AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

 AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

Acts 13:22-23 NIV After removing Saul, he made David their king. He 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.'
"From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.

These two verses come from a sermon that Paul gave in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch during his first mission trip with Barnabas.  They had entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down.  Then verse 15 says, “After the reading from the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament), the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak." 

The two verses above were and are of incredibly great encouragement for me because of the huge impact they had on my walk with Jesus. 

When I first was born again, there was a huge change inside me.  I KNEW I’d been “made a new creation” right then and there, even though it took about a year for me to learn what to call what had happened to me.  I didn’t come to Jesus after years of Bible study or as the result of a brilliant sermon by some preacher.  I came to Jesus alone, sitting on my bed, surrounded by stacks of heretical books and one book full of truth – the Bible.  I didn’t have a great knowledge of Christian doctrine.  In fact, I knew very little of the Bible – only a whole string of “proof texts” that I’d used for years which I used to “prove” that the teachings of the pseudo-Christian cult of which I was a member were true.

But that afternoon, Jesus showed Himself to me through God’s Word, and made me realize who He really is, showing me that I was a sinner in need of a Savior, and that He was the only one who could save me.  I didn’t say the typical “sinner’s prayer”… in fact, what I did say probably would not be considered by most people to even be a prayer.  But the Lord didn’t care… He saw my heart and that day, He saved me.

However, there was still one big problem… Although I wasn’t a murderer or adulterer, nor was I guilty of the many “big” sins that people like to list.  But in the previous 30 years – especially the previous 8 years of cult membership – I’d done some things that I knew were pure blasphemy.  And I was having a really hard time believing that God would or could forgive me.  Those sins loomed large and frightening before me constantly, and – since I had yet to find a good, Bible-teaching church – I didn’t know anyone to talk to about my concerns and fears.  The good news is, God instantly instilled in me a deep hunger for His word, so I spent as many waking hours as possible reading and studying the Bible.  And one night, I read the story of David…

David was a man of faith, a real powerhouse warrior for the Lord… But David blew it… He let his flesh overcome his spirit… his lust overcome his heart for God… and not only did he commit adultery, but he also committed murder in an attempt to cover up his adultery. He was so far from the “man after God’s own heart” at that point that it took the prophet, Nathan, confronting him with his sin for him to see what he’d done and realize what an abomination it was to God!  I thought that was amazing, but the thing that struck me the hardest was that God DID forgive David!  He placed David’s sins as far from him as east is from west!  Those terrible sins no longer existed as far as God was concerned.

And that’s when it struck me… if God could forgive David… if He not only could forgive him, but make him one of the most renowned ancestors of Jesus, the Messiah, then God could and would forgive me for the blasphemy in which I’d participated before I knew Him!  That realization set me totally free – free in Jesus to learn and to grow and to serve Him in any way He asked me to.  I also realized that any guilt I still felt for the things I’d done was not coming from the Lord, because He had not only forgiven me, but had forgotten my sins! 

If you’re having the same problem I did, just remember David and the forgiveness he received even though he didn’t deserve it.  Remember that Jesus died for your sins, and – if you have repented and asked for forgiveness - ALL of them are forgiven.  Rejoice in that forgiveness, and then commit to spending the rest of your life in obedience and service to the one who saved you so that you, too, can become a person “after God’s own heart”.

“…The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  1 Samuel 16:7b NIV

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