David, and Kingdom Life

David's life is in some ways like it is to live in the Kingdom of God. To start with, he was of humble birth and learned his first lessons of life in a humble setting, caring for sheep, where he had to defend his charge from wild enemies. His faith in God grew from a small start as Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is as a small mustard seed that develops into a large tree. In the Bible miniseries film, we saw how he met Goliath, a giant much larger than him when he was still a youth. By faith and conviction he over came him, much to the astonishment of everyone. And with many obstacles he eventually became King of Israel and wrote many Psalms of the faithfulness of God. In the New Testament, in a public testimony of Paul, he was called “...A man after [God's] own heart, who will do everything [God] wants him to do.” Acts 13:22 What more could be said of a man?

BUT:

The other side of him was a weakness- Bathsheba. Greatness and being spiritual does not prevent a man from being human. He tried to cover it up, but with another sin, just as great. And only dug a deeper hole for himself to be buried in. But the grace of God came to him through the prophet Nathan, and David realized that the only way up was down on his knees in confession. Psalm 51 grew out of this deep dilemma and how he again was restored to God. A model for any confession we may ever have to make.

The Kingdom in each of us is to seek to be a person after God's own heart, willing to do everything God would desire of us. And if we error, regardless whether we consider it major or minor, to recognize it and confess. David's Psalm is an example of how seriously a Christian should take any sin like that. Or what ever sin God reveals in our on going life. Only repentance can restore us to the fellowship and service to God to which we are committed as Kingdom citizens. We need never wallow in our failings, but rise as needed to a continued commitment to serve in the Kingdom faithfully. We are “after the heart of God” as we persist with him as a way of life.