Forgetting David

1 Samuel 16:14–23 14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 17 And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. 18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. 19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. 20 And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. 21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. 23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

I Samuel 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.

Chapter 17 goes on to tell of how the Israelites and Philistines set the battle in array. It tells of the champion of the Philistines, Goliath of Gath, and how he would “defy the armies of Israel” and challenge them to a one on one fight. All the soldiers of Israel, including King Saul, who stood head and shoulders above the rest would cower in fear at the sight of this man.

Then David walks on the scene, carrying bread and cheese for his brothers, and hears this Philistine and his challenge. Something rises up in him and he utters those great words of 1 Samuel 17:29 29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? He then walks on the battle field with a sling and five stones, puts one of those stones into forehead of the Philistine, takes his sword from him, and cuts off his head, Then as walks back into the camp of Israel with Goliath’s head in his hand we hear King Saul speak:

1 Samuel 17:55–58 55 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. 56 And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is. 57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.

I. The Need Of David - he kept Saul grounded

GROUND; To found; to fix or set, as on a foundation, cause, reason or principle; as arguments grounded on reason; faith grounded on scriptural evidence.

1 Samuel 16:14 14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

1 Samuel 16:17 17 And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.

1 Samuel 16:19–23 19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. 20 And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. 21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. 23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

The Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul and he was now subject to bouts of spiritual warfare like that would completely change who he was. Whether this was fits of convulsions, depression, agitation or it manifested some other way we do not know. What we DO KNOW is that God would use young David to get Saul through it. To keep him grounded so to speak.

We all need something or someone to keep us grounded. This David in our life will come in many forms. Sometimes a sermon, a song, an admonishment, or a concerned conversation from a friend, mentor, spouse, or Pastor. The important thing is that we must realize we all need David!

II. The Discarding Of David

1 Samuel 17:55–58 55 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. 56 And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is. 57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.

Something has happened between 1 Samuel 16:23 and the battle with Goliath in I Samuel 17 that has resulted in David being back at home keeping his father’s sheep again. Now, David once again stands before Saul as he is reintroduced to him. Then we read in

1 Samuel 18:1–11 1 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. 5 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. 7 And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands. 8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? 9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. 10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand. 11 And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

Suddenly, David goes from the person Saul can’t seem to survive without to his hated enemy. BUT WHY?

1 Samuel 18:12–13 12 And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

Saul saw in David what he once had. It wasn’t the women singing of “Saul’s thousands and David’s ten-thousands.” It wasn’t that his harp playing was no longer pleasing or effective. IT WAS THAT SAUL KNEW DAVID HAD WHAT HE DID NOT AND COULD NOT HAVE BECAUSE OF HIS DISOBEDIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!

APPLICATION TO OUR LIVES

Sometimes when David shows up in our life we don’t like what he has to say. He brings things to our attention that we would rather not have brought to our attention. None the less, just like Saul we still need David!

When Saul forgot David, David came back into his life at a critical time.

When Saul discarded David, Things were never the same again. There was even a time David tried to return to his service

1 Samuel 19:8–10 8 And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him. 9 And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. 10 And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

We should be careful to never forget David, but if discard David it is even harder to bring him back into our life. HE WILL WANT TO RETURN, AND HE WILL TRY TO RETURN, but for us it will very difficult to allow him back in.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE CAN’T! JUST THAT IT WILL BE HARDER!

We all have Davids.

A FRIEND

A MENTOR

GODLY MUSIC

OUR BIBLE

DEVOTIONS

PRAYER

Personal experience - I had forgotten David. I was more worried about making money, living life, being happy in this world. Then the song “I Want My Life To Count For Jesus” came on the radio.

Verse 2 says.

Inside my heart there burns a question

What was I placed on earth here for

It truly was to build a kingdom

Not of my own but of the Lord's.

Chorus

I want my life to count for Jesus

For earthly things will quickly fade

No need to add to worldly riches

I only seek eternal gain.

The challenge we all have is to NEVER FORGET DAVID but to keep him close, treasure him, and protect him! Because he keeps us grounded and usable in the service of the Lord!