17-22, the Bible gives some insight into God’s dealings with the Israelite nation and the type of person King David was as compared to King Saul. Much of the life of both of these Kings can be found in the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, but this portion of the book of Acts gives us a brief overview of their lives as recorded in Scripture. King Saul did not turn out to be a good choice of leadership for the Israelites so much so, that God regretted that He had made Saul a King (1 Samuel 15:11). God replaced him with King David, one whom He said was a man after His own heart.
Acts 13:21-22 – NKJV – And afterward they asked for a king; so, God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’
God said that He found David a man after His own heart. But what makes a man or a woman pleasing to God enough where He would call them a person after His own heart? Can we as Christians be a person after His heart? What exactly does that mean? In following this portion of Scripture, after God declares He found David to be a man after His own heart, he continues it by saying he (David) would do “all of His will”. So, a person that would be pleasing to Him would be a person who does His will. As Christian people, we are called to walk and to please God. 1 Thessalonians 4:1 – NKJV – Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God
One thing in the life of David that is recorded in Scripture and that is his passionate prayer life and time spent with the Lord. David had an intimate relationship with God, much of it expressed throughout the book of Psalms. As a King, warrior and prophet, David faced many challenges in his leadership and his life. He stumbled through some of those challenges, faced death, deception, betrayal, had failures as well as great successes, but through it all, David sought hard after God and always saw his need for the Lord. Listen to one of his prayers in Psalms:
Psalms 86:1-5 – NKJV – Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me; For I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am holy; You are my God; Save Your servant who trusts in You! 3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, For I cry to You all day long.4 Rejoice the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
This is just one of many of King David’s prayers throughout the book of Psalms. Some other passages reflecting David’s heart toward God are the following: Psalms 25 (whole chapter), Psalms 27:6-10, Psalms 51(whole chapter), Psalms 3 (whole chapter) and there are others where during crisis, worship, in good times, bad times, and even in fear, David expressed his heart to the Lord. Why? Because David had a heart toward his God that was developed through what he experienced in his life. David developed a deep, intimate connection with the Lord through prayer. You see, it’s in these time of fellowshipping with God through prayer that we develop a heart after God. There, in the secret place of prayer is where love for God is developed and a passion for the things of God. There, in prayer, you will begin to develop a sensitivity to His presence and experience God’s peace in your life which goes beyond our human understanding. This is why the Scripture declares the following:
Psalms 91:1-2 – NKJV – He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
It is here, in the “secret place” of prayer where you develop trust in the Lord and where he becomes your refuge and fortress. It is here where you feel safe as you take your concerns to the Him and it is also here, where, like David, you will learn to have a heart for what God desires, and that is a heart who will “do” all of His will. Here you will develop a desire to obey the Lord and to accomplish His will no matter how big or small it may be (no task is insignificant to God whether big or small). But the sad fact is that many of God’s people do not pray. They do not enter into that secret place of prayer that will develop that intimate relationship needed between them and their Creator. Many are crisis prayers, which mean they call on him if they are going through a rough time, but rarely spend time with Him in-between their troubles.
So, I’d like to encourage everyone to learn to go to that secret place of prayer, where it is just special time between you and the Lord. Many of us are busy with life in general, whether its job related, church activities, or raising children full time and simply do not have the time to spend hours in prayer like a full-time pastor or minister. But it’s not so much the quantity of time that you spend with Him as it is the quality of time spent. Even if it’s only ten or fifteen minutes a day that you can find time to pray, treat that time with special honor to the Lord, as if that time is the most important part of your day. God will bless your time with Him and you will find your heart developing a desire to spend more and more time with Him as you do so. I encourage you as Christian people, not to just live off of Sunday services, church sermons and Cell or prayer groups. These things are all great to be a part of, are edifying and needful. But none of these can substitute for your personal time alone with the Lord, for it is in that personal “alone” time, where it is just you and Him, that you begin to develop a heart that is truly after God.
May God Bless you!
