All right, let’s have another word of prayer.
Lord, we are so thankful to continue in Thy presence this morning. Lord, as we have all confessed, we were blind, but now we see. As we come to this time in Your Word, we have a simple desire: to see You.
Lord, if we touch You, if we see You, we find our hearts being satisfied, because You are the only true bread that satisfies us. Lord, we have put aside other things that would try to distract us. We are thankful that we can declare Thy name over this time, that You would keep out anything that would try to rob You of Your glory.
We are thankful that we can offer ourselves unto You, that Your Spirit would have a great freedom in speaking and hearing, to continue to work in all our hearts and lives in these days. In Thy name we pray. Amen.
I’d like for us to turn this morning to Acts 13 and read a couple of familiar verses to start our time. Acts 13:22.
I’m in the New American Standard. And after He had removed him—that is, after the Lord had removed Saul—He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said:
“I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.”
And then the testimony of David at the end of his life, over in Acts 13:36:
“For David, after he had served the purpose of his own generation, fell asleep, was laid with his fathers and underwent decay.”
David, after he served the purpose of God in his own generation.
You know, we are very familiar with these verses, and we fellowship about them. They are wonderful verses to talk about and share about. Actually, we had a conference over New Year’s about these verses. But practically, what do they mean within our lives?
At times, we can see many beautiful Scriptures and just sit around and share about how beautiful they are, and then just walk away. It is like in James, where you see in a mirror, and it is beautiful. But has that Word really become implanted in our heart? Is it impacting our lives?
Sometimes familiarity with verses can be the biggest challenge we have. It is wonderful how David served the purpose of God in his generation. One of the ways David served the purpose of God was that he made preparation for the transition of the kingdom.
David prepared and made abundant preparation for when he passed away, for Solomon to come in. We have been sharing a lot and praying a lot lately about this thought of transition—passing the torch, whatever term we are using.
We see within David’s life how he made that preparation. He prepared not only the things within the kingdom, but he prepared Solomon. I would like for us to consider this today: What was this key within David’s life? What was so critical within his own life for serving the purpose of God? And what was so critical for his son Solomon that David really prayed and was so earnest that Solomon would grasp it?
To see this, we go back to the place where we are introduced to David, in 1 Samuel 16. Again, this is a familiar passage. The Lord had sent Samuel to anoint the next king, and Samuel came to the house of Jesse.
Samuel was looking among all of Jesse’s sons. Jesse brought all of his sons before Samuel, but Samuel asked, “Is there someone else? Is there another one here?” In a way, unnoticed and unknown, David was remembered.
Even Samuel, a man of God and a prophet of God, was caught up in the moment. The Lord had to speak into Samuel’s life, redirect him, and refocus him. I think that is a wonderful warning for all of us.
Samuel had a great history of faithfulness with the Lord, but he did not bat one hundred percent. None of us are batting one hundred percent. There are times when we need that readjusting and refocusing in our hearts and lives.
The Lord spoke to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7:
“Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
David’s life begins—we are introduced to David—because of his heart for the Lord, because of the thing the Lord noticed. David was not in the picture at this point, but God had noticed his heart.
At the end of David’s life, he had a burden for Solomon. What was David’s prayer for Solomon? If you think about David’s prayer for Solomon, we see great similarities with the beginning here.
In 1 Chronicles 28:9, David says:
“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”
Again, David is praying that his son Solomon would have this whole heart. We see a similar prayer as David prays not only for his son but for all Israel, over in 1 Chronicles 29:19:
“And give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Thy commandments, Thy testimonies, and Thy statutes, to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision.”
David saw that the key to transition, the key for Solomon to be able to come in and take up his responsibility, was his heart. It was David’s heart that the Lord was able to capture at the beginning. It was David’s heart that enabled him to serve the purpose of God in his generation.
David knew that unless Solomon had a heart for the Lord, he would not be able to fulfill the purpose of God to which he had been called.
We are thankful that when Solomon became king, he prayed in 1 Kings for an understanding heart. Solomon had a good beginning. God gave him wisdom, and he built the temple.
Tragically, though, we know that Solomon married many foreign wives and allowed idols to come in. Toward the end of Solomon’s life, the Lord summarized it by saying that these foreign wives had divided his heart. The Lord said, “I am not going to take the kingdom out of your hand, but after you die, the kingdom will be ripped apart.”
