Heart Desires

2 Samuel 3:21
Then Abner said to David, "Let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my lord the king, so that they may make a compact with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires." So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

David is king, but the politics continue, in fact, they've accelerated. Abner had been with Saul, but he got his feelings hurt when one of the sons accused him of having an affair with one of Saul's concubines. He came straight to David and offered his diplomatic services. He offered Israel, as if it was his to give.
Here the heart is David's, and the topic is the desire of that heart to rule Israel. I wonder about that. Was power over Israel truly the desire of David's heart? From what I know about David, he would have trusted more in God than in Abner to deliver Israel to him. He had never asked for the kingship and had given up all semblance of a normal life as Saul desperately fought him for it.
Abner having come to him, he may have simply accepted him with the grace he could now afford, sending him away "in peace."
The ruthless general Joab had no such grace. Abner soon paid for his approach to David with his life, and the king had to put on a show of mourning rather than let the vengeance of Joab stand in his name.
God, let me not presume more than I know. Help me to trust you only, for my business and everyone else's.