A Man After God’s Heart - King David And Nathan

David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

2 Samuel 12:13

Employers looking for someone to oversee the most important affairs of a company usually look for a man with a proven track record of integrity and high moral character. They normally look for a man who always tells the truth, remains faithful to his wife and children, and always does right by other people. Applicants who lack these qualities are quickly shown the door.

God is not a typical employer.

Consider King David, for example. In the space of a few weeks, David committed some extremely heinous sins. He lusted, committed adultery, lied, and murdered his loyal servant Uriah.

Thanks for coming in, David. The secretary will show you out.

Despite David’s high crimes, the same God who knew David’s every thought and action as well as his future called David a man after his own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14).

Did God miss something? Or did he see something that most of us overlook?

When the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sins, the king didn’t make excuses. He delivered no “I’m only human” speech. Instead, he humbly acknowledged, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Later, sitting alone in his misery and shame, a broken David wrote, “Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:2-4).

God didn’t call David a man after his own heart because he was perfect, but because David humbly and brokenheartedly recognized his own sin and knew what to do about it.

In your personal, family, and business lives, and in your friendships, you will blow it from time to time, sometimes badly. You prove yourself a man after God’s own heart when you humbly confess what is wrong to God and to the people you have hurt and ask them to forgive you.