A Heart After God
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Have you ever been overlooked? Maybe for a team, a job, a friend group? Maybe you’ve felt like no matter what you do, people don’t really see you.
I read a story recently about a company that posted a job opening for a position they said was ‘absolutely critical to the success of the company.’ The description said: ‘Must work long hours. Must be available nights, weekends, and holidays. No official recognition. Pay is minimal. And the job mostly takes place behind the scenes.’
Over 1,000 people saw the posting…guess how many applied? Zero. Turns out…the job was for a parent. It was a creative experiment to show how unseen and how unrecognized, but vital that role really is.
Here’s the thing though…sometimes in life, you and I feel like we’re stuck in the background. Maybe you feel overlooked by people…or even by God. But what if the most important thing about you isn’t what people see? What if the most important thing about you…is what God sees in your heart?
Today we’re looking at a man named David. Before he ever became king, before he ever killed Goliath, before anyone even noticed him…God saw his heart. And that changed everything.
So whether you feel overlooked, unseen, or underestimated today—I want you to hear this: God sees you. And if He can take a forgotten shepherd boy and use him to change the world, He can do the same with you.
This is a continuation of our “You Asked For It” series. I have enjoyed preaching on Joshua and Ezekiel and doing those character studies we have done, and so I jumped at the chance and picked this one to preach.
If you’ve been in church long, you’ve probably heard that David was “a man after God’s own heart.” That phrase sounds poetic and powerful—but what does it really mean?
Was it because he was brave? Talented? A great king?
The truth is, while he was a man after God’s own heart, David was also deeply flawed. He messed up—big time. He failed morally, emotionally, and as a leader. And yet, God’s verdict on his life in Acts 13:22 still stands:
“I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”
Today, I want to walk you through the highs and lows of David’s life and show you this: Having a heart after God doesn’t mean living a perfect life. It means living a surrendered one.
Let’s dive in and see what we can learn from the life of David and start at the beginning.
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
The first thing we can see is that God sees the heart. In 1 Samuel 16, Saul—Israel’s first king—has been rejected by God for disobedience. So God sends Samuel to anoint a new king from the family of Jesse.
Samuel shows up and sees Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab. He’s tall, strong, impressive—and Samuel thinks, “This has to be the guy.” If you watched House of David on Prime, you’d understand why. That second episode with his fighting was incredible. Dude was a beast. Anyways, let’s get back to the Bible.
We see that God says “no”. Right, our main text says Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
One by one, Jesse brings out seven sons. God rejects them all. Finally, almost as an afterthought, Jesse says, “Well, there’s the youngest. He’s out watching the sheep.” David walks in, smelling like sheep, probably sunburned, and God says, “That’s him. Anoint him.” Why? Because David had something the others didn’t. A heart that loved God.
Not status.
Not age.
Not appearance.
But a heart surrendered to God.
Let me ask: If God was choosing leaders today, would He choose you? Not based on your resume—but on your heart?
I mean, look at this. David Was the least expected: He was the youngest of eight brothers. He was not even invited to the selection until Samuel asked. And that is when we see God's selection criteria: God values the heart over appearance, status, or strength. David was a worshiper, shepherd, and servant.
God often uses people the world overlooks. What matters most is your inner life, your heart posture toward God, not the outward show you put on for other people. God’s calling isn’t based on how impressive you look but how surrendered you are. So how surrendered are you?
Another thing we see in David is that
David also had a life of faith and courage (1 Samuel 17)
We aren’t going to read the whole chapter, but here is the gist, and it’s a story that most of you have probably heard already. David’s faith in God is most obvious in the famous story of David and Goliath. Goliath was terrifying. A warrior over 9 feet tall. We measured and this is 9’ up the wall. Every day he mocked God’s people, and no one had the courage to fight him. Except David. He wasn’t even there to fight. He was delivering lunch to his brothers. David, likely a teenager, faced Goliath while trained soldiers trembled.
But when he heard Goliath’s insults, David couldn’t stay silent. He wasn’t confident in himself. He was confident in God. 1 Samuel 17:37 says
And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
David didn’t need Saul’s armor. He took five smooth stones and ran toward the battle. And this is what happened in 1 Samuel 17:45-47
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
And with one stone—Goliath fell. That type of faith doesn’t appear overnight. It’s forged in the pasture. It’s built by worshiping when no one’s watching and obeying in the small things.
Here’s the lesson from this part of David’s life:
You don’t need to be the biggest, oldest, or most talented to fight giants.
You need to believe that God is bigger.
David didn’t trust his ability but God’s power. He used what he had—a sling, not Saul’s armor.
Because he knew that it was a God-Given victory: David was able to run toward the battle, not away. Goliath falls, not by might, but by faith. Courage here from David isn’t the absence of fear but the presence of faith.
A third part of the life of David I want to look at is from 1 Samuel 24 and 26 and how he had a life of integrity and patience when it came to his taking over the throne from Saul.
