What condition is your heart in today? Heart and circulatory diseases cause more than 160,000 deaths each year in the UK.

Three of this week’s meditations encourage you to consider the spiritual condition of your heart. As a stimulus, we will examine the HEART OF DAVID. God said of him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART, who will do all my will’, Acts chapter 13 verse 22. We can be confident, therefore, that he will reveal to us some of the secrets to the development of a ‘healthy heart’.

We first meet David in the Bible, when God sent Samuel to anoint a king for Israel. He met seven sons of Jesse but they proved unsuitable. Each one looked physically impressive but their hearts were not right for kingship. God said to Samuel, ‘For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, BUT THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART’, 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7. This left DAVID, the youngest son. He was ‘keeping the sheep’, 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse11. You would not have been in his presence for long before realising that he had A SHEPHERD’S HEART. His father’s sheep were of paramount importance to him.

When speaking to Saul, David recalled his time as a shepherd: ‘when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it, and struck it, and delivered the lamb’, 1 Samuel chapter 17 verses 34-35. This SHEPHERD HEART was also evident in his dealing with people, whether they were family members, friends, his subjects or his enemies. He points us to Jesus, who said, ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep’, John chapter 10 verse 11.

How healthy is your heart? Is it ‘a shepherd’s heart’? Do you display genuine care for the welfare of others?