Life of David (1): Shepherd to King
Life of David • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture reading: 1 Kings 2:2-4
Scripture reading: 1 Kings 2:2-4
“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
The title of the third book of the History of Redemption is titled, ‘The Unquenchable Lamp of the Covenant.’ It covers the first fourteen generations of Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1, from Abraham until David. And the very last chapter before the conclusion has to do with David’s life. And the last part of that chapter examines David’s final instructions to his son, Solomon. If we were to ask David today for life advice, I doubt he’d tell us anything too different.
“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
He says three things to Solomon.
Be strong and show yourself a man.
2. Keep the Word of God
3. Walk before God in truth
Moses instructed Joshua to be strong and courageous (Josh. 1:6), although neither Moses nor David had the idea of physical strength in mind. David’s victories came from a strong trust in God. So how can we be strong? By keeping the Word of God, and by walking before God in truth with all our heart and all our soul.
These three words of instruction is a condensed summary of all the lessons we could learn from David’s life. So this morning we’ll take a look at how David came to draw these conclusions about life.
From shepherd to soldier
From shepherd to soldier
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
David’s here asking Saul the king for permission to fight against Goliath. Saul says ‘Why should I let you?’ and David says here’s why: ‘The Lord has delivered me from the lion and the bear, and He’s going to deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ So what we see is that from his youth, David had real dangers, and he had real deliverance.
So perhaps a real danger, a real risk, is an opportunity for growing our faith. Perhaps we’re so overprotective of our comfort zones that we’re not giving the Holy Spirit a chance to show off His power.
The prophet Samuel anointed David when he was about 15 years old, and from that point his life went up and up. He became the king’s personal musician. He killed Goliath, and he did it with style. He becomes best friends with the prince Jonathan, the son of king Saul, and marries Saul’s younger daughter, the princess Michal.
Now, imagine if Saul doesn’t get envious of David, and lets David become king without any contest, end of story. What kind of king would David have been? Only God knows. And perhaps because God knows, God does something about it.
Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.
God sends a harmful spirit to Saul, and that causes Saul to act upon his envy toward David. Saul was in the wrong for being envious of David’s success. But God kicked Saul into action, and Saul kicked David into a life of refuge. From this perspective, we realize that God was training David to lead the nation of Israel as a king.
From fugitive to king
From fugitive to king
David lived as a fugitive for ten years, from twenty to thirty years old. And across those ten years, he lived in sixteen different places.
Rev. Abraham Park divides these sixteen places into three stages. The first stage is from Ramah to the forest of Hereth. The second stage is from Keilah to the wilderness of Ziph. And the third stage is from Gath to Ziklag.
In the first stage, he goes to Ramah to see the prophet Samuel, and then to Gibeah to see Jonathan, to confirm if Saul wanted him dead. Then he goes to Nob, where the tabernacle was. These three places are all close by each other. While he was at Nob, the priest Ahimelech helped David to inquire of the Lord.
and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.”
So David begins his flight from Saul by going to the Lord and asking for guidance. I pray that if we ever face a dire situation, we will make prayer our first and best option, and not a last resort.
While David’s at the Cave of Adullam, about four hundred men join him.
And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
While David ran away from Saul, he learned to take refuge in God alone. These were men who were in distress, debt, and bitter in soul. Such people have lost their peace. They’re spiritually distraught. And such people like to seek refuge in someone who seeks refuge in God. Why? Because when we seek refuge in God alone, we’re unbreakable. We’re unflappable. Nothing can shake our foundation.
At the second stage of his flight, David experienced so much betrayal that he learned to only trust in God. Wherever he went, people traveled to King Saul just to tell him of David’s whereabouts. That’s why this second stage has David going into the wilderness many times. There’s the wilderness of Ziph, the wilderness of Moan, the wilderness of Engedi, the wilderness of Paran, and then after a pit stop at Carmel, he goes back to the wilderness of Ziph. He’s lost his trust in people. For example, while David’s at the forest of Hereth, he hears that the Philistines are attacking Keilah. So he goes there and delivers the city from the Philistines.
And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
But Saul somehow overhears that David’s at Keilah. And David asks God if it’s safe to remain there. Look what happens.
Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.”
He’s saved the city, but they won’t save him. I think this is a truth that all spiritual leaders must accept. No matter how much we serve or love or care for our people, we must not expect personal loyalty. The goal must be to cultivate a loyalty to God and for God alone, never a personal loyalty. This is a lesson learnt the hard way, as seen in David’s own life. Because of this, David sought refuge in God alone.
Psalm 56:1–3 (ESV)
Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
And at the third stage of his flight from Saul, David goes to the Philistine cities of Gath and Ziklag.
While David is at Ziklag, Saul loses a battle against the Philistines and dies with his son Jonathan. David hears about it, and the first thing he does is to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord tells him to go to the city Hebron.
After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.”
This shows us that David’s faith had come to the point where he wouldn’t do anything without God’s leading. How did it get here? Because David’s decision to take refuge in the Philistine cities of Gath and Ziklag almost led to a disastrous situation where he would have to fight for the Philistines against the Israelites. Hebron comes from the root verb ‘habar,’ which means ‘to ally oneself,’ ‘to be coupled,’ ‘to join together.’ In other words, it means to be in union.
David’s life of refuge ended with him being in union with God, and at that point God exalted him from his suffering. God knows our suffering, and if we take refuge in Him alone, He will exalt us in union to Him.
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
David had sixteen places of refuge, and Hebron was the seventeenth place. May we humbly hold onto God until our faith is perfected, and trust that God will exalt us with the glory of Jesus.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
In the end, God had this conclusion about David.
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
David was a man after God’s own heart. I pray that all of us in Zion Church will receive the immeasurable grace of being called people after God’s own heart. I pray that as the spiritual descendants of David, we will receive David’s final words of instruction.
Let us be strong, let us keep God’s Word, and let us walk before God in truth with all our heart and all our soul.