Daily Devotional

As a young shepherd boy, David developed a relationship with God.  While tending his father’s sheep he saw God at work in his life.  In fact as David grew to be a leader of Israel, he was stated to be a man after God’s own heart.  As a shepherd he learned what it meant to have the right kind of heart.  1 Kings 9:4 states that as he grew from being a shepherd boy into adulthood, “David walked in the integrity of heart and uprightness.”  Today, God is looking at our heart.
One of the dangers we face is that we will become complacent about our relationship with God.  We begin to take for granted the great things God has given us.  Today our love and devotion for God is to flow out of our heart.  God desires that our daily life and service flow out of a heart devoted to Him.

David knew that he needed to pursue God with all of his heart.  Whenever he sinned, he needed God’s cleansing.  The reason David was called a man after God’s own heart was not because he was perfect but because when he did sin, his heart was tender toward God.  He would confess his sin to restore his relationship with the Lord.  David wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  (Psalm 139:23-24)  David was saying, “Examine me, and see if I have not represented my feelings as they really are. Keep on always searching me out.”  (Pulpit Commentary)

Even as David longed for God to know him intimately…he knew that God was the only One who truly understood his heart.  He desired God to search it and to point out anything that brought Him displeasure.
 
Today God wants our hearts to be sensitive to Him.  We should be willing to allow our hearts to be changed and molded by the Lord.  God’s desire is that we would grow in our love for Him.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in the Law, He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matthew 22:37-39)

Today God is looking at our hearts and is asking us…Do you love me with all your heart?

Prayer:  Lord, You know all about me.  Examine my heart and if there is anything that is not pleasing to You, help me to acknowledge it and to confess it to You.  I want to love You with all my heart.  Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.