LEAD ME TO THE ROCK! by Peggy Kannaday JESUS IS THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I! LEAD ME TO THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I! (839 words) King David was described by God as a man after His own heart. What attributes of David could we emulate today? I believe the attribute that David excelled in was his overwhelming desire to seek God. Although not all of the Psalms are attributed to David; we can get a clear glimpse of his heart from the many Psalms (songs and prayers) that he did author. In these Psalms we hear his heart's earnest cry to God repeated over and over with words such as "Hear my cry, oh God. Have mercy on me, oh God, and bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name." Was David any stronger than any of us? I do not think so, as he sinned as few of us have or ever will, but yet he was able to repent, and recover his relationship with his precious Lord. Why was David able to have this very special and intimate relationship with God? I believe it was because he had an open and consistent flow of communication with Him. It was a 3-way communication. It was between David toward the Lord; it was between the Lord toward David, and it was the Lord (through David) speaking to His people. God could communicate to and through David because David's heart was always open and turned toward Him. In Psalm 26:7, David said, "That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works". In his timeless Psalms, David indeed fulfilled these words. After David's fall, he repented with great remorse, and then his main goal was to restore his close relationship and communication with the Lord. The famous words resound in our ears from Ps. 51: 11-12, "Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit." His constant prayer was that God would purify him as stated in Ps. 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, 0 Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." When David was first chosen by God to be anointed the King of Israel, the Lord said to him in I Sam. 16:7b, "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." David's example of a heart full of love and obedience toward God should be of tremendous comfort and encouragement to all of us who would desire to please God. David made many mistakes and sinned greatly, but he always sincerely turned from his sin, and he learned from his sins and mistakes. He was teachable and humble before God even though his human frailties were many. I believe because of David's humble, teachable and obedient heart that sought God's heart at all times; he was given extraordinary grace from God, and praise God, He will do the same for any of us, as we seek Him first in our lives. I believe that the great difference in David's heart that caused God to commend him so highly was that David had gone the extra steps toward God. He had not only received Him and was yielded to Him, but he was actively and eagerly pursuing Him even in spite of the high cost and sacrifice. God took this humble shepherd boy and raised him up to become the king of Israel because of the attributes of his heart. David's heart: 1 .... was after God's own heart. 2 .... was obedient to God. 3 .... was humble before God. 4 .... exalted God. 5 .... cared for and loved His people. In short, his heart was seeking God's plan and purposes in simple love toward Him. He prayed that he would be led to the Rock (Jesus Christ) that was higher than 1 (David himself/self-centered-ness) (Ps. 61:2b). Of course, there is no way that we can earn this type of approval from God, but we can pray that our hearts will be perfect toward Him. He is (even now) searching the earth to find one person (like David) whose heart is perfect toward Him, and then He will show Himself strong in their behalf (II Chr. 16:9), even as He did with King David of old. David said in Ps. 32:6, "For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto Him." Dear friends, there is a "wake-up" call being sent throughout the world by our Lord. He is calling His people to Himself (the bridegroom). Who will hear, whose heart will be after His own heart? In whose life will He be able to show Himself strong in these last days?