David

After this great victory with Goliath, David faced the fight of his life. David meets Saul’s son, Jonathan, and the two are bonded together in friendship. God uses this bond to help David escape from Saul.  Saul becomes insanely jealous of David because the women are singing of his great victory. Saul seeks to kill David. He flees and is on the run- often hiding in caves- for years. There were men who came to dwell with him in the cave (400 men)- those who were in distress, discontented, and in debt. But, David’s light shone in the darkness and those men became mighty warriors.

Sometimes we will face our biggest fight after our greatest victory. We must learn from David to have a truly repentant heart. Even in his lowest moments, David cried out to God. Psalms 142, 57 and 34 were written when he was on the run from Saul.  Again, we must seek to have a heart like his, Ps. 55:17 says that David cried out to God ‘evening, morning, and at noon.’  God isn’t looking for perfect people. David was far from perfect- God is looking for passionate people.

We learn from David that we can have a fresh, ongoing, intimate relationship with God.  The more we seek Him, the more we know Him- the more clearly we will hear from Him.  David had a heart of praise- he turned to God in both good and bad times. In Ps. 57 we learn that although his soul was low, his heart was steadfast.

When Saul dies, David is anointed king of Judah, Saul’s son is king over the northern tribes. After 7 ½ years, David unites the kingdom and is king over all of Israel. He restores the tabernacle and returns the ark. He cultivates a spirit of intimacy between God and the people. He taught them how to worship, praise and give thanks. He established a tabernacle in Jerusalem where there was worship 24 hours/day.

He has many ups and downs as king, but when he falls he truly repents. The big fall came with Bathsheba- the affair, the pregnancy and murder of her husband, Uriah. Psalm 51 is where David shares his sorrow in his prayer of repentance.

David’s sin had numerous repercussions- the first one was the death of the child. In time, Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon and God loved him- showing that God doesn’t hold grudges. The union of David and Bathsheba was the one chosen for the line of Jesus.

David’s life was filled with battles- both on the battlefield and in his family.  There was conflict between his sons that resulted in the death of one and the other chose to rise against his father. The nation became divided because of this son, Absalom- who died as a result of coming against David. After his death, David focused on uniting Israel again.

David goes out again to battle when he was old. They were once again fighting giants- family of Goliath. David grew faint in this battle, but God used younger, stronger men to conquer the giant – giving the credit to David. He sang and praised God for the victory.

When the warrior, David, grew faint- there were others to uphold him and fight. Once again, years later, David was facing giants. God protected him and the lamp of Israel did not go out. When our battle is raging and we are facing giants- maybe something that we’ve fought for decades and we become faint- remember, God will protect us.  He will not allow our light to go out. There will be times that God will send others to fight for us and uphold us. This does not show weakness, but the mercy of God to guard us.

As David faced many battles in his life, so will we. We must keep our eyes upon Jesus and turn to him for strength. The principles of our warfare are different- as Paul said in Eph 6:12, “we do not wrestle again flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness.” He goes on to tell us to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand in battle.

At the end of David’s life, God allowed him to see his son, Solomon sit upon the throne. He blessed him and gave him words of wisdom to live by and gave him instructions for building the temple (1 Chron 28-29). He also blessed the Lord, showing his humility as once again he asked, “who am I?”. David reigned as king for 40 years- 7 as king of Judah, and 33 as king of Israel.  David was known as the ‘lamp of Israel”. (2 Sam 21:17)

There will be times when God will use us to be strong for others. Stand strong in prayer, for the enemy never rests. David’s light did not go out. Our light, the fire within us, should not go out! Some of us run from darkness because we are more comfortable in the light, but God has assigned us to go into the darkness and be the light. You can rebuke the darkness, but when the light comes-it has to leave.