A Man After God's own Heart

Our Text

1 Samuel 13:14
The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart

2 Samuel 5:10
So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him.

I was in a conversation with a sister today who told me that she had done a lot of bad things in the past. She has since decided for the Lord and isn't looking back. But she wonders about the fulness of the Lord's forgiveness toward her.

When the Lord decided to let King Saul go,  he told him through the prophet because he had disobeyed the Lord, that "But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart." 2 Samuel 13 : 14.

We all know the story of David as a King, all the recorded atrocities he committed and yet in 2 Samuel 5:10 we are told that "So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him."

The man whom God sent Samuel to find and anoint had not changed in the eyes of God, or stated differently, God did not change His mind about him. In 1 Peter 1: 18-20 we understand that we WERE redeemed with the precious blood of Christ who was foreordained before the foundation of the world...And in Revelation 13 : 8 we find "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

God did not change His mind about David. He remained "a man after His own heart." He doesn't change His mind about us. The blood of redemption was shed before we were born.
In Psalm 139: 18, the psalmist said "When I awake, I am still with You."  I am still with You because You didn't leave me while I slept, You did not change Your mind about me.

Luke 7:(37-)43
Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself saying ,"This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."
So he said, "Teacher, say it."

"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"
Simon answered and said,  "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."

So while thinking about the magnitude of your sins, remember that no sin is so great that the blood of Jesus can't wash, save the sin against the Holy Spirit.  Besides, one of the reasons, perhaps the major reason for our impenitence towards God and our taking the work Jesus did for us so lightly is because we do not see the darkness of our sin in stark relief against the light of the love of God through Christ for us.

So to the lady who said she had done so many bad things,  I answer with Simon to the question of Jesus "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." That is the one who will love Him more.

Now to those who think they haven't done much requiring forgiveness,  I say "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Neither the one who owed 500 nor the one who owed 50 could pay. None of us have anything with which to pay, because the payment required is beyond us. So if anyone thinks they don't owe much, they should please remember that they have nothing with which to pay.

It is when the understanding of having nothing wherewith to pay becomes a truth in our consciousness, when we reach the fact of our utter bankruptcy, when we give up the effort to compound with God, and are obliged to take our places before Him as mere beggars, sinners quite undone, that mercy becomes actually ours. Only then can we appropriate for ourselves the forgiveness provided by Jesus in His shed blood and death.

#momomily2014