Don't you love how you can read the same scriptures or stories repeatedly and even the simplest of ideas or mentions can escape your attention. Today, I realize that I had always thought the statement about David as one "after my own heart" in Acts 13:22 meant David was fashioned to have God's heart. But, in light of seeing the sins He committed, I believe it is more read to say that David intensely sought to know God, to know His heart and ways, if not thoughts.
He knew His God better than most, even before the coming of Christ. He seemed to understand, like when reading Psalms 51, that God was merciful and forgiving. Moreso, that God desired a "contrite heart" more than sacrifice. Yet, David complied with sacrifices because that is how God instituted it for a nation to be absolved of their guilt and sin.
Based on the prophecies found in David's songs, it is obvious that he understood a higher way with the LORD. He did not know Christ, but he knew God's character more fully. He seemed to bypass the religious tendency to place ritual above God himself. Amazing to me how even when others see the Old Testament as the picture of an angry God, I am graced to see God's true nature even then.
Some say the Old Testament was an incomplete picture of God, and the New Testament is a clearer picture of His nature. But, I see all of God in the Old Testament, just and merciful, holy and loving. The New Testament is not a completion of the picture, it is God's infinite desire to reach us yet again with an even greater and more demonstrative picture of His love for us.
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