When God says "Stop that in your life" you stop it. When he says, "This is wrong and I want you to change" you do so because you have a heart for God.
The second quality God saw in David was a complete commitment. God is looking for men and women whose hearts are his completely.
2 Chron. 16:9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
That means there are no locked closets, nothing’s been swept under the rugs. When you do wrong you admit it and immediately come to terms with it. You hurt over wrong and are concerned about those things that displease Him. You long to please God in your actions and you care about the motivations behind your actions. That’s a heart that is completely given over to God.
The third quality God saw in David was integrity.
Integrity is what you are when nobody’s looking. It means being bone deep honest.
Many of you may feel that you aren’t qualified to serve God because you don’t have great talents. God isn’t looking for talented people. God is not looking for magnificent specimens of humanity. He’s looking for deeply spiritual people who are completely given to him and who are honest to the core servants who have integrity.
Today, we live in a world that says, "If you just make a good impression, that’s all that matters." But you will never be a man or woman of God if that’s your philosophy. Never. You cannot fake it with the Almighty. He is not impressed with externals. He always focuses on the inward qualities.
Take the necessary time to develop and cultivate the inward qualities that God seeks, and then let him use you.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER IS THE MATTER OF THE HEART
There’s a Christian song that says, "the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart."
Have you ever noticed how often the human heart figures into what God has to say?!
In 1 Samuel 12:20, Samuel said, "Do not be afraid," "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
The heart, the innermost part of our being, is designed by God to be thoroughly involved in all that He has in mind for us. But it can also lead us in the wrong direction.
In today’s thought and language, while there is a physical sense in which we view the heart in terms of ventricles, valves and veins, we also use the word in significantly different ways.
For example, Somebody is "good at heart". We learn things, "By heart". It is said that we get into things "heart and soul." If someone is courageous they have a "heart of steel." If we want someone to show us compassion, we say, "Aw come on, have a heart." If we feel deeply attached to something, we might hum a few bars of "I left my heart in San Francisco." If a friend in unnerved about something, we encourage him to set his "heart at rest." If we have a tremendous desire to achieve a certain goal, we "set our hearts on it." And if people are thoroughly committed to a task they get into it "with all their hearts."
And really these kinds of examples of how we use the term heart is very close to the biblical meaning of that word as well.
Beyond being a physical organ, the heart symbolizes the very center of our being! The spiritual epicenter of our life. God has specifically and uniquely designed that innermost part of us to discern, to decide, to dedicate.
The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.
God is seriously concerned with our hearts.... and He is in the heart changing business. He deals primarily with heart transplants! Giving people a "new heart" a spiritual heart.
Listen to me: God examines your hearts continually. On one occasion in I Sam. 9:18-19....Samuel (prophet of God) tells Saul that he would "tell Saul all that is in his heart."
God knows what is in your heart....He examines it. Then He evaluates what He finds....The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart....
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly" (Mk. 7:21-23)
Christians be warned....guard your heart lest it grow immune to the work of God. Let Him know that you desperately want His touch upon your heart. Don’t become weary of allowing Christ to continually bring you to the needed change of attitude, intent, ambition, or aspiration.
Allow God to change you as Christ dwells in your heart and transforms you from within!!!! The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart....and that is really what the life of David is all about. He was, indeed, as the Scripture says of him, "a man after God’s own heart."
CONCLUSION
Some years after the death of King David, God would make a statement about David in comparing him with another King of Israel, later in her history.
1 Kings 14:7-8 Give your husband, Jeroboam, this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: ’I promoted you from the ranks of the common people and made you ruler over my people Israel. [8] I ripped the kingdom away from the family of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who obeyed my commands and followed me with all his heart and always did whatever I wanted him to do.
Now, we know and will soon see that David’s obedience was not perfect. He sinned terribly. Yet he is commended by God here. Why? What is the reason?
Look again at the verse:
who obeyed my commands and followed me with all his heart and always did whatever I wanted him to do.
David’s receiving of God’s approval was not based on flawless perfection.
Remember the author who compared David’s life with that of a compass needle? God’s approval of David was based on the condition of his heart. More than anything else in the world, David wanted to do what was right in God’s sight! He did not always do it. He was weak like you and I. But it wasn’t because he didn’t want to.
What is it that God is looking for in men and women today? What pleases Him? He is looking for people who will give Him their whole hearts. He does not expect to find sinless perfection. If He did, then Christ’s death for our sins would be meaningless!
What God is looking for are men and women, boys and girls who will surrender their hearts to Him. People who, deep down inside, more than anything else in the world, want to please Him. Men and women who, like David here, are willing to "follow Him with all their heart." Are you?
"Lord Reign In Me"
Over all my dream, over all my thoughts,
May my life reflect the beauty of my Lord
My one desire, Lord, my only aim
Is that You reign in Me again
NCC 4-29-01
