'A Man After God's Own Heart'

Walter J. Chantry

'There is a heart-melting scene described for us in 1 Samuel 15:34-16:3. An aging prophet of outstanding spiritual stature and service is disconsolate. He is immobilized with grief for and fear of an associate in God's service who has now turned quite mad.

This weeping prophet was named Samuel. When his story is all told, it will be clear that he was God' instrument to turn round the spiritual fortunes of Israel at a most dark hour. But at that moment his efforts seemed to be turned into a shambles and he trembled for the people of God. The hope with which he had ministered now seemed to him an unreachable dream. Samuel laboured during the midnight blackness and early dawn of two eras in Israel. God always preserves His people. Christ always builds His church. When Joshua and the elders who served with him died, Israel as a nation began many cycles of spiritual decline. There were intermittent revivals of true religion only to be followed by Israel's making a further descent. This period continued for centuries, until Samuel was born.

The now-famous boy-prophet had as his first commission to pronounce God's curse on the priests at Shiloh. On that spot the tabernacle had been settled after the war of conquest. In keeping with Samuel's curse, the priests were chased off to Nob, Eli's home, the sanctuary was destroyed by Philistines, and even, for a time, the ark of the covenant was in enemy hands. Shiloh, the national place of religious pilgrimage, where Samuel had spent his earliest years, became a mark of God's wrathful scourge. Samuel carried out his adult ministry from Ramah, a town near the ruins of Shiloh. It is at Ramah that we find the prophet in momentary depression.

Through Samuel's vigorous prophetic ministry, there were true religious stirrings throughout the nation. There was even spectacular military victory over the Philistines under his national leadership. He had lived through the crisis of having had God's people ask for a king because they distrusted God. He had anointed Saul as the first king of Israel.

The Benjamite king seemed to begin well. Samuel, under God's direction, forged a new task for prophets. He began the work of providing a check and balance to the nearly autocratic monarchs of Israel. God's spokesmen would have access to the rulers of Israel to deliver the will and Word of God for the nation. Samuel entered into a relationship in which he spoke to the king as no other mere mortal would have dared. With boldness and plainness he instructed, commanded and rebuked the king, when he had a word from God. For a time, it seemed that Saul feared God and His prophet.

Then there came a series of disastrous acts of disobedience by Saul, followed by confrontations of the king by Samuel. These confrontations were most unpleasant for Saul and for Samuel. The work of discipline is never pleasant to ministers. God's servants' hearts are broken when they observe that disobedience is hardening into a pattern despite faithful opposition to it. No wonder Samuel was beset with a woeful spirit.

The Lord gently rebuked Samuel while he was overwhelmed with grief for Saul, for Israel and for the outcome of his ministry. 'How long will you mourn?' There follows a series of commands to be active again. The work of this man of God is not finished. He will yet preside spiritually over brighter days.

Even before the rejection of Saul as king occurred, God had spoken to Saul (or was it especially to Samuel?), words of encouragement for Israel that were intertwined with those of doom for Saul. In 1 Samuel 13 came the brightest promise, giving threads of hope in the midst of condemnation. Is that not a pattern with the Almighty? When men make a thorough shambles of obeying God's commands, He comes to them to announce His just curses, but in doing so He drops the brightest jewels of promise. It was that way in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve had sinned, spoiled paradise and plunged the human race into a history of sin and misery. There we have the first promise of Christ (Gen. 3:15).

In 1 Samuel 13, Israel was invaded by the Philistines again. The entire nation was in a panic at the threat of this enemy. Samuel gave Saul explicit instructions from the Lord. Saul disobeyed by offering sacrifices to God. Samuel told Saul that, had he been obedient to the Word of God, 'The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you' (1 Sam. 13:13-14). What a dramatic moment!

There is 'a man after God's own heart'. The Lord had looked for him and had found him. He will rule instead of Saul. Here is no good news for Saul, but it is great news for Samuel and for Israel. From the context, it is clear that 'a man after God's own heart' refers to a man who has an inclination to obey the Lord. Psalm 89:20 records the Lord as having said, 'I have found My servant David; with My holy oil I have anointed him.' Many years later, the Apostle Paul preached in Antioch that, when God had removed Saul, 'He raised up for them David as king, to whom He also gave testimony and said, 'I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will'' (Acts 13:22).

