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"The Lord
has sought for Himself a man after His own heart"
(1Sam.13:14)
"And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Why do you keep mourning over
Saul? I have rejected him from ruling Israel! Now get up, take
your oil, and go. I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, for I
have found Me a king among his sons... for the Lord sees not as
man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but I look upon
the heart (1 Sam. 16:1,7)."
Samuel is significant because the Lord uses him to locate and call
forth another one who, better than anyone else, represents what it
means to minister to the Lord. This man, David, was so determined
to minister to the Lord that he invented musical instruments to
worship God with. He wrote songs to the Lord on these instruments
and was a zealous worshipper, and we still have a record of his
writings in the Book of Psalms, revered by the Christian and Jew
alike.
What I want us to see here is that the Lord is seeking out David
just as much as David is seeking out the Lord. "The Lord has
sought for Himself..." The Lord's Need is expressed very
succinctly in this phrase. We should not imagine a passive God who
sits benignly in the heavens, waiting to see if anyone is going to
worship Him or not. This is a proactive God, Who seeks
Spirit-and-Truth worshippers, Who seeks people after His own
heart, Who draws people to Himself, Who reveals Himself insofar as
we will allow Him, Who is ready to speak insofar as we will
listen. What a mighty God! What an awesome thing this is: "I
have sought for Myself a man, someone who will want Me for Who I
am, someone who seeks what I seek, who will obey Me fully, who
will love Me unreservedly, who will follow Me wholeheartedly, so
that I can give Myself completely to him in return."
And what could be better than this? "I have found Me a
king." The Lord has sought for Himself a man, and has found
for Himself a king. The Lord has found what He is looking for, and
as we follow David's path we find that David, too, has found a
King. Look at the sensitivity of David in II Samuel 7: he wants to
build a house for God, and God says He will instead build a house
for David. As David ponders this we learn from the Psalms that the
House is the Church, and the Son Who will reign forever is not
Solomon, but Christ. Peter calls David a prophet who saw the
resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:29,30). In fact, David clearly saw
the incarnation (Ps. 8), the crucifixion (Ps. 22), the death (Ps.
88), the ascension (Ps. 68), the resurrection (Ps. 16), and the
reign of Christ (Ps. 2). How deep was his revelation! How vast was
his vision! The one who seeks the heart of God will see as God
sees. Write it down and underline it: no relationship, no
revelation.
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