A Man After God's Own Heart

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, July 13. When you read the stories of great people in the Bible, do you assume that you could never be what they were? Today's podcast looks at King David, not as one who is beyond us, but one who is like us.

Would you turn to Acts chapter 13? And this is not 1 and 2 Samuel, but that's what we are talking about. But there's a passage here that refers to what we're going to be talking about this evening, and the title of this message, A Man After God's Own Heart. So I want you to look in the 13th chapter of the book of Acts, and Paul and his company, it says, are over in Antioch. And in verse 14, it says, they went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them saying, Ye men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. Then Paul stood up and beckoning with his hands said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God give audience.

That's a good way to say it, isn't it? Ye men of Israel, and if you have any fear for God, listen to what I'm going to say. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it.

And about the time of 40 years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that, he gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet. Now what Paul is doing in his sermon, he's giving them background about themselves so they'll have to listen to what else he's getting ready to tell them. And afterwards they desired a king and God gave unto them Saul the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of 40 years.

And when he had removed him, that is Saul from being king, he raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also, he's speaking of God now, to whom also he, God, gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, who shall fulfill all my will. Now when you say, what do you mean a man after God's own heart?

Paul gives us the key right there, listen. He says, God said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, who shall fulfill all my will. Now there are a lot of things you and I can look at the Bible and say, well, I could possibly do that, but I couldn't do this, and I probably couldn't live up to that, more than likely I couldn't live up to this. But let me ask you this, can you think of anything, any higher goal for your life as a Christian than this, to be a man or a woman after God's own heart? That is one seeking to fulfill God's desire for you. Well, the question comes, what are the qualities in a person's life that would make one of us, a man or woman, up to God's own heart? You recall one of the messages we went through first in 2 Samuel, and one of the messages dealt with the character qualities to be found in David. And we went through a whole list of qualities here that we found in him, and some of those, a couple of those I want to mention here this evening, but I want to mention a different light. As I've read and reread and looked at the book of 1 and 2 Samuel and looked at the life of David and asked myself the question, what are the character qualities, what is the nature, what is it about a man or a woman that would make them a person after God's own heart?

Is it possible for one of us to be like that? Are the qualities found in David just limited to Old Testament saints, or are they available to folks like you and me? What are those qualities? Well, the first character quality, I think, or the first characteristic of a man or a woman after God's own heart, and that's this. A man or a woman after God's own heart has a priority on their personal fellowship with God.

A man after God's own heart is going to be a person who has put a priority on their personal private fellowship with the Lord God. I began to look through the scriptures and looking at the life of David here. I really believe that's one of the reasons, probably the motivating factor behind his zeal. And you know, if you sit down and read through 1 and 2 Samuel without stopping, you'll see that David was a zealous, go-getter type fellow. I believe one of the reasons for his zeal was that he had such a deep, abiding fellowship with the Lord, he knew where he was headed. And he had confidence, and that confidence was based on that fellowship with him.

And when we come through these four characteristics, you're going to find very quickly that all four of them all depend upon each other, and you really can't separate any of them. You wonder why David was able to perform as he was able to perform? Because he lived in a deep, abiding relationship with the Father. And God said, here is a man after my own heart.

Why did he say that? Because David was seeking to know God. David was seeking the heart of God. His heart was open to God, responsive to God. He meditated upon the things that he saw around him. Everything that David saw, he saw the fingerprint in it or the footprint of God behind it.

He never saw anything that he didn't see God in. And a man whose heart is after the heart of God is the man whose priority is on deep, abiding, personal, warm, intimate fellowship with him. Because you see, how can you be a man after God's own heart if you don't know God's heart? And how would you ever know God's heart if you don't meditate upon him?

