After God's Heart

Q: I know that King David of the Old Testament was called "a man after God's own heart." But wasn't David a warrior who killed lots of people? And didn't he sleep with Bathsheba and then murder her husband to hide his sin? How could anyone call him "a man after God's own heart?"

A: You're referring to Acts 13:22 where the Apostle Paul reports that God, after removing Saul from the throne (of Israel) replaced him with David. At that time, God is reported to have said of David, "I have found David to be a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do."

Why would God say such a thing? Because God look at David's heart. He found a humble, contrite heart with a sincere desire to do good. You'll be hard-pressed to find David doing any killing that God didn't want done. He was killing evil people, and God usually gave him the upper hand in those battles.

In terms of his adultery with Bathsheba, lying about it and having her husband killed to hide it, this may have been the most sordid point in David's life. In modern terms, we might say he "hit bottom." Fortunately God doesn't judge us by what we do. Rather He judges us by what we do with what we do. In other words, God looks for how we respond to our own sin. We all sin. Everyone sins. Jesus was the only human on earth to ever avoid sinning.

But the heart of God is found in the man (or woman) who responds to their sin with repentance, a sincere grief for sin committed (James 4:9) and a consistent effort to obey God in all matters. David was a man after God's own heart not because of what he did or didn't do. Rather he got that title for who he was. (You and I can get that title the same way!)