Reading the story of the life of David, from the beginning (1 Samuel) until now (end of 2 Samuel), is like reading a man going through a Christian boot camp.
• David went through a lot, to be where God wants him to be and do what God wants him to do. God was training His servant.
• David went through the good and the bad. If fact, it seems to be more bad than good. It does not mean life is a bed of roses because you are God’s anointed.
• David learns through the hardships, the mistakes, and the pain. He was far from perfect.
• What stands out, in this long and hard journey that David had, is his unwavering trust in God. He always return to God and submit to Him.
It is easy for us to look at David’s life and focus only on the good parts.
• But the truth of the matter is, for a large part of his life, he was struggling… with something. The psalms reveal that. Enemies without and enemies within.
• He faced persecutions and hardships, broken relationships and broken family; he faced temptations and sinned. He was constantly fighting against the enemies.
• This is what we try to ignore. Life with God must be good and happy, prosperous and peaceful.
• Yet this is not true of David, the man anointed and chosen by God to be His servant. It is not true of the servants of God we read about in the Scriptures.
Matt 16:24 Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
• Can we trust God enough to accept the good and the bad, knowing that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose? (cf. 8:28)
• Can we believe that there is this ULTIMATE GOOD that God is working towards, for each one of our lives?
Look at David’s life. He was anointed as a boy by Prophet Samuel to be the King of Israel, but waited some 20 years before that happens.
• And when he entered the palace, he was not trusted. He was persecuted by King Saul and had to run for his life.
• God did not give him a straight path to the throne, even though that was prophesied.
• David had to fight many battles, before he became King, and even after.
I won’t rehash that. But just for the recent few chapters, we saw the hardships and pains that David was put through.
• David fell into temptation and sinned. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband Uriah.
• He repented but lost his first son, as a judgment from God for giving the nations the chance to blaspheme His name.
Sin has its consequences. His daughter Tamar was raped by her half-brother, Amnon. Two years later, Absalom took revenge and killed Amnon, his half-brother.
• Absalom was angry with David’s lack of action and conspired successfully in forcing his dad out of the palace.
• David was betrayed by those close to him. He was ostracised by the tribes.
• Even as he fled (2 Sam 16:5) someone from Saul’s clan came out to curse him and throw stones at him.
Eventually, when Absalom was killed, David grieved for his son. When would you do, if your son is your enemy?
Finally, it would seem that David could return to Jerusalem and resume his role as King over Israel. Yet it was not going to be that straight-forward.
• David has to regain the trust of his people, especially those who had come sided Absalom against him.
• 2 Sam 19:11-15 “11King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: "Ask the elders of Judah, `Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters? 12You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?'
• 13And say to Amasa (Absalom’s army commander, 17:25), `Are you not my own flesh and blood? (David’s nephew, son of his sister Abigail). May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.'"
• 14He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, "Return, you and all your men." 15Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan.
We thought that would be end of David’s woes. But no, someone started another rebellion:
2 Sam 20:1-2 “1Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted, "We have no share in David, no part in Jesse's son! Every man to his tent, O Israel!" 2So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.”
• Joab (ex-commander?) went after Sheba. He besieged the city where he was hiding, and finally the city-dwellers helped him killed Sheba.
• The uprising was suppressed. The author ended this chapter with a listing of David’s office-bearers in 20:23-26. This ends the book.
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The final FOUR chapters 21-24 are often referred to as an APPENDIX or EPILOGUE.
• It does not fit in chronologically. The author puts them in a few incidents, David songs, and a list of David’s mighty men.
The book of 1 Kings starts with: “When King David was old and well advanced in years…” So we have practically seen David’s prime life in 1 and 2 Samuel.
• I’ve taken time to paint you this picture of David’s life – the man whom God has chosen to serve Him and the man whom He says is after His own heart.
• So we we want to be the King? Do we want to serve God?
• We know by now that David’s life is NOT a fairy tale. When he ascended the throne, he did not simply live “happily ever after”.
Serving God is not easy and we are called to be servants of God. Serving God requires an unwavering trust in God.
• David faces problem after problem, some are his own doing, others are just the challenges we face in a fallen world and doing God’s will.
• David faces opposition, persecution and rebellion. His problems are many, and many are rather painful and sad.
• But this one thing is true, we can still trust God. David is always quick to return to God and submit to His will. He trust God. He fights his enemies WITH God.
God is in the trials with David. That is his faith, and that is ours too. We face life WITH God.
• He is in the trials of life with us. Our faith is in God, not in the circumstances, whether good or bad. We trust His Word and His will.
• I want to close with one poem that came to mind – WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED.
Written by a godly woman, Annie Johnson Flint (19th Century). She was stricken with arthritis, tried many doctors but did not get better. It became difficult for her to walk at all and she was admitted to the Sanitarium (medical centre for long-term illness).
Her own parents died of illnesses when she is a child, and her foster parents had both passed on too. Her one sister was very frail and struggling to meet her own needs, leaving her alone in the Sanitarium like a helpless invalid.
She did not lose her faith in God. She decided to write to people in need. Now her writings, many of them in poems, became a source of strength to many.
Someone said of her, “She always say that her poems are born of the need of others and not from her own need; but she could never have written as she did for the comfort of many people, if she had not had the background of facing those very crises in her own life. God uses her pain.”
PAUL (another servant of God who faces lots of hardship) – 2 Cor 1:3-4:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”
God did not promise us a trouble-free life!
This is what Annie wrote to a deaconess who was very discouraged:
WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
many a burden, many a care.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love
Annie Johnson Flint
Ultimately, everything that has happened in David’s life ended up for the GOOD of David and his Kingdom.
• Ultimately, everything will end up GOOD, because nothing can thwart God’s good plan for our lives.
Can we trust God fully? Can we trust Him, for the good and the bad?
Can we trust God to work through the bad and achieve His good?
SONG: YOU ARE MY HIDING PLACE
Chorus:
You are my hiding place I will trust in You
You always fill my heart Let the weak say
With songs of deliverance I am strong
Whenever I am afraid In the strength of the Lord
I will trust in You I will trust in You
