Day 24

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

David is the shepherd boy who became the king of Israel. His name occurs in the Bible over a thousand times, which is more than any other leading character in the Old Testament. Moses has 847 mentions and Abraham 290. But before his name is ever mentioned on the page, he is introduced as the "man after God's own heart."

The word 'heart' refers to the inner core of our being. It is where our attitudes, dispositions, feelings, and intentions reside. It is where we hope, dream, and decide. The heart is the epicentre of our beings.

Every life has both an internal journey and an external one. The external journey is about what happens to us, and the internal journey is what happens in us. We have unique insight into David's external journey in fifty-nine chapters of Old Testament narrative, especially in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. David's internal journey comes to us in at least seventy-five of the150 Psalms which are attributed to him, and likely some of the anonymous psalms are his too.

David as a young man found favour with God, but as a growing man allowed sin to erode his soul. Though successful in leadership, military ventures, wealth and fame, his family life became a tragic one. The Psalms reveal the heart of a man who comes to God in turmoil. Sometimes he is full of faith, sometimes full of fear; sometimes confident, other times crushed. The Psalms cover all the hard emotions of loneliness, sorrow, regret, contrition, discouragement, turmoil, shame, fear, anger, grief, pain, and broken heartedness, as well as the beauty of awe, wonder, marvel, delight, joy, hope, gratitude, confidence, and love. Everything that went on in David's heart, the good, the bad and the ugly, is brought out into the open before God.

When God sought out David as a new king to replace Saul, the criteria was not strength, intelligence, skills, or leadership qualities, but the condition of his heart. God was looking for a man who would listen, obey, and trust Him. David was a man of whom it frequently says, 'He inquired of the Lord.' God still looks for the same; a heart that in all its outward conflicts and internal struggles, will trust Him, obey Him, and align with Him. Our external journey may be rough and rocky, our internal journey a struggle, but our stability and security are found in an undergirding trust.