Life. There’s a lot wrapped up in that word. Joy, success, discouragement, suffering- all those and more are experienced as we manage our own expectations along the journey.
In the midst of it all, we often don’t realize that it’s the small interactions with God and with each other that are shaping and preparing our hearts for the life we live. What often starts as a search for someone to model our lives after ends with the realization that God himself is giving us the life we’ve always wanted by changing our hearts one small interaction at a time.
Outside of Jesus, no other life is more intimately explored at length in the Scriptures than the life of David. The shepherd boy turned warrior turned king turned adulterer turned poet turned… wait - who was David again? The man after God’s own heart. But how?
The one that everyone looked to as the savior of a nation was actually setting the stage for someone far better. But as we watch him live through the ups and downs, the unmet expectations, and the mistakes, we learn how we can be AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART.
Before David was even on the scene, Saul messes up, he doesn’t do what the Lord commands, and Samuel confronts him with this truth in 1 Samuel 13:14: “The Lord has found a man after his own heart.”
And with that, David emerges onto the scene. An exciting beginning leads to high expectations. These high human expectations are not attainable, but David leads and lives through these unattainable expectations while continually readjusting back to the Lord’s command.
Long after David’s death, Paul preaches a sermon to a group of people who knew David, but not Jesus. In Acts 13:22-23 it says, “After removing [Saul, God] raised up David as their king and testified about him: I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will. From this man’s descendants, as he promised, God brought Israel the Savior, Jesus.”
A phrase that once described someone expected to save a nation was now used to describe a life that pointed to the only one who could save humanity - Jesus.
How can we move from managing life’s expectations to leading lives that simply point to Jesus?
We have to answer that question and readjust our lives accordingly.
Readjusting our lives is a recognition of our need for God’s love and a longing to be after God's own heart.