Fuel

The life of David

A man after God’s own heart
Today’s generation we Christians bear the name of
Christ Jesus in our lives and we set him as the ultimate
example in everything that we do today, He is our role
model (and tbh this something that is impossible for us
to achieve). And this doesn’t tell us to stop
acknowledging other characters in the Bible. There are
also other examples that we should recognize from the
people in the Bible.
In the NT, the apostle Paul is set to be one of the greatest
examples when it comes to transformation, living a new
life, in the OT, Joseph the dreamer is one a great
example when it comes to forgiveness, Abraham the
father of many nations, is a great example of putting
faith and trust to the Lord, each of these heroes have a
great attribute that we can gain for ourselves, and when
we read their stories, we not only learn from their
experiences in life, but here we can also see how God
works, on how He uses these people, despite of their
backgrounds and how He gives wonderful blessings to
each of these individuals.
Again, there are a lot of things that we can learn and
ponder upon when it comes to the stories of the Bible.
Another story is found in the book of Samuel, there was
a time when the Israelites were foolish enough to
demand for a king to lead them like the other nations, if
you read the story it is obvious that Samuel was
displeased when he heard this but despite knowing that
God is already the King, God listened to their demand
and gave them one (Who knows maybe he has a better
reason for it, and he does) He then ordered Samuel to
anoint Saul, a handsome and tall Benjamite to be
anointed as Israel’s king. And when he became king, he
was okay at first, he did great and conquered lands
(because the Spirit of the Lord was with him) but then
little by little he began to disobey the commands that
God has given to him, which led him to his downfall, he
went to the point that the Spirit of the Lord abandoned
him and replace him. It is written in the book of
1 Samuel 13:13-14 English Standard Version (ESV)
13 
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done
foolishly. You have not kept the command of
the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For
then the LORD would have established your kingdom
over Israel forever.  14  But now your kingdom shall not
continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own
heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be
prince[a] over his people, because you have not kept
what the LORD commanded you.”
In 1 Samuel 16 God sent Samuel to the house Jesse a
Bethlehemite to look for the anointed. When Samuel
met Jesse’s first son Eliab, he already assumed that he
must be the one, but in verse 7,
the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his
appearance or on the height of his stature, because I
have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees:
man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looks on the heart.”
And when none of Jesse’s fine sons were chosen, there
was this young boy who was taking care of their father’s
flock. The Lord then chose this boy and he soon began to
rule the people of Israel. If we begin to read 1 and 2
Samuel, especially the book of Psalms, there we’ll begin
to know about David’s whole journey from a young man
who faced trials and hardships, to become one the
greatest kings ever mentioned in the bible. We will know
his story, his sin, his achievements in his life.
But why is David an important character in the Bible? It
is given but yes there are a lot of things that we can learn
from him, also it is again important because Jesus came
from his lineage, and not only that, David was also
known to be a man after God’s own heart. A man after
God’s own heart? If you think about it, David is not
perfect, he committed adultery against Uriah’s wife and
had him murdered, yet he was considered a man of
God’s own heart.
Today, we need to understand why David was a man
after God’s own heart, it is important for us to know
about the attitude that he has towards God and the
sincerity of his heart. As human as we are, like David, we
can also learn from his behavior, on how he experienced
tough times and went to his success and the things that
led him to his failures. Today we will only discuss 3
points about this matter.
When Apostle Paul was speaking, he said in Acts
13:22 English Standard Version (ESV)
22 
And when he had removed him (Saul), 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.’
One thing, that we must know when we read his story is
that he (David) had a deep desire to follow God’s will and
do “everything” God wanted him to do. He was a man
after God’s own heart.
I. David’s absolute faith in God.
In 1 Samuel 17, There was a time when the Philistines
gathered their armies for battle and a giant named
Goliath the philistine champion taunted the Israelites to
have a 1 on 1 battle against him, everyone one was
terrified, the Israelites were afraid. We can understand
why, I mean who would be willing to have a bloody fight
against a giant dude, are you? Except young David,
before he went to battle, he then said in verse 37 ‘The
LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and
from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand
of this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the
LORD be with you! Imagine how strong the faith that
he had this time, so bold and confident.
