A
Man After God's Own Heart
By
Ivan Q. Spencer
As
we study the life of David, we see how preciously true is the statement made by God of this man, “I have found a man
after mine own heart, who will fulfill all my will.”
What
a need of the same kind of a heart of obedience and openness to the Lord in the people of God today, when the latter rain
is due to fall. It is very difficult for God to get His way and receive all the glory, since man is so self-willed and strong
in himself that whenever God moves in a supernatural way, he if possible, runs away with the glory.
When
King Saul was hunting for David, with murder in his heart, and turned into the cave at Engedi (1 Sam. 24), David and his men
were in the uttermost part of the same cave. David was urged by his men to take Saul's life as he lay asleep. Perhaps David
remembered the word of the Lord, spoken to him some time before, “I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand.”
It would have been an easy matter to take off his head, but David only cut off a part of Saul's robe to prove to Saul and
his men that he was in his hand and that his heart was right or he would have taken the king's life. Only one filled with
the grace of God would not have taken advantage of an enemy who was seeking his life when providence had so placed him in
his hand.
Afterward,
David's heart smote him for even cutting his garment and making a display of it. Here was an opportunity for man to display
his righteousness and perfection. God was not pleased, and David's heart, sensitive to God's touch, felt the pangs of a guilty
conscience. The truly righteous heart never cares to make a display of itself to others but only desires to be true to God.
At
the death of Saul, David weeps with a godly sorrow and calls Israel to mourn, reminding them that Saul had clothed them with
scarlet and satisfied them with other delights. Reader, how do you feel when your enemy falls? Do you say, “I told you
so. I knew he would come to this. It is a judgment upon him.” A truly righteous heart could even rejoice to see an enemy
prosper and weep when he falls.
In
the catalogue of David's mighty men, found in 2 Sam. 23, is recorded three who, at the risk of their lives, broke through
the host of the Philistines to fulfill a wish of David for a drink of water out of the well at Bethlehem. At their return
with the water, he would not drink it but poured it out upon the ground saying, “Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should
do this: is not this the blood of the men that wen tin jeopardy of their lives?” David had a tender heart for others.
The thought of his selfish wish was painful to him. The one after God's own heart never looks for pity or to be waited upon
or pampered. Only divine love can conquer the awful selfishness in the heart of man.
At
the conspiracy of Absalom (2 Sam. 16), David and a company of his men left Jerusalem and went weeping, with their heads covered,
up the Mount of Olives; and when they came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, cursing
David and throwing stones and dirt as he came, saying, “Be gone, thou bloody man and thou man of Belial; the Lord hath
turned upon thee the blood of the house of Saul and hast delivered the kingdom into the hands of Absalom thy son.” One
of David's men asked for the privilege of killing him, but David said, “Let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto
him, curse David. It may be that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day.” Shimei continued to curse
and cast stones as they went on their sorrowing way.
In
this sore trial of David's life he was seeking the perfect will of God with openness of heart to all of God's dealings. The
one after God's own heart openls readily to all His chastenings and seeks only only His will in every trial; and as a result
of it, expects God's glory only to be manifest, even at the expense of self-humiliation. Paul's exhortation is, “Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made Himself of no reputation.”
David
well knew that vengeance belonged unto God, and was willing to leave his case in His hands. Consider Jesus, “As a lamb
before his shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth.”
The
truly spiritual are never affected by the curses of men; for they have no weight on the one who walks in the light of His
countenance. Curses may be a blessing in disguise.
The
deep cry of our hearts should be:
"Give me a heart like Thine,
Give
me a heart like Thine,
By
Thy wonderful power,
By
Thy grace every hour,
Give
me a heart like Thine."
