What does it mean when the Bible says…..
• That David was a man after God’s own heart?
• Didn’t he commit adultery and murder?
• How can that be “after God’s own heart?”
In today’s lesson, we’ll take an in-depth look at that statement and be challenged on how our hearts can be ones that please God as we look at…..
David, great goodness and great sins, but always a heart in the right place.
Below is the podcast, video, and notes on the lesson.
What does it mean when the Bible says…..
• That David was a man after God’s own heart?
• Didn’t he commit adultery and murder?
• How can that be “after God’s own heart?”
In today’s lesson, we’ll take an in-depth look at that statement and be challenged on how our hearts can be ones that please God as we look at…..
David
great goodness and great sins,but always a heart in the right place
Teacher, Yvon Prehn, Bible805
David, a man “after God’s own heart”
• This phrase is part of a sermon of Paul’s in the NT Acts 13:22—where he is talking about the history of Israel, and he says, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
• What does that mean, to be a man after God’s own heart?
• First look at the definition of: Greek: Heart/kardia
• It’s the same word used to describe the heart as the organ in the body, but obviously, it means more.
Expanded meaning of “kardia”
• Keynotes the center of all physical and spiritual life….
• [It is] the center and seat of spiritual life
• [Also thought of as] the soul or mind, …the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors…of the will and character
• Blue Letter Bible
• Let’s look at the word in other places of scripture, for an expanded meaning of it.
Other uses of “Heart” in the Bible
• Mat 6:21 KJV For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also
• Our heart reflects what is important to us
• To be after God’s own heart, we should attempt to make important to us the same things that are important to God.
• A diagnostic verse: Matthew 12:34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
• And what’s inside will come out—our actions will show if our heart is based on God’s will and ways or our own.
Popular culture has diminished the definition of the heart
• We’ve made it mushy emotion –but again, it’s so much more
• “Passion” might be a better term to approximate the biblical meaning of heart; passion as the driving force of all in our lives, of what makes us choose what we do, do what we do.
• Jas 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
• If what is most important to you is that your obedience to God is first, that Jesus is Lord, that doing his will is your #1 concern, and that you know His Word well enough to know what His will is,
• If that is your passion, your heart can be a heart after God’s own heart
With that as an introduction, our lesson will show how David lived it out
• Important to understand that striving to be a person after God’s heart does not mean a life without problems or sin.
• David had plenty of them.
• But notice how he reacts to them in contrast with Saul, who when he made a mistake, made excuses, and dug himself deeper into whatever sin he committed.
• In contrast, here is a good description of David’s life, Prov 24: 16: Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.
• Let’s now look at the falling and rising in David’s life.
David as a young man
• Anointed to be king when he was approximately 15-16 years old, but tough times will be ahead.
• Initial application: Encourage young people to dream big dreams for God, while at the same time helping them see the training, denial, and discipline, they will need to make their calling reality.
• Don’t give them the false idea that Christianity is all fun, good times, and protection against everything that is difficult.
• IF you do that, what happens (and this applies to spiritual training for adults also), if they think the Christian life is a guarantee against troubles when troubles come…..
• They will bail out, get angry with God, complain, whine and walk away.
• In reality, the greater the calling, most likely the more challenges they will have to fulfill it.
We all need to see trials as training to help us grow in Christ-likeness
• James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
• To consider it “pure joy” when you face trials—
• We need a real passion for God, a heart for God.
It took David probably 15 years until he became king
• First, he fought Goliath.
• Becomes popular in Saul’s court, marries his daughter, and leads armies.
• Saul turns on him and he is a fugitive.
• For many years, he is on the run.
• His wife was given to someone else. He loses his best friend (Johnathan).
• Saul whined, disobeyed, acted presumptively when he experienced trials.
• David turned his trials into a legacy of trust and praise to God.
We know David’s response because of the many Psalms written during this time, here is a representative one
• Psalm 37 Living Bible (TLB)
• 37 Never envy the wicked! 2 Soon they fade away like grass and disappear. 3 Trust in the Lord instead. Be kind and good to others; then you will live safely here in the land and prosper, feeding in safety.
• 4 Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. 5 Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will. 6 Your innocence will be clear to everyone. He will vindicate you with the blazing light of justice shining down as from the noonday sun.
• 7 Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for him to act. Don’t be envious of evil men who prosper.
• 8 Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don’t fret and worry—it only leads to harm. 9 For the wicked shall be destroyed, but those who trust the Lord shall be given every blessing. 10 Only a little while and the wicked shall disappear. You will look for them in vain. 11 But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing and shall have wonderful peace.
