A Man After God’s Own Heart

One of my favorite stories about my brother Graham is the day we learned his favorite sandwich place. He was only nine at the time, and it was a few weeks before going on a family vacation to South Carolina. As part of our usual pre-vacation protocol, we had been researching the restaurants and coffee shops near where we were staying. My dad was delighted to discover a Jersey Mike’s nearby. It was always exciting to discover a place that we didn’t have in Little Rock, and it was the location of my dad’s favorite sandwiches. So when Graham announced in fervent terms one day that Jersey Mike’s was his favorite sandwich shop as well, it might not have seemed odd. However, there was one inconsistency with his passionate declaration: he had never had so much as a piece of bread from Jersey Mike’s in his life.

We laughed at the time, and Graham’s seal of approval upon an unknown restaurant has become a staple among our family stories. However, I remember being struck by what Graham’s simple, childlike statement revealed about his relationship with his father - something I saw reflected in the heartfelt, tumultuous lines of David’s Psalms.

David, the greatest Old Testament king and famous giant-slayer, is known for many great acts. His beautiful prayers and songs to the Lord have proven an encouragement to believers throughout centuries, long outlasting himself and his reign. However, David holds a title much more precious and astounding than his other claims-to-fame, bestowed on him by God Himself: a “man after God’s own heart.”

When King Saul disobeyed God by offering a burnt offering himself (a task reserved for the priest), God took the kingdom from him, promising to give it to another. “Your reign will not endure. The LORD has found a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over his people” (1 Samuel 13:14). God’s prophet, Samuel, set out to look for the new king among the sons of Jesse. Here, the Lord revealed where David’s true greatness lay: “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or his stature […]. Humans do not see what the LORD sees, for humans see what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7). What made David a great king was his heart: one that mirrored the character and sentiments of God Himself.

I have often wondered what it truly means to be a man or woman after God’s own heart. After all, David was by no means perfect. He lied, stole, committed adultery, and even murdered, yet for the rest of Israel’s history, the kings were compared to David. For example, 2 Kings 14:3-4 evaluates Amaziah’s reign: “He did what was right in the LORD’s sight, but not like his ancestor David.” How could David be the standard for all Israel’s kings when he was such an imperfect ruler himself? To answer this question, we must study David’s Psalms, an outpouring of his heart.

When reading the Psalms, it cannot be concluded that David was a stoic or indifferent man. On the contrary, his songs are filled with all the highs and lows of human emotion, from deepest sadness to greatest joy. Most of all, the Psalms are filled with love of the Lord, which pours out in declarations of delight in righteousness and hatred of evil. The stirrings of David’s heart are an echo of God Himself. David prays over and over for righteous judgment (Psalm 7:9, Psalm 11:6-7), for vindication of the poor and needy (Psalm 72:4), and for God’s rescue and redemption (Psalm 28:2). He expresses love of God’s word (Psalm 19:7), deep desire for God’s presence (Psalm 27:4, Psalm 42:1-2), and vehement hatred of the wicked (Psalm 58). These are but few examples of David’s heartfelt prayers and songs to the Lord. When studying David’s heart, one thing is clear: he loves what God loves, and hates what God hates. Just as Graham was aligned with his father in love, so David was aligned with God.

However, David was not perfect and he did not achieve this on his own. Throughout the Psalms, David calls out to God to guide him (Psalm 119:105, Psalm 25:4-5), reveal His face to him (Psalm 4:6), and heal his sinful heart (Psalm 51:10). Graham did not naturally love Jersey Mike’s. Without having listened to Dad, he wouldn’t have even known of its existence. Yet he came to love it as Dad did by being in his father’s presence and listening to him. Likewise, David became a man after God’s own heart by spending time with God, listening to the Lord, and learning from Him.

Without God’s transforming grace, it is impossible to be a man or woman after His own heart. Our hearts’ natural inclination is away from everything God says is good. Our sin nature causes us to love evil, darkening our eyes to the truth. On our own, we exist in direct opposition to God and His heart. King David, as seen by his life, was no exception to this. He needed God to give him a completely new heart.

Thankfully, David is not the ultimate example of a man after God’s own heart. Jesus Christ, the very Son of God and descendent of King David, is the only man who perfectly reflected God’s heart. Both divine and perfectly human, Jesus lived out the relationship with the Father that on our own we could never hope to achieve, carrying out the Father’s will perfectly and completely for us. He was aligned with every inclination of His Father’s heart. Unlike Saul and David (and all of us,) the outpouring of his heart was perfect obedience even to the verge of death as he prayed “not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Because of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, He has made it possible for us to be given new hearts, hearts that long for God and love to do His will. Jesus has made it possible for each one of his children to be a man or woman after God’s own heart. May we pray alongside David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10-12).

Graham has since tried Jersey Mike’s and verified that it is, indeed, his favorite sandwich shop. However, I will always remember and hope to learn from his example of childlike love for and faith in his father. Like Graham, we can trust that our Father knows what is good, and that in following Him, there is only the best in store.