It is tragic how Solomon had a good beginning in this transition, but because he married these foreign wives, his heart became divided. Something foreign is something not born of God. It is of this world; it is another kingdom. Solomon allowed this mixture to come in, and it dissipated his heart.
There is a lesson there, but we are not looking at Solomon. We are looking at David, because David really saw that the whole key for his life, and the key for Solomon, was going to be having his heart captured.
This also reminds us of Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus. Look at Ephesians 1. Again, everything we are looking at this morning is pretty familiar.
Ephesians 1:17–18 is Paul’s burden for those in Ephesus:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
Paul is praying for the eyes of their heart to be opened. He prays for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to come forth. Oftentimes, we use these verses when we are praying for situations. But what is the real focus of these verses? What is the key here?
Often, we focus on that spirit of wisdom and revelation—and we should. I am not saying we should not; that is a key part. But what is vital for us to receive it? The eyes of our hearts must be enlightened.
God is jealous to reveal the spirit of wisdom and revelation. He is jealous to pour forth His Son. But are our hearts prepared? Are the eyes of our hearts open to receive all that He is wanting to share with us? Or are we just looking at the theology and the teaching of various things?
So the question is: Is our heart in the right place? During worship this morning, there were many prayers from the heart to the heart. That is what God does.
Before we even get into the question of David and learn some lessons from his life, I would like to ask a simple question: What is our heart?
We use this word heart all the time. “David is a man after God’s own heart.” “I have a heart for the Lord.” “She has a heart for the Lord.” “Oh, Lord, touch my heart.” We talk so much about the heart—but what is it?
I am not talking so much this morning physically. We know physically what our heart is, but we are talking spiritually. As we look within the Scriptures, we see in a general way that the heart refers to the very center and core of our moral and spiritual being.
There is one verse that, in many ways, shows the significance of the heart. I looked up the verses with “heart” in my search program, and I think there were eight or nine hundred. We are not going to go over all of those today, because the pizza would get cold. I never compete with pizza.
But we are just going to touch on this, and hopefully you can go back and look on your own a little more. To me, there is one verse that really speaks of the vital importance of this matter of the heart, and it comes from Proverbs—again, written by Solomon.
Proverbs 4:23 says:
“Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.”
Some translations say, “For from it flow the issues of life.” Our whole life flows from the heart. It speaks of watching over it with all diligence. Some other translations amplify that even more.
The heart is so important that we need to watch over it. There is a diligent application of watching over our heart. If you really look at the way God has shown Himself to us, this is the relationship that He wants.
God desires a heart-to-heart relationship with us. He has fully opened His heart to us. He has shown His heart to us. He has revealed His heart to us. As we took the table this morning, we saw the heart of God displayed in that.
He desires that we would respond with a heart relationship. He is not satisfied with merely a superficial relationship. He is not focused upon the outward appearance or anything like that; He is looking for that inward relationship.
If our relationship is only outward, it ends up being just lip service, and it is of no value. Tragically, within Christianity today, there is so much lip service. Lip service uses the right words—well, some places do not use the right words—but in general, people use the right words.
But throughout Scripture, when God deals with His people, He does not deal with us in a superficial way. He deals with us at the root issue. He deals with the heart.
If you go through the Scriptures, you see many descriptions of what the heart is. The heart feels, thinks, desires, convicts, and speaks. A heart can be cold or hot. A heart can be hard or tender. It can be evil, perfect, whole, divided, unbelieving, or believing.
We see all these descriptions of the heart. But what is it? There is a vastness here. Sometimes, as we go on in the Lord, we get away from the simple things of life. In our Christian life, there is a simplicity in our hearts that God is after.
It is easy simply to use the word heart. But as you look at it, you start to see characteristics of the spirit and characteristics of the soul.
We know that we are body, soul, and spirit. Within the spirit, there are communion, intuition, and conscience. As we look through Scripture, we begin to see how the heart relates to each of these.
Look at Hebrews 10:22. We are going to do a little word study now, a little teaching-techie here, so bear with me.
“Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
So we see that the heart has the characteristic of conscience. We also think of communion. What is communion? Communion is sharing. Communion is having fellowship with God.
When we just took this table, there was communion there. When you think of communion, you think of worship and prayer. Throughout the Scriptures, we see hearts worshiping Him and prayerful hearts—hearts that are in communion with Him.
