Seeking God's Heart

As I read the 1 Samuel chapters for today, the last part of 30:6 seemed to beckon.  David and his companions are in the midst of great grief at the loss of their wives and children in the burning and looting of Ziklag.  They speak of stoning David...they are grieved to their very souls.  "...but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." 


In Acts 13, today's New Testament passage, Paul stands in the synagogue at Antioch and tells the story.  When he speaks of the Lord's raising David, he uses the Lord's voice: "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will."


We know that David will face trials and temptations in his future, and he won't always make choices favorable to God.  That is the stuff of another post.  Right now, I want to think of those two verses  spoken of David weaving their way through the fabric of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.  Encouraging ourselves in the Lord...seeking after God's own heart...


As Easter people, we know the Good News.  Do we use that to encourage ourselves in the Lord?  It's easy to get discouraged; it's easy to be overwhelmed.  Do we seek God's heart?  Do we remember Easter?  I am not a "Pollyanna. " I can only imagine the grief David and his followers are experiencing in 1 Samuel and the difficulties the early church is wading through, but I do believe that if we encourage ourselves in the Lord and seek after God's own heart, we'll be two steps closer to what God wants of us and for us...Acts 13:52.