What Made David A Man After God’s Own Heart?

Q: What was it that made David a man after God's own heart? Was it his constant turning back to God or his prayer life? It couldn't be his work since he sinned so much.

A: I don't know if I would say that David sinned so much. Now, obviously, he sinned, and some of the sins he committed were terrible. His season of backsliding when he and his men lived in Ziklag, making his living as a bandit, was bad. Of course, the sin when he murdered Uriah and slept with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, was also bad. We can acknowledge the mishandling of his family. There are notable places where David sinned, but we don't get the picture of David like we do with Saul or others.

If you want to know what a man after God's own heart is, one way to understand this is to look at the contrast between Saul and David. Saul, the first king of Israel, seems to have almost zero relationship with God. There is no communion with God. But David was a man who, despite his flaws, loved the Lord. He had a real relationship with God. The things God loves, David loved. The things God hates, David hated. The heart of God was reflected in the heart of David.

I think it was because David, from an early age, was taught the scriptures by his mother and spent a lot of time with the Lord, especially when he was out tending the sheep. To be a person after God means your heart is in sync with God's heart. The things God cares about, you care about. The things that are of less priority to God are less priority to you. A man after God's own heart also gives a sense of pursuit; you're pursuing God's heart and the things that are important to Him, while not caring so much about the things that aren't important to Him. That's the best way I would answer that question.