The life of David can be described in a variety of ways. We could talk about his rise to power and the role he played as the second king of Israel. We could talk about the way he took his skills as a shepherd and applied the role of leadership.
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. Ps. 78:72
We could talk about his life as a mighty warrior, winning battles and defeating his enemies.
We could talk about his lapses, his moments when he failed. The times he made mistakes of judgement and chose the wrong course of action.
The simple truth is this, David lived an ordinary life full of ordinary ups and downs, highs and lows. Just like all our other characters, David was a normal person, working out what it meant to live his life in God’s hands. He was just like you and just like me.
God’s plan for David
Where’s the first hint that we get in the Bible that God has a plan in mind for the youngest of Jesse’s sons? In 1 Samuel 16 we’ve reached a significant moment. Saul has been rejected by God as the king of Israel and has sent Samuel on a mission to anoint the king to succeed him. What is interesting at this point is that while God clearly chose Saul, he is equally clear in his choice of a successor. Secondly, there is no timescale announced. There is no hint that this newly anointed king is to straight to Saul and depose him as king.
Once again we seemed to be facing the same question we faced with Abraham, with Moses and with Joseph: How long are you willing to wait for God to keep his promise? Abraham waited 25 years, Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness, Joseph spent 13 years in Egypt as a slave and a prisoner.
But when God chooses David as the new king it’s not his leadership potential that brings him into close contact with the royal court, it’s his ability to play music that soothes Saul’s troubles mind. Of course there is the day that Saul throws a spear at David, it wasn’t all plain sailing.
But to answer my initial question: When do we get the first hint? The first hint comes of course in the story of Ruth. At the end of the story we read these simple words:
This then is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.
Perez, in case you wanted to know, was the son of Judah.
So, in some ways, David’s rise to prominence begins with the grace of God working through the family line and through the life of Ruth, a Moabite, someone outside the line who chose to be part of the line.
The point I want to make is simply this: You cannot know the significance of your own life in the eternal purposes of God. You can only know the significance of our own life in the context of your relationship with God. Ruth did not know she was going to become the great grandmother of the king of Israel, mainly because they didn’t have kings on Israel in her day! Jesse didn’t it would be his youngest son, and David didn’t know that he would become the king to whom God would promise and everlasting link to the throne that would be fulfilled through his own son Jesus Christ. All you can know is your past and your present. All you can choose is how you live in the present.
God’s plan for your life may be to use a son or daughter, a grandson or granddaughter or even a great-grandson or granddaughter to lead a ministry or take on a role that you cannot even imagine. Perhaps God want to influence a particular life through you. Are you willing to live for that single purpose?
Does anybody recognise the name: Mordecai Fowler Ham? No, I’m not surprised. I wouldn’t have know who he was unless I’d looked him up on the internet. There is no Wikipedia page about him, unlike one man who chose to follow Christ as a result of being at one of his evangelistic meetings.
Mordecai Fowler Ham was the preacher God used to finally bring William Franklin Graham to the point of repentance and faith. It was in 1934 that Billy Graham chose to make Jesus his leader and forgiver, but God chose someone we will never remember like we remember Billy Graham to be the person of influence in his life.
David’s highs and lows
Being chosen by God does not make us immune from mistakes. David had his ups and downs. Being chosen to be king; defeating Goliath; winning battles; being lauded by the people; seeing the ark returned to its rightful home. All great highs.
And he had his low points too: Being pursued by Saul; Pretending to be mad; adultery with Bathsheba; the murder of Uriah; the death of the son; Absalom’s rebellion; disobeying God by taking the census.
If only following God was a simple matter. We choose to follow; God gives us clear guidance, we always make the right the choice. But it isn’t that easy. We misread the signs, we misunderstand the guidance, we choose selfishness over sacrifice, self-will over God’s will. It is not easy to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, but then again it was never going to be.
The problem is that sin gets in the way. Sin means we choose to do our thing before we choose to do God’s, we choose to please ourselves before we please him. We ask’ “What’s best for me?”, rather than ,”What would Jesus do?” The question isn’t will we have high and lows, the question isn’t will we sin and fail, the question is: What will we do about it when we do?
The Difference between Saul and David
This is where I think we see the greatest difference between Saul and David. Rather like Judas and Peter, we see in David and Saul the difference between the person who chooses to throw themselves on the mercy of God and the person who simply hopes for the best and lives in denial of the truth.
When Saul found himself distanced from God, he turned to a medium for help. He did the exact opposite of that which a God-follower should do. David on the other hand, when he found himself far from God, confessed his sin, and sought God’s grace and mercy. Was David’s sin any less sinful than Saul’s? I don’t think so. God does not grade sin the way we grade it.
Secondly God looks at the heart:
the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts
The one person you cannot fool about your motives is God.
What differentiates David from Saul is that David is described as a man who “Walked with uprightness of heart” (1 Kings 9:4)
Life lessons from David
Because he was a poet and musician, many of David’s life lessons are reflected in the Psalms he wrote. David learnt about many things: Grace; Provision; Guidance; Forgiveness; Purpose; Blessing; Mercy
Conclusion
A life lived in the hands of God is not guaranteed to be a life lived without problems and difficulties, without highs and lows. David lived just such a life.
Your highs, your lows, are not evidence of whether God loves you not, they are not evidence of whether God is blessing you or not. They are just evidence that you are living a normal human life. God has always loved you, always had a plan for you. You just need to choose to search it out and seek to live for him. You may never know the significance of what you do, you may never see the fruit of your faithfulness in this life, only in the life to come.
Rick Warren talks about living life in the light of eternity. In The Purpose Driven Life he says this:
“The consequences of your mission will last forever; the consequences of your job will not. Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God.” [284]
We could add to that that the purpose of your life will last forever if it’s God purpose for your life. But only you can choose, so choose wisely!
