A Man After God's Own Heart

I have had the honour of facilitating a group at church that ministers to people going through separation and divorce. Divorce Care is a ministy that runs around the world and is a blessing for those in that chapter in their lives. How I wish such a group existed when I was going through my divorce 15 years ago.
Last night a tragedy struck our group. One of our dear brothers, Murray was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was only 47 years old and had two teenage children that he adored. Murray struggled daily with guilt regarding these children and what he felt he didn't give to them as a father. Murray was indeed a good father. He had a relationship with his children and even though he wasn't living with them, he talked with them daily and even would text message his son all the time. Murray lamented over his broken family and would unrealistically blame himself for many things. He struggled with forgiving himself even though he knew that Christ had forgiven him long ago. Our last session of Divorce Care was on forgiveness. The pain in Murray's eyes was heartbreaking. He couldn't bring himself to forgive his past mistakes.
I often thought of Murray much like King David. David's life was overwhelmed with sin. He had remorse that was often more than he could handle. One only has to read the Psalms to see the depression and guilt that David suffered. But David was a "Man after God's own heart". David sought the Lord with his heart, mind and soul. Murray was much like that. He was a man after God's own heart. I teased Murray last week at care group about his duct tape on his Bible. That was a sign of a Bible that was used over and over. Murray would often share how the frustration of the day was relieved with the reading of God's Word and the prayer to His Father. It would bring Murray some sort of peace for the time.
I'm going to miss Murray at our group. He would always sit down at the table and open his book to the homework of the week that he faithfully completed. He always had a question to challenge me about Scripture and its true meaning. I felt ill equipped to be put on the spot like that sometimes but with the help of the group, God would always provide us with an answer that seemed to clear the meaning for Murray.
Murray is with the Father now. He has the joy he was seeking. He has now experienced what true forgiveness really is. I wish he had realized it while he was here with us but that doesn't matter much now. We need to carry a bit of Murray in our hearts. We need to challenge our thinking and question what God's Word really means. We can accept it by faith, but understand its meaning to pass it on to others. I feel blessed for knowing Murray for this short time. I look forward to seeing him again in the life eternal that awaits those who love the Lord.
Amen