The
Lord does not judge by outward appearance or the height of one’s stature even though
Samuel feels compelled to tell us Jesse’s youngest son was ruddy and handsome
and had beautiful eyes. Maybe his GQ good looks led David the shepherd to
wander despite the desires of the heart only God could see. He doesn’t suffer
Saul’s fate but handsome David, consumed by his passions, doesn’t get away scot
free. The sword of conflict never leaves his house and he will have as many
enemies within his own palace as without. So what is it that makes David a man
after God’s own heart? Most will quote Psalm 51, his act of poetic contrition
after Nathan nails him with a story of rich man who steals a poor man’s perfect
lamb. “You are the man!” David, like so many of us, is capable of self
deception on a grand scale until confronted by the truth from which no one can hide.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God” is as much an appeal to God’s own heart as
it is David’s desperate desire for his heart to return to the relationship he
had with God before his weak will threatened to ruin it all. And therein lies
our hope. In the cross of Christ we have every reason to trust that God’s heart
is inextricably bound to ours and that with or without ruddy good looks our
wandering ways cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
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