The Beautiful Heart of King David
The Beauty of King David’s Heart
“Saul and Jonathan – in life they were loved and gracious, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”
“O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery , who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.”
2 Samuel 1 : 23 - 24
The passage above were the gracious words of king David regarding king Saul as he mourn for the death of the latter. It indeed touched my heart as I ponder on the kind of treatment king David received from king Saul. King David never received kind treatment from king Saul. Saul relentlessly pursued to kill king David. Saul had devised so many schemes to put king David’s life to death. But the Lord God is always with King David that he escaped all those deadly plots from king Saul. David deeply mourned for the death of king Saul and gave high honor to king Saul in his death. Oh how king David reveres king Saul that he never took revenge against him.
Throughout all Saul’s evil schemes against David, king David never retaliate , but he continued on revering and loving king Saul. Inspite of all the harsh treatment from king Saul, David gave Saul a tribute at his death. King David’s heart had never grown bitter against king Saul until his death, he remained the beloved king of David.
How beautiful is the heart of King David that resembles the heart of our dear Lord and Savior JesusChrist. At the cross the Lord JesusChrist kept on praying for all those who plotted murder against him. No wonder King David is called a man after God’s own heart.
I am greatly rebuked by this beautiful attitude of king David towards king Saul . At times I got easily provoked by my detractors and longs for their downfall. How far is my heart from king David. I believe I still need to grow in this area of my spiritual walk. It takes a great work of the Holy Spirit in a christian’s life to learn to love your enemies, people who persecute you and makes life difficult and miserable for you. King Saul made life very miserable and difficult for king David , but he remained on loving king Saul.
If only we will learn to love our enemies, people who make life hard for us, we have grown closer in our pursuit of Christlikeness. Loving our enemies, this is one of the hardest teaching to accept in Christianity yet it is one of the greatest measure of Christlikeness. Forgiving without limit those people who offends us continually proves that God’s Spirit is very much alive in our lives. This is the true measure of our spirituality. King David has also many weaknesses and failures as a believer. He has committed great sins such as adultery and murder but king David’s heart remained radiant because he loved king Saul, his mortal enemy.