Acts 13:22Acts 13:22 A Man After My Heart
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By Frank L. Hoffman - 6 Jul 1997

22. "And after He had removed him [Saul], He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.'

When reading a passage of scripture, we always need to put it into context with the rest of the Bible, and this verse is a perfect example, for it tells only half of the story.

There is a struggle that many well-meaning people have, particularly when they come into a position of authority.

And this same struggle, this same problem, applies to true believers as well.

It’s the struggle between a person's desire to be holy before the Lord, and their pride.

King David was a typical example of a person struggling with this problem.

Let's take a look at one of the events in David's life in which this struggle is evident (2 Samuel 5:1-10).

1. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

2. "Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And the Lord said to you, 'You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel."'

3. So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel.

Not only was David king of Judah, but now he is also king of all of Israel.

4. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

5. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

This last verse jumps into the future, for David had not yet gone up to Jerusalem, for the city was still in the hands of the Jebusites.

6. Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, and they said to David, "You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame shall turn you away"; thinking, "David cannot enter here."

The Jebusites were very prideful of their position of control over Jerusalem, and their ability to have defended their piece of land from the Israelites when they conquered the land of Canaan.

Israel had never been able to remove the Jebusites from the land, as the Lord had commanded them. They continued to live among them.

And in their pride they taunt David, by saying, "You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame shall turn you away."

They felt so secure, so untouchable, that they said that they really didn't need any soldiers to defend their city, for even the lame and blind could keep David and his army out.

7. Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David.

8. And David said on that day, "Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him reach the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul, through the water tunnel." Therefore they say, "The blind or the lame shall not come into the house."

David knew that the Lord would give Jerusalem into his hands, but he let his pride get the best of him.

He allowed the taunt of the Jebusites to get to him.

Remember, it wasn't the lame and blind who said they could keep David out, it was the prideful leadership.

But David allowed himself, in his pride, to get angry not only with those who taunted him, but also with the lame and blind, even to the point of hating them.

Parallel to this situation if the pride of poor people in third world countries who cannot afford to buy flesh they want to eat, for the covet the flesh they wealthy have to eat, so that when they become wealthier, they kill and eat innocent animals.

Furthermore, David knew that the lame and blind could not defend themselves; thus, he was advocating murder.

9. So David lived in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward.

10. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of hosts was with him.

There is no doubt that the Lord was with David, for David was a man after the Lord's heart, as we are told in Acts 13:22.

22. "And after He had removed him [Saul], He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.'

And even though David did all that the Lord wanted him to do, he also did several things that God didn't want him to do, such as his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the  killing of her husband, Uriah, the non-combatant Jebusites, and the counting of the people.

In this light, listen to what the Lord told David in 1 Chronicles 22:8:

8. "But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'You have shed much blood, and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before Me.

I don't believe it was so much the blood David spilled in war, that kept him from building the Temple, as it was the blood he spilled in his pride and vengeance.

It's the fact that David also killed the lame and the blind along with the soldiers and other people of Jerusalem, it's that David took pleasure in killing them.

He satisfied his vengeance by having them killed.

Killing of any kind should bring a revulsion to us; we should never rejoice over it, even when killing in times of war, or an animal for food, which really isn't needed, for there is and abundance of plant foods to eat.

David's pride got in the way of his holiness.

And we allow the same thing to happen to us.

We who believe have a tendency to become self-righteous, and when we do, we no longer have a teachable spirit.

This doesn't mean that we lose our faith, but that we limit it.

And at the same time, we limit our expression of love and compassion.

We need to follow the examples of Jesus first and foremost, and not the Davids of this world, even when they seem to be after God's heart, for we humans still sin, unlike Jesus.

Go on to comments: By Marni Montanez - 18 Nov 2011
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