We see not only the characteristic of conscience but also the characteristic of communion. Within the spirit, there is also intuition. Intuition is really when God speaks to us, when He reveals things to us.
That was Paul’s prayer: that the eyes of the heart would be open, so that the spirit of wisdom and revelation could come in. In Matthew 5:8, in the Sermon on the Mount, it says:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
That is more than just seeing. It is having a revelation of Him. So, as we look at the spirit, we see that the heart has characteristics of each element within the spirit. Can we say the heart is the spirit? Well, no.
If we go on and look at the soul, we start to see characteristics there too. Within the soul, we have emotion, will, and mind.
Within the heart, we see great emotions of joy. Think of Ephesians 5:19, where we are singing and making melody in our heart. There is a similar verse in Colossians 3:16, where there is a song and worship within our hearts unto Him.
If you think of the emotion of sorrow, our brother shared the other week on John 14. It starts off, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in Me.” So we see the heart has many emotions as part of the soul.
Another part of the soul is the will. The will is simply where we make choices, where we make decisions. There is a spirit of obedience related to the will.
Look at Romans 6:17:
“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed; and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
There was an obedience of the heart. That describes what the will is: obeying. Also, when it speaks in Matthew about forgiving from the heart, you are making a willful choice to forgive from the heart.
Within the soul, we have not only emotions and will, but also the mind. In the mind we have our thoughts and intentions. Hebrews 4:12 says:
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The heart has the characteristic of the mind. You remember the story of Mary: when the Lord was born, it says that Mary pondered these things in her heart. She was considering them in her heart.
So we see how the heart is also described through characteristics of the soul. We see characteristics of the spirit, and we see characteristics of the soul. So what is the heart?
Many brothers describe it as a bridge between the spirit and the soul. Others use terms such as a connector, a link, a door, or a corridor. We see that there is a relationship here—a spiritual relationship—but there is a vital connection.
The heart is that vital connection between the soul and the spirit. Whatever phrase you want to use, it is an essential connection. That corridor, that bridge, allows the Holy Spirit, who is in our spirit, to cross over and work within our soul, conforming us into the image of Christ.
This is a great work, and it is a lifelong process. Peter refers to it as the salvation of the soul. This bridge—this heart—needs to be kept clean and pure so that the Spirit has freedom to move, work, convict, grow, and form Christ in us.
We have to remember that this process is always progressive. The enemy loves to come in and say, “Oh, look how weak you are.” None of us are where we should be, but praise God, none of us are where we were.
We are thankful for that. We have to progress as He moves us along, and He desires that we would continue to move in this progressive way.
When someone pours out their heart, when you have a heart-to-heart talk with somebody, when one is sharing their heart, what you are saying is that there is a reality there. That is who that person is. There is no façade.
When we say, “Wow, we really had a heart-to-heart talk,” we mean that the reality of who that person is—the reality of what they are thinking—has come out. That is the relationship the Lord desires with us, because the heart truly represents who we are.
When it says David was a man after God’s own heart, David’s heart represented who he was. When Scripture speaks of those with an evil heart, a believing heart, or a whole heart, it speaks of who they are.
We want our hearts to speak of who we are in the Lord today. This is what He is preparing us for in the days in which we are living.
For today, I am using the heart as the center of life—the center of our spiritual and moral life. Just as within our physical being the heart is the center, the most vital part within our life, so it is spiritually.
We can have many other injuries. I have had injuries and surgeries on my shoulder, my back, my knee—many other places, no surgeries and everything—and you keep going on. Praise God, as of today, by His grace, my heart is healthy, so I am okay.
Once your heart is not healthy, it impacts your whole being. You can have a bad knee or a bum shoulder and keep going on. But once that heart becomes unhealthy—and if your heart stops—you are just dead meat then.
We see the vital nature of the heart. In a similar way, within our spiritual life, the heart is so vital. I do not want to say this theologically, but just experientially: we could say the heart is the governmental center of our life.
A lot of times, we talk about the throne of God in our hearts. Remember the Four Spiritual Laws and the throne on the heart and all that? I Googled to see if there was a verse that had “throne” and “heart” in it, and there was not one, so I could not use that.
But the heart speaks of that governmental center. It is where the one in control of our life is upon the throne. The sovereign one is on that throne. So the challenge is: Who is on the throne—us or the Lord?
As you look at David’s life, we know David did not have a sinless, perfect life, but he had a heart for the Lord. That is so encouraging.
