2 Samuel 22:26-28  “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;  With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

David has always been known as a man after God’s own heart.  I believe one of the biggest questions raised about that is his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband.  The more I read the books of Samuel and really look at who David was I understand.  David was a man and David did sin BUT David’s heart was always toward God.  When he could have taken the kingdom and killed Saul he chose to show mercy even though Saul was trying to kill him.  When the man came to David and lied and said he killed Saul thinking he would find favor with David, David’s response was to punish the man for killing the man God had anointed as king.  Over and over throughout David’s life, he showed mercy where it wasn’t being given to him; he lived an open life in front of the people, admitted when he was wrong and humbled himself before God when he knew he needed discipline. David portrayed God’s attitude toward people 90% of the time and he really did try to walk in the path God chose for him.  He wasn’t perfect because he was human, but his strides in life were to be a godly kind man.

As women you would think it would just be an embedded characteristic that we would always be kind and gracious, but it isn’t.  I find there are times and certain people that God seems to put in my life to exercise those qualities which tells me I haven’t “arrived” yet!  I want so desperately to continue to grow into the godly woman I am called to be and I have realized over the years that the qualities we would like to possess are not just put there, God grows us there!  For example; unless you are really looking for trials in your life, don’t pray for patience.  I learned that in college when I confided in one of my dorm supervisors that I couldn’t figure out why things were getting harder and harder, I kept praying for patience and I didn’t know what to do and that’s when she told me, “you are getting exactly what you are praying for!”  I’m not really suggesting that you not pray for patience or any other godly character, growing up is never just a simple process we must learn to endure the struggles of life in order to grow.

God will always guide you and be there for you to help you grow into all you can be for Him.  Don’t settle for where you are, keep pushing ahead to be all you can be in Him!

Quote:   “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”  Carl Bard