Are you truly honest with God? Or do you approach God like you approach your friends? "Things are going great right now. Couldn’t be better." When actually things could be a lot better. Do you approach God with a superficial attitude of happiness, because "you’re a Christian and you’re supposed to be happy?" When is the last time you responded to a friend’s greeting with, "Actually, things sure have been rough this week?" When is the last time you really told God how you felt?

David was considered by God a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). Why was David a man after God’s own heart? It wasn’t because he was perfect. David committed sins just like any of us. Why was David different?

The first major difference is that David immediately turned to God after God spoke to David through Nathan the prophet. After the Lord told David that he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then killed her husband, David immediately confessed his sin (2 Samuel 12:13). He did not try to blame someone else or justify his actions. He was honest and tranparent in his confession. When the Lord convicts me of sin, my first reaction is not tranparency. I usually try to rationalize the situation, then justify my actions and finally, I try to cover my own sins with doing something good. That is not honesty with God or with myself.

Another difference with David is that he was honest with God. He really told God how he felt. There was no facade in his prayer life. He did not carry a superficial attitude in prayer. He was open and honest with God. Have you ever felt abandoned by the Lord? David did, and he told the Lord how he felt:

I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" (Psalms 42:9-10)

Even when David was angry with others, he expressed it to the Lord:

Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out, O LORD, the fangs of the lions! Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows be blunted. Like a slug melting away as it moves along, like a stillborn child, may they not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns– whether they be green or dry –the wicked will be swept away (Psalm 58:6-9).

When David was in difficult situations, he told God about his despair:

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me (Psalms 55:4-5).

Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground (Ps. 44:24-25).

David also communicated his love for the Lord:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:1-2).

David also trusted in the Lord:

The LORD is my light and my salvation– whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. (Psalms 27:1-3).

At times, David expressed praise for God:

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. (Psalsm 145:1-3).

David was a man after God’s own heart, because he was open and honest with God. David expressed all of his true emotions to God, not just the pleasant ones. To David, God was friend he could confide in.

Because with our "religious" attitude, it is difficult to express our true feelings towards God, because "as a Christian, I’m supposed to be happy, and God won’t like it if I’m not happy." God longs for fellowship with you. He yearns to speak with so much, that He sent His own Son as a living sacrafice to provide a way for you to return immediately to Him. I know that sin hurts God, but it also hurts Him when we don’t appropriate the atonement for our sin and return to Him.

One day when God revealed some sin in my life, I did not immediately turn to Him. I first condemned myself, then I try to rationalize and justify my sin. After that didn’t work, I tried to do good things to "earn my own righteousness and make myself worthy." As with Adam and Eve, I tried to cover myself. Then God spoke to me. He said, "When you try to earn your own righteousness, then you push aside the work of my Son, and His sacrafice means nothing to you."

Read this list of questions below, and answer them honestly in your heart.

• Do most of your prayers start by asking God for forgiveness?
• If someone has made you mad, are you afraid to tell God about it?
• Does your prayer journal have only pleasing prayers to God?
• Do you only approach God when you are in a good mood?
• When you are frustrated, do you always turn to friends to vent that frustration?
• Have you avoided praying to God because you don’t feel very pleasing to Him?

Answering yes to any of these questions may indicate that you approach God only by your standards, not by His. Search your heart and ask yourself, "Do I approach God only under certain conditions?" If you answered ‘yes’, then those conditions are probably being set by you, not God. God longs for fellowship with you, but by your own standards, you can limit your fellowship with Him. Use God’s standards for righteousness.

…to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

Are your sins forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ? If you can answer ‘yes’, then it is credited to you as righteousness. You are worthy to approach God. Now that you can approach God by His standards, be honest with Him. Express your true emotions to God. Let Him be your Counselor. Let Him be your sounding board. That’s what He wants. He wants to be your Father. You have great value apart from your performance, because Jesus died for you, and therefore imparted great value to you. You are deeply loved, totally forgiven, fully pleasing, complete and accepted in Christ.