Daily Devotional for Tuesday 7th November
David’s heart
Today David enters the story. His father sends him down to the camp where Saul, David’s brothers, and the rest of the army are. He leaves the sheep and heads down there with the supplies Jesse gave him to take. Goliath has been coming and shouting at the Israelite army for forty days, scaring them, taunting them to the point that they run away in fear. And as David arrives, he hears Goliath’s words for himself. While Goliath’s shouting terrifies Saul and his army (as we saw yesterday in verse 11), it makes David angry. He exclaims, ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ (v.26). David’s heart is full of righteous anger. He is angry that someone has dared coming against God’s army. His heart for God is clear to see.
However, David’s eldest brother Eliab hears David asking what will be done for the one who defeats Goliath and presumes to know what’s going on in David’s heart. He thinks David has abandoned the family’s sheep and only come down to watch the battle. He says ‘I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is’ (v.28).
Perhaps the jealousy of David being chosen as God’s anointed one was still filling Eliab’s heart. Ironically just a chapter earlier, Samuel the prophet was looking at Eliab and presumed that he would be God’s chosen one, as he was the oldest and strongest. But God says, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (16:7).
David was the one God chose. He looked at David’s heart and saw a passion for Himself. He didn’t see the conceited and wicked heart that Eliab thinks he sees. In Acts 13 we’re told that ‘after removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do” (v.22).
God looks at the heart. He sees what’s really inside of us. He knows everything about us. Whatever other people think of us, it’s God’s opinion that counts.
Time to reflect...
• Have you ever had people speak things about you that aren’t true? How did it make you feel? Were you able to ignore them, or have the words stayed with you?
• Who does God say you are?
• What’s your heart like? Is there anything in your heart that needs to be removed?
Pause to pray…
You might like to use David’s words in Psalm 51 as your prayer today. You could regularly pray this throughout the day: ‘Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me’ (v.10).
