So this morning before church I was thinking about David. He is one of those guys in the bible that did a lot of amazing stuff and messed up ROYALLY on more then one occasion but still managed to be a man after God’s own heart. Oh and encase you wondered that’s God’s words not mine.
So then I heard a sermon this morning on repentance and while the sermon wasn’t specifically on David he arrived on the scene just the same. David as mention was a Royal mess up a lot of the time but he had a quick heart of repentance. So would consider that weak that he would mess up/sin then quickly repent. However in my mind it shows a human who want to do good and wasn’t always successful in that so he ended up having to say sorry God I’ve messed up again!!! If David lived today oh how the Paparazzi would LOVE him!!! We would be seeing him on every magazine cover in the check outline at the grocery store.
David started off as any little boy in 1040 BC he was the eighth and youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. His name was from the Hebrew meaning beloved! As described in scripture he was handsome, had red hair and was relatively short in stature.
David was a Shepherd! Now being a Shepherd back in the day you were a multitasker! You didn’t just need to know how to get the sheep to where they were going you also needed to know how to fight! He would have to fend off lions and bears (1 Samuel 16:12 & I Samuel 17:42). Also during the quiet time why not take up learning an instrument??? David learned to play the flute and the harp!
After God rejected the foolish and corrupt Saul, Israel's first king, He sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David as the successor (1 Samuel 16:1-13). It’s funny David was as mentioned the youngest of 8 boys and from all accounts somewhat the runt of the litter. So of course when Samuel went to anoint Jesse’s son to be king all the other sons were passed before Samuel because one of them would be the logical choice for king. Nope God had other plans someone had to go fetch the sheep lover kid and bring him before Samuel to be anointed. It’s funny how we humans see with our human eyes logically while God in the Spirit sees so differently he doesn’t look at outward appearance but at the heart. And the heart he wanted was David’s.
So the transition to King would be gradual for David. David returned to caring for the sheep, but "The Spirit of The Lord came upon David from that day forward," (1 Samuel 16:13) and "The Spirit of The Lord departed from Saul" (1 Samuel 16:14).
David served King Saul from time to time as a musician and armor bearer (1 Samuel 16:21-23). It is quite certain that Saul did not yet know that his young harp player would soon take his place as king. If he had, he would have killed him - just as he actually tried to do over and over again later.
Probably one of the most famous bible stories is of David and Goliath (I happen to love the Veggie Tales version Dave and The Giant Pickle)
(1 Samuel 17:1-58) in the valley of Elah, about 15 miles / 24 kilometres southwest of Bethlehem. David's defeat of Goliath put the Philistines to flight and resulted in a great victory for Israel. The heroic act made David a favourite of the people, much to the disfavour and jealousy of Saul (1 Samuel 18:6-16). From then on, Saul wanted David killed, and personally made a number of attempts (1 Samuel chapters 18-30).
When Saul made his first attempt to kill David, the young shepherd fled to Samuel in Ramah where he was given refuge for a time among the prophets (1 Samuel 19:12-18). Some are of the opinion that David composed the 6th, 7th and 11th Psalms while he was there.
When Saul discovered David's whereabouts, David fled again, this time to Nob (1 Samuel 21:1-9), and then to Gath among the Philistines. The Philistine king refused him, so David continued over to Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1-4, 1 Chronicles 12:8-18) where 400 men joined him and accepted him as their leader.