Sometimes, when we think about having a heart for the Lord, we think, “Oh, I have to become sinless and perfect.” No. We are sinners saved by grace. That amazing grace we sang of.
Every day, the blood of the Lamb is more precious to us now than it was before. It amazes us how God can continue to forgive us for doing the exact same thing over and over again. But that blood speaks just as freshly to the sin in our life today as it did the first time I did that twenty years ago.
It is having that heart. This is what we see within David. God saw David’s heart.
From the beginning, David had a burden for the house of the Lord. The Lord wrote that upon his heart. It was not done outwardly; it was written upon his heart.
In 1 Chronicles 28:19, David shares concerning the temple:
“All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern.”
The Lord wrote upon David’s heart all the pattern for the temple. It came by revelation. Later, it says that David made abundant preparation for the house. Because David was captured and had this heart for the house, he knew that even though he could not build it, he still had to make abundant preparation.
But what did all that preparation cost him? David uses two words to describe how he prepared for the house: affliction and affection.
In 1 Chronicles 22:14, David says:
“Now, behold, with great affliction I have prepared for the house of the Lord.”
Some translations use “pains,” but the literal word is affliction. If you look in the margin of the New American Standard, you will see “afflictions” there.
It was in his afflictions that he prepared. But not only in his affliction; 1 Chronicles 29:3 says:
“Moreover, in my affection for the house of my God, I have given for the house of my God my own private treasure of gold and silver.”
As David made this abundant preparation, his heart was captured by the Lord. It was not just a casual walk; it was through affliction and affection.
These two go together in the days in which we are living. They go together in the lives of God’s people. As David went through his afflictions, his affection for the house of God and his affection for the Lord kept him going.
With his affection, he knew that it would cost him something. He saw that he was set apart for a purpose, and he knew that because of this affection, there would be afflictions in life.
Brothers and sisters, if our heart is set on God’s purpose, and if we are captured by Him and constrained by the love of Christ for Him and His house, that affection will cost us something. There will be afflictions. But praise God, in the afflictions we have the affections that keep us going on.
God revealed this house to David upon his heart. It is wonderful how David was not even looking for this. David was simply being faithful. He was right where he was, but because of his relationship with the Lord—because he was seeking God—God wrote it upon his heart.
God saw within David a heart with which He could share His plan and His house. Sometimes we think we have to be in ideal circumstances to receive revelation from God. But if you look back in Scripture, it does not always work like that.
Remember Jacob, after he had stolen the blessing and his brother was going to kill him. He was fleeing for his life. We cannot really say at that point that Jacob was seeking God. Jacob was seeking his own self-preservation.
He was in the wilderness, and he went to sleep with his head on a rock for a pillow. What happened? At that moment, God revealed Himself to Jacob, and Jacob said, “This is the house of God. This is Bethel.”
It shows the mercy and grace of God in revelation. Jacob had a heart for the blessing and a heart for the birthright. Jacob was a twisted man. But God wanted to use him.
Even though Jacob was not pursuing God at that time, God was still pursuing Jacob. God got him and revealed that to him, and it changed him. Jacob still had to go through suffering. He spent those years with Laban before he could come back.
Where did the Lord bring him back? He brought him back to Bethel. That was the first place he came.
Think also of Peter’s revelation. Peter knew the Lord. He said, “You are the Son of God. You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the Anointed One.”
The Lord told Peter, “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, Peter, but My Father who is in heaven. Upon this rock I will build My house.” Out of that came the revelation of the house of God.
The same thing happened with Paul. Paul was persecuting Christians. He thought he was serving God, but he was working against Him. He was going one way, one hundred percent, diligent in his pursuit against the Lord.
The Lord met him on the road to Damascus, knocked him off his high horse, revealed to him that heavenly vision, and his life was changed.
Praise God, it does not depend upon the man who wills. It does not depend upon us for that revelation. Somehow, the Lord saw within Paul—or Saul at that time—a heart for Him, a heart that He could use.
This is what the Lord is looking for from us in the days in which we are living. He is looking for that heart that He can capture and use for His purpose in these days and times.
What hinders us from being able to receive? Scripture describes many different things: an unbelieving heart, a divided heart, a cold heart, a sinful heart. But what is the issue? What restores our heart?
What restores our heart is seeing Him. As we see Him and see His love, there is a spirit of repentance and a coming back to Him.
