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FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

David - a Heart for God

Psalm 51

            The high point of Israel ’s history was the kingship of David.  David was the second of three kings of a united Israel .  David provided greater unity and stability than his predecessor, Saul.  Even though the borders were wider under Solomon and the temple was built, it is David who is remembered as the ideal king.
            Why?  Because David had a heart for God.
            We see this when David is first anointed by the prophet, Samuel.  God tells Samuel that he has rejected Saul from being king over his people because of his disobedience.  God directs Samuel to go to the town of Bethlehem , to a man named Jesse, who has seven sons.  One of them will be the next king after Saul.
            So, Samuel makes up an excuse to Saul about why he needs to go to Bethlehem to make a sacrifice.  He invites Jesse and his sons.  When he sees Eliab, the oldest, Samuel thinks to himself, “Now here is a king – a man among men.”
            But God said to Samuel, “You look at the outside, but I look at the inside.  I look at the heart.”
            Then, Jesse paraded the rest of his sons in front of Samuel and, for each one, God said, “This is not the one I have chosen…  This is not the one I have chosen…  This is not the one I have chosen…”
            When they had all appeared before Samuel, and God had chosen none of them, Samuel said to Jesse, “Do you have any other sons I could look at?”
            Jesse said, “Oh, yes, there is my youngest, but he is out tending the sheep.”
            “Send for him,” Samuel said.  So it was that David was brought before Samuel.  He was handsome and ruddy and had beautiful eyes.  He was a looker.
            But God knew what was in David’s heart.  And God said, “This is the one.”  So, Samuel anointed him to be the next king after Saul.  And when Samuel broke the news to Saul, after he had violated God’s commanded by performing a sacrifice himself, Samuel told him, “God has found a man after his own heart to be king after you.”
            In the most well-known story about David, Goliath the Philistine and arch enemy of Israel , is taunting the army of Saul and the God of Saul.  It is young David who steps forward to defend the name of the Lord.  And he does so with the faith that he has learned tending sheep.  “If God has delivered me from the hand of the bear and the lion, God will certainly deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”  Then David marches out into the field of battle.  He picks up five smooth stones and brings down the giant with one shot.
            It took some time for Saul’s kingship finally to come to an end.  Even after David slew Goliath and became a hero in Israel , even after he had become best friends with Saul’s son, Jonathan, and even after he had married Saul’s daughter, Michal, David had to hide out in the wilderness for a while.  After Saul died, David became king of Judah , the southern part of Israel , while Saul’s son, Ishbosheth, became king of the northern part of Israel .  Eventually, Ishbosheth was assassinated and David became king of all of Israel .
            David set up his capital in Jerusalem .  And he wanted to bring the ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem .  It has been in Philistine hands for a time, but now it was back in Israelite hands.  Since there was yet no temple, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets of the Law of Moses, was the closest thing that Israel had to a throne for God.  It represented God’s presence among the people.  To make a long story short, when they were bringing it into the gates of Jerusalem , David was so full of the love of God that he danced around the Ark.  In fact, he threw off his clothes and danced in a ‘linen ephod.’  That means, his underwear. 
            Michal, the daughter of Saul and David’s first wife, saw it and she was horrified.  How could the king dishonor himself in such a way?  She was ashamed of what he did and she told him so.

But he said, “No, because of all that God has done for me I will do this and more.”  David was full of the love of God.  He was full of the joy of God.

Then David asked if there were any left of Saul’s family that he might show him mercy.  Kings typically eliminate any of the previous kings’s family, just to put a stop to any pretenders to the throne.  Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, was found.  David brought him to his table and made sure there was always a place for him there.

In all of these things, David showed his love for God.  In all these things, David showed his heart for God.

This does not mean that David was perfect.  After he had been established as king, perhaps for reasons of national security, David no longer went out to battle, but stayed in the safety of his palace.  While his army was besieging the Ammonite city of Ramah , David was pacing in the palace.  He looked out his window and saw a beautiful young woman bathing.  He did not avert his eyes, but he watched and then he summoned her.  They lay together and, eventually sent word to him that she was pregnant.

Now, this was a problem.  Of course, it was a violation of God’s command against adultery.  But David wasn’t thinking of that.  He was only thinking about how to cover up his mistake.  David summoned her husband, Uriah the Hittite, from the field of battle and gave him leave to stay with his wife.  But Uriah declined.  David even got him drunk.  But Uriah did not want to enjoy pleasures that were not available to his comrades in the field.

So, David sent him back to the battle.  But he also sent secret word that Uriah was to be put in the thick of the fiercest fighting and left there.  After Uriah died, and after the wife of Uriah spent the required time of morning, she moved into the palace with David.

David thought the problem was solved.  But he was wrong.  He thought no one knew.  But God knew.  And God sent the prophet Nathan to call him on his behavior.

Nathan told him a story: “There were once two men in a certain city – one was rich and the other was poor.  The rich man had great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.  The poor man had only one little ewe lamb.  It was like a daughter to him.  It slept on his bed and ate at his table and played with his children.  One day a traveler stopped in on the rich man.  The rich man hated to give up one of his flock for the traveler, so he took the poor man’s lamb, had it slaughtered and prepared as a meal for his guest.”

David reacted with anger.  “This is an outrage!  As the Lord lives, the rich man deserves to die!”

And Nathan said, “You are the man!  This is what God has done for you: God made you king over Israel and has delivered you from all your enemies.  I gave you wives and children.  I gave you both Israel and Judah to rule.  If this had not been enough, I would have given you much more.

“But now you have taken what is not yours!  You took the wife of another man and you took his life to cover your sin.  So, now there will be no end of trouble in your own house.”

And David said, “I have sinned against God!”

“Yes, you have,” Nathan told him, “but that is not the last word.  God forgives you your sin, but, because of what you have done, the child that is born will die.”

David fasted and prayed for the child, but he did indeed die as Nathan said.  After that David slept with Bathsheba again.  She conceived and bore a son and he was called, “Solomon,” although God wanted to call him, “Jedediah,” which means, “Beloved of God.”

It is hard to believe that David, who committed both adultery and murder, could be thought to have a “heart for God.”  But having a heart for God doesn’t mean we never sin, doesn’t mean we never disobey God, doesn’t mean we never live contrary to God’s intention for us.  It means that, when we do, and we are brought face to face with the truth of what we have done, that we own up to it and we confess it and we seek God’s forgiveness.

Psalm 51 is believed to be David’s prayer forgiveness.  It is the psalm with which we start each Lent.  We say it together at the beginning of the Ash Wednesday service.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness: in your great compassion, blot out my offenses.

“Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me…

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit…

“The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit.  A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”  (Psalm 51:1-3, 11-13, 18 – LBW)

Lent is our time to turn back to God, to offer our hearts to God once again.  No matter what we have done, no matter how far we have strayed, God always calls us back.  God always gladly welcomes us when we return.  And this is what gives us new hearts, hearts for God.