My six week study on the life of David is complete. I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been doing some thinking about what it was that made David a “man after God’s own heart”. He made a lot of mistakes. So, that statement is confusing and encouraging at the same time.
As I was getting ready for the last session with our group, I made a list of things that were different about David. Here’s the list I made as I paged through the completed pages of the study:
- He obeyed and accepted the Lord’s call
- Trusted God’s timing
- Repented for his sins
- Changed his course of action when it was wrong
- Praised, trusted and worshiped in the middle of heart ache
- Learned from his mistakes
- Became more sensitive to sin
- Turned toward God and not away during rough seasons
- Humbled himself
- Finished Strong
What characterized David was his perseverance and continual dependence on God. He didn’t let his missteps keep him off track.
The other big thing that jumped out at me regarding David’s life was the timing of God’s covenant with him. In 2 Samuel 7, David had not been king for long and had just brought the ark of the covenant back to Israel. He wanted to build a temple, but God had other plans for him. This was the time where God established and communicated his promise that the Savior of the world would come through David’s line. This was a plan that would include Solomon, the son that the Lord gave to David and Bathsheba after their first son died as a result of David’s sin.
God certainly didn’t want David to make the horrible decision to claim a woman for his own that wasn’t David’s and then commit murder, but He did know that was the way that David’s life story was going to unfold. When David took Bathsheba and killed Uriah, God wasn’t wringing his hands thinking, “What should I do now to make this right,” or “How am I going to fix this mess?” There was never a time that David’s life was going to be any different than it played out. God knew what would happen and how David would accept responsibility for his actions and had already provided a way to fulfill his covenant and blessing. I love the application that how my life is today (with the good things and the disappointments) is not an alternate ending to my story. It was never going to be any different than it is unfolding now. It’s encouraging and freeing to know that He isn’t thinking, “What am I going to do now? He already knows and his promises to us are firm. God’s character doesn’t depend on my actions.
