Be thou my vision
O Lord of my heart.
It sounds like a psalm sung sweetly to the Lord. A prayer of praise and adoration, a prayer of supplication to the Lord who lives inside us.
King David would have loved this song. I'm sure of it. David's heart belonged to God, David even being called "a man after God's own heart" by God Himself:
I think of the checklist that David must have completed to gain this lofty title.
After removing Saul, he made David their king.
God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse,
a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'
Acts 13:22
Merciful. Humble. Generous. Brave. Faithful. Loyal. Warrior both in battle and in prayer. Spiritual. A student of scripture. Bold in God's Name. Obedient. Kind.
Wow, David certainly deserved the accolades given him. I could only dream of having this title connected to my name.
That David sure did live a perfect life. Deserving he most certainly is.
Do you sense the sarcasm? Because there are some things about David that tend to get overlooked. There are some other words we can associate with our hero:
Impulsive. Cheater. Disobedient. Coward. Irresponsible Father. Murderer. Adulterer. Egotistical. Heartbreaker.
Once David had to leave his new bride Michal. He was running for his life and she risked hers to save him. She loved him so. But he never came back for Michal. For whatever reasons, he left her behind. She was married off to another man. Years later David heard of this and demanded her return as she rightfully belonged to him. Her second husband dutifully brought her back to David, weeping as he lost her.
That's not cool, David.
And then there was this other time that David impregnated a married woman and had her husband (who was also his best friend) murdered.
Yeah, that's not okay, David.
Oh, and then there was this time when one of David's sons raped his daughter and David did nothing about it.
Wow, "how the mighty have fallen" is right, David.
A man after God's own heart? Well now I'm super confused. David was obviously an incredibly flawed man. A sinner.
But yes, still a man after God's own heart.
David made many mistakes and believe me when I say he suffered the consequences of them. He felt the physical ill that true repentance brought with each and every one of these mistakes.
Michal hated him for the rest of her life. The child conceived with Bathsheba died and David walked in crippling humility for the rest of his life. His family fell apart due to his inability to discipline his son.
See, David earned this title not because of filling the boxes on a checklist of good deeds, but because of the state of his heart.
David got how much he mattered to God. He understood that even through terrible sinful choices that God still loved him. David got that his very existence delighted God.
David knew he was made for God's joy. And his joyful love for God reflected that. David was a man after God's own heart because he loved God with all of his.
Friend, God doesn't want us to complete a goodness checklist. He just wants us to love Him. While David suffered long term, crippling, and severe consequences for his disobedience he never stopped loving the Lord. His mind and body strayed, but his heart never did.
Want to know what a heart that is after God's looks like? Go peruse 2 Samuel 22. Some familiar snippets:
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
He rescued me because He delighted in me.
As for God, His way is perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of the deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
Perfection doesn't make us a friend of God. Loving Him does. And David understood this better than anyone.
As we strive for a sinless life you and I will falter. We will sin. It's going to happen. But "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness," says 1 John 1:9.
Do you understand how much you matter to God? Do you know that He takes great delight in you and the life you live? God doesn't expect perfection from you, dear one. Obedience? Yes. A life in which you strive to do right and follow His Word? Absolutely.
But personal perfection doesn't make you his. Your acceptance of His love through Jesus Christ does.
And you and I are even more blessed than David. We live in the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus. David knew nothing of Jesus until he entered eternity.
We will never obtain perfection. We will not lead a sinless life. In this we are already exactly like David. But let his deep love for the Lord inspire us to see God differently.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
God of David, create in us a heart that loves you just as much as he did.
No comments:
Post a Comment