In the mean time, upon the orders of Saul, Doeg the Edomite murdered 85 priests and their families who had innocently given refuge to David at Nob. The news of the massacre reached David by the sole survivor, Abiathar, a son of the high priest Ahimelech (1 Samuel 22:11-23)
For a while, David found himself in the rather bizarre situation of fighting Saul's enemies and fleeing Saul at the same time. David and his men drove the Philistines from Keilah (1 Samuel 23:1-14) and then moved to the hill country of Judah to escape Saul. While there, David met with Jonathan, Saul's son, who had been, and always remained, a loyal friend with David (1 Samuel 23:16-18). Jonathan was killed in battle with the Philistines not long after. (Jonathan was an awesome friend and in Hebrew his name meant God has given or Gift Of God. This is who my Jonathan is named after and he is really a Gift of God)
Although Saul would readily have killed David, David refused to lift his sword against Saul. David actually saved Saul's life on occasion during all the time that Saul was hunting him (1 Samuel 24:10, 26:9). David remained a fugitive until Saul was killed in battle against the Philistines near Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31:1-6)
Upon Saul's death, David went to Hebron where he was anointed as king of Judah, according to The Lord's instructions, at about age 30 (2 Samuel 2:1-4). A seven and a half year civil war followed between the forces that supported David, and those that supported Ish-bosheth, Saul's only surviving son, for the kingship of all Israel. The military and political situation grew steadily in favor of David however, and when Ish-bosheth was assassinated, David was anointed king over all Israel (2 Samuel 4:1-12, 5:1-5).
David then moved his capital from Hebron to Jebus, an earlier name for Jerusalem: "The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, "You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off." They thought, "David cannot get in here." Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David." (2 Samuel 5:6-7 NIV)
David then broughThe Ark Of The Covenant to the t new capital city of Jerusalem (2 Samuel chapter 6) from the house of Abinadab (2 Samuel 6:3) at Kirjath-jearim, about 7 miles / 11 kilometers from Jerusalem, where it had been for many years. It was during this movement that The Lord put Uzzah to death for touching The Ark (only the Levites were permitted to touch it). David then became afraid to have The Ark in the City of David, so he left it in the house of Obed-Edom, a Philistine from Gath (2 Samuel 6:9-11). Three months later, David brought The Ark to Jerusalem where it was placed in a new tabernacle that David set up for it. It had been about seventy years since The Ark had been in the original Tabernacle In The Wilderness. David's rise to greatness was characterized by great territorial gains for Israel (2 Samuel 8:1-14). Within a relatively short period of time, he ruled from The Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River in the The Tigris-Euphrates Valley (2 Samuel 8:3-13) (see also Solomon's Kingdom).
As it would happen being human and all David was the type that he wanted what he wanted and he wanted it now! (Again this incident can be found in Veggie Tales version known as King George and the Ducky I would say the names were changed to protect the innocent but probably more accurate is how do you tell such a story to the 3-7 crowd without it being inappropriate?) David kind of lost sight of who he was and what he was called to do and committed of adultery with Bathsheba got her pregnant tried to get her husband to sleep with her so he would think the child was his and when that didn't work he sent him out to the front lines of battle! Basically murdering Uriah in an attempt to cover it up what was perhaps the darkest event of his life. ENTER PAPARAZZI: KING KILLS INNOCENT MAN AFTER GETTING HIS WIFE PREGNANT AND CLAIMS TO STILL LOVE GOD! David truly repented of it and truly still loved God and God did forgive him.
David's troubles were far from over however. His many wives and children were constantly in fierce competition with each other within the family. One of David's sons, Amnon, assaulted his step sister Tamar, for which the girl's brother Absalom killed him. Absalom later attempted to take over the kingdom from his father David which triggered a civil war. AGAIN ENTER PAPARAZZI: KINGS SINS VISIT HIS FAMILY NOW WHERE IS GOD IN THAT?!?!
Despite David being all human and all dumb on occasion he loved God and had a heart after God and was quick to repent of his mistakes and still desire to be a loyal servant to the Lord! David was a dedicated and repentant man of God who served God's purpose even in the midst of his huge short comings. After a reign of forty years and six months (2 Samuel 5:5, 1 Chronicles 3:4) David died at the age of seventy, "and was buried in the city of David." (1 Kings 2:10-11)
My thought is this…Christians mess up all the time! Sometimes big sometimes little it’s all the same before God. If you are quick to repent with an honest sincere heart then it might just be said of you that you are a man or a women after God’s own heart. That maybe just maybe people will see you as God sees you someone after His heart!
(Some info in the middle section there taken from The Church of God Daily Bible Study by Wayne Blank).
No comments:
Post a Comment