Calendar

A HEART AFTER GOD’S HEART
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19
1 Samuel 13:8-14

1 Samuel 15:10-31

 

“…the LORD hath sought him a man

after his own heart…”

 

A HEART AFTER GOD’S HEART
 
It was a wonderful description of King David (described even before his birth!), when the prophet Samuel called him “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Sam 13:14). “After” here has the sense of “patterned after” ‒ David is being described as someone whose heart is like God’s heart: essentially someone who loves what God loves, and hates what God hates. To understand this more fully, it is helpful for us to recognise that the phrase is used in the context of a contrast. It is Saul who is rejected, because his heart was not patterned after God’s; while David is chosen, because his was.
 
Saul’s heart is revealed quite clearly in the account narrated in a later chapter (1 Sam 15:10-31). We can see Saul’s flippant attitude toward God’s commands: freely reinterpreting them according to the dictates of his own convenience and preference (vv 9-11); and considering any excuse sufficient to justify his disobedience (vv 20-21). We can see a similar laxness in his approach to God’s worship: counting it a trivial thing to come before the presence of the thrice-holy God with an impure heart (v 25); and even stooping so low as to use public worship as an occasion to exalt himself before the people (v 30). Are there not many today who pollute God’s sanctuary with the same corrupt motives?
 
David’s heart, by contrast, follows an entirely different pattern. While he falls even into grievous sin, his attitude toward God’s commands is anything but flippant: he admits his sin without excuse (2 Sam 12:13); and repents sincerely and fervently (Ps 51). And his approach to God’s worship is anything but lax: he is willing to abase rather than exalt himself in public worship (2 Sam 6:20-22); and goes to great lengths to promote and beautify the worship of God (1 Chron 28:11-29:9).
 
Dear reader, is your heart patterned after God’s heart? Do you love what He loves, and hate what He hates? It would be well for us to examine ourselves in the same two areas that we have considered: our attitude to God’s commands, and our approach to His worship ‒ lest we should find ourselves rejected, as was Saul.
 
THOUGHT: God is not ambivalent to sin or to worship.

PRAYER: “Take thou my heart, and make it all thine own.” (Gabriel)

Search