1 SAMUEL 13:14 – But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

THEME OF THE DAY. WILL WE BE THAT PERSON? The context of today’s scripture is King Saul being removed as king. He grew impatient with the delay of Samuel’s arrival to perform the duties of high priest so the unwise king took it upon himself to usurp the office. His impatience was not really with Samuel, but with the Lord and his sin cost him his kingdom. There is a good lesson here for us. God’s timing is always perfect. When He delays acting as we desire or fails to answer our prayers in our time frame, don’t grow impatient and take matters into our own hands. Don’t try to change situations or circumstances. Learn to wait upon the Lord. His delays are not denials and we will learn a lot in the school of waiting. And let Saul be a reminder of warning when we feel the urge to move ahead of the Lord. Sin, all sin, even in Christians, will have consequences, but that isn’t the direction of today’s nugget.

Notice the words of Samuel to Saul revealing what lies in the heart of the Lord toward human beings. It is a wonderful revelation of our Creator’s desire for intimate relationships with His choice creation – us. The Word says, “The Lord sought a man after His own heart.” Obviously, this has an immediate interpretation and application to the current time in Israel’s history of the type of king the Lord wanted to rule His people. The principle, however, holds true for all of us. Our God is a seeking God. He comes to us. When we could not and would not come to Him, He came to us in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus. That is what love does. It takes the initiative and after God enables us to repent and believe unto salvation, we are now able to be what God seeks – a person after His own heart. So, what would a person after God’s own heart look like? There will be at least three characteristics in such a person.

First, a man or woman after God’s own heart will love holiness and hate sin. The Psalmist proclaims, “O you who love the Lord, hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10). The Christian longing for a “heart-to-heart” relationship with the Lord will delight in His holy, holy, holy being. He or she will also grow in hatred toward the opposite of holiness – sin. We may quickly determine if we are a man or woman after God’s heart by our attitudes toward holiness and sin.

Next, a man or woman after God’s own heart will practice self-denial more than seeking self-fulfillment. The chief principle in being a disciple of Jesus Christ is the increasing presence of denying one’s self for the sake of others. This was and is the heart of the Lord Jesus. His whole life was both the practice of self-denial and teaching self-denial to His disciples. He proclaimed, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). If we are a people after God’s heart, this will be evident by the investment we are making in the lives of others for Jesus’ sake and in His name. And any investment in others requires self-denial.

A third indication we are becoming a person after God’s own heart will be an increasing detachment from the pleasures of this world to be replaced by a longing for the next; a longing to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Our Lord prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). His prayer becomes our prayer, “Father, I long to be in the presence of Your Son to behold His glory and bask in His beauty forever.” This is the heart of an individual after the heart of God.

So, God is looking to His people who want Him; who long for His heart . . . will we be such a people? And on a more personal side . . . will I be that person? Will you?

PRAYER: “Father, create in me a heart that seeks Your heart with zealous affection.”

QUOTE: “Christianity is relationship of love with our God who first seeks us so that we would seek Him”