One of the most extreme examples of God’s great love for one who had totally fallen away was King Manasseh. If you look at the history of Judah, Manasseh is generally considered the worst king, the most evil king.
He was so evil that he was carried captive with hooks and chains into Babylon. There he came to his senses. He woke up, God met him, and he humbled himself before the Lord. He repented, and God allowed him to come back to Jerusalem.
As his heart was touched, what did he do? When Manasseh came back, he cleansed the house. He restored the house. He restored the altar. He allowed the people to come back, though the people themselves kept going away.
There was not a general coming back under him, but his heart came back. What hope that is. If a Manasseh can be brought back, there is hope for all of us. There is hope for those ones. Bobby Mueller shared last week: do not ever give up on one.
Praise God for the long-suffering love of the Lord.
In David’s life, there is a psalm with which we are familiar that was probably, in some way, a daily prayer for David. It is Psalm 139:23–24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.”
This is a prayer for the Holy Spirit to work within us. It is yielding ourselves back to Him daily, asking the Lord to search us daily so that we could really see all that He is.
As David continued to come back, the Lord gave him greater and greater revelation. We see the progressive nature of it within our own lives. This is what the Lord is after for all of us.
We mentioned that David made abundant preparation for the house through two things: affliction and affection. Some of David’s afflictions were self-inflicted. Things that he did brought about his own afflictions.
Most of David’s afflictions were afflictions of his heart. There is not much record of David suffering physically, with people beating him up or this or that. But there is a lot of suffering in his heart when he sees what he has done and the agony of it.
One of his afflictions was toward the end of his life, when he numbered the people and took that census. It says that after he took that census, the Holy Spirit smote his heart. In the Old Testament, it does not use the word convict; it says smote or smite your heart.
David came under God’s discipline. David said, “I fall into the hand of God. I am not going to fall into the hand of man.”
At that point, in his self-inflicted suffering, he saw the mercy of God. At the threshing floor of Ornan, he saw the mercy of God—how God, in His mercy, was showing mercy to him.
What else did David see at that point? In 1 Chronicles 22:1, after the Lord had stopped the plague and David had made that altar, David said:
“This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
When David saw the mercy of God, revelation came out of his afflictions. He saw the house of God. He said, “This is that place of mercy. This is the house of God.” Oh, praise God for that.
In our afflictions, it is wonderful that David was not so self-centered upon himself that he could not learn from the Lord. We often refer to that book about not wasting your sorrows. It is the benefit of seeing the Lord through the afflictions of life.
When did David’s afflictions begin? I think they began before we were even introduced to him.
Remember when Samuel went to the house of Jesse and asked Jesse about his sons. Jesse said, “Oh, yeah, here are my sons. Here they all are, right here.” After the Lord set Jesse straight, Samuel asked, “Is there anybody else?”
Almost as if he had been forgotten, Jesse said, “Oh, I have another son out in the pasture.” So they brought David in.
David’s affliction started because he was unnoticed and unknown by those who were even closest to him. He was unnoticed. It was like the family did not even notice him. He was there, but nobody noticed David.
He was unknown as a son. They had to be reminded: “Do you have another son?” “Oh, yeah. I have one more.”
If you are unnoticed and unknown by those close to you, that can be a great affliction. Praise God, David was unnoticed by man, but he was noticed by God.
That is a great secret of life: unnoticed by man, but noticed by God. God saw his heart, and the Lord brought him up.
Where did David develop this heart for the Lord? It was as he was out in the wilderness with the sheep. He was alone. He was unappreciated and unknown. But he was quiet, meditating, and learning of God.
If you are in the school of thought that Psalm 23 was written when David was a young man, you really see the heart and relationship David had with the Lord as he learned of the Lord in that quietness and place of meditation.
Even at that young age, he uttered that he could dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What a thought that was. God put that in his heart. He wrote that upon David’s heart as David opened his heart to the Lord.
Man judges by the outward appearance so much, and we have to ask ourselves: How are we? Are we willing to be unnoticed? Are we willing to be unknown?
Or do we want everybody to know, “Hey, I’m okay. I’m good spiritually. I’m here. I want you to notice I’m here. I want you to notice how much I’m doing”?
Are we willing to be unnoticed and unknown by man? God takes notice. That is what He is after—the heart issue.
Man looks so much outwardly. Now, I want you to understand what I am going to say. It is great that people can be at every meeting. It is great that people can be at every family conference.
