How Can David, a Sinful Man, Be a “Man after God’s Own Heart”?
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The legacy of King David in the Bible is one that many consider a worthy story to share and a biblical example to emulate. From facing down a deadly giant as a young boy to battling against a former ally to openly sharing his heart in Scripture, David seems to be the perfect example of God’s servant.
However, some skeptics might view other aspects of David’s life as reason not to admire him. The Bible reveals many inappropriate sins that David committed that could make those reading his story second-guess him being called “a man after God’s own heart.”
But through David’s life story, we see God’s redemption and sovereignty expressed in the best way. It shows that even a man susceptible to making both good and bad choices could still be an example for others in faith, love, and trust.
What Does the Bible Tell Us about David’s Life?
Within the pages of God’s Word, we see David emerge from a humble start to become king of Israel and eventually, an ancestor of our Savior, Jesus Christ. You can read about his life in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Psalms, and 1 Kings. He is also even referenced in Acts of the New Testament.
We first learn about David when the prophet Samuel sought to find a new king for Israel, per instructions from God, after the current king, Saul, began to reject God and His teachings. When he visited the house of Jesse (David’s father) in Bethlehem, the men of the family were presented for consideration. All except for the youngest, David, who was a shepherd boy out in the fields with the sheep. As soon as David arrived before Samuel, God conveyed to Samuel that the boy was to be the future king of Israel, and he was anointed.
King Saul found joy with David; his musical talents with a harp allowed Saul to have peace from the spirit causing him to sin against God. Around the same time, David stood before a Philistine giant named Goliath and killed him with a sling and a stone. This success led Saul to adopt David to be part of his army, alongside his son and David’s best friend, Jonathan. But soon, David’s success in battle became too much for Saul, and he became Saul’s enemy.
As Saul pursued David, David continued achieving many military successes and even spared Saul’s life when he could have killed him a few times. At Saul’s eventual death, David became the leader of Judah and united the land with Israel. He also formed a solid central government and established a strong religious life for the people.
With all that we see here of David, many would be quick to say that he is the epitome of a strong, faith-based leader who is worthy of the title of one after God’s own heart. However, even the strongest leaders can falter due to choices they make, and David was no exception.
David’s Questionable Choices
The biggest error in judgment many point out about David is his obvious affair with a married woman named Bathsheba, the wife of one of his military commanders. One night, while enjoying the moonlight from his palace balcony, David lustfully watched a naked woman bathe in her home. He was drawn to have her and brought her to the palace, where he later seduced her, leading to an unplanned pregnancy.
Instead of letting his affair be known to his commander and her husband, Uriah, David brought him back from the battlefield so he would sleep with his wife and be able to claim the pregnancy as his child. However, Uriah, being a loyal leader in David’s military, refused to stay at home and be with his wife while others were fighting far away. So, David decided to take more drastic steps and placed Uriah at the frontline of battle, instructing his other military leaders to allow Uriah to be killed.
After the report of Uriah’s death came back to Bathsheba, and after a period of mourning, David took Bathsheba to be his wife so they could welcome their son together in marriage. But no one was fooled by this, especially God. Sadly, their son passed away shortly after birth, despite the prayerful pleas from David for God to save his son (1 Samuel 12:15-19).
Although Bathsheba and David were able to have another son, Solomon, David was forever changed by the experience and realized that just because he had the Lord’s favor didn’t mean his sin wouldn’t be punished by God.
God’s Redeems David
In seeing both the triumphs and failures of King David, some might be quick to say that David’s sins with Bathsheba and against Uriah should disqualify him from being seen as one after God’s own heart. How could someone knowingly sleep with another man’s wife, try to cover it up, and then have a man sent to his death just to make the situation “right” for himself and no one else?
But what God saw in David is what He sees in every one of us ― a person who needs forgiveness through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, someone who needs God’s guidance, through the Holy Spirit, every day. Still, some may look at David’s achievements and feel this should qualify him for being in God’s good graces; others might view his indiscretions as reasons not to think as highly of him.
Yet in God’s eyes, David was the perfect example of someone who needs God daily. Nowhere is this truth more evident than in the book of Psalms, where David musically and poetically shares the raw emotions within his heart regarding all he experienced.
Some meaningful writings from the “sweet psalmist of the Lord” (2 Samuel 23:1) include Psalm 51 as David prays for forgiveness from God for his adultery. Psalm 23, meanwhile, reminds those reading of the peace and comfort we feel when we know God is in our lives.
This is where the title of “a man after God’s own heart” is more appropriate for David. Despite his accomplishments in government and in the military, in his psalms David shows that he was nothing and could do nothing without God. It was not about what David did or didn’t do, but how God appeared in his life and still used him to spread His glory to others.
David’s Heart Longed for More of God
When many people think of King David, they usually envision a small boy killing a giant with a stone, or a king who was successful in building Israel and spreading God’s glory. But as we have read, David also had his fair share of struggles with sin and making choices that led to unfortunate deaths and difficult circumstances for those he loved.
But David is still a man after God’s own heart, even with the wrong he did, because he realized that nothing he did could take away the love and forgiveness that God had for him. No matter the military conquest or most despicable sin committed, God saw within David a heart that yearned for more of Him and one repentant for the things he had done.
We learn from David’s life that God views us in the same way, flaws and all, and knows within us that we are souls in need of a Savior to guide us through this challenging world. That makes us all men and women after God’s own heart.
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