We see in I Samuel 13:13-14 how God, through Samuel the priest, rebukes Saul for having acted foolishly and having not kept His commandments. God further lets Saul know that He has sought a man after His own heart and had commanded that man to be captain over his people. That man was David whom God clearly identifies in Acts 13:22 as “a man after Mine own heart.” How did David come by this lofty designation? Could David have attained this view of God by his own design? Absolutely not! David did not come to be that man after God’s own heart without “The Relentless Pursuit” of David’s heart by God Himself.
God from creation has been in the relentless pursuit of the hearts of men. His unique creation of man in the image of Himself the Father, Himself the Son, and Himself the Holy Spirit solidly depicts God’s intent to have a loving and devoted eternal relationship with man void of the presence of sin and anointed with the power and the love of Almighty God Himself. Psalm 51 testifies to the manifestation of David’s right relationship with the Lord. Psalm 89 further testifies to God’s acknowledgment, acceptance, and blessings on David’s life as David adhered to the plan of God. The Lord never gave up on David and is still, to this very moment, relentlessly pursuing the hearts of men.
For David to become a man after God’s own heart, David had to respond to God’s relentless pursuit of his heart. Even after the initial capture or the acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior as we know it, the relentless pursuit by God of holiness for men continues. He relentlessly beseeches us to present ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), laying aside every weight and sin that besets us (Hebrews 12:1), submitting and drawing nigh to God for cleansing and purifying of the heart giving way to singleness of mind before Him (James 4:7-8).
God will never give up on us, will never stop blessing us, will never stop leading and guiding us, will never stop loving as a father loves his child, and will never stop being our Heavenly Father. When we respond to God’s “Relentless Pursuit” of our hearts and humbly surrender by faith to His pursuing work in our lives, God can truly say that we are a people after His own heart.
Make it personal. Pray: “God are you able to say that I am after Your own heart? Lord, please help me to respond to your tender voice of relentless pursuit that I may be the apple of your eye.”