David was a man after God’s own heart. “My whole being wants to be with the living God,” Psalm 84:2. It was because of his strong desire for God that even after grievous failure, David could repent and again find his place in God’s will. How much do we long for God? How fervently do we pursue His will?

“I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food,” Job 23:12. Abraham had his heart fixed on God’s command (Genesis 21:14). Abraham also got up early to obey after God told him to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:3). Do we rise up early to do God’s will even when it is something hard? Joseph longed after God. That yearning kept him faithful during the extreme hardships of being betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and pursued by Potiphar’s wife.

“How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9. Joseph was even accused and imprisoned wrongly. Only through his commitment to God could he remain faithful.

Moses’ longing after God sustained him during the difficult journey through the wilderness as leader of the fickle and often rebellious Israelites. Daniel pursued God three times a day in a strange land, and God protected him in a den of lions.

How much or how little does it take to distract us from God and get us to focus on circumstances? How much does God feel when we buckle under the small pressures that come our way? “I have set the lord always before me, and shall not be moved,” Psalm 16:8. As the people of God we need to have a heart like David’s!