A Matter Of The Heart

1 Samuel 16:1-13 KJV And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. [2] And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. [3] And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. [4] And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? [5] And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. [6] And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him. [7] But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. [8] Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. [9] Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. [10] Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. [11] And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. [12] And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. [13] Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

I. INTRODUCTION—DAVID

-Perhaps no other character in the Bible resonates with most people like that of David.

• He is a man who demonstrates moments of greatness mixed with moments of the ordinary.

• He is a man of valor but also of fear.

• He is a man who fellowshipped with God and entertained the wiles of Satan.

• He is an extraordinary saint but an ordinary man!

Recently, I had the occasion to hear a man recount forty-four years of ministry in one place. God has greatly blessed this man and the church has grown under his leadership. However, he related that in his early days that there were some elder lay preachers in the church that he began to pastor at 19 years of age who made his life miserable and tried to destroy him. He said that it just so happened that during a time of agonizing prayer that God brought his attention to the life of David as it was told through 1st and 2nd Samuel. He said that God greatly used those studies in Scripture on the life of David to bring wise instruction to him.

He related how that he was immediately taken in by the phrase in 1 Samuel 18 which said that David behaved himself wisely. He noted that this seemed to be the way that David went about living his life according to God’s plan. The way he interacted with friends, enemies, elders, and those who served him brought spiritual lessons to his life. He went on to say that he learned much from the life of David from the wisdom that Scripture brought to him.

-There are many books that have been written on the life of David by ministers over the years.

• Arthur Pink—The Life of David

• Alan Redpath—The Making of a Man of God

• Ivor Powell—David, His Life and Times

• F. B. Meyer—The Life of David

• Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

• Charles Swindoll—David, A Man of Passion and Destiny

• Gene Getz—David, God’s Man in Faith and Failure

• Theodore Epp—David, A Man after the Heart of God

• Charles Vince—Lights and Shadows in the Life of King David

-There is no way to even begin to mention the many sermons that have been preached on the life of David.