After you got saved and hang around serious Christians or joined a good Church, you must have quickly learnt that you must be a man or woman after God’s own heart as David was. I personally do not remember whether in those early days of my salvation the phrase “being a man after God’s own heart” was defined to me. Maybe I knew it intuitively. It was only last month, (exactly 23 years in salvation), that I learnt the only definition there is to “being a man after God’s own heart”.
The Bible says, “And when He (God) had removed him (Saul), 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.’” (Acts 13:22). It is in this passage that the Bible clearly defines what “being a man or woman after God’s own heart” really is. If you really want God to call you a person after His own heart, then you must habitually do His will. David was a man after God’s own heart because he was a doer of what he knew was God’s will. Of course David at times fell short of the glory of God, just as we do. However, his heart was always inclined towards obedience; so must ours.
I am reminded of a young man with whom I was at University when I had just gotten born again. There is a place where balokole students would go at night to pray for hours on end. Many times when I went there to also pray, I often found this gentleman praying so loud. His voice eventually became ‘forever’ hoarse because of so many hours of loud praying. While he prayed, he sweated profusely. You would think a bucketful of water had been poured on him. I became his secret admirer because I saw him to be a man after God’s own heart. On one occasion, I was ‘honored’ to chat with him. We talked about the importance of reading the Bible. He had a huge Bible called The Sword. He told me he could buy me a copy if I gave him Shs. 5000/-. That was a lot of money in 1999, especially for a student. I gave this guy, the man after God’s own heart, my 5K and he told me when I should pick my new Bible from his room. When I went there on the agreed day, he gave me a ‘story’ and another date to pick my Bible. ‘Story’ after ‘story’ is what I kept getting from the man after God’s own heart. The last time I went to his room to pick my Bible, I did not find him there. His roommate, who was commonly called an Apostle, asked me what the matter was. When I told him that I gave 5K to his roommate (the man after God’s own heart) to buy me The Sword, he laughed so hard, non-stop and said something to the effect that there were other students looking for the man after God’s own heart to give them their Bibles. That is when it dawned on me that I had been conned by ‘the man after God’s own heart’. I had been dealing with a mufere. I felt bad at the time, but now I also laugh so hard when I remember that conman who used to pray so loud for long hours and sweat oh-so profusely.
This story should teach us that being a person after God’s own heart does not stop at praying (assuming we are really praying). If we do not obey what he reveals to us, for example in those prayer sessions, then we are not people after His heart. The only definition of being a person after God’s heart is doing the will of the Father – there is no substitute for this. For it is written, “He (God) 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.’” (Acts 13:22)
There are many bafere in Church posing as Christians after God’s own heart. This should not be us. Let us purpose to know and do God’s will in all areas of life. That way, God will say of us what he said of David: “I have found (insert your name) a man (or woman) after My own heart, who will do all My will.” (Acts 13:22)
Amen.