A Man After God’s Own Heart

We all know that David was a man after God’s own heart.

But why?

And we all want to be a man or woman after God’s own heart, right?

At least, I do.

And I bet you do too.

So it’s worth examining exactly what it was about David that qualified him to receive that title. 

  • Firstly, he was fully honest in his relationship with God.

He allowed himself to feel fully, whether joy, grief, anger, love or any other emotion. And he shared those feelings with God fully and honestly. Thus in knowing God, he began to know himself. We see this honesty in the Psalms:

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.  O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.                                                         (Psalms 22:1-2 NASB)

  • Secondly, he normally asked God what to do before embarking on a course of action.

When hearing that the Philistines were attacking Keilah he didn’t simply rush off and attack them but asked God first. When his men were reluctant to go he asked God again (1 Samuel 23:1-5). Even when overwhelmed with grief after the raid of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 30, he still did not act without consulting God (1 Samuel 30:8).

  • Thirdly, he knew God was his deliverer.

“God is to us a God of deliverances; and to God the Lord belong escapes from death….” he wrote in Psalm 68:20 (NASB). And hadn’t he had an experience of that! He told Saul: “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”                                                                        (1 Samuel 17:37 NIV)

Next Post: What else makes David a man after God’s own heart? (And us!)