Me? A woman after God's own heart?

Did you know that David, as in “David and Bathsheba,” is called a man after God’s own heart? I had a hard time grabbing on to this truth. It seemed to me he could be called “the one who after a season of sin was forgiven,” or “a man who after a huge mess made some better choices.”

But see two places where God uses the same phrase to forever characterize David: 

“But now your [speaking to King Saul] kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." (1 Samuel 13:14) 

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.” (Acts 13:22) 

How does a man who went all the way to rock bottom following his own heart become known as a man after God’s own heart? 

God had the final word over David’s story. What's amazing is that God declared the words in 1 Samuel 13:14 before He had even anointed David as king! God knew that David's heart would ultimately be His completely. Sure, there were other messes, slip ups, and sins he would have to confess, but God knew His chosen and anointed one would repent and follow the path of righteousness. God knew the whole story.

God had a plan for impacting the world which saw far beyond one night of sexual sin. God could redeem that night. God by His grace could redeem them and their story. And that redeemed story was woven into God’s greatest plan of redemption—the gift of His own Son Jesus. (See Matt. 1:6)

Sometimes we can get so stuck in one section of our story that we forget God knows the end. We think our hearts have determined a course for us that is irrevocable. We have gone down the wrong path, and there is little hope for us now. We'll just try harder and hope to look a bit better, but deep down we wonder if God can ever make us anything more or new or different than we are. Honestly, because we know good Christian phrases, we'll even say “He makes all things new,” or “He's the God of second chances.” But it’s hard to imagine that our stories could be redeemed like David’s was. What’s more, we wonder if we can we really be called “women after God's own heart” after our own hearts have been led astray. 

What does it mean to be “after God’s own heart”?

After God's heart means desiring God, pursuing God, depending on God, loyal to God, loving what He loves, and finding full satisfaction in Him.

Look at how Psalm 73:25-26 expresses this.

As you read it, consider where our desires are for God and where our hearts are after God's. 

What do these verses say to you about God? About yourself? 

The desires of our hearts and bodies can fail and make a mess; and they surely won't sustain us. But when God is the focus of our hope and desires, He will bring strength to our hearts and satisfaction that is full and ongoing, forever. That's a promise. 

Psalm 37:4 is another of God’s promises through the pen of David. Look at this verse below.

What is your calling here?
What is God's promise?
Who is at the center of this verse?

To be after God's heart, we have to delight in our relationship with Him. When we do, He promises to put His desires in our hearts. This means we will have such a close relationship that His desires will be our hearts' desires. Our hearts will be after His heart, and He will make sure those desires are satisfied in Him and through Him. He will be enough.

(That’s not a lame Christian way of settling for a vanilla kind of life that you’re supposed to think is good, because that’s the holier mindset. If that’s our thought, we don’t know the Bible. Our God is a God of adventure, unpredictable turns, fire, wind, parting waters, starting storms, shaking the earth, sailing the seas. He is a God of touching the untouchable, loving the discarded, vast compassion, unquenchable love, uncontainable grace, unending faithfulness, unimaginable futures. And in all that, He is at the center and He is enough.)

Being after God’s heart, David was able to say, “If I only have God then I will be strong, deeply satisfied, fulfilled, content, never alone, and the king that I am supposed to be.” Deep dissatisfaction and lust were gone (click for more on David's heart issue with lust), and David delighted himself in the LORD, living (and returning again and again to) the truth that nothing this earth could hold would satisfy his heart more than God Himself. 

So, can you be a woman after God’s own heart? The fact that you’re on this journey to living beyond your past says that you are pursuing His heart. Keep taking steps; this is part of a life long journey of delighting in Him. Keep depending on Him and He’ll take you even further on a journey that includes heights of love, satisfaction, and intimately knowing Him. Yes, a woman after God's own heart.

Just another seed of my faith,
Ginny