After God's Heart

 

1 Samuel 27

How could David be "a man after His [God's] own heart" [1 Samuel 13:14] and lie and deceive like that?

God hates lying [Proverbs 12:22], and those who deal in falsehood and deception are to be excluded from heaven [Revelation 22:15].  The truth is that David had gone through such a long period of persecution and threatening circumstances that he had fallen into a bit of mistrust of God Himself.  God had sworn to make him king, to rid him of his enemies, to give him a sure house; yet here he was in a panic, concluding that God had forsaken him and that if he was to remain alive he must manage it himself.  It was very dishonoring to God.  But God was standing by His stricken child, waiting for the moment when he would realize his own utter helplessness and turn (repent) in blessed surrender to the Almighty arms of Him who had been watching over him all along.  That time came at Ziklag, when, in the bitterest hour of his life, we are told, "But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God". [1 Samuel 30:6], truly "a man after God's own heart".

I believe deeply ingrained in men is this pride - that we can make it without God.  This is the filthiest of the satanic thinking which needs to be renewed.  And the waiting period, or period of refining, is to come to a real and genuine realization that without Jesus Christ, we can do nothing [John 15:5] and that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain.[Psalm 127:1]

It is like the elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal son. A man after God's heart is one who understands the Father's heart; which is tenderly telling us :"All that I have is yours". And Jesus Christ has done everything that needs to be done and built all things that need to be built.  All that we can ever need and want are found in Christ. Our justification to enjoy all things is in Christ Jesus!

Every word is confirmed and upheld by the testimony of two or three witnesses. [Matthew 18:16]. So I submit to you the testimonies of five witnesses:

1. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not lack. [Psalm 23:1].  
2. If He did not even spare His only Beloved Son, Jesus Christ,  but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things. [Romans 8:32]. 
3. Seek first Jesus Christ and all these things shall be added to you. [Matthew 6:33].
4. For I know the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ; for though He was very rich, yet for our sakes, He died very poor; so that we might become very rich. [2 Corinthians 8:9].
5. My God shall liberally supply to the full my every need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 4:19].

Thank You Father in Jesus' Name! Amen!

1 Samuel 27

 ¹BUT DAVID said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any more within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.
²So David arose and went over with the 600 men who were with him to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
³And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow.
⁴When it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he sought for him no more.
⁵And David said to Achish, If I have now found favor in your eyes, let me be given a place to dwell in some country town; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?
⁶Then Achish gave David the town of Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.
⁷The time David dwelt in the Philistines' country was a year and four months.
⁸Now David and his men went up and made attacks on the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites [enemies of Israel Joshua had failed to exterminate]. For from of old those nations inhabited the land, as one goes to Shur even to the land of Egypt.
⁹And David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and the apparel, and returned to Achish.
¹⁰Achish would ask, Against whom have you made a raid today? And David would reply, Against the South (Negeb) of Judah, or of the Jerahmeelites, or of the Kenites.
¹¹And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, thinking, Lest they should say about us, So did David, and so will he do as long as he dwells in the Philistines' country.
¹²And Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; so he shall be my servant always.