Article: Important Lessons from the Life of David | Jacob Varghese

I would like to take your attention to a king named David in the Bible. We all know that Saul has been chosen to be the first king over God’s people Israel, but Saul disobeyed God and that is the reason God chose David after King Saul to be the king over Israel. In Acts chapter 13Vs22 it is written after removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ We see that God has given a great testimony about David and when He had removed Saul, He has raised unto them David to be their king. What a blessedness to receive this great testimony from the almighty God. So many times we share testimony about our own life, we share about what we are and sometimes we exaggerate certain things but when God gives testimony about a certain person, there is absolutely no exaggeration and because David received a great testimony from God that he is after God’s own heart. We have to carefully observe the qualities in David’s life which made him to receive this great testimony from God. God said that David knew my will, David knew my heart, and David understood my purpose that is why He is a man after my own heart. I would like to bring to your attention few lesson we can learn from David’s life that we need to observe and need to make them part of our life so that we can be people after God’s own heart. In the Bible we see that David started his life as a shepherd boy. David’s father Jesse had seven sons and David is the youngest of all. He took care of his father’s sheep and one day David was watching over his father’s sheep, a lion and a bear came to attack the sheep and David protected the sheep from the mouth of the lion and the bear. If you and I were in David’s place what would we do? If there is a ferocious animal like a lion or a bear, we would try to save our life and run away but that was not the case with David’s life. Even though David had a big challenge right in front of him, David risked his own life to protect the lives of this sheep. In 1 Samuel 17 verses 34 through 36, we see that David shared his experience with King Saul. David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God”.

David had this wonderful track record. He was faithful as little shepherd boy. That is why faithfulness in small things is a big thing in life. I am sure God must have thought because David is faithful in taking care of his sheep, he will surely be a good king over my people Israel and he will take good care of them. My dear brothers and sisters don’t be disappointed and discouraged when you have to wait to receive your blessings. God is watching everything that you are doing. He is hearing all your prayers. He is waiting to answer your prayers and believe that your answer is on the way. Your blessing is on the way. God is watching your life. In order for David to become the king over Israel, even though David was anointed when he was a little boy, he had to wait until he was thirty years old. But David waited for God’s timing in his life. The first lesson we need to learn and understand from David’s life is this when faced with a challenge David did not try to escape.David did not flee when he has faced with challenges in his life. I know so many young people when they have to write the exams or when they need to face an interview, they want to escape. They don’t want to face examination because they are afraid. The Bible says that David was courageous. He faced the challenge with courage and he did not run away.

Here is the second lesson we can learn from the life of David-why God said that David is a man after His own heart. There was a big battle happening between the Israelites and the Philistines in the valley of Elah and this giant named Goliath who was the one 9 foot 9 inches tall standing in front of the Israelites and the people were frightened and scared. Nobody wanted to face him and we see that David made a big statement of faith before he went and faced Goliath. In 1 Samuel 17 vs 4 through 8, we see a description about Goliath and the armors that he was wearing. Let us look in to those verses. A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels. On his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.Yes Goliath was a giant. He had a huge personality and Goliath was wearing a great armor. Goliath was all prepared to face the battle to conquer his enemies. I am sure all the Israelites were scared looking at this man’s height and weight and the armor that he was wearing and everything. But David did not look at the size of the enemy. He looked at the size of His God. You and I serve a living God and remember that you God and my God is greater than the enemy. The Bible says that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And the Bible also says He who is in us is greater than He who is in the world. When you are faced with challenges and difficulties, when the enemy tries to attack you in your life, don’t ever look at problem. Don’t try to meditate on your problems. Don’t look at the dimensions of your problem. Look at your God who can solve all your problems and who can give you victory in all aspects of your life. So the second point we need to learn from David’s life is this. David did not look at the size of the enemy. David had big faith in a big God. The Bible says if you have faith you can move mountains. Yes, if you believe you will see the glory of God. When David went to meet his brothers in the valley of Elah, he observed everything that was happening. He was observing the reactions of the people. He observed what his brothers were talking about giant Goliath.

