David: A Man Who God Had a Place in His Heart For
All throughout this series, we’ve studied the characteristics of particular individuals in the Bible to gain knowledge of how God worked through them. David was a key man in the Bible who had “rocky mountain” experiences throughout His life. In fact, the Bible gives us more individual stories about David than any other person in Scripture. Thanks to this, we get to see that this man “after God’s own heart” didn’t get there without a lot of preparation.
In 1 Samuel 16:6-12, God has the prophet Samuel anoint David as the future king. However, this anointing did not immediately place David on the throne. Instead, David remained in the sheep pasture which was the place God had chosen for the preparation of a king. David’s heart needed to be prepared. God’s greatest objective is for our hearts to be prepared for the destination (purpose) that He has in mind for us. Therefore, we must consider, how much time do we spend in preparing the beauty of our hearts?
We can learn about God’s heart by looking at the story of David confronting Goliath. The point of this story is because Jesus has destroyed the giant enemy of death, I can bravely face all the lesser giants that seek to confront me throughout the days of my life. Death is surely the greatest enemy to face all people. But as children of God, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we live with confidence that if Christ can defeat death, then He will certainly destroy every other enemy we may ever face. So when I’m walking in the valley of the shadow of death, I trust that God is bringing me out of the valley full of life and victory! The valleys are preparing my heart. What God needs to do IN me in the valleys matter more to Him than what He wants to do THROUGH me.
Acts 13:22, says “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Here we find two meanings. God had a place for David in His heart and David had a place for God in his heart. There is never a time when God doesn’t have a place in His heart for you and we have to choose to find a place in our heart for God.
If something is prohibiting the advancement of the will of God in your life – that is a giant. You will need courage to fight that giant. And God will have you fight it. If you want to receive God’s purpose for you, you will have to fight giants in your life seeking to keep you from God’s will. It will take courage to fight. David found courage in the sheep pasture; a place of obscurity, monotony, and reality.
Courage will come to you as you find God in obscurity. He will lead you into pastures of obscurity, where.it seems like you are all alone and no one cares for you, but there you will find Him to be all you need. Courage will come to you as you find God in monotony. He will lead you into pastures of monotony, where you are to remain faithful. Courage will come to you as you find God in reality. The reality of experiences of everyday things that seem meaningless but are actually preparing your heart for what God wants to do through you! David took care of sheep and everything he did in that pasture was preparing his heart for the throne. Don’t waste the pasture God has you in right now. It’s a pasture of preparation for purpose.