He refused to take matters into his own hands—again in stark contrast to Saul
• He did not kill Saul, though he had many opportunities to do so.
• IMPORTANT: he knew God’s overall commands—that he was not to harm the king anointed by the Lord.
• When Saul was in a cave and unprotected, he could have easily killed him.
• He didn’t let an earthly event, a seeming coincidence guide him, though the stakes were huge.
• The kingship and a kingdom as well as the lives of all who followed him were on the line.
• Yet, he held firm in obeying God.
Important application
• Be careful of making a wrong decision because some random event happened, “a sign” or whatever that is contrary to either previous guidance, a clear command from God, or simply common sense.
• No matter if it is a challenging provocation or positive event, there is never a circumstance that should cause you to disobey what you know God wants you to do.
• Even advice by otherwise good people, who care about you may need to be ignored.
• David and all this troops could have easily rationalized that God had given Saul into their hands and so it must be OK to kill him.
But it wasn’t
• These situations are tests—does David truly love God as he says he does?
• Does he trust God no matter how long it takes for God to fulfill His promise?
• Or how much it costs?
• And does that love translate into obedience even when it is not in your best interest?
• God allows tests like this to see what is truly in our hearts.
Results of his obedience through these challenges
• Matured him to become the greatest king in Israel’s history.
• Many challenges, battles during this time where he needed to listen to God.
• Also, many Psalms were written during this time that would bless humanity throughout human history.
• If David had not trusted God; he and all human history after him would have lost out.
• Application: Don’t rush what God is teaching you, don’t disobey a clear command or calling, no matter what—especially if it’s something really good, that you want, but that you KNOW isn’t God’s will.
David finally becomes King of all Israel
• Continues to fight battle after battle, solidifying the boundaries of the land.
• For the first time Israel now occupies the land that was given to them after the Exodus.
• David conquers Jerusalem, and makes it his capital.
• Decides to bring the Ark to Jerusalem (it had not been in the Tabernacle since the Philistines captured it).
But he did it the wrong way
• He put the ark on a cart and when Uzzah (son of the man who kept it) reached out his hand to steady it, he was struck dead.
• David was angry, left the ark for three months and finally moved it properly as was prescribed in the law, on the shoulders of priests.
• Bit of pride, self-will there—
• Application: We must be so careful, just because God gives us success in one area, we can never think we are above the law or God’s clear commands to us.
Then, David then wants to build a temple
• Nathan the prophet first tells him “Go ahead and do it, the Lord is with you.”
• Nothing wrong with that desire; much good about it from a human viewpoint.
• But that was not God’s plan for him, and Nathan goes back and tells him that David cannot build the Temple, his son will.
• But that God will give him an everlasting heritage.
• David’s response: Acceptance and praise.
• He gets back to doing what he was called to do—to conquer, fight battles
Application: what do we do when God says “no” to what seems to be good things?
• Be thankful and focus on what we are called to do.
• If we can do all we can to help support others in their calling.
• Encourage, equip, and pray for them.
• That is what David did—his actions are written about in much more detail in Chronicles, more a little later on that.
• But after that, instead of fighting & leading the army, he stayed home….
That was a mistake
• 2 Samuel 11: It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
• He wasn’t out doing what he was called to do, which was to be the military leader—to FIGHT.
• And what follows is his adultery with Bathsheba, murder of her husband, and death of his child.
Aside from, of course, to not committing adultery and murder, our application—
• You are NEVER released from God’s calling on your life in things large or small until the Lord calls you home.
• It’s seldom ok to shift from being obedient in ministry, to say, “I’ve put in my time” and totally dropping out of serving.
• That doesn’t mean we keep doing all the things we did at another time in our lives.
• It does mean we are never free from the obligations of discipleship and can now simply focus on ourselves.
We may shift in how we express our calling
• For me, I know I was called to be a writer and teacher for Jesus, and for years I expressed that in my ministry, traveling, running through airports, and standing all day to teach seminars.
• I can’t practice my calling in the same way today.
• Currently, after surgeries and extensive physical therapy I can barely walk or stand for very long and am in significant pain when I try. That may or may not improve, though I continue to work on it.
• But I can sit really well, and I can do writing and teach online through what I’m doing now, podcasts, videos, blogs.
• I am incredibly thankful for the internet and all that it enables me to do to continue my calling to be a writer and teacher for Jesus.
