Only A Boy Named David

Only a Boy named David

I Samuel 16-17

CHCC: August 31, 2008

INTRODUCTION:

Wasn’t it great having our Youth lead worship today? These kids are a good example of what Paul was talking about in Timothy 4:12 "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

I’m curious who’s the youngest one who was up here leading.

The person I want to talk about today was a little younger than that. When David killed Goliath, most scholars think he was probably a middle-school aged boy. But I don’t want to start there. Let’s look back to what happened in David’s life BEFORE that “big” event.

The first time we meet David is in I Samuel 16. God told the prophet Samuel that he had chosen one of the sons of Jesse to be the next King of Israel. Samuel went to Bethlehem to meet Jesse’s sons. The oldest son, Eliab, was strong and tall and good-looking. Eliab, he thought, “This must be the one!” But God said, “No, that’s not him. Don’t be impressed with the way someone looks. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”

One by one, Samuel saw seven of the sons of Jesse, but each time God said, “That’s not the one.” Finally, Samuel said, “Is that all? Do you have any more sons?” And Jesse said, “Well, yes, there’s the little squirt, David. But he’s out in the field tending the sheep” (This kind of reminds me of the Cinderella story when the Prince’s servant is trying to find the girl the shoe will fit.)

When little David came in, God told Samuel, “Get up and anoint him. He’s the one.” I Samuel 16:12 says David was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. But we already know that is not what impressed God. God was looking for inward CHARACTER. David was only a boy at this point, possibly between 10 and 14. But this young boy had already developed the CHARACTER qualities of a hero. Verse 13 says, From that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.

I got to wondering, what had David been doing those first 10 or 11 years of his life that caused God to have so much confidence in him? We know one thing he’d been doing. Evidently David had chores to do in his family. It was his job to work out in the fields, tending the sheep.

We also know how David spent his free moments while he was watching the sheep. David always made a point of Connecting with His God.

1. Connect with God

We know this is true because of the hundreds of Psalms David wrote throughout his life. David used his spare time out there in the fields to praise and worship Jehovah. Now, we tend to picture David sitting out there on a lovely hill playing his harp, while fluffy white sheep wander around peacefully. But that wasn’t David’s reality.

He was out in the heat or the cold, the rain or the wind. And he wasn’t out there alone. It’s most likely the family employed hired shepherds who were out there with little David, especially while the older brothers were enlisted in Saul’s army. These hired hands weren’t a bunch of Sunday school boys. They were probably a rough bunch of guys. When David sang his songs about God, they would have been his audience. But David wasn’t thinking about them. He built a very real relationship with God by communicating with Him directly every chance He got.

David’s job as a shepherd meant he had to go places he didn’t really want to go. It must have been tedious for the boy David to have to sit for hours … and the whole time he had to pay attention to the sheep. I got to thinking, it wasn’t all that different from what boys and girls today have to go through in school. You sit for hours where you don’t want to be … and the whole time you have to pay attention!

Application: Connect with God all day every day … whenever you have spare time … Build a relationship with God in your youth.

During my Bible College years I worked at a meat company as a janitor working in the cold meat locker. That meant 4 hours a day working by myself, moving meat around and cleaning the floors and walls. I had plenty of time to myself so I used that alone time to pray to God and think my thoughts to Him. I think that is what “praying without ceasing” is all about. We’re always thinking anyway, so why not include God in our thoughts. By the way, including God in your thoughts will keep them a lot purer than thinking them to yourself.