Let’s read few verses from the word of God about how people reacted. In 1 Samuel 17:11, the Bible says the people were dismayed and terrified. In 13th verse on when we read, the Bible says David’s three older brothers were already in the battle but they were scared, they were afraid. They were not bold enough to face this giant Goliath. In verse 24 it says they all fled from him in great fear. People ran away to save their lives. In verse 28 we see that when David went to his oldest brother Eliab, his brother was so angry and he totally disappointed David. Finally in verse 33 David went to King Saul and said my King I would like to go and fight this man in the battle, Saul also discouraged him. Let me tell you something, this is the third lesson that we need to learn from David’s life. David was not influenced by the people and the circumstances around him. So many times in life we try to go by mob mentality. If everybody around you are scared, you get scared. If everybody around us trying to do something, we try to do the same thing. But David was not influenced by the people around him or by the words they spoken or by their reactions. Finally King Saul permits David to go and fight Goliath in the battle. So David goes and faces Goliath and look at the statement that Goliath made when he saw David and David’s response to Goliath. We see that in 1 Samuel 17:44-45 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Goliath had a giant personality. His personality itself scared so many Israelites and David is not trained for war at all. He is only a little shepherd boy, much younger than his brothers yet when David faced Goliath and Goliath made all those statements to scare David to the core, David was determined to the fullest extend and he said I will surely battle and win.

The fourth lesson we can observe from David’s life is this he was not afraid of the enemy. The Bible in II Timothy chapter 1 vs 7 that God has not given us a spirit of fear but one of power, love and sound mind. I know so many times we are gripped with fear in our life, fear about future, fear about finances, fear about health, fear about the education of our children, fear about our career, fear about what will happen tomorrow. But the Bible says when you have God with you in your life; you don’t have to be afraid because God has promised that He will be with us. David was not afraid to face the enemy in the battle field. Finally in1 Samuel 17 verse 49 we read how David defeated this giant Goliath. David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone; he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. Imagine fighting a giant, killing a giant with just a single, simple stone.What is the secret behind David’s success? The secret behind David’s success is his God. Usually if someone has to fight a battle and win, sword is minimum weapon that is required but without any armor, without any weapon David could kill Goliath. Just with a sling and a stone. David put his faith in the extra ordinary God. David put faith in this big God who can give him the extra ordinary victory. After David won against the philistine in the battle he became popular. He was the talk of the town. Everybody started talking about David and all the people sang to David and said ten thousand praises to David and a thousand praises to King Saul. Now David has become a celebrity.
The fifth lesson we need to learn from David’s life is thisDavid always remembered his roots. After God has exalted him, taken him out of the sheep pen to be a King of the Israel, We see this in II Samuel 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? David never forgot his beginning. David was not proud. He had this attitude of gratitude. He was always thankful. Even in Psalm103, David is saying to his own soul forget not the benefits of God. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is with in me. We also see in Psalm 23, the last verse David says I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Even though David can rejoice about being in his palace, in his beautiful palace he has built for himself. But David realizes that it is a great blessing to be in the presence of God in the house of God than to be in his palace. David said who am I Lord that you remembered me and brought me thus far and also when the ark of the Lord was brought in to Jerusalem, we see that David danced in the presence of God and Saul’s daughter Michal, who was David’s wife saw him from a distance through a window and she despised David with in her heart and when David came home Michal questions David and said David, did you forget you are King and you lost all your dignity by dancing in the presence of God. And look at what David said II Samuel 6:22 yes and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” David said I will be more undignified than this. For me I respect God much more than my own prestige and status. David said I do not consider myself as a great King because I am serving and praising the great God who is the king of kings and Lord of lords. David had this spirit of humility and that is the reason God said David is a man after my own heart. David was humble. And remember dear brothers and sisters if you and I have to be a man and a woman of God’s own heart we should have the spirit of humility because the Bible says that humility always comes before honor and the Bible also says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The lesson that we need to remember from David’s life is David was humble. Even though God exalted him to the highest position he always remained in humbleness in his heart. He always remained thankful to God. He always praised God all through his life, all the days of his life.

