David

David means ``well-loved". Born in Bethlehem, David was the youngest son of Jesse (1 Samuel 16:8-12). David was a shepherd who watched over his father's flock of sheep both day and night, and was selected to be the next king of Israel while still a young boy and was re-anointed at Hebron (2 Samuel 2:4).

Power against weakness, evil versus good, experience vs. inexperience the story of David fighting Goliath has all of these elements. He went on to fight and win against a vastly superior force (1 Samuel 17). There must have been a point to the story.

After defeating Goliath, David's popularity grew by leaps and bounds. Eventually King Saul felt threatened by this to the extent that he sought to kill David. David ran for his life, hiding in the wilderness. Several times he had the opportunity to kill King Saul, but didn't (put his hand against God's annointed) -- see the verse section for a picture. David was very successful in nearly everything he did.

David wrote many of the Psalms. From these we can see the type of heart that he had. He was both "a man after God's own heart", and prone to sin (including adultery) like the rest of us. Yet he was genuinely repentant and went on to do many more great things for God.

From David's initial selection as the next king (see 1 Samual 16) to his fighting the giant, Goliath, while David was still a boy, David was often the unlikely choice, the least of the candidates, the real underdog. Yet God continued to use him.

Beyond God wanting the complete trust and faith of David (as well as of each of us today), the Bible provides a hint at what the point of all of this was: I Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God [sees] not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

I Samuel 24: 1 After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, "David is in the Desert of En Gedi."

2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.

4 The men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, `I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'" Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

9 ? He said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, `David is bent on harming you'?

10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD gave you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, `I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD's anointed.'

11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand andrecognise that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.

12 May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.

13 As the old saying goes, `From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you.

14 "Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

15 May the LORD be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand."

16 ? When David finished saying this, Saul asked, "Is that your voice, David my son?" And he wept aloud.

17 "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.

18 You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD gave me into your hands, but you did not kill me.

19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today.

20 I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.

21 Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family."

22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold." (NIV)

Absolom, the son who tried to kill David, got his head caught in a tree while riding a horse (II Samuel 18:9,14)

David died at the age of 70, B. C. 1015, after a reign of seven and a half years over Judah and thirty-three years over the entire kingdom of Israel. History told in 1 Samuel 16 to 1 Kings 2.

David had a pure heart. In spite of his weaknesses he always went to God and asked forgiveness for where he went wrong.

David was an adulterer. We can avoid this by staying close to God, and not even entertaining thoughts along those lines.

God looks at the heart, what is on the inside of a man or woman, boy or girl, as far as what is important.

When David fought Goliath he was doing what a typical shepherd boy would do -- drawing on his experience as a shepherd boy of protecting the sheep from wild animals in the wilderness. The point here is that God asks us to use our talents and strengths and experience -- not to try to be someone we are not (or put on someone else's armour).

Once David had determined that this (fighting Goliath) was something that God wanted him to do he could go about this confidently knowing that God was on his side in order that this event could be used to "show that there was a God in Israel".

I Samuel 17:43 And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 The Philistine also said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field."

45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

46 "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands."

Evidently "talking trash" goes way back into history. David, a man after God's own heart, did it himself -- yet with the proper motive -- in truth when Goliath taunted the Lord.