The reason why David was a man after God's own heart. Part 2 : The Reason

The answer can be found in the following passage:

O LORD, remember David and all the hardships he endured.
He swore an oath to the LORD
and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
"I will not enter my house
or go to my bed -
I will allow no sleep to my eyes,
no slumber to my eyelids, .... (Psalm 132:1-4)

This passage says that David had a life purpose, a passion and a deep desire, he said that he will not enter his house or allow sleep to his eyes until he does something.

What was the burning passion of his life, that David said that he will not rest or be contented with his life until this one thing is fulfilled? Before we go into the answer to this, let us look at the background to the story of David in order for us to fully appreciate the significance of David's life purpose:

The Background:

The background to this story can be found in 1 Samuel 4-7. At that time in history Israel still had no king yet, and the Israelites were having battles with the Philistines. When they realised that they were losing the battle, they brought the ark of the covenant of God with them into the battlefield, hoping that they can now perhaps win the battle.

However, the Israelites lost the battle that day and many Israelites were killed on that day. The Philistines captured the ark of the covenant and brought it to their homeland.

The Philistines at first brought the ark of the covenant into their pagan temple, but after a series a 'mishaps', the Philistines became very afraid and they decided to send the ark back to Israel.

The returning of the ark was halted halfway when many people were struck down and died when they looked inside into the contents of the ark. The Israelites, too, became afraid and decided keep it instead at a place called Kiriath Jearim.

The bible says that the ark was kept there for some 20 years. Throughout that entire time, no one in Israel had a heart to bring the ark back to Jerusalem.

David's Heart Desire

With that background in mind, let us go into the one thing that David had desired in his heart:

"I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,

till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.

(Psalm 132:4-5)

When David was still a youth tending his father's flock in the field, he has heard about the news of the ark being captured and that nothing was being done to bring it back to its place in Jerusalem.

David has set it his life purpose to bring the ark back into its resting place.

And when God sees that David's desire was to fulfil what was in God's heart himself, God was so pleased with David that He lavished on David all the blessings and resources required to accomplish this task.

Personal Comments and Application

This is something I have learnt from listening to Ps. Joseph Prince's sermon. The question to this is indeed something I have been thinking about since I was a new believer. Many possible answers have been considered, but none of which so far has settled in.

Not until recently when this message was being preached by Ps. Prince... when I heard it, I knew deep inside me, "yes.. this is it!".

How does this apply to my life? We need to translate this to our present lives: The ark of God represents God's manifest presence, and Jerusalem is the centre point of Israel.

Personally, this is how it applies in my life: I will set my life purpose to bring Jesus into the hearts of people. For me, this will mean sharing the gospel to unbelievers, strengthening God's church and establishing God's covenant of grace. This will be the theme for my life.