King David: The boy

Good morning everyone I hope you all had good sleep, I know that I did, but even better I had an amazing breakfast! Let's take a moment to bow in a word of prayer. (1 min) Amen.

Just a warning for all of you, I enjoyt reading lot’s of scripture when I talk, because me as a person will mess up, and can be wrong, but the scripture is infalible so we are going to be in the bible alot these few days. So hopefully you all remeber what we talked about last night, and for those who do will remeber that I said we would be looking at the charecter of David, now the reasson for this is actually pretty simple, David is a man who was young when the Lord called him and was told he would be king, and instead of trusting in this he decided that his identity as a young shepherd was the one that was true not God’s view of him.

So this morning we are going to be taking a look at David, specifiaclly the time he was a boy, or teenager. If you have your bibles with you this morning we can trun to 1 Samuel 16

1 Samuel 16 CSB

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.” Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate to you.” Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?” “In peace,” he replied. “I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. Then Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t chosen any of these.” Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.” So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him, so Saul’s servants said to him, “You see that an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord command your servants here in your presence to look for someone who knows how to play the lyre. Whenever the evil spirit from God comes on you, that person can play the lyre, and you will feel better.” Then Saul commanded his servants, “Find me someone who plays well and bring him to me.” One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is also a valiant man, a warrior, eloquent, handsome, and the Lord is with him.” Then Saul dispatched messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a wineskin, and one young goat and sent them by his son David to Saul. When David came to Saul and entered his service, Saul loved him very much, and David became his armor-bearer. Then Saul sent word to Jesse: “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor with me.” Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would pick up his lyre and play, and Saul would then be relieved, feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

The very first thing we read about David is that he is the youngest son in Jesse’s family, part of the tribe of Judah. We know that his family lived in Bethlehem so about six miles south of Jerusalem. And and interesting fact that many of us most likely overlook is that his great-grandmother was Ruth, from Moab. Which we can read in Ruth 4:19–22 “Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.” We also read that he was apparently handsome, a warrior, watches over sheep, and plays the lyre, oh and most importantly the LORD is with him. But it should start to seem clear to us what kind of man this David is, because as we read in chapter 16 David is nothing special, I mean yes hes handsome apparently but that’s not what matters, infact all of his charecteristics that we read about here are ultimatley usless, and I can’t help but to wonder that if it didn’t say that the Lord was with him would anyone know it? afterall this man who is called a warrior and a eloquent is simply the youngest son, meaing he didn’t really have a whole lot going for him, it was tradition that the oldest son would get the the entirety if not the majority of the inheritence and the youngest would simlply work the feilds. The identity of David just looking at chapter 16, is that of the youngest son, he’s not making any decision he is simply just there and things are taking place around him, he is as of right now nothing important. But all that seem’s to change in Chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 CSB

The Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines. The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds. There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him. He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations, “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified. Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, but David kept going back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem. Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand.

Chapter seventeen gives us slightly more details about david, once again we read at the end that he is the youngest of the sons that Jesse has, but also that he is taking time to go back and forth from the battlefeild in order to tend to his father flock. David was simply just the youngest boy, who could watch the sheep as the men went off to a war they could not win. David’s identity up to this point has not really changed from the last chapter, but suddenly it will, because David who has been identitfed as just a boy who can do the chores is about to take a stand on who he beliueves he is, altering his own identity, David has been using the outside in approch so far, being the man that others see him as, being the yoiungest, being one who is good at watching sheep and one who can play music, that is really who he is up to this point of the story, weather he likes it or not. And you see this is one of the big issues with the outside in identity approch, the fact that who you are is complelty based off of external sources, how you feel doesn’t really matter. Yet as we continue reading chapter seventeen we see David take on a new identity one that is topside down.

1 Samuel 17 CSB

One day Jesse had told his son David, “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Also take these ten portions of cheese to the field commander. Check on the well-being of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.” So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had charged him. He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other. David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard. When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified. Previously, an Israelite man had declared, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. The king will also make the family of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.” David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” The troops told him about the offer, concluding, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.” David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!” “What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question.” Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before.

David’s brother clearly does not believe that he should be here, infact he says that David has arrogence and and evil heart, asking him why has he leftt the sheep. David’s identity based off his brother is that of just a younger brother who should be doing his choures, he doesn’t belong on the battle feild and should stop being so arregent. Yet despite this David does the clasic little brother thing and says well he was just asking.

1 Samuel 17 CSB

What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him. David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!” But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”

Even Saul views David as just a youth.

1 Samuel 17 CSB

David answered Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor. David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off. Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome. He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!” David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel—you have defied him. Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.” When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground. David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword. David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent. When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner?” “Your Majesty, as surely as you live, I don’t know,” Abner replied. The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is!” When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” “The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.

We see David here really take into account the work of God and put that on himself as his identity. We see here even at the end of chapter seventeen that David is viewed by Saul as just a youth, but that is not how david viewd himself. David used the Lord in his fight against Golieth, even before that he uses the Lord to justify his being able to fight against this monster, not because he believes hiimself to be some kind of super hero, but because he believes in the work of the LORD and that he is his servant to be used in some way. And the LORD does use David, despite everyone around him putting his identity as a young boy, God sees his creatiomn who is able to do anyhting through his own power.

David a young man who had spent alot of his life being seen as just the youngest boy, who’s job was to watch sheep, had realized his identity comes form above, and that because it comes form above he can do anthing. I think it is so easy for us to not only have a wrong identity of oursefls which effects our values and purpose, but we can also wrongfully put our ideas of what we can and can’t do within our false identity. The questions of what can I do for God im just a teenager, or even what can I do for God i’m only 20, or 25, or thirty, we seem to say we can’t really do that much because we are still young. But thatt’s the trap in itself, we identify ourselfs with age, God doesn’t care about your age, he caers about your heart. God can and will work through all of us by the power of his Holy Spirit, the choice you have to make is how hard are you going to make it for God. Right because if you continualy deny your true identity as his created image that is made to glorify and preach his word, then the Holy SPirit is going to have to fight you constently on this. But if you fall into your true identity you realize that you can do anything through Christ who gives you streanght. Guys I would have never thought in a million years I would be a lead pastor at a church, more or less that I would be a lead pastor at the age of 24, now 25. I didn’t think it was possible, I didn’t think I was worthy, I have said to myself so many times I can’t do it, im only in my twentites. Yet God says do it and as long as you stay faitfhull to me and remeber that you are mine, everything will be ok. Are you like David, understanidng that you can do something, now, if you simply rest in your true identity, or are you running away because you fear what it means to give up control?

Let’s close in prayer.