Acts 13: 20-22 (MSG) “Up to the time of Samuel the prophet, God provided judges to lead them. But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, God removed him from office and put King David in his place, with this commendation: ‘I’ve searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.”
Acts 13:22 (AMP) “And when He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king: of him He testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart [conforming to My will and purposes], who will do all My will.’
What make a man to be after God’s heart? Well according to scripture it is a man who will do what God tells him to do, a man conforming to God’s will and purposes.
Jeremiah 24:6-7 (AMP) ”For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overwhelm them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know Me, [understanding fully] that I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.”
God looks at the heart
1 Samuel 16:7b (ESV) “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
David expressed his passion for God.
Psalm 63:8 (MSG) “I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post.”
Psalm 42:1-2 (NLT) “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?”
David knew the secret of running after God. David was far from perfect, but his heart kept pursuing the only One who is.
David was a man after God’s own heart because he demonstrated his faith and was committed to following the Lord. His faith was tested, and he failed at times. But after his sin he sought and received the Lord’s forgiveness. David loved God’s Law and sought to follow it exactly. As a man after God’s own heart.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT) “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
Despite weaknesses and failures, he was desperate for God, and he passionately sought God’s wisdom and Word.
Proverbs 17:3 (NKJV) “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts.”