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On David
David is my favorite biblical character. Everybody underestimates him. Everybody misunderstands him. Everybody expects him to behave much differently than he actually does. When Samuel is told by God to anoint the next king of Israel, he assumes that one of the tall, well-dressed, handsome men in front of him will be the next king. Instead, God picks the kid who rushes in still smelling like the sheep.
Everybody else is scared of Goliath. The king is afraid. David’s brothers are afraid. David without hesitation marches out onto the battlefield and reprimands the heathen for daring to defy the armies of the living God. “...that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”
When David wants to marry Michal, the king sets him an impossible task, thinking that surely, he will fall. Kill a hundred Philistines, and present proof! David kills two hundred Philistines. When the king seeks to kill David for no reason, David flees rather than find himself in a fight against Saul. David surely would have prevailed, multiple times, but he chooses to remove himself from these situations. Rather than stand up for his rights, declare his just grievances, and fight against Saul, David chooses to sojourn among the Philistines and act like a madman.
When men come to David, claiming to have killed his rivals for the throne to make the way clear of him to ascend, he is enraged and instead executes the killers, for daring to raise their hand against the Lord’s anointed. David declared that wicked men had killed a righteous man, Ish-bosheth, even though it was his rival for the throne.
When Joab assassinates Abner, a rival military commander, David declares that everybody should mourn and grieve for Abner, even though Abner had killed some of David’s own family and had been fighting a war against him.
After he became king over all Israel, David decided to move the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem. After the ark had gone just six steps toward the city, he made a sacrifice to God. David was so overjoyed to be finally bringing the ark into God’s chosen city that he was dancing and celebrating. As they came into the city, his wife Michel looked out the window and saw him— “Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.”
While Michal is despising her husband David for his unkinglike behavior, David is rejoicing before God, making more sacrifices, blessing the people and feeding them. When David came home that night, his wife confronted him— “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
Rather than allow himself to be chastised, David’s reply is incredible. You think I was disgraceful today? I’m going to be even more disgraceful next time! Because it is for God. He will not allow himself to be shamed into changing his behavior— “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” The wife of the king might have been displeased, but David cared more for what the righteous servant-women thought than the highborn and respectable people thought.
What can we learn from David? David cared little for the opinions of others, especially the ungodly and wicked. He cared little for appearances. He was interested only in pleasing God, no matter what was considered “sensible” or “respectful”. He couldn’t stand wicked, violent men. He loved God deeply. He loved people who hated him. He loved the people of the Lord.
David so overflowed with awe and love for God that he penned some of the most beautiful poems ever composed :
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song;
Play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
Michal had no chance at restraining her husband! She, and most others, failed to understand David. Because David was a man after God’s own heart.
- Jarrod Nettles
The Power of a Good Example
There is a story about the time when several reporters were interviewing Albert Schweitzer on a railroad platform in Chicago. As they were talking, a woman carrying a heavy suitcase walked slowly by. Schweitzer excused himself and gently took the woman’s suitcase and accompanied her to her boarding car. When Schweitzer returned to where he had left the reporters, no one was still there. They were each trying to find someone they could help with their luggage.
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago,
The second best time is now. (Chinese Proverb)
