After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'1
Come As You Are
God measures by the heart, not the external. David was a man after God's own heart because He followed the greatest commandment of God, loving God with all his heart... this produced obedience in David. David wasn't a perfect King, we know he committed adultery and murder, it was because of the blood on his hands that God would not allow him to build His temple, something David so desired to do. David paid the price for his sin, however for the most part he was a man who sought to love God with all his heart.
King Saul had been anointed by God, but he for the most part sought to do his own will. He did not follow God with all His heart. Saul did not put forth God's will as He wanted, this did not make him a ruler God sought. Saul would continue to do his own will, "Shall I go down and pursue the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand?"3 But God did not answer him that day and Saul went and did what he wanted in the name of God. Paul writes that we are to lay aside the burdens and sin that weight us down, to run the race, to know the rules so we do not disqualify ourselves. Saul disqualified himself as God's leader. Unlike Saul, David sought to do the will of God and as a result he lead God's people well.
To love God is to do His will, "if you love me you will follow my commandments." His will is equivalent to following his commandments. His greatest commandments are to love Him and others, this is what sums up the Law and Prophets. These include the new commandment to love him as he has loved us, an experiential love. Loving others is treating them as we would want to be treated, this is the Golden Rule. If these are his greatest commandments then these would be our greatest mission, as His people, all other commandments are least to these greatest. If this is our personal mission then would this not be the mission of His Church? To love God and others. Jesus equated knowing Him with loving the least of these. He said others will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. Oh that our hearts be after His, to see what He sees, feel what He feels, and hear what He hears.
God still used Saul; to route the Philistines.4 And to destroy Amalek. Even at this Saul disobeyed God, he did a part of what was commanded of him. Without hearing from God or just out of disobedience Saul would use the authority from God to do his own will. Because of this God said to Samuel, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." God continued to use Saul for 14 years after anointing David as King, He used him to fight off the enemies of Israel and I also believe He used him to refine David to be a worthy king for His people. God used Saul but He desires those who follow Him with all their heart.
Many leaders are like Saul, they do a part of what God wants, they put forth more of their own will than the will of God. And like Saul, God continues to use them. The Pharisees of Jesus' time disqualified themselves from being shepherds of His people, they lorded over the people, creating disciples seven times worse than themselves, they loaded the people down with burdens and did not lift a finger to help them. Not loving God nor their neighbor they led people astray, legalistic, controlling, acting in the name of God they forgot the greatest commandments and their hearts were far from God.
For the most part, I believe His Church has become like Saul, used by Him but not after His own heart. God seeks those like David, who love him with all their heart. These are those who are more concerned with doing His will than their own, who care not for their own lives. Loving God is His greatest commandment, it is the key to being a man after God's own heart, to doing His will. This love of God is so great, like a friend who would lay down his life for another. What would His Church look like if God could say of us, I have found ________, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.
For the most part, I believe His Church has become like Saul, used by Him but not after His own heart. God seeks those like David, who love him with all their heart. These are those who are more concerned with doing His will than their own, who care not for their own lives. Loving God is His greatest commandment, it is the key to being a man after God's own heart, to doing His will. This love of God is so great, like a friend who would lay down his life for another. What would His Church look like if God could say of us, I have found ________, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.