Introduction: Attention grabber. Start out with who your hero is. Fictional first. People you know or just real people. Finally Biblical.

For me - Thor, mom, Esther and David.

I’ve been told that you guys have been talking about David and his character. Tonight we’re gonna dig deeper into David’s life and try to figure out why David, as Paul from the New Testament describes, was a man after God's own heart. First, though, let’s pray.

Pray with them. - Discernment, understanding, open hearts and eager minds.

In 1 Samuel 16, it talks about the prophet Samuel trying to choose the next King of Israel. Tell the story briefly (Goes to the house of Jesse. Gets a look at every one of his sons, from oldest to youngest, all eight of them and he chooses the youngest one, David.) In verse 17, it says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

It was not David’s age. Nor his body. Nor his looks. That made God want to anoint David as the new King. It was his heart. So what about his heart? What made it so good in the eyes of the Lord?

This question is very broad because there were multiple reasons as to why David was God’s chosen King and his anointed, so tonight we’re only going to look at three. One being David had incredible faith. Another being David’s understanding of God’s commands and the last one being David’s repentant heart.

Let’s begin with his faith.- David had incredible faith.

- Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we do not see.” David spent a lot this time before becoming the official King of Israel running away from his enemies—- from the current King of Israel, Saul, from the Philistines and many other armies—who were all trying to kill him. He went head first into battles and faced tens of thousands of soldiers. David could not see God nor could he see what His Plan was, but he knew that God was going to protect him. He trusted that God would provide, and that God would take care of his enemies justly.

- Psalm 55:1-3 is a prayer from David during one of many bouts against an oppressing foe. David pleads, “Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger.”

- David had a lot of reason to be afraid and to be in turmoil, but he knew God was the answer—as He always was and is. By the time he wrote this psalm, David

was experienced in trusting in God, but with each new enemy comes new challenges. David did not let this waiver his faith, though. He knew God would do what was right.

- At the ending of this chapter, David pens the following: Psalm 55:22-23 - “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken. But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.”

- No matter what, David trusted God to take care of him. Even though he had every reason to blame God for the constant attacks from his enemies, He still praised him for everything because every time an enemy attacked, God saved him and prevailed victorious!

Another thing to note, beyond his faith, was that - David didn’t see God’s commands as a chore but rather as an honor. He even

awaited them!

- Psalm 119:46-48. “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them. I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees.”

- David’s eagerness to do whatever God wanted him to do might seem crazy because God had him do some things that required a lot of endurance and faith.

- To name a few: he fought and slayed a giant at right around your age. he destroyed armies. he fought bears and lions. he spent years in hiding. he had to wait over twenty years to become the king of israel.

- Yet in Matthew, Jesus says that the burden of doing God’s will is light, and in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we are encouraged to “be joyful always” and “to give thanks in all circumstances.” So David was not crazy when he said that he delighted in God’s commands. He was simply faithful and in love with God. Enough so that he would do anything with a grateful heart for God.

Finally,- David was repentant. If you have read parts of the New Testament, repentance is a

huge part of being a follower of Christ, and even David, who lived hundreds of years before the New Testament events even occurred, knew the importance of repentance, which is something we can easily apply to ourselves.

As followers of the Most High, we can look to David for an example in how to “walk by faith” and how to do so through trials, tribulations and our sinful nature.

David was not perfect - he committed adultery. He was a murderer. He lied. He was a sinner, just like you and I. Yet he remained as God’s chosen king for Israel until the day he died, unlike the previous king of Israel, Saul. Saul was also a sinner, but his heart for

God changed. David’s heart, on the other hand, remained in God. He knew what he did was wrong in God’s eyes, and as we read in Psalm 51:12, he spent a lot of time praying for his salvation to be restored so that he can once again praise God with all of his being.

It was his steadfastness in worshipping God that made him a man after God’s own heart. David didn’t expect to be forgiven from God because he knew he didn’t deserve, but he still loved God anyways and did whatever he could to show God that.

Fast forward to Hebrews, Chapter 11 and we read about David’s triumphs in the name of the Lord! We cannot let sin define who we are. We must let God do so. As David did, we have to put faith in God, anticipate and delight in God’s commands, and finally, have a repenting heart.