A man after My own heart, who will do all My will.

Psalm 13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
² How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
⁴ And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Acts 13:21-23 says:  They asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus—        God said David was a man after His own heart, one who would do His will. Yet many of us can identify with the David that we read about in scripture; the one who was more like us; the man who had ups and downs, highs and lows; the man who loved God deeply, but also at times failed Him extremely. That the omniscient God also knows everything about us, all of our weaknesses, all of our ups and downs; all of our failings, yet He still loves us and chose us to be His children should encourage us. Like David, the psalmist, we can be honest with God. In today’s text, David begins saying:   How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?   Who among us has not felt as though God has forgotten us at some point? When we go through hard and difficult times it seems as though God must have forgotten us, that He is hiding His face from us. It seems at times that those who are against us, whether natural enemies or spiritual ones are continually exhalted while we are humbled in sorrow. Yet God’s promise to us remains. In Deuteronomy 31:6 He says:  “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

David says:  Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,  And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.   It is okay for us, like David, to ask God to answer us; to enlighten us. James 1:5 says:  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus says:  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”  God is not offended by our asking of Him. In Jeremiah 29:12-14 God says:  Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’   It is okay to ask God a question, but we should not question God.

David, the man after the heart of God concludes saying:  But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.   How much more has the Lord dealt bountifully with us? It is not just the deliverance and salvation from our enemies that He has done for us, but He has saved us from sin and death. One of my favorite declarations and revelations from David is in Psalm 23:4, when he says:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.  Because of salvation, because He has redeemed us from sin, even death is nothing to fear. It is but a shadow. It has no lasting power over us. Jesus conquered sin and death on the cross and by the resurrection. Romans 8:31-39 says:  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

David began saying it seemed as though the Lord had forgotten him. In truth, God tells us what He has forgotten. It is not us. In Isaiah 43:25 He says:  “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”  God has not forgotten us. Rather, through the death of His only begotten Son, He has redeemed us and forgotten our sins. The omniscient God, even though He knows everything about us, all of our weaknesses and our failings, has chosen us, like David, to be people after His heart; to do His will. He has chosen us to be His children and like David, He has called us to be kings. In Genesis it says that God created us in His image and likeness, to reign and have dominion over the earth. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says:  “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  God has not forgotten you or the plans He has for you.   

Like the psalmist, may we declare:  I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.  Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for Your salvation; that You are for me. I will not fear because You are with me and have conquered sin and death for me. May I walk in the fullness of the plans You have for me, as Your child and a king.  Amen.