Kingdom and Exile: Becoming a Person After God's Own Heart

 

Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”  2 Samuel 7:16

 This is quite the promise! Why do you think God made such a great promise to David, a man who failed time and time again? Scripture tells us in 1 Samuel 13:14 and then later in the New Testament in Acts 13:22 that David was a man after God’s own heart. What was it about David that God would call him this? It certainly wasn’t his perfect righteousness. He was a confessed adulterer and murderer. He failed time and time again during his life and it was well documented for us later. Got to be honest, I’m pretty glad all my failings aren’t documented for posterity! So it isn’t righteousness that earns us this place with God. I was curious about what the Bible showed about David that would cause God to say this and I happened across this article. In it the author breaks down seven reasons that David would be called a man after God’s own heart including: his faith, his trust in God, his love, his humility, his integrity, him seeking forgiveness, and how he worshipped God in all circumstances. None of it had to do with him being awesome or perfect or strong or a good leader, it was all about his heart and his positioning of it toward God.

 This promise that God made to David wasn’t only for him, it was also for the future of humanity. We would always have a king in the line of David, and ultimately a perfect King that we could count on and trust forever. Hundreds of years later, Jesus was born into the house and line of David and He has ruled as King over His Kingdom ever since and will for eternity! David was a man after God’s own heart, and Jesus was God’s heart walking around on earth. God had allowed a part of Himself to be born as a baby and grow up here with us.

Through David, God taught us that while we cannot be perfect, we can always come back to Him for forgiveness and restoration. He showed us that He is pleased not with our perfect behavior but with a heart that seeks to honor Him first, to love Him always, to be in right relationship even if it means owning up to our mistakes and submitting to their consequences. Through Jesus, God showed us how to live and how to love. He showed us that being at peace with and in relationship with Him isn’t about following a strict, ever-growing, set of rules, but about seeking Him first above all. God loves us and longs to be in relationship with us. Sin separates us because God cannot have a part with sin, and that’s why it’s so important for us to seek forgiveness, to be restored into right relationship with God.

Here's the Thing: When I was a child I saw things much more black and white. I thought that I had to obey all the laws to be in good standing with God and that if I messed up I was out of luck. That’s just not true! In order to be in good standing with God, what is truly necessary is to see myself honestly and recognize my inability to earn righteousness on my own. I need, like David, to be humble and admit that I’ve failed, I’ve messed up, I can’t do it on my own and I need God to fix it. And with God’s forgiveness, I can rejoice and celebrate. I can honor and worship Him, thanking Him for all He has done, is doing, and will do.

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