David had a heart after God’s heart which is why God chose him to be king of Israel. But when Samuel anointed him, the Spirit came upon him in a new way. The Spirit helped him worship, play the lyre, and fight God’s fights.

David loved God’s word. He loved the truth. There is a strong connection between loving God and loving His word. Jesus is the word, made flesh. May God help us to be lovers of the words of our good God.

David was a man after God’s own heart. In this episode we explore what it means to love God with all our heart and have God search our hearts and turn them to himself.

David was not only a warrior, protecting his sheep from lions and bears, and the nation of Israel from Philistines and giants, he was also a worshiper. Where did he develop his skill with the lyre? When did he have time to write the hymns, aka psalms that we love today? Was he really alone in the desolate pastures of Israel, or was he deepening his relationship with his God?

David is described as a man after God’s heart. What made David special? Why did he spend so much time in the wilderness, as a shepherd and fleeing from Saul? What did he learn while caring for the sheep, alone? In this episode we will consider what we know from the record in scripture and see why God recorded this account of the formative years of David.

“Bear One Another’s Burden and so Fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

Having carried a burden has made my able to empathize with other’s pain. I am able to tune in to what people are feeling more than ever. My own issues have helped me to understand what my brothers and sisters are experiencing in a new way. I observe pain everywhere. When I see people in some form of addiction I don’t see the outward behavior as much as I am cognizant of internal pain and suffering. People do not hurt and abuse themselves for pleasure, there are reasons behind their actions. I am convinced that I may engage in the same behaviors if I had walked in their shoes and grown up in their circumstances. Addiction has many forms, society condemns some (drugs, alcohol, pornography) and rewards others (greed, power, success). But heartache and pain are often the reason why we do what we do. No one likes to hurt.

I find myself connecting with people in a deeper way because the one thing we all have in common is suffering. Whether we are battling our own issues, or bearing the burden of someone close to us that we care for, we all need encouragement and support. When I reached out to those 32 friends for help and bared my heart and asked for help, it freed them up to also share their own hurts and griefs. We were connecting at a heart level and bearing each other’s burdens in a healthy godly way. Bearing each other’s burdens and weeping with those who weep is Christianity at it’s best.

The reality of pain, while not on the same level as the gospel, has been a life changer for me. When I was in the throes of my personal crisis in 2012 I wanted the pain to cease and life to resume a semblance of normalcy. I wanted peace, which we all desire. No one likes to suffer, but we all will eventually in some form or another. If we are sinners only, then we will have a hard life. Proverbs 13:15 The way of transgressors is hard. (KJV)

If we have chosen to follow Jesus, we will still suffer, but with a purpose, with hope, and accompanied by the presence of God. I am not going to address the broad topic of suffering here, but I am going to focus on our personal struggle. I have rarely heard much teaching on this topic, but pain is all around us. It must be examined and addressed with God’s help.

Here is another red letter statement. The source of much of my hurt and distress in 2012 was seeing that because of my own baggage, my internal wounds, I was hurting the most important people in my life, my wife and sons. I think of my own secret scars from my past as toxic waste. When I am rested and in a good place, then this harmful material is safely contained in a lead container. But when I am not rested, working too hard, and stressed, the toxic matter leaks, and it damages those who are closest to me, my family.

My role as a husband and father is shaped by how I experience and perceive the love of God for me. The more love I receive, the more I am equipped to give.

As Jesus loves me, I am called and empowered to love my wife and children. As a husband, my role is not to be the king of my castle. My wife and children were not created to serve me, but I have been designed to serve them. By meditating on how Jesus loved me by serving me, I follow His example and do not treat my wife and children as second class citizens, but as fellow children of God, who were created in the image of God.

I am writing a book chronicling my journey of the past two years. These were the hardest years of my life and the best ones as well. They were hard because I experienced more personal sorrow and loss, but they were the best because I found God in a new and deeper way. Throughout this process I am continually boring down through layers of life lessons I have learned to discover fundamental foundational truths.

For example, I am convinced that the family is the basic unit of society. God created the institution of the family before Israel, before Abraham, before the flood, and way before the church. In fact, the primary qualification for elders and deacons is their ability to govern their own homes. Healthy God-fearing families are the foundation for healthy churches and communities.

Good marriages begin with two individuals who each love God, and have each been loved by God. Let me amplify on that last phrase. Each man and each woman must first have a vertical loving relationship with God themselves. But to love Him, we have to be first loved by Him.

Bottom line, the best thing I can do to love God, my family, and my neighbor, is to let God love me.

Etymologists speculate that the expression “Good bye” derives from the longer phrase, “May God be with ye.” Similarly, “Good morning” may come from “May God give you a good morning" or a “Good day.”

I find that how I begin each morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. When I want to have a “God” day or a “Good” day, then I begin the day by meeting God and investing time in His presence.

I still battle with believing the gospel. Even though I know that when I draw near to God, He draws near to me, I still have to remind myself almost every day that God really likes me. As I draw near to God, I recall scriptures that inform my mind of the veracity of His love and the unchangeableness of His nature.

For several weeks, my prayer when I awake has been Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love, that I may rejoice and be glad all my days.” I love this scripture. The writer of this prayer may have been tempted to doubt God’s love, but asked God to help him.