The Saul-David Transition Part 3/8
But he removed Saul and made David their king …
Acts 13:22
Heart-shift
There is currently a heart-shift occurring. Saul’s ‘heart condition’ was why God replaced him with David:
And when He had removed him, He raised up David to them to be their king; to whom He also witnessed and said, I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after My own heart, who shall fulfill all My will.
Acts 13:22 MKJV (author’s emphasis)
Jesus was clear that it was from the heart that evil proceeds; that it is our inner life that defiles and, therefore, disqualifies us for the kingdom (Mtt 15:18- 20; 1 Cor 6:9-10).
This was the sole reason for Saul’s rejection. But surely David’s behaviour was far more reprehensible? Did Saul, to our knowledge, commit murder or adultery? No! So, why did he lose the kingdom and not David? For one simple reason: when Saul was confronted with his disobedience he did not break internally. Instead, as we have previously seen, he blame-shifted and self- justified (1 Sam 15:18-26).
By contrast David broke:
I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down. You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born.
Psalm 51:3-5 THE MESSAGE
God, who doesn’t look on the outward, judges and deals with us according to the true nature of our heart: “With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute” (Ps 18:26 NASB). It is significant that this scripture comes from the song of David when he was delivered from the hand of Saul. He was now free, coming clear of his wilderness years and the deep inner dealings preparatory for the throne. The Hebrew for “crooked” carries the thought of `twists and distortions’. For David’s destiny to be fulfilled he had to allow God into the inner recesses of his nature to unravel every twist of his fallen condition. The twists and turns of our inner nature cause us to distort reality. We misinterpret others and even God. To heal and deliver us God, therefore, shows himself as “astute” towards us—as appropriate to our distortions. The Hebrew for “astute” carries the meaning `to be cunning, to twist, or wrestle’. The Lord wrestles with us showing great dexterity in responding to the distortions of our inner nature—he, in fact, out-foxes us! We are then faced with whether we will resist his dealings or surrender, whether we will harden our hearts or yield. This was the bottom-line difference between Saul and David.
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