Today the Lord continues to search for men after His own heart to lead His people, His churches. That which He longs to find is a steadfastness in obeying His commands. Saul found himself in desperate crises in which something had to be done quickly. He was under multiple pressures from enemies and friends, which demanded that decisions be taken. In these moments of confusion he disobeyed God's clear word of direction.

The not-yet-disclosed 'man after God's own heart' would, in coming years, face no less urgent and perilous events. He would be under the strains of conflicting counsel from within and without. Yet he would choose to obey the Lord's directives in emergencies, even when it was not clear to him how his obedience would resolve pressing difficulties. How this man would bow to the Word of the Lord by Nathan the prophet in the most entangled of circumstances was to be a refreshing scene.

When church officers are brought to immobility in solving a church deadlock, are there no clear commands to be obeyed under the circumstances? It may seem that these acts of obedience could not untie the knots of difficulty. However, God may arise to deliver when His servants follow His words.

All the arguments which seem rational in the tangles of testing °© 'It will only deepen the conflict', 'It will create more tension and strife', 'It will accomplish nothing' - may only reveal unbelieving hearts. Where is the man who will simply do what the Lord has said? He who is 'after My heart' 'will do all My will'.

Saul's hardened heart displayed foolishness from which his subordinates were forced to restrain him. Then the Lord sent Saul to destroy the Amalekites. Again, explicit instructions were given. Again, the king of Israel disobeyed. Samuel now accused him of rebellion against the Lord, a crime quite as grim as witchcraft (in which Saul would dabble in the future). Thus Samuel announced, 'The Lord . . . has rejected you as king' (1 Sam. 15:23). Where can one find such bold confrontations of rulers, but in Scripture?

After this sensational face-off, Samuel turned to go. The king seized the prophet's robe and tore it. Samuel then said, 'The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbour of yours, who is better than you' (1 Sam. 15:28). Here is another nugget of golden hope! However, we are breathless to see such electrifying boldness in Samuel. He has insisted on the supremacy of God's Word over kings! It was the very last time Samuel would see Saul in this world. Saul was no longer Samuel's chosen king as he was no longer God's.

Samuel is nonetheless despondent. He had liked Saul. He had placed hope in his reign. He had poured his heart and soul into assisting and recovering Saul. Now what prospect was there? His own lips had spoken of 'a man after God's own heart', of the kingdom of Israel being 'given a neighbour of yours, who is better than you'. Therefore, the Lord told Samuel he must not be incapacitated by grief for past disappointments. 'Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have found Myself a king among his sons' (1 Sam. 16:1). The Lord has sought and found 'a man after his own heart', who will do all His will. The Word of God will be this man's law. 'One of Jesse's sons', says God, but, what is his name?

Most names are forgotten within a few years of their owners' deaths. A few are remembered for a millennium. Fewer still of these are recalled with admiration. The New Testament begins with these words: 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham' (Matt. 1:1).

Three names will stand above most others forever. The first has a rank of its own, for Jesus Christ is David's Lord as well as David's son (Matt. 22:43-45). David's first connection to Jesus Christ as servant has much more to do with his fragrant remembrance than with his having been an ancestor of the Messiah. Jesus' name is above all others. He is Lord over all. It is those who bow to Him who will be known as the righteous ones.

The Most High God spoke to the great prophet Samuel about David before ever the young man's name was given to Samuel. David was living in a small village called Bethlehem. He was accounted least of all by members of the family in which he lived. Even at the most important social and religious events, his absence was considered reasonable. He would be sent into the fields to tend sheep, while the remainder of the family attended to matters of greater consequence.

David was with the animals in the pasture as great international events engaged armies of his nation. Spiritual forces were at work in the land. The Almighty, who brings princes to nothing, was doing just that, while the teenager continued to husband the livestock. Samuel, the greatest living spiritual figure in Israel was sent to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king. Until God named his choice in Samuel's ear, no one thought God was seeking the lad with the blush of field-life on his cheeks. Others had nobler appearances and more promise, in human judgment.

A boy working with a flock seems isolated from great events of history. But he is the link between the past and the future of the kingdom of God; even in his obscure condition, he was 'a man after God's own heart'. His name is David! He will put obedience to God's Word above sacrifice and hearkening to His prophets above the fat of rams.

Are there not young men who even now have the Almighty's eye upon them? They cannot yet wear the armour of the warrior, nor find their way through the labyrinth of king's courts or church boards. The Lord looks not for experience; that is easily given. He wishes to detect, deep within the character of youth, submission to all the will of God.


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