Introduction

Recently I was given a folder with letters from men I respected and looked up to. That night as I sat down and started to read all the letters I found that over half of them made a mentioning of David. In the Bible, the Lord said that He was looking for a "man after His own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14) to reign over the rebellious and stiff necked Israelites. The shepherd boy David was the one God chose to reign.(1 Samuel 16:12) There are two things I learned from David: 1) Even though we may be mere shepherd boys and feel insignificant, God still has a calling for us, whether big or small, every man and woman has a calling. My mom has always told my brother and I that, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." 2) Even though David was called a man after Gods own heart, he still made mistakes, he still is a sinner, deserving God’s wrath. My mother also has told me, "David took down Goliath with one shot, but Bathsheba took down David with one look" David, though he committed sin, instantly cried out to God and asked His forgiveness and God blessed him for that. Even though we sin, we need to know that God still loves us and wants us to ask for His forgiveness, because if we do, "He is faithful and just to forgive us" (1 John 1:9) But if we don't, desire will lead to enticement, enticement will lead to sin, and sin will lead to death. There are three more things we can take away from David:

1. In temptation, we are to flee. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Psalm 32:1-2 says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit."

2. in Failure, we are to whole-heartedly repent. All men and women have given in to some kind of temptation at one point of their life, including me, and the devils tactic is to bear us down with guilt, but the great thing is we have an almighty God who is greater, stronger, mightier than the devil who lives inside us and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) and we can stand up to the devil and say, " I know I failed, but I have a God who lives in me and is greater than you, so be gone satan" and all he can do is tremble.

3. In success, we are to give glory where glory is due. We are called to give glory to God and to God alone, for it is all His. Even centuries after David had sinned against God, Acts 13:22 titles him as a man after His own Heart. I hope that I can live out these three truths.

May God label all of us each as a man after His own heart.

Five Smooth Stones

Romans 12:1-2