• Application especially as we get older: shift, modify, train and pass on, but don’t even consider quitting.
We also never have a reason to cease practicing Biblical virtues
• We know the commands—
• In everything give thanks, 1 Thes. 5:18
• Do everything without griping and complaining, Phil. 2:14
• Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly, Micah 5:8
• And hundreds of other similar ones on Christian character.
• Youth, middle age, and old age all have their challenges and possible excuses to act badly, but we are the eternal disciples of the living God and nothing in our age or current life challenges gives us an excuse to not be pleasing to Him.
David knew that. Even in his sin—he did not cease being a man after God’s heart
• Psalm 51 Living Bible (TLB)
• Psalm 51 Written after Nathan the prophet had come to inform David of God’s judgment against him because of his adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder of Uriah, her husband.
• O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. 2 Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. 3 For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. 4 It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just. 5 . . . . . 10 Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. 11 Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. . . .
• 16 You don’t want penance; if you did, how gladly I would do it! You aren’t interested in offerings burned before you on the altar. 17 It is a broken spirit you want—remorse and penitence. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not ignore.
Application: even in sin, we can still be a person after God’s heart
• Again, a great contrast with Saul, who when Samuel confronted him,
• Saul defended himself, rationalized his sin, and wouldn’t repent.
• When Nathan confronted David, as Ps. 51, he deeply and sincerely repented.
• Confessing our sins means we agree with God that we sinned.
• If we don’t, it is incredibly serious, it’s saying we know better than God and He can’t forgive us or cleanse us.
David’s sin with Bathsheba had serious consequences
• His first son with Bathsheba died. Eventually, another son is killed by Absalom, who revolts and is also eventually killed.
• This sin was not the final event of David’s life. In fact, in the Chronicles, it isn’t even mentioned.
• Much happened after that, he sins in other ways, his repentance continued, and David arguably did his greatest work later in life.
• He lived after the sin with Bathsheba for approximately 20 years from Solomon’s birth until he became king.
David did not let his sin define his life
• As David said:
• Ps3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness. . . .
that you may be feared.
• 5 For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
• Forgiven and redeemed, he continued to serve God.
As he made preparations for the temple
• Read through 1 Chronicles 22-27
• He provided resources in gold, silver, iron, wood, and stone to build it.
• He provided the people trained to do the work.
• He organized all the workers, Levites, all involved in Temple work into groups and schedules to do the work.
• He created detailed job descriptions for all involved.
A summary of this work
• 1 Chron 28: 11-19 Then David presented his son Solomon with the plans for The Temple complex: porch, storerooms, meeting rooms, and the place for atoning sacrifice.
• He turned over the plans for everything that God’s Spirit had brought to his mind: the design of the courtyards, the arrangements of rooms, and the closets for storing all the holy things.
• He gave him his plan for organizing the Levites and priests in their work of leading and ordering worship in the house of God, and for caring for the liturgical furnishings.
• He provided exact specifications for how much gold and silver was needed for each article used in the services of worship: the gold and silver Lampstands and lamps, the gold tables for consecrated bread, the silver tables, the gold forks, the bowls and the jars, and the Incense Altar.
• And he gave him the plan for sculpting the cherubs with their wings outstretched over the Chest of the Covenant of God—the cherubim throne. “Here are the blueprints for the whole project as God gave me to understand it,” David said.
He also left us his Psalms that continues to bless us today
• David went back to a love of his youth—Music
• We assume that prior to this time, the Psalms were primarily in oral form.
• Later in life, when organizing the music for the Temple, he edited and organized them along with the specific instructions we see in the headers of Psalms as to how they were to be performed.
• Next David and the worship leaders selected some from the family of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun for special service in preaching and music. 1 Chron 25:1, MSG
• From his prayers from years of walking with God, his journals, his song, his private devotions, whatever form they were in, he was now able to leave a legacy to others.
The pattern of David’s life:
After great sins, heart-felt repentance and great mercy
• Remember, no matter how great your sin—and David committed many—the same God who loved and forgave him, loves and forgives you—accept it and rejoice in it!
• I’m sure David has an eternity of surprises of people in heaven as he meets those who have been blessed by his example and what he wrote in the Psalms.
• Final application: You too can be a person after God’s own heart!
• To do that, keep your heart focused on God, confess your sins, accept his forgiveness, and commit to fully fulfilling your calling.
• You never know how you getting up after failing, keeping going when you are tired, and determining to finish strong will touch the lives of many after you—what a wonderful heritage!
• That’s all for now
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