One of the most legendary people in the Bible and ancient human history, King David was a shepherd boy turned warrior turned monarch over the nation of Israel. (Some scholars debate whether he existed, but they probably wouldn’t believe their right hand exists without confirmation from a peer-reviewed study.)
Those who do believe he existed say he reigned over the Jewish people for 40 years around a millennium before Jesus lived.
Few compliments in the Bible can top God calling David “a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). I’ve heard people say this is because David was quick to turn from his wrongdoings. But that never fully sat right with me.
David wasn’t the only person in the Bible to admit when he did wrong. So, why was David called a man after God’s own heart? After reading the book of Psalms, here’s what I realized.
David knew God’s love
One of the first lessons youngsters are taught in church is “God loves you.” But have you ever thought how unknown this simple fact would be to an Old Testament Jew living with nothing but a few scrolls of Mosaic law and ancestral tales of God’s miracles?
Yet David constantly references God’s love for His people. It’s all over the Psalms.
“Your love is better than life.” (Psalm 63:3)
“[The Lord]… crowns you with love and compassion.” (Psalm 103:4)
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” (Psalm 103:8)
Not all English translations use the word “love.” Some use words like “mercy” or “lovingkindness.” Even so, throughout the Psalms, David describes a tender God who personally cares for us—a loving God.
Today, we skim over verses like these, knowing God’s love from other passages in the Bible and countless sermons preached over thousands of years of church history.
We know God loves us, because David somehow knew. But how did David know that God’s love is the backdrop for every event in our lives?
He knew because he was close to God and knew God’s heart. Not just a practitioner of the Jewish religion, David relentlessly sought to know the divine heart behind it, even though no one (as far as I know) prompted him to look beyond Jewish customs, rites, and rituals. Back then and today, that’s special.
David loved God back
David craved God’s word. For example, in Psalm 19: 7-10, he says,
“The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold;
Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”
Like many Christians, I assumed that God’s “law,” (sometimes translated as “word,” “precepts,” or “statutes”) referred to His ancient instructions. But I always found David’s dependency on dry, ancient Jewish laws a little hard to buy. When He felt like he was at the end of his rope and about to die, why were ceremonial and institutional laws so sustaining?
One day, it occurred to me that David might have been speaking about something else.
I love the times when a Bible verse, song lyric, or line of a casual conversation jumps out to me, speaking directly to my circumstances and offering the guidance I need. Us religious folk are taught to see these moments as God speaking to us, giving us His word.
His word.
God’s word is in both the Bible and what he speaks to us individually.
I think the words that sustained David were largely what he heard in his private time with God when God whispered to his heart the truths that flowed into the Psalms David wrote.
When David says he loves God’s word, he’s saying he loves his relationship with God. David loves spending time with God and depends on this intimacy to guide him through life.
What makes David a standout character in the Biblical Hall of Fame isn’t his religious commitment or devotion as a king. He was a man after God’s own heart because he was aware of God’s love and, what’s more, he loved God back.
David didn’t have a God complex
Give a guy an inch and he thinks he’s a ruler. And rulers have a bad habit of assuming they’re unstoppable.
King Saul, David’s predecessor and the first King of the Jews, became so obsessed with reinforcing his power that he alienated his supporters and died a failure. Absalom, David’s son, became so full of ambition (and revenge) that he rashly staged a coup and violently died on the run.
Those are just David’s contemporaries. Countless leaders before and after his lifetime fell under the spell of invincibility, forgetting that their power came from God who could easily take it away.
David may have had his ego-driven moments, but if the Psalms are to be believed, he deeply understood his human limits and the true source of his power.
In Psalm 65:9-10, David says, “People of low standing are only breath, and people of rank are a lie… Together they are lighter than breath… If wealth increases, do not set your heart on it.”
In verses 5-6, he says, “My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my refuge; I will not be shaken.”
The Psalms feel like they’re written by the people, for the people.
We relate to David’s desperation, fear, longing, and triumph. But we forget that David was a King.
It’s one thing for a normal person to say, “I was in a desperate place, and everyone was out to get me. But then God saved me!”
But when a King says it, the words take on more meaning. “I was in a desperate place” could mean, “I had millions of people counting on me. I’m expected to solve the biggest problems in the world, including things I know nothing about. People are counting on me to be smart, strong, and right all the time and never make mistakes.”
“Everyone was out to get me” could mean, “My family is far away. Many people pretend to be my friends but are quick to stab me in the back. Those I rely on the most have abandoned me. My loved ones and I are regularly threatened by powerful people who can’t wait to see me fall.”
For a King, the phrase “but then God saved me” means being rescued from troubles that are far more dark, fearsome, and threatening than many of us can imagine.
David’s dependency on God was extraordinary given his powerful position and how easily other powerful people fall prey to the delusion that all they need in life is themselves.
David knew that success & failure are from God
Closely following David’s personal dependency on God was his awareness that the privileges and sufferings of his kingdom were from God’s hand. God was the real king, not David. Psalm 22:28 says,
“For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations.”
David was keenly aware that God can swiftly destroy entire nations if He wants to.
“You have rebuked the nations, You have eliminated the wicked;
You have wiped out their name forever and ever.
The enemy has come to an end in everlasting ruins,
And You have uprooted the cities;
The very memory of them has perished.” (Psalm 9:5-6)
In Psalm 2:1-5, David makes it clear how unaffected God is by human schemes:
“Why are the nations restless
And the peoples plotting in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers conspire together
Against the Lord…
…He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.”
God was David’s ultimate defence against his foes: “They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support” (Psalm 18:18).
Having grown up tending sheep, and nearly overlooked when the opportunity came to select a king from among his family members, David knew that he was just a guy at the end of the day—a guy with a crown and lots of wealth, but just as flawed and weak as anyone else.
He knew that God made the king, and God would make the kingdom too.
Takeaways
Want to see God’s heart reflected in yours? Here’s what you can learn from David:
- Accept that God loves you.
- Love God back.
- Don’t develop a God complex. Remember who’s in charge.
- Let God be the king. Your outcomes are in His hands, not yours.