Sometimes I like to stop and think about David- yeah, that guy in the Bible- because the Good Book says that God really loved David, because David was “a man after God’s own heart.” I try to figure out what that means, what David did to have a heart like God’s, because I’d like to have a heart like that.

Well, you come to I Samuel 17 and read where David hears about Goliath taunting the Israeli army and no one wants to do anything about it, and David the Kid wandering around in a desert somewhere hears about it and gets upset. He has no fear and decides he’ll go see if he can help out.

And so David gets to the front where the army and the king and some of his brothers are milling around, troubled by the big bruiser, and David finds and looks at the giant, and quickly says he’ll take a whack at him.

The king of Israel, though, looks at him and says “Go get us some water, son. You are a kid. You can’t do anything against that monster out there. He’ll step on your head. What are you thinking?”

David, confident and calm, pops back to the king, “Do you know what I am? I’m a shepherd. I’ve been one for a while. I know how to take care of my own. I’ve had sheep stolen by bears and big cats, and I don’t let the thieves off the hook. I’ve killed lions and bears more ferocious than this lug to save my sheep. I’m not afraid of this goof.”

And so Saul, seeing David’s poise and presence, agreed to let David accept Goliath’s challenge of a duel.

And David and Goliath fought, and David knocked him out at the start of the first round, and then whacked his head off to finish things.

Kind of violent. But you know what? God loved this kid’s heart. David trusted in God for His strength, and in his compassion for his courage.

I think David kind of saw the Israelites on that day like he saw the sheep he watched for months out in the field. They were his responsibility, and he cared about them.

David looked for and took special care of lost ones. He fought for them. Why? In part, we know from the Psalms, on his less than best days, he knew he was one of them (Psalm 51). On his best days, he knew that was his calling- as a shepherd, as a warrior, as a king. Whoever God put on his heart as lost, David looked out for. Even, eventually, if it was himself.

I think this is a big part of the heart in David that God loved, because if we look at the rest of Scripture, we see that God is the same. Like David, He loves the lost ones, and despite their dissent and defiance, He knows who they are and where they are and what they need. A champion. A hero. A deliverer.

If you want to develop a heart like David’s, a heart that fills God with delight, learn to look out for lost ones. Because that is what God is all about. God is all about finding and fighting for the lost ones.

Chances are, if you are seeking to walk with God and understand Him in life, you know this about Him. You are one of the lost ones He found and befriended as well.