Even after David is anointed as king, it takes around 15 years before he actually wears the crown. Saul is still on the throne—and he’s jealous. Saul tries to kill David and so David runs for his life, hiding in caves and wildernesses. You read a lot of the Psalms of David and a good chunk of those were written during this time in his life. While on the run from Saul, David had the chance to kill Saul. Not once, but twice.
In 1 Samuel 24 Saul was out hunting for David and came across a cave. He went inside to use the restroom but unbeknownst to him, David and his men were in the innermost part of the caves. David’s boys told him that this was his chance to do whatever seemed good to him to do to Saul. David quietly went over to Saul and cut off the corner of his robe and let’s look what it says in 1 Samuel 24:5-7
And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
He was even grieved just to cut off a piece of his robe. Now go over to chapter 26. 1 Samuel 26:7-11
So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.”
So we have two opportunities for David to kill Saul. Once in a cave, once in Saul’s own camp. But both times, David refuses. He said “I will not lay my hand on the Lord’s anointed” even though Saul wanted him dead. Why did he do this?
Because David trusted that God would fulfill His promise in His time. He wouldn’t take shortcuts. He wouldn’t seize power by his ability. He would wait. That’s integrity. That’s faith. That’s what a heart after God looks like—obedience when no one else would blame you for disobeying.
We live in a microwave culture. We want everything fast—instant fame, instant success, instant gratification. But God often works like a crockpot—slow, steady, deep. David had the chance to microwave his destiny by killing Saul—but he chose the crockpot path of patience and trust.
Are you willing to wait for what God has promised?
Are you willing to do the right thing, when when the wrong thing would be easier?
David trusted God’s promise to make him king—but he waited over a decade. He wouldn’t shortcut God’s plan, and neither should you and I.
But that is not all of his story, as his story is a life marked by deep failure.
He’s now king. He’s powerful. He’s successful. And he sins. Horribly.
He sees a woman named Bathsheba, sleeps with her, quite possibly in a non-consensual way, and gets her pregnant. To cover it up, he has her husband Uriah—one of his best soldiers—killed in battle.
Adultery. Deception. Murder.
2 Samuel 11:27 says
And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
And for a while, David thinks he’s gotten away with it. But God sends Nathan the prophet. 2 Samuel 12:1-6 tells us the story and David’s reaction
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
David is furious at the injustice. And then Samuel drops the bomb 2 Samuel 12:7
Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
Conviction crashes down. David is exposed. This was serious abuse of power at the height of his reign. And David was broken. And here’s what separates David from Saul. When Saul was confronted, he made excuses. When David was confronted, he repented.
And because of this, David’s life was never the same. 2 Samuel 12:10
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
David’s life is never the same. The sword does not depart from his house. Violence, murder, deceit, all of those things will now become the norm for his family. A heart after God is not a sinless heart—it’s a repentant heart. Which takes us to the next part of his life I want to focus on.
If you ignore a small crack in your windshield, it spreads. A tiny flaw turns into a shattered mess. David’s sin started with a glance—but he didn’t stop it. One small compromise led to lies, cover-up, and murder.
Sin always takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs more than you want to pay.
A Life of Repentance and Worship (Psalm 51)
After his sin, David wrote a song—Psalm 51.
This isn’t a shallow apology. It’s a cry from the depths of a broken heart. I want to read the entire chapter to you Psalm 51 because I want you to see the pain and anguish in his voice.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 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. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
This is a model of repentance. He acknowledges sin as against God first and foremost in verse 4. David doesn’t say, “I made a mistake.” He says, “I was wrong. I sinned. I need mercy.” And he doesn’t just ask for forgiveness—he asks for a new heart. Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
He asks for renewal. For restoration. David doesn’t wallow in shame—he returns to praising God. He teaches others, he is teaching us from his brokenness.
God doesn’t want your performance—He wants a broken and contrite heart.
And maybe some of you think that you have screwed up so much that there is nothing you can do to receive God’s mercy. God never gave up on David. And He won’t give up on you. Repentance is not the end of your story—it can be the beginning of your ministry.
Let’s go back to 1 Samuel and see God’s verdict on David’s life, when he first called David to be king, knowing full well the things he was going to do:
But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
And then you fast forward to Acts, where Paul is preaching about the history of Israel in Antioch in Pisidia (not the same one we see in chapter 11), and while recounting the history he says this Acts 13:22
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
Despite David’s failures, God still calls him “a man after My own heart.” Why? David was humble, faithful, repentant, worshipful, and obedient. His life pointed forward to Jesus—the true King from David’s line.
Your story doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful. We see that in David, as well as much of the people in the Bible. But pursue God with your whole heart—that’s what He’s after.
What Does It Mean to Have a Heart After God?
Not sinless perfection—but sincere devotion.
Not fearless confidence—but God-centered trust.
Not self-glorification—but humble worship and repentance.
God is still looking for people after His heart. Will you be one?