And we talked about that. One of the phrases we talked about later on in 1 Samuel when the Scripture says that David sat before the Lord. He knew how to be still and quiet and meditate. And I believe anywhere you cut it, a man about whom God can say, there is a man and there is a woman with a heart after God, God's own heart, I believe you'll find the person whose priority it is to fellowship and commune and meditate with the Lord God Almighty. The second characteristic I want you to see, and of course this one would be very evident to you, and that is a man after a woman after God's own heart has a strong desire to obey God. Now listen, I didn't say they just want to.

They wish they could. But a person after God's own heart has a strong desire to obey God. You say well, I have a desire to obey God. Do you have a strong, insatiable, hungering, thirsting, yearning desire to obey God? It doesn't mean you always will, but can you say I have a strong yearning, hungering, thirsting desire to obey God. Listen, to obey God anytime and every time in any situation and in every circumstance. You say well nobody does, don't you?

You can't say that. All right, what is the real crux of the matter here? Now watch this, and it's very important you understand this particular point because it's easy to say well I don't know why God would say that about David.

Here's the reason. A man after God's own heart has a certain kind of spirit. It is a spirit, he said first of all, that hungers for God. A priority on his own personal meditation and being alone before the Lord.

That's the first characteristic. The second is he has a strong, hungering, thirsting desire to obey God. But now watch, what about when he disobeys God?

Please don't miss this. The reason God could say that David was a man after God's own heart, though he disobeyed him, though he failed him, though he had his weaknesses just like all of us. When he sinned against God, he admitted it, he assumed responsibility for it, he didn't try to hide it.

When God's servant said you are guilty, he said you are right, I have sinned against God, I am responsible to God. Not only that, when God took his child, he grieved over the death of his son, he grieved likewise over the reputation of Israel. And later on in 2 Samuel, when he had numbered the people of Israel in chapter 24, and here's the reason he numbered them, he said why would God judge him for numbering? Because you see, God wanted David to trust the Lord, not in his legions of soldiers.

And he shouldn't have done it, but he did it anyway. And the scripture says in verse 10, and David's heart smote him. That is, David's heart came under conviction that he had numbered the people, and David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done this, and now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. You don't see David covering up and excusing and explaining away and rationalizing his sin.

Now I want you to watch this. Verse 17, when God began to judge them, David said in verse 17, lo, I have sinned, I have done wickly, but these sheep, the other people of Israel who have been killed in battle here, he says, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be up against me and against my Father's house. Now listen, ought to be a tremendous lesson to every one of us.

We're not going to be perfect. We're going to sin against God. Our heart's desire is to be absolutely unquestionably obedient to God, and we're going to fail Him at times. The key that determines whether a man's heart is a heart after God or not is not how often he obeys or disobeys, but what is his spirit when he disobeys God and God confronts him with his sin.

Is it immediate confession and a spirit of repentance toward God, or is it rationalizing and confessing and blaming somebody else? And I believe here's the whole key to why he could say, here's a man up to God's own heart, that his desire was to obey God. He sought the Lord. He sought the Lord. He sought the Lord. But when he did fail, he was willing to acknowledge his failure, repent of his sins, weeping in tears before God. And the Bible says that God forgave him.

He'll do the same thing for you and me. The third characteristic, a man or woman up to God's own heart is one who has the courage to put their faith in God. A man or woman up to God's own heart is one who is excited, really, about trusting the Lord, one who has the courage to put their faith in God when things are tough. In the middle of the battle, when the bottom drops out and everything's caving in and darkness is all around, they're hanging in there trusting and believing God.

Well, there's no more beautiful example of that. Early in his life, and I believe the reason early in his life, because the first thing I said was also a prerequisite in his own life. That is, his priority was on his fellowship and dwelling upon, listen, sitting out there with those sheep at nighttime thinking about God, dwelling upon him, meditating upon him, absorbing into his soul, and reflecting how God had worked in his life. Here's a man who trusted God. Listen, when you read the Psalms and you see David's comprehension and his understanding of who God is, what he created, the supernatural power of God, that all things find their source in him, is it any wonder that he could come to the seventeenth chapter and say what he said?