And when David fought against Goliath and struck him
down with a rock, he soon used his enemy’s sword to cut
off Goliath’s head. We can say here in this story that
David was fully aware that God was in control of his life,
he had faith that God would deliver him from that
danger. And why would David such a young boy, go to
dangerous situation with such calm and confidence? It is
because he knows that God is with him, he puts his trust
and faith in God. And as we review the Scriptures,
because of his faith it pleased God, and God rewarded
him cause of his faithfulness.
Think about your own giants, there things that would
hinder us in our life and take our courage and
confidence away, like David we must also face our giants
through faith in Christ Jesus.
II. David’s love for God’s law
Ever since, there are people who struggle to apply the
laws of God, in the New Testament we were gifted the
fruits of the Holy Spirit, and we still struggle to achieve
one attributes perfectly. Even some fools have that
mindset of thinking that they apply the Scriptures in
their life because they just feel obligated to do so. Let’s
not be like that. When it comes to the teacher’s
requirements let us not feel pressured and grow the
frustration within us, it is a challenge, an opportunity as
well, but more importantly when we face such
situations, we must put our faith and trust in the Lord.
In the books of Psalms, we can see David’s example of
love for God’s law. In Psalms 119:47-48 he wrote “For I
delight in your commands because I love them. I lift up
my hands to your commands, which I love, and I
meditate on your decrees.”
Like David we should also meditate on God’s words, and
challenge ourselves to reflect on His commands
throughout the day it is not an obligation but an
opportunity and if we sincerely grab it as opportunities,
we show our love through it. “Blessed are they who keep
his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do
nothing wrong; they walk in his ways” (Psalm 119:2–3).
Another point about David is that in seasons in his life
he never forgot to give thanks to the Lord. In Psalm
100:4 ESV he wrote again “Enter his gates with
thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks
to him; bless his name!
Just like David, we are called as followers of Jesus to
worship God with praise and thanksgiving.
III. David was truly repentant.
It is clear that nobody is born to be perfect, everyone
falls unto sin, we all sin and we are aware of that, like
David, we are also the same.
In 2 Samuel 11:2-5 we can see the downfall of David,
when he committed adultery with a woman named
Bathsheba, (At this time, He was a great king/handsome
and the people of Israel loves him, he has the authority
to get whatever he wants, anything material things,
wealth, jewels, and especially women. Just like us, we
are the same, we can also relate from this struggle that
he had from not being contended on the things that we
have) after the affair, he then soon began a plan to kill
Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, he was successful and tried
to hide it by marrying Bathsheba in the end, but in 2
Samuel 12:1-6 Prophet Nathan rebuked him. Read the
verse
David then admitted his sin against the Lord and Nathan
told him that the Lord has forgiven him and he will not
die, but there was a consequence of what he had done.
Also admitting our sin is not complete if we ask for
repentance. David admitted his sin and he also repented.
If we open our book and go to Psalm 51, we can see his
prayer of repentance to God. Let’s all read Psalms 51. If
this is how he shows to us, how eager he to ask for
repentance, then we should also be this type of a model.
Like David, God wants us to be committed when it comes
to becoming his disciple, we are not perfect but still we
must seek our very best to serve him with all our hearts.
In Conclusion, David demonstrated his faith and was
committed to following the Lord. Yes, his faith was
tested, and he failed at times. And after his sin he sought
and received the Lord’s forgiveness. David loved God’s
Law and sought to follow it exactly. As blessed as we are
in this generation, they had to do offerings, the works of
the law, but today we live by faith. If David sought to
follow it exactly, we should also seek and follow what
God is teaching us today.
David is a man after God’s own heart, David is a role
model for all of us.