Whose heart are you after?

David, a man after God's own heart. As I review the struggles in my life, in the lives of my friends and family I think back on the life of David. A simple shepherd boy. No one, not even his dad saw it coming. The next king??! Yet David knew that it was in God's timing and he humbled himself to entertain for King Saul, and Saul's own son became David's best friend even though he would not follow his father as king.

David did not have an easy life yet he was "a man after God's own heart".
There was that battle against the mighty Philistine, Goliath.
Then there's that little matter of Saul trying to kill him every chance he got! So David trusted God anyway! He fought that giant and won! He was protected from Saul and he refused to kill Saul when he had the chance because he recognized that Saul was the Lord's annointed.

David did not always make the right choices yet he was "a man after God's own heart".
David's sin with Bathsheba seems almost unforgivable, yet God sent word through a prophet that David would be punished for his sin. David did "evil in the sight of the Lord" (2 Sam. 11:27). He took advantage of the position God had placed him in costing many lives, lives that were lost that he may fulfill his lustful desires. David repented, but there was still a price to be paid. A higher price than losing his own life was losing that of his son's. But David didn't let it anger him against the Lord.

This is an important message!!

David's sin cost something just as our sins cost something. We have been bought and paid for, but even after our purchase we continue to mess it up and fulfill our own desires just as David. Sometimes we are repentant, sometimes we are not. In the end it cost God's Son. Regardless of the death of a 7 day old baby or 33 year old man one thing is for certain, sin comes with a price. We must learn from David and seek to be "after God's own heart". It's not perfection, it's seeking His will and being obedient. Accept the consequences of your own actions from your Father. We do not wish our children to hate us or be angry with us when we punish them yet it's exactly what we tend to do with our Heavenly Father.

Will you commit to allowing your Father to be a father? Will you let him mold you and make you into someone that will be seeking after His heart?