But now [Saul’s] kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. 1 Samuel 13:14
A Baptist evangelist and missionary relief worker named Bob Pierce was in China during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s. On one trip, he met a missionary teacher and gave her his last five dollars to care for an abandoned child—and promised to send the same amount every month. In 1950, Pierce founded World Vision, and then went on to found Samaritan’s Purse in 1970. He is remembered for saying, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”
When it came time to replace Israel’s King Saul, the prophet Samuel said God was looking for “a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). God directed Samuel to that man, then just a teenager, David, the son of Jesse (1 Samuel 16:1-13).
Every servant of God is called to represent God by revealing God’s heart to the world.
In 1 Samuel 16:7, we are reminded of what the Lord said to Samuel.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Bob Pierce’s pray was:
Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.
Let us be people after God’s heart by revealing His love and compassion to everyone we meet.