I have to admit, I’ve never really understood God’s view of King David. It’s a mystery to me. David not only coveted Bathsheba, but then committed adultery with her and tried to cover it up by murdering her innocent husband. Of course those aren’t the only sins David ever committed, but just a few violations of God’s top 10 list.

In 1 Kings 14, God speaks through one of His prophets to rebuke King Jeroboam. He says, “I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commands and followed Me with all his heart, doing only what was right in My eyes.”

Am I the only one who’s confused here? “Kept my commands?” “Followed me with all his heart?” “Doing only what was right in My eyes?” What about coveting your neighbor’s wife? What about adultery? What about the cover-up? What about the murder?

I know David was humble enough to confess these sins to the Lord. So is it a humble heart God was so pleased with? If so, what makes a humble heart? Confession? Or is that just evidence of a humble heart?

Was it that David didn’t worship anyone or anything before God? In the 1 Kings 14 passage, God’s rebuke of Jeroboam continued, “You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked Me to anger and thrust Me behind your back.”

Before he was even made king, God had said that David was a man after His own heart. So is it that David’s heart was inclined toward God, to love and seek and worship Him only? And Jeroboam’s heart was inclined to making and worship idols rather than God?

Again, looking at it from the perspective of the 10 commandments–David violated numbers 6, 7 and 10. Jeroboam violated numbers 1 and 2.

I’m not trying to keep score here or be legalistic in any way. I’m grateful for God’s grace. I’d be sunk without it…everyday. What I want is a David heart, not a Jeroboam heart.

Lord, give me a heart like David.