“…I have found David…, a man after my own heart.” Acts 13:22
It can be easy for us to think of David as some saintly figure. After all, he wrote so many beautiful Psalms, praising Yehovah – whilst also, at times, bemoaning his lot because so much of his life was in turmoil. He rose from the obscurity of being the overlooked ‘lad’, who was left out in the fields minding sheep, to slaying Goliath, becoming the people’s hero, killing thousands of their enemies’ soldiers to be crowned king of Israel and a great grandfather of Yeshua. In Acts 13:22 we read that Yehovah called him ‘a man after (His) own heart.’ However, David was also such a contradictory character – swinging wildly from one extreme to the other in terms of his life and life-choices. So, let us look a little closer at our hero of the faith.
Having conquered so many of Israel’s enemies, there came a time when he chose to stay at home while others fought on his behalf. It was while he was ‘absent without leave’, that he spotted Bathsheba bathing on the roof of her house. Despite the fact he could no doubt woo, love and marry any of the numerous unattached maidens of Israel, he chose to seduce this married woman, while her husband, Uriah, was away on the warfront. Realising that Bathsheba was pregnant, he conspired to ensure Uriah was ‘killed in action’ so that he could take her as his own wife. The prophet Samuel confronted David, something which could have been a dangerous step to take. Once David realised that his sin had ‘found him out’ (see Numbers 32:23), instead of hiding his guilt and shame, he immediately repented and sought Yehovah’s forgiveness and restoration. David’s heart was to serve and honour Yehovah, even to the point he wanted to build the temple in Jerusalem where sacrifices could be made, and praise and worship offered up to Him. But, because of the blood David had on his hands, Yehovah passed that privilege on to his son Solomon. While David certainly had his deep-seated weaknesses, including his mood swings from being a triumphalist at times, to being almost a manic depressive, he maintained his faith and trust in Yehovah to bring him through whatever situation he found himself in. He relied upon Yehovah’s grace and mercy to deliver him and bring him through every storm or valley. He had a heart that was 100% committed to his Yehovah – and so must you.