I love this. Look at seventeenth chapter. Here he is facing old Goliath, the most beautiful expression of genuine faith, a man after God's own heart is a man who has and is learning, who's excited about trusting God. Listen, he's not trusting God with fear and trembling, he's trusting God with excitement, with anticipation of the consequences. He comes out to face old Goliath, verse 45 of 1 Samuel 17, then said David to the first thing. Here's the man after God's own heart, 1 Samuel 17, he's facing a giant. David said to him, Goliath, you come to me with a sword and with a spear, with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord, his faith, will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand. Now listen, friend, he was an over with the rest of Israel hollowing across the valley. He was looking him right in the eyeballs, a sword just about as tall as David was, with his armor bearer there all in his armor and he says, this day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand.

Now this is a young, strappling teenager talking to a giant. That is faith. He is excited about trusting God when he's in a position and the only way out is God himself. The fourth characteristic, that a man after God's own heart, he must possess a servant's spirit. A man after a woman after God's own heart must possess a servant's spirit.

Now the 89th Psalm says about David, listen to this, the 89th Psalm verse 20 says, I have found David my servant with my holy oil have I anointed him. Now if you begin to look back and just recall some of the incidences that we have discussed about him, let me ask you this, what do you think would motivate a man or a woman to have a servant's spirit? One of the things that would motivate us to have a servant's spirit is our reverence for God. When we understand who he is and what he's like, that's going to have some effect on motivating us to have a servant's spirit. But as you go back in 1 Samuel you recall that in the very beginning he was called to Saul's house in order to play for him and to just sort of soothe him, so he became a servant in the very beginning. God was teaching him very early in life to have a servant's spirit, not to be rebellious. You see a rebellious spirit in the life of a child will work against them all of their life in developing a servant's spirit. And I believe here is a beautiful example and here is an acid test of a servant's spirit. And you can apply this in your business, you can apply it in your vocation, you can apply it anywhere you want to apply it.

Now watch this. There is not one verse of scripture in all of those chapters where David ever even indicates the first idea that he still was not willing to serve Saul. He could have killed him twice, he sneaked up on him, took a piece of his garment, but he says, I wouldn't dare touch God's anointed. Here is the most perfect example, the acid test of a servant's spirit. David willingly, voluntarily, with the spirit of a servant, served Saul even when he knew God had rejected Saul. That is the acid test of a servant's spirit. Am I willing to subject myself to someone who is not a Christian, who is ungodly where I work, where I serve, of all the tests in his life?

I believe that's the case. You see, even when he was young and he came into Saul's household, he came in, recall, on one occasion with the women in the streets dancing and saying, King Saul has killed his thousands, but David is ten thousands. He wasn't proud. When Saul offered him his daughter, he said, who am I? Who am I to become the son-in-law of the king? He had a servant spirit. He could have killed Saul, but he waited. He could have become king of the whole nation of Israel, but he waited. He waited until God's timing was right. David saw himself subject to, subservient to, yielded to, surrendered to, obedient to Almighty God.

And he was not about to step out of that in any way in order to lift himself up. So now watch this. A man or a woman who has a heart after God will put a priority on fellowshipping and knowing who he is. Strong desire to obey God, excited about trusting the Lord, and willing to serve wherever God puts them. A servant spirit. Now listen, what wiser thing could you do than to pray, Lord, teach me how to put my priority on knowing you.

Strengthen my desire to obey you and leave the consequences to you. Send me into life's experiences that will grow up my faith so that I will be excited about every single challenge of my life. And Lord, teach me how to have a servant spirit. And Lord, I want to begin by serving those around me. When you and I get to heaven, if the only thing Jesus Christ would say to us is, my dear or my son, welcome into glory. You have a heart after God. Man, you could just forget everything else.

If he says that about you, forget everything else. There is no higher calling than for God to say to you and me, here is a man or woman after God's own heart. Thank you for listening to A Man After God's Own Heart. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.