I Samuel 25:13  David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

You think you know a guy… When people with any connection to the Bible think of David, they might immediately remember him as the one that fought Goliath, or as a shepherd boy, or as the writer of so many of the Psalms. They might remember him by the Scriptural description - a man after God’s own heart.

In the last few chapters we see exactly that. In situation after situation, trial after trial, we seed David first turning to God. It seems he was always asking God, “Should I go against them?” “Will you give me victory?” It was a real pattern. David was a guy that stayed close to God. Until he didn’t.

In today’s passage, he had sent some men to ask a wealthy rancher for some food in exchange for the way David’s men had offered protection to his men. But the man turned them away and scorned David. Contrary to the previous pattern, David flew into action! “Get ready for battle!”

It seems so out of character. I thought David was a man after God’s own heart? He was. As long as he was. But that kind of descriptor was for David a sort of day-by-day assessment. But on this day, it would be more accurate to say that David was a man after David’s own heart. And it didn’t look so great.

When we read of David’s greater Son, Jesus, we see One Who was constantly in contact with His Father. Jesus was God with us, yet always was praying to the Father. If He needed to stay in that kind of moment-by-moment close connection to the Father, what does that say about us?

Day-by-day is not enough. I need a moment-by-moment connection to God. Will I be a man after God’s own heart? Or will I settle for being a man after my own heart? The second option never works out very well.

Blessings,

Pastor Russ