2009 – Day 97.Apr. 8 - A Study of David … How’s Your Heart?

2009 – Day 97.Apr. 8 - A Study of David … How’s Your Heart?

Blogger Billy's Note: Today Swindoll and I, following his book, move on to another in the Great Days with the Great Lives series of Bible character studies; and in this next month or so we’ll be focusing on the life of King David, … his greatness and his weakness, … his ups and his downs, … but above all, his heart, which we’ll see from the beginning to the end is a “heart for God.”

Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 13: 1 – 14 … Link to today’s passage …

My Journal for Today: So, today we move on to another Bible character of note, … King David; and Swindoll starts with a focus on the one quality God looks for when he seeks out leaders; and that is a heart to follow after His own heart. And in today’s initial passage, though it centers on the life of Israel’s first King, … Saul, this principle of heart-felt obedience to God is stated in 1st Sam. 13: 14a, where Samuel, God’s Prophet, says, “But now your [Saul’s] kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, … " which was a condition of the heart which Saul did not have. But it was a condition of the heart which David did have.

Most certainly, knowing David’s story, as you probably do, we know that David was not perfect in his flesh. No, he had major league carnal weaknesses; but God knew David’s heart; and it was a heart which was in pursuit of God’s heart. And as Swindoll points out as he helps me launch into this study of David, when God seeks out someone to do His will, the Lord does not seek the perfect heart; because in fallen mankind, there is no such thing as a perfected heart. No, God simply wants someone, prayerfully like you and me, who has a heart to seek after God’s will and His way of doing things. David had such a heart; and Swindoll asks his readers as I opened with the topic lead, “How is your heart?”

Yes, as I move into this study of David, one of the great lives in the Old Testament, I’m doing a self inventory, which, according to Paul in 2nd Cor. 13: 5 [link provided] is a healthy spiritual thing to do. And though I’m convicted by some of the sin patterns in my life – those besetting habits, like my tendency toward gluttony – which I detest, I know that I have a heart for God’s way and for His will, which I seek primarily through His word. I’m not bragging about it; it is simply my heart to seek after God’s heart. Otherwise, why would I gladly and expectantly get up each morning, as I am here today, digging into God’s word and using a spiritual shepherd like Chuck Swindoll, to help me grow in my faith and help me follow my Lord? No, that’s not my ego talking or me showing off for your benefit; that’s my “M.O.” which, praise God, is in hot pursuit of my Lord.

Only you can speak to your heart; but we read above, as God was to seek out David to be His anointed leader, God is looking for those who pursue His will and hold onto a desire to be obedient to His commands (which we, of course, primarily find in His word). We see this principle and process, not only in 1st Sam. 13: 14a above, but also in a parallel teaching of 2nd Chronicles 16: 9 [link provided]; and so, I hope you’re asking yourself now if you have a heart which seeks to be obedient to God and to be transformed as Paul wrote in Romans 12: 1-2 [linked], a passage I do hope you have memorized.

But you may ask, is a heart for God’s heart implanted by God or does it develop through our own choices? And the answer to that is “YES.” It is both something that is planted in our hearts when we come to receive Christ as our Messiah/Savior [Gal. 2: 20 - linked]; and it is something we come to receive and build into our lives by our desire to know, seek, and become like God [see Phil. 1: 6 - linked]. A “heart for God” comes to Christians via the Holy Spirit dwelling in our; and it becomes a heart after God’s own heart, when, in faith, we CHOOSE to let God’ Spirit reshape us into His own image and we seek to know and pursue God as we are reshaped BY GOD into His own image.

I pray that I, and any who read here, become like David became, “a man after God’s own heart.”

My Prayer for Today: You know my heart, Lord; and it is one which desires to know and serve You. Amen