There is one dark chapter in David’s life even though David was a man after God’s own heart, there was an instance in David’s life when he sinned against God. David saw Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, he brought her to his palace, took her as his wife and he killed her husband Uriah in the battle. David become an adulterer and he also become a murderer and then God send Nathan the prophet to go and tell this to King David that he has sinned against the Lord. Yes the Bible says that God is not a respecter of persons, even if you are king, even though you have a Ph.D. degree, even though you are not an educated person, it does not matter to God. If you commit sin in your life, you are definitely fall in short of the glory of God and you are definitely wrong in the sight of God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, God send Prophet Nathan. When Prophet Nathan went and questioned David about the sin he has committed, look at David’s response in II Samuel12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Immediately David confessed his sin in the presence of God. If you and I were in David’s place, how would we react? If anybody else in David’s place, they would surely angry and they might even order the soldiers to kill Nathan because he has pinpointed the king and his mistake. But David immediately confessed his sin and said I have sinned against the Lord. In Psalm 51, we see that David has written an entire psalm asking forgiveness from God and for His grace and for His presence. Psalm 51: 9 through 11 we see like this Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. David realized that his sin will take God’s spirit from him and he knew that God’s spirit is all that he need and that is why he is pleading for God’s mercy, forgiveness sand grace in his life and David also realized that he has lost the joy of salvation. If David wanted, he could go and drink some wine and forget about the sin he has committed. He could go and enjoy his life somehow and try to get back in to his life routine. But David realized he can get back the joy of his salvation only through God’s forgiveness and restoration process. That is why in vs. 12 David is praying Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. David wept in the presence of God, humbled himself, confessed his sins, pleaded for God’s forgiveness and that is the reason God forgave David and God blessed him one more time. There will be surely instances in our life when we also commit sin, when we go against the will of God when we missed the mark in our life. Then what are we doing when are faced with circumstances, there are so many people who tried to drift away from God, try to cover up or concealthe sin. In the Bible we see in Proverbs 28:13 whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. When you confess, when you leave those ungodly and sinful ways, you will surely find mercy in the sight of God. So the next lesson we need to observe from David’s life which made him as a man after God’s own heart is this when David sinned against the Lord, he confessed and asked for God’s forgiveness and set things right with God.
After Prophet Samuel went and anointed David as the King over Israel, Saul came to know about this. Saul was jealous of David. There were so many instances in the Bible where we see that Saul tried to kill David. Saul was after David, day after day. But there were few instances in the Bible where we see that God gave Saul into David’s hand. David got an opportunity to kill Saul who was trying to kill him for a long time, who was troubling him so much but look at what David said in 1 Samuel 26:9-11 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go. When David had an opportunity to kill King Saul, who David’s enemy, who has been troubling David so much, who has been so ungrateful to King David, yet David did not utilize that opportunity to take revenge. He said vengeance is God’s. Let God take revenge. I do not want to touch God’s anointed. We see that David was man of peace. The Bible says blessed are the peace makers for they are sons of God. For all the troubles King Saul caused David, David depended on the Lord and he said God will fight the battle for me. I do not want to kill the Lord’s anointed. This is another lesson we can learn from the life of David that David did not take revenge on King Saul. There are much more to meditate on David’s life but these are the important lesson we can learn from the life of David, which made David a man after God’s own heart. You and I can walk in God’s ways. If you and I honor God in our life, if we understand God’s will and fulfill His will in our life, surely God will give a testimony about us one day that we are also lived according to God’s own heart. May God give us that grace to please Him, to honor him and to glorify Him through our lives!

JACOB VARGHESE

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