Entering The Badlands Series

DAVID—A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

04—ENTERING THE BADLANDS

TEXT: 1 Samuel 18:6-9

1 Samuel 18:6-9 KJV 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.

1 Samuel 19:9-10 KJV 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.

I. INTRODUCTION—FAIRNESS???

A. A Sense of Fairness About Us

-Most all of us have a sense of a feeling of fairness. I believe that most all people have a desire to treat others fairly and be treated fairly themselves. Basically we think that if we treat people in a certain way that at the end of the day, we will have that same treatment given back to us.

-Yet despite that thought, we have heard it said and we have said it ourselves, “That isn’t fair!” Whether we were thinking of some injustice toward others or ourselves, we just did not agree with the way that things turned out.

-Most of us can remember very early on in life someone telling us, usually someone in a position of authority over us, that “life isn’t fair. . . get over it!” It stung our sense of well-being because we just thought that everything would turn out just right because there was a sense of fairness in the world.

-But the fact remains that the old adage is right. . . Life is not fair! We can work hard, make right choices, and do the right thing but at some point there will be something that will enter your life that will fortify this truth that life is not fair.

B. God’s Way Is Different

-Can I tell you that often this is God’s way? God’s way is for His men to live above their injustices and be shaped into men and women that exhibit His grace and His power. For that to happen, we will be bent and twisted and shaped into His pattern.

-The problem with that idea is because of the nature of Satan and his twisting of what worship is really all about. Satan says to worship self and exalt self and please self. But God says that we are to worship Him (John 4:23-24; Ephesians 3:21) and when true worship starts to unfold in our life, then we are shaped into the man after God’s own heart.

-As for David. . .

1 Samuel 13:14 KJV But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

1 Kings 15:3-5 KJV And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. [4] Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: [5] Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

Acts 13:22 KJV And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

-I am sure that some would look to David’s great sin of adultery and then murder that followed to cover it all up and question whether or not that he was really a man after God’s own heart. Can I encourage you to pursue the higher calling of God and the high mark of the prize of the high calling of God (Php. 3:13-14)? But I also need to remind you that you are going to have to contend with the messiness that sometimes comes into the life of people. Don’t ever forget that we are living in a fallen world that can only find redemption through the blood of Jesus!