But you can be at every meeting and every conference and not have a heart for the Lord. You can desire the acceptance of man and the praises of man.
What were the Pharisees? They loved the praises of men. What did the Lord call them? Whitewashed sepulchres. If you want your reward now, it is there for us.
But on the other hand, if you have a heart for the Lord, you will be at every gathering and every opportunity you have to be with the Lord’s people. You are going to be there.
David said in the Psalms, in effect, “In my affliction, I am crying out. I cannot even sleep at night until I find a place for the Lord to dwell.” There was this burden within his heart.
Is that burden in our heart? Is that affliction? Praise God, man did not notice David’s heart, but God noticed his heart.
God saw that there was a heart He could use to bring in His kingdom, to unite His kingdom that had been divided. He saw one who could prepare for the temple to be built. He saw one in whom He could place the seed for His Son to be born.
That is what He saw in David’s heart. He could use that heart. He is looking for our hearts today. That is what He is jealous for.
If any of us are feeling unknown, unappreciated, or unnoticed, praise God, do not be discouraged. Our goal is to be noticed and encouraged by the Lord.
Be faithful to what He has given you. If you sense this is what He has you doing, what you are called to do, be faithful with that. Continue on faithfully, and He takes notice of that.
Praise God that David not only had affliction; he had affection also. We see that within Paul. If you read 2 Corinthians, it talks about all of Paul’s sufferings. But in all his sufferings, he says that greater than all these physical sufferings was his concern for all the assemblies.
Paul also says, “The love of Christ constrains me,” that affection by which he no longer lived for himself but for Him.
David, in his affection, continued pressing on toward a fuller and greater measure of all that the Lord had. Look at Psalm 27.
Psalm 27 is a blend of affliction and affection. It is hard to say, “Is this a psalm of affliction, or is it a psalm of affection?” But it is a psalm in which David’s heart comes forth.
Psalm 27 begins:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?”
Then in Psalm 27:3:
“Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident.”
And Psalm 27:4:
“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.”
Praise God, for in the day of trouble, He will conceal me in His tabernacle. In the secret place of His tent, He will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. The psalm speaks of victory over enemies.
Then Psalm 27:8 says:
“When Thou didst say, ‘Seek My face,’
My heart said to Thee,
‘Thy face, O Lord, I shall seek.’
Do not hide Thy face from me.”
And then at the end, in Psalm 27:13–14:
“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.”
The love of the Lord had captured David’s heart in such a way that through afflictions and trials, there was one thing that he desired. There was that one thing.
We know how the Lord spoke of one thing in the Gospels, and how Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, spoke of one thing. This is another one of the one-thing verses:
“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek.”
Of all the desires of David’s heart, this was the primary one—what he was really desiring—because the love of the Lord had captured his heart. He was one who served the purpose of God in his generation.
Can we come to this place of saying, “One thing have I desired”? Has the Lord’s love captured our hearts in such a way that we have no other loves? That we have no rival thrones, as the chorus goes?
It is interesting how each culture has its own characteristics. As you travel among Brazilians, or among Caucasians here in the United States, each culture has its own characteristics.
One characteristic in the United States is that we are very proud of our independence. If we are not careful, culture can come in and permeate and penetrate the church.
We are proud of our independence and self-sufficiency—doing what we want to do. It is tragic how, when someone comes in to share with believers on spiritual authority, that is challenged here. In other cultures, it is not challenged as much.
There is this thought: “We are independent. I can do what I want to do.” We do not say it out loud because we are religious enough, but it comes out this way: “I know God wants me to do this, but I want to do this.”
“I do not want to go to that school. I want to go to this school. I do not want that job. I want this job. I do not want to marry her. I want to marry this one.”
There is this attitude: “I am going to do my own thing, and nobody is going to tell me what to do, because I know best.” We are raised up in that culture.
Praise God, would we come to a place of allowing the cross to work within us, so that our one desire is for His house?
This is what worked within David in such a way that he could honestly sit down before the Lord and say, “Lord, search my heart. If there is any evil, anything robbing You of Your glory within my life, search my heart. Try me, that I can come back and follow You with a full, whole, undivided heart.”
Our affections lead us. When we talk about David making abundant preparation through the affection of his heart, the things to which our hearts are drawn—the place where our affection is—become the priorities in our lives.
That is what we will build. That is what we will make preparation for. What are we making preparation for?
