The Man After God’s Own Heart
By Nick Bibile
Acts13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
There are many who call themselves Christians, but there are only very few true Christians. The true Christians are godly, who are sanctified and they love to worship and serve God for the rest of their lives. The others who say they are Christians are not called by God, so they are not regenerated but they think they are Christians because they act and behave like Christians but have no thirst to serve and worship God.
Let us take just one character from the Old Testament, Kind David. He was called a man after God’s own heart. Think about it, a man after God’s own heart.
What do you mean a man after God’s own heart? It means to set your heart,
thoughts, desires on God, while the fleshly man focus his thoughts and desire of the flesh, the things of this world. This is how you separate the true Christian from the hypocrite.
Let us see king David from the Old Testament and I want you to evaluate your heart before God and see where you stand?
63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek
you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Is your soul
thirsts for God? Or is your flesh thirsting after material things or those delicious food which you love to eat. In this nation
millions of people die because they eat too much. They spend so much money on
dieting, they are concern of the flesh but not of the soul, they have no thirst
for God, they don’t earnestly seek God. The true man of God is satisfied with
the rich food that comes from God’s word as David said;
63:5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat
and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.
How many
people spend so much money on food for the stomach but have no thirst for God’s
word?
Many people
feel the presence of God only in the church and when they are at home, work or
out they forget God as they are focused on the fleshly things of this world.
PS 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.
Ps
105:4 Seek
the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
True man of God meditate the things of God as David said:
63:6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
Many who come
to church and listen to the word of God and as soon as they leave the church
they forget everything what was spoken but they remember all the fleshly
things, why? Because they have set their minds of the things of this earth,
they meditate the things of this life, God is just a
ritual, a Sunday tradition.
One of the
first things David did when he became king was to bring the ark to
2 Sam 7:2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I
dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” 3 And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is
in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
David is
saying I live in a palace, a place of great comfort but ark of God is in a
tent, this is not right. I live in style but God’s place is in a tent. Think
about it. Look at the way David is thinking. His thoughts are focused on earth
or heaven? No wonder God said David was
a man after God’s own heart. God looks at the heart and your motives, how do
you treat God? Here we see David’s mind is seeking after God’s own heart. What about you? Do you give the best to God?
We know the
story when God said, he is going to make a house for David, the
spiritual kingdom will be established by the Lord Jesus.
David was a man of humility.
Here David was
the king yet he was a very humble person. When God said he is going bless David
by making him a house the first thing David said was, 2 Sam 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me
thus far?
What about
you? Do you think, well I earned everything with my hard work and I deserve it,
everything belongs to me.
David had a heart of love and
compassion.
One of the
true ingredients of the Christian is love, compassion and kindness. David had
all these great qualities. How many times King Saul who was jealous of David
came to kill David, yet when Saul died, David did not rejoice but mourned for
Saul. How would you react when your enemy die? Will
you say to yourself, praise God that he is dead now? Jesus said love your
enemies and David was a true man of God. Abner was
Saul’s top general and when Joab murdered Abner David mourned for Abner.
Look at the
way he treated Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth was a son of Jonathan but he was
crippled. But when David heard this brought Mephibosheth
and told him for the rest of his life he can eat from the king’s table.
2 Sam
How about
you? Do you invite dirty crippled person to your home and let him eat the best
of the foods that you eat? Or will you say, I don’t want my place to get dirty
let the cripple eat outside.
God looks at
the heart of man, his motives and no wonder God said, David was a man after
God’s own heart, meaning he would do the things what God would do, what Jesus
would do.
When King
David’s son Absalom, who was extremely wicked wanted kill his own Dad, David,
yet when Absalom died, king David cried out saying, 2 Sam 18:33 “O my son
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died
instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
See the
compassion of David for his wicked son.
David loved the unity of fellowship.
Ps 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
Do you care
for your own brothers and sisters in the church, do you really love them,
concerned for them, do you think of them, do you put
them first before you think of yourself? Do you help them before they even ask
you, or do they have to really ask you and you may say, well I have to see my
schedule? David was a compassionate loving person.
Sin of David.
Now you may say, what about the great sin of David when he committed
adultery with Bathsheba even plotted the murder of her husband? Was that a man
of God?
I am glad
that the Holy Spirit detailed the sin of David in the Bible. This shows when
there is a man of God who is after God’s own heart, there is an enemy who is
terribly nervous, the enemy is mad and he will do everything in his power to
wage war against the man of God so he will fall into sin. If you are living without a warfare from the
enemy, may be the enemy is happy at your position and will not bother you,
that’s why we how wicked people prosper as they live in style, but when the man
of God seek after God’s own heart the enemy wants to wage war.
Yes, David in
his flesh, in his Adamic nature sin against God. But
God in his mercy rebuked David through Nathan the prophet. David repented
before God in agony. The true man of God when he realized that he had sinned
against God, he will repent with much tears and agony. God forgave David and
this is what David said
32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression
is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted
away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon
me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of
summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Now
let me summarize this in Romans 8:5-7
Romans 8:5-7 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
The word mind is repeated four times. Your mind is the battleground, where the enemy wants to tempt your in the flesh.
2 Cor 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Eph 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
Philippians
Many of you have set your minds of this world, you know sports, politics and news of this world pretty good and many have a lot of time to watch TV, and to be engaged in their private lifestyle, but have no thirst and a desire for God because they have set their minds of this earth which leads to death.
How many wants to be godly? How many wants to have fellowship with Jesus? If Jesus comes to you and say, I am coming to have fellowship with you, what would you say? Will you be comfortable or uncomfortable? Or will you say like John in Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Will you say like the two disciples who were going to the village Emmaus, who urged the Lord to stay longer.
Pray and ask the Lord to change your heart and mind so your corrupted minds will be renovated to a new mind.
Eph
Rom 12:2 Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.