Waits and Measures

I went to bed the other night in a jumble. My mind and body were ready for some shut-eye, but my heart was spinning a hundred different directions. I asked God for some insight into it all and, half-asleep, I felt in my spirit, "David waited patiently."

Suddenly I knew the reason David was a man after God's own heart.

David was a terrible father, probably a lousy husband, a great warrior, an amazing musician and psalm-writer, but none of those things made him—or didn’t make him--a man after God's heart. It was the fact that David waited patiently for God's timing.

David’s wait for God to remove King Saul began when David was a mere boy, possibly around the age of 12, when Samuel anointed him King.  He was 30 when he became King of the Tribe of Judah, and it was another 7 ½ years before he was crowned King of all Israel. That’s a 20-30 year span. In any book that’s a long time to wait for the fulfillment of a promise, and yet David was whole-heartedly committed to God’s plan in God’s time. Nothing was going to make him kill Saul to get the throne. It was in God’s hands.

If we want to be people after God’s own heart it won’t be because we read the Bible so many times, or give money to the poor, or are the best wife/husband/parent/whatever. It will be because we wait for God in patience, in trust, in faith, in hope, and in love.

Psalm 40 -- Of David

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
    and put their trust in him. (v1-4)