The Lord sought a man after his own heart

“But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.” – 1 Samuel 13v14

Things were getting desperate for Israel. They looked around and saw the Philistines approaching. Samuel had promised to show up and offer a sacrifice in seven day. It was the seventh day and no Samuel.

Saul decided it was time to take matters into his own hand. He went ahead and offered the sacrifice on his own. As soon as he finished Samuel showed up. When Samuel asked what he had done, Saul said that he saw the Philistines and the situation they were in he decided to offer the sacrifice.

The problem is that he acted on what he saw, and not on what Samuel had said. He acted by sight instead of by faith. For this Samuel told him that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to a man after God’s heart.

Saul’s chose to look at the things that are seen rather than the things he could not see. He chose to look at the temporal instead of the eternal. No man who is a man after God’s own heart can look at the temporal. A man after God’s own heart looks to the eternal and obeys God.