David: After God’s Own Heart
What Does It Mean to Have a Heart After God? Lessons from the Life of King David
God chose David not because He was the most qualified, the most experienced, or the most impressive person in the room. He chose him because of something happening on the inside. Understanding why changes everything about how we follow God today.
Key Verses:
1 Samuel 13:14
1 Samuel 16:7
Acts 13:22
Philippians 3:13-14
Proverbs 4:18
Why Did Israel Need a King in the First Place?
To understand David, you have to understand the problem he was meant to solve. God's people had been through centuries of struggle. After conquering the promised land under Joshua, the nation of Israel fell into a repeated cycle recorded in the Book of Judges. Generation after generation, everyone did what was right in their own eyes, and it never worked.
Eventually, Israel looked around at the surrounding nations and decided they needed a king. The Philistines were growing in power. Their capital city of Gath was just 21 miles from where David grew up. Israel felt the pressure and wanted a solution that looked like everyone else's solution.
What Happened When Israel Got Their First King?
God gave Israel exactly what they asked for. King Saul looked the part perfectly. He was head and shoulders taller than everyone else. He had presence, authority, and all the qualities people associate with leadership. But God raised Saul up knowing He would fail, and not because God made a mistake.
God was making a point: you cannot fix a broken world from the outside in. The real problem was never political or military. It was a heart problem.
Saul confirmed this when he was confronted by the prophet Samuel after disobeying God. Instead of repenting, Saul's first concern was his public image. He said, "Will you not embarrass me in front of the elders of Israel?" He never addressed what was happening in his heart. He was only worried about how things looked on the outside.
That is why he was rejected.
How Did God Choose David?
God sent the prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint a new king. Jesse gathered his sons, but he did not even bother calling David in from the fields. David was the youngest, likely the smallest, and nobody considered him a candidate.
When Samuel saw Jesse's oldest son Eliab, he immediately assumed this was the one. He looked like a king. But God stopped him with one of the most important statements in all of Scripture:
"Do not consider his appearance or His height, for I have rejected Him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7
David was called in from the fields, and the moment he walked through the door, God said to Samuel: rise and anoint Him. This is the one.
What Made David "The One"?
It was not that David had a flawless heart. It was not that he had already proven himself in battle or in leadership. He had done nothing noteworthy yet. What God saw was the direction of David's heart.
The phrase used to describe David throughout Scripture is that he was "a man after God's own heart." In Acts, the apostle Paul references this directly:
"After removing Saul, he made David their king. God 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
The key word here is "after." In the original Greek, the word is kata, and it does not describe a state of arrival. It describes direction and motion. It means moving toward something. A heart after God is not a perfect heart. It is a rightly directed heart, one that keeps turning back toward God.
What Is the Difference Between Direction and Perfection?
This distinction is everything. Paul describes it this way in his letter to the Philippians:
"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14
Paul, the leader of the early church, the man carrying the most important mission in history, did not claim to have arrived. He described himself as someone still pressing forward, still moving in the right direction.
That is the heart God saw in David. Not perfection. Direction.
Did David Sin? How Can God Still Approve of Him?
David's life was far from perfect. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and then arranged the murder of her husband to cover it up. Both offenses were death penalty violations under Old Testament law. By outward comparison, Saul's failures were actually smaller.
So how could God accept David and reject Saul? The answer is not about the size of the sin. It is about what each man did when he was confronted with it.
Saul deflected and protected his image. David broke open. He repented deeply and honestly. Some of the most powerful psalms of repentance in all of Scripture came from David's failures. He prayed things like:
"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." - Psalm 139:23-24
David was not worried about how he looked. He was worried about what was happening inside. And that is what made all the difference.
What Does This Mean for How We Follow God Today?
God is not looking for perfection. He is looking for direction.
Think of it like a path. Proverbs describes it this way:
"The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full day." - Proverbs 4:18
You do not have as much light today as you will next year. You do not see things as clearly now as you will in the future. The Christian life is a journey, not an arrival. And the goal is not to never get off track. The goal is to keep turning back.
Two Things God Is Looking For in a Follower
Obedience: Doing your best to follow God's direction each day.
Steerability: When you get off track, being willing to be corrected and redirected.
The people who end up in the ditches are those who demand perfection from themselves and live under constant condemnation, or those who assume grace means direction does not matter at all. Both miss the point.
Is It Ever Too Late to Turn Your Heart Back to God?
No. And this is one of the most freeing truths in Scripture.
It is always the right time to turn your heart back toward God. Not after you have cleaned yourself up. Not after enough time has passed. Right now, in the middle of the anxiety, the argument, the temptation, the failure. That is exactly when you turn.
When worry is racing through your mind at 2:00am, you turn. When words are coming out of your mouth in an argument that you know are wrong, you stop and you turn. When you have given in to something you have been trying to break free from, you turn right then.
The heart turned toward God is where God can do what we cannot do on our own.
This is the pattern of David's life. He worshipped God in success. He repented in failure. And God said, that is what I am looking for.
Life Application
This week, pay attention to the moments when your heart drifts away from God. It might be in worry, in anger, in temptation, or in pride. When you notice it, do not wait. Turn your heart back toward Him right in that moment. You do not need to have it all figured out first. You just need to be steerable.
Ask yourself these questions as you go through your week:
When I fail or get off track, is my first instinct to protect my image or to honestly bring it before God?
The message describes Israel going through a repeated cycle in the Book of Judges where everyone did what was right in their own eyes. In what areas of your own life are you most tempted to do things your own way rather than God’s way?
God intentionally raised up Saul, knowing he would fail, to make the point that you cannot fix a broken world from the outside in. What does that tell us about how God works, and how does that challenge the way we try to solve problems in our own lives?
The key contrast between Saul and David was not the size of their sins but their response when confronted. Saul worried about public embarrassment while David opened his heart in repentance. Which response do you find yourself defaulting to when you are confronted about something you did wrong?
Am I pursuing a perfect-looking life on the outside, or am I genuinely concerned with the direction of my heart?
In the moments when I feel anxious, angry, or tempted, am I turning toward God or away from Him?
Do I believe that God's grace is available to me right now, in the middle of my mess, not just after I have cleaned it up?
God is not waiting for you to arrive. He is looking for a heart that keeps moving in His direction. That is the heart He found in David, and it is the heart He is looking for in you.
Setlist
WFC Lenexa + WFC Anywhere
Thank God I’m Free - Elevation Worship
Center - Bethel Music
We Crown You - Jeremy Riddle
WFC Speedway
The Lion And The Lamb - Brian Johnson
Cornerstone - Hillsong Worship
Who Else - Gateway Worship
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