shepherd boy who became king is talked
a lot about in the Bible. Fact is many
people don’t realize he’s actually
mentioned more than Jesus. I mean hey,
there were lots of followers of God in the
Bible and he loved them all… but King
David? Well, he just seem to make
God smile!
I have found David son of Jesse, a man
after my own heart; he will do everything I
want him to do.’
Acts 13:22
It’s not just that God wanted something
done and David did it. No, it was the
special feeling a father gets when he sees
his son acting with the same heart he has.
It’s like God is saying, “David
understands me. He ‘ gets’ it”!
And David must have really “got
it” because God gave David all kinds of
honors. Think of it, the seat from which
Jesus will reign from is not referred to as
The Throne of Jesus but David’s throne!
(Luke 1:32). Then years after David had
passed away, his descendant King
Hezekiah asked God to heal him when he
was dying. God said he would give
Hezekiah 15 more years of life both for
his sake as well as because of David !
David so blessed God’s heart, he so made
God smile, that when God couldn’t bless
David any further on Earth, he blesses his
descendants just because of him!
Of course David was not perfect, in fact
he could do some pretty nasty things. But
he had a song on his lips, a spring in his
step, and an outlook on life that made the
Creator of the Universe smile!
I guess anyone who has that kind of
affect on God, well, I’d like to get to know
that guy a bit more more. Here are 4
areas I think helped make David a man
after God’s heart…a man who made God
smile!
David was humble
David lived in a time where Kings didn’t
have to be humble. There were no
Constitutional Monarchies. Everything
and everyone around him would be
kissing up to David and telling him how
wonderful he was all the time. His word
was law!
He wouldn’t need God!
Yet David as King never lost the humble
heart of that shepherd boy spending
many hours singing to his Lord as he
watched over his flock.
Later as King when David danced before
the presence of God as the Ark of the
Covenant made its way into Jerusalem,
his wife Michal ridiculed his
“undignified” manner. David responded:
“It was before the Lord, …I will celebrate
before the Lord. I will become even more
undignified than this, and I will be
humiliated in my own eyes…
2 Samuel 6
David knew he was a King …but a “king”
who served a King. That kept him
humble and life in a proper perspective!
David wasn’t Religious
David never put religious observance
before intimate relationship with his
father. At one point the religious folk are
upset with Jesus for ignoring religious
law and ceremony. Jesus answers about
people being of more value than those
religious observances and then uses
David’s example as a defense:
But Jesus said to them, “Have you not
read what David did when he became
hungry, he and his companions, how he
entered the house of God, and they ate the
consecrated bread, which was not lawful
for him to eat nor for those with him, but
for the priests alone?
Matthew 12:4
Servants don’t generally take liberties
with rules. They feel their place in God’s
household is dependent on keeping the
rules of the house so they tend to enforce
them strictly. Children don’t view rules
quite the same way. They understand
their place in the household comes from
the love of their parents, not by the rules
they keep. The priest was telling David
he was not allowed to eat the consecrated
bread.
He was a good servant.
David knew his papa would want eaten
bread… not starving men!
He was a good son…and God smiled on
him!
David “owned” his faults
David did some horrid things. In some
cases he arguably committed worse sins
than his predecessor Saul who God
removed from being king. People may
question why that is but I feel it came
down to David “owning” his offenses.
When Saul was confronted about his sins,
he was quick to make excuses, begin
listing the things he had done right, and
try to deflect by pointing to others.
In fact he would have fit in well with a
21st century work place culture in that
respect.
David was the opposite. When
confronted by the prophet Nathen
regarding the murder of his loyal servant
Uriah so that he could have his wife David
broke down:
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the
man! This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says:
… You struck down Uriah the Hittite with
the sword and took his wife to be your
own. You killed him with the sword of the
Ammonites….
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned
against the Lord.”
2 Samuel 12
When David screwed up he didn’t try to
pass the buck, it stopped with him; which
ultimately created a heart that could be
healed by God.
David “Got” God
David may have been king but he had a
successful second career as a singer –
songwriter. Singer – songwriters tend to
feel things deeply and then write those
insights into songs that can shape us.
David’s songs reveal a deep intimacy
with God so much so that bands like U2
still sing his songs 3000 years later!
Look at what David was writing songs
about:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
but my ears you have opened—
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did
not require.
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40
Writing songs suggesting that offering
and sacrifice was NOT what God has as a
priority!
Huh?
The religious person of that day (and of
today for that matter) could justly argue
from scripture that offering and sacrifice
is what God is ALL about. And to suggest
that God ultimately wanted to write his
law on our hearts?
Wow!
That’s 1500 years before Jesus really
brought that idea front and center…much
to the chagrin of the Pharisees.
But David “got” it. Thousands of years
before humanity was ready, David was
beginning to signal to his listeners that
God was more interested in the condition
of their hearts than their performance of
the law.
And when he wrote these words, he made
God smile.
I know God loves me as his child without
condition. Because of that I want to be
the kind of son who can make God smile.
I think these 4 qualities of David can
help me…and you!
