JEHOVAH has sought a man (David) after HIS Own Heart, and JEHOVAH has appointed him ruler over HIS people,(1 Samuel 13:14).
I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after MY Heart, who shall do my will,(Acts 13:22).
What would cause GOD to call David "a man after HIS Own Heart" even though HE knew of the many sins that he would commit in his lifetime?
For example:
He committed murder to cover up his adultery with another man's wife,(2 Samuel 11:4, 14-17). He was moved by Satan to number Israel and did so knowing better,(1 Chronicles 21:1; 2 Samuel 24:10).
Even with all his failures, David was preeminently a man of confession and repentance. When confronted with his sins, he was quick to acknowledge and confess them. Thus, when confronted by Nathan, he immediately replied, "I have sinned against JEHOVAH",(2 Samuel 12:13). See also his broken hearted response in Psalm 51. In Psalm 32, he describes an occasion in which he sinned but had "kept silence",(Psalm 32:3) for a while, but when the conviction of that hidden sin took its toll on his conscience and in his body, he confessed his "transgressions unto JEHOVAH",(Psalm 32:5) and obtained forgiveness for his sin.
Let each of us ask himself or herself, "Am I maintaining a tender, sensitive conscience before GOD? " When The HOLY SPIRIT convicts us of sin, whether by witnessing to our spirit directly or through our fellow man, how do we deal with it? Do we try to deaden the pangs of conviction by pleasures? Do we go half-way, just acknowledging our sins to GOD while justifying ourselves before men, or by blaming others? Or do we readily acknowledge our guilt before both GOD and man. It is only by our habitually doing the latter that GOD can come to regard us as men and women "after HIS Own Heart "!
P. L. Canner
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