I loved Jonathan Ford’s testimony last week. Being an accountant, I did not have a clue what he was saying, but I got the principle. There is an eternal and there is a temporal. All that other little stuff in there, I do not know what it was, but I appreciated the point very much.
Are we preparing for that which is eternal? Is our affection on the eternal, or is our affection on the temporal? Are we building for this earth and this life, or for the one to come—for what He is calling us to, for His heart and His purpose?
This is what captured David in such a wonderful way. A priority was set forth, and it cost him something. It cost him certain friendships. It cost him relationships.
David did not always handle things rightly. We have already shared in the past about Absalom and others. But there were certain choices David made because he had that affection. It was set.
We know that if the Lord can capture our hearts—it is a battle. There is a battle going on for our affections, for our heart, for whom we are going to serve, and for who is going to be in charge.
It is wonderful how David made abundant preparation. At the end, when you look back at all that preparation, what did David say about it? What was David’s summary of all that he had prepared?
Look at 1 Chronicles 29. This is David’s prayer at the end, concerning the offerings for the temple.
As David made this offering back to the Lord, was he taking credit? “Look at all I have prepared for You. Look at all I have done for You, Lord. Look how great my heart is for You. Look at all the service I have done for You. I did this. I did that.”
What is David’s heartfelt response? In 1 Chronicles 29:14, he says:
“But who am I, and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?
For all things come from Thee, and from Thy hand we have given Thee.”
That is the spirit of humility. Everything we have given You is simply what You have given us, and we return it back to You.
David continues:
“For we are sojourners before Thee, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.
O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build Thee a house for Thy holy name, it is from Thy hand, and all is Thine.”
This is the spirit of one whose heart has been captured. Through the afflictions and affections of life, he sees that everything he has received is from the Lord.
There was nothing that David, in and of himself, was able to offer to build the temple. Everything came from Him.
Brothers and sisters, as God is building His house, we know that God’s house is Christ. It is not that Mac is able to put this part in, and so-and-so can put that part in, and this brother puts a little more in. No, it is none of us. It is all of Him. It is His life. It is all by His doing.
We are so thankful for that.
David was able to accomplish all of this because he found the key and the secret of life: that he would simply have a heart for the Lord.
The Lord captured David’s heart at an early age. David set his affections on the Lord, and he was able to go through the afflictions of life.
David saw that the key to transitioning over to Solomon was that Solomon would have that whole heart, that perfect heart for the Lord.
As we are praying in this day and time, would we learn this lesson from David? David was not merely focusing on Solomon and saying, “Solomon, you need to learn this. You need to learn that. You need to see this doctrine. You need to see this truth.”
There was a lot of instruction that Solomon had, but the key thing was Solomon’s heart.
Would we focus upon our hearts in these days, that we all, regardless of how old or young we are, would have hearts strong in Him—a healthy heart, a healthy heart given to Him? Not a divided heart, but a heart given in such a way that we could be those serving the purpose of God in our generation.
It says David was a man after God’s own heart, and you see it in his life. Are we people after God’s own heart? Do we see it in our life?
Next week, Lord willing, we would like to see this also in the lives of those whom the Lord used to recover more and more of His testimony, as we look at Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel.
You see another three whose hearts were captured, whose hearts were smitten. You see the impact—the very practical impact—upon their daily lives and how that testimony was worked out within them.
Think about Ezra. When the Lord’s heart captured him, what did he do? He set his heart to study the Word of God. He was still in Babylon, but he set his heart.
What did Daniel do? Daniel was in Babylon, but he set his heart not to have the king’s delicacies. That is practical daily living: separation from the world and being in the Word of God.
Nehemiah was the same way. May the Lord help us as we continue to consider this next week. Let’s pray.
Lord, we are so thankful that even as we consider this matter of having a heart for You, we have seen Your heart for us.
Lord, as we took this table this morning, we saw a heart that was laid down. We saw the price that You paid.
Lord, we want to be those who are captured. We all confess that we have too many distractions and too many other priorities in our lives. We desire to be separated from those and to have our priorities right.
It is only Your Spirit that can do that. We are thankful, Lord, for each one of us here. We are also thankful for Your long-suffering with us.
As we give ourselves to You, Lord, we want to give You freedom to continue working in our hearts and drawing us unto Yourself, that we could be those with hearts serving Your purpose in this generation.
In Thy name we pray. Amen.