Faithful, Flawed And After God’s Heart - King David

And we’re going to look at scenes from the life of one of the important people in history who was of the line of Jesus: King David.

We will look at David’s character and some snapshots from his life,

and consider his place in the story of Jesus.

I’ve always found King David to be one of the most fascinating guys in the Bible. There is so much about him that you wouldn’t normally expect to find written about a king.

There’s so much in there that you’d think should have been covered up or glossed over. But in the Bible we get a really transparent, blunt look at David’s life.

David was a shepherd, hunter, warrior, general, king, poet, champion, outlaw, ladies man, musician, prophet,

worship leader, adulterer, murderer, brother, husband, son, parent, leader, hero, builder, ancestor of Jesus Christ, a man after God’s own heart!

The Thompson Chain reference Bible, “No Bible character more fully illustrates the moral range of human nature”.

That’s why I think it’s good to have a look at this fellow. Let’s look at some snapshots of David’s life.

David’s Calling

What was David up to before he knew he was to be king?

The Old Testament book of 1st Samuel talks about God telling the prophet Samuel to talk to Jesse, David’s father.

So Samuel meets Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, and is very impressed with the way Eliab presents himself.

But God says to Samuel: "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart". 1 Sam 16:7

Another 6 sons of Jesse are paraded by Samuel. But God says: 1 Sam 16:10 "The LORD has not chosen these."

Then, almost forgotten and definitely not taken very seriously, Samuel has David, the youngest, the baby of the family, busy labouring in the outback, takin’ care of a bunch of sheep... Interestingly, God’s chosen leader of His people would be a shepherd.

Samuel sees David and the Lord says to Samuel: "Rise and anoint him; he is the one."

So in this snapshot of David we see him as a labourer without prestige, busy at his task at hand, humble and low down on the totem pole as the youngest brother of seven,

busy with his hand to the plow, so to speak; not, as far as we can tell at this point, made from the stuff of kings.

And yet he’s proclaimed to be the future sovereign king of God’s people. Good start. That’s a vision from God, not David’s pipe dream, not a delusion.

David and Goliath

Goliath was no slight fella. Goliath was a big Philistine. Here’s how the Bible describes him: 1 Sam 17:4-7 “He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing 126 pounds 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed 15 pounds”.

This day and age we might be a little suspicious at how big the Bible describes Goliath. Anyone here see the movie: The Princess Bride? Well, Andre the Giant, who played Fezzik, was 7 feet, 5 inches, but he was only the ninth tallest professional wrestler in history.