CHAPTER 20 A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART Myriads and myriads of white-bright pinpoints of light fill the perfectly clear Bethlehem night sky.  The glory of God seems to be pressing against the darkness, finding many small pin pricks which reluctantly yield to the light.   The shepherd boy contemplates this struggle between the light and the darkness and is almost overwhelmed with a sense of thanksgiving that he should be a witness to this beautiful spectacle.  He goes over to the fire that has been merely embers for a while now and places on it twigs, small pieces of wood, and finally logs.  He watches the smoke rise in tiny billows, and then he sees some of the wood burst into flames.  He is reminded of what Moses said about the pillar of fire that guided God's people by night and the cloud that directed them during the day.  He enviously wishes that he too could have been one of the travelers in the wilderness or even Moses himself, and been able to behold the glory of Jehovah.  He stares into the fire, his mind wandering back to Moses' descriptions of the black-clouded, fiery wrath of Mt. Sinai to the miraculous water gushing from The Rock to the burning bush that would not be consumed.  Suddenly his heart leaps as he notices that some of the wood, surrounded by flames that now lick the sky, seems to burn without being consumed.  But then they too catch fire, burn and slowly turn to ashes.  His heart sinks again, but only for a moment.  He has desired as long as he can remember to see the bush that was not consumed.  Then he would know beyond a doubt that he has been in the immediate presence of Jehovah Himself.  His heart cries out to see, to even touch, to perhaps hear, and certainly to know this God of Gods.  His heart cries out to this One whose Name is I Am!  To the One who takes such good care of him, and gives him strength and wisdom when he asks for it.  To this One who, like the glorious light pressing against the darkness, is beginning to press against his own heart.  He can almost feel this pressure deep inside himself: in his mind and in his heart.  The pressure of His Glory and the Presence of His Light, reach- ing into his own personal darkness, cause him shame and pain and make him cry in sorrow for what is shown to be offensive to this magnificent God.  Other times the pressure of His Presence causes David to experience great peace, great joy, and an overwhelming sense of being loved and protected.  Sometimes when the glory presses on his heart he grows afraid: afraid that the glory will leave and never return.  This causes him to cry out to the Lord to never leave him.  Other times the glory comes so sweetly and gently and sadly, all at the same time that he finds himself weeping softly like a child.  He does not quite know why he weeps, but it happens this way.   He wants Him more.  He fears Him more.  He praises Him more.  He seeks Him more.  He desires to know Him more and more. His eyes leave the fire and he looks over at his sheep.  They really aren't his sheep, they are his fathers, but he feels that the Lord has given them to him to watch and protect and to see that they are well fed.  And because the Lord has given them to him he loves them very much indeed. He studies the sheep and he chuckles to himself as he watches them.  They are so helpless, so weak and gullible.  But then he realizes that he and his people are also like sheep, and that God has to take care of them the same way that he takes care of these sheep.  He has been in life-threatening situations before where he used strength and knowledge, but he knows that God gave him that strength and knowledge.  He knows that he had to listen carefully and do just as his Shepherd told him.  He looks again at the sheep and sees that they cannot know or be interested in Jehovah.  At this thought he lifts his hands in the air and thanks God in his heart that he has not been made an animal like those he is watching.  He also thanks Him that he has been made a man who is capable of knowing and loving God.  He thanks God that he has been made one of the sons of Israel and that he can know the One true God and love Him with all his heart, with all his mind, and with all his strength. He now lies back once again gazing at the myriads of stars and the glory of the light that is attempting to press through the darkness.  He thinks about how his relationship with God is so strange and yet so wonderful.  It is strange because the more he thinks about and desires this God of Gods, the more he feels Him and hears Him and finds Him.  But then the more he finds Him, the more he hungers and thirsts for His great love and His awesome presence.  Tonight has not been unlike other nights.  It is a night of taking care of the sheep that God has entrusted to him, a night of thinking about this glorious Elohim, and a night where he can once again cry for more and more of Him.  But this night has left him hungrier and thirstier and strangely more expectant than he has ever been before.  He senses that he is about to know Him and love Him and serve Him in a way that is beyond his thoughts and desires. The next day seemed much like every other day until about noon.  One of his father's workers came and told David to come with him.  David went and saw his father, his brothers and a man that he only slightly knew.  This man was Samuel the prophet.  This man came to say that God had chosen David to shepherd the people of Israel.  The man said that Saul was no longer the anointed leader of Israel.  David was told that God had chosen him for Himself.  Samuel said that God had seen his heart.  Samuel said that God had said that David was a man after God's own heart and that he was to rule for the Lord.  David was told to kneel before the prophet.  The prophet then poured oil from his horn all over David's head.  The horn was full and the oil soaked him and as the oil flowed, David knew that he was receiving more than a covering of olive oil on his head and body and clothes.   He was receiving a very special and wonderful and awesome sense of the glory of God pressing into his entire being.  His heart, which had been made soft and tender by the dealings of God, and the Words of God was now receiving wave after wave of His glory and His love.  His mind was experiencing understanding and knowledge and fear of God more than he had ever dreamed possible.  The eyes of his understanding were being opened and he could see.  It was as if all his life he had been blind and now HE COULD SEE!  He could see to the depths of himself and he shuddered in disgust and was plunged into depression, but he could see even deeper-- beyond himself!  He could see and touch and taste a love that forgave completely, and lifted him tenderly out of these despairing depths, and drove him to a dimension of light and glory beyond the physical heavens.  He saw with his heart and mind a realm of love which he could not put into words.  He saw this realm of love, this Person of love, stretched beyond the beginning and past the end of time.  Then his heart exploded with this timeless, dimensionless, and boundless love and this love covered all of the people that he knew and had ever known.   This exploding love touched friend and foe alike, brother and stranger, man and woman.  This love forgave others with the same strength that had forgiven him.  This love caused him to love others without considering what they had to offer in return.  He could see this love.  He could feel this love.  He could see God in his heart and in his mind.  He could see and feel and know this love, this Person.  He could see and feel His ways and His wisdom.  He could see and know and love in a way that he never imagined he could.  His whole heart was filled and changed.  HE was filled and changed.  He was anointed not merely with oil but with the Holy Spirit of God Himself.  And he was anointed to rule, to teach, to fight the enemy, to sing, to love His people, but most of all he was anointed to love HIM with all his heart, with all his mind, and with all his strength.  And he was anointed now to desire this God of Gods, this King of Kings, and this magnificent Lord even more.  This desire became dissatisfaction and it seemed this sweet dissatisfaction would surely consume him but that did not matter.  It was infinitely better to be consumed by this magnificent Jehovah than to own and rule and experience and enjoy all of creation without Him.  But he was not consumed.  Like the burning bush, he was engulfed, immersed and inflamed by the holy presence of God but he was left wholly intact and even strengthened by this baptism of love. ...The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people...Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward..." (I Sam. 13:14, 16:13).

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