Theme: David was successful
Text: 1 Samuel 18:12-16
Key verse: 1 Samuel 18:14: “in everything, he did he had great success because the Lord was with him”. Why God was with him? This is the statement of the problem, research question.
Introduction to David:
The name David appears for the first time in Ruth 4:22. The name continues to the end of the book of Revelation in the Bible. 1 Chronicle 29:26-28 says died at good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth, and honor. He became king at 30 and reigned for 40 years therefore he lived for 70 years (2 Samuel 5:4). David appointed Solomon as successor. 1 Kings 1:11ff. According to the Talmud Yerushalmi David was born and died on the same day as Shavuot (feast of weeks). Islam gives high honor to David as one of the Nabis, calls him Daoud. His name is mentioned 16 times in Holy Quran. Jesus was called the Son of David not as the son of Abraham, son of Solomon, and son of any other great bible personalities.
“In everything, David did he had great success because the Lord was with him”. The Lord was with David probably for the following three reasons:
He was a man after God’s own heart, 1 Samuel 18:12-13
He walked with the integrity of his heart, 1 Samuel 18:14-15
He had served God’s purpose in his generation, (1 Samuel 18:16).
We will meditate on them briefly and you can elaborate by reading the scriptures.
1. David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 & 1 Samuel 18:12-13).
David was the youngest of the 8 sons of Jesse (16:10-11). He spends his life at his Father’s field as a courageous shepherd boy (1 Samuel 17:34-36). He was a Handsome boy (1 Samuel 16:12). He was chosen by God (1 Samuel 16:13). God was looking for this kind of man and God found this man in an unlikely place. His devotion is found through honoring God and dancing before the Ark of the covenant. He had housed the ark at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1-11). The man after God’s own heart will fulfill all the desires of God’s heart, and will not oppose God, neglect God like Saul. All the circumstances and all the dangers were well known to God as Saul knew it. But still, obedience to God is counted above everything. Don’t justify your acts, don’t give excuses for your rebellious deeds. David was called a man after God’s own heart even before he was anointed and became a king.
David had shared the nature of sinful men but he loved and pursued God with focus and divine passion. He had a repented heart after his rebellious foolish act of adultery (2 Samuel 12:13). Bible calls all acts and deeds against the Will of God as SIN. Missing the mark, missing the aim, target, the purpose is a sin. Sin is unbridled evil intentions and desires. As king, he misused his power to utmost evil-coveted, stolen, and abused. There is no consensus for an act of Sin. Sin is SIN. ‘The impurity of lust transforms one into a slave of the devil’ (Henry Edward Manning, Cardinal, and Archbishop). Sin is normally categorized as Original Sin (ancestral sin) and acquainted sin or Committed sin.
Guilt is nothing but the realization that they have compromised their standards of conduct or have violated universal moral standards. The moral is an intended decision and proper approved action. Immoral is an intended decision for an improper unapproved action. The problem of our generation is denying the power of Sin and the power of godliness. “An unlimited power leads a person to an ungrateful life and egotistical lifestyles”. One immoral act of the head of the family demoralizes the whole family, destroys the future of the children and ruins the people of God, and brings disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ.
David acknowledges that God had crushed the bone of Jesus Christ for the sins he had committed during his days (Psalm 51:8). So, he prays to God, “Create in me a pure heart and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51: 10). David understood the need and importance of the presence of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit in his life (Psalm 51: 11). The presence of God is light (Psalm 90:8), glorious (Jude 24). Is it not true that we get a tremendous experience to read through the 73 psalms of David? The psalms are a book of praises. His psalms give the consciousness of God, intimate relationship with God, conviction on sin, and points to the forgiveness available in Jesus Christ. It awakens the soul to doxology.
2. David had served God’s purpose in his generation (Acts 13:36 & 1 Samuel 18:14-15).
Act.13:36 - David had served God’s purpose in his own generation (NIV). For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God (KJV). For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God (ASV), “Now David, having done God's work for his generation” (Basic English Translation).
He had a desire to do God’s will (Psalm 40:8). He prayed for God to teach His will to him (Psalm 143:10). He served the purpose of God even though he had eight wives (Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Maachah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and Bathsheba) and 18 children (Amnon, Chileab, Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, Ithream, Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, Eliphalet, and Tamar). For many people family, spouse, children, career are reasons for the excuses to serve God, to attend the church services.
David served God by the will of God (literally “will” refer to “counsel”). Day after day he sought the will of God like Jesus Christ and fulfilled it. David yielded himself an instrument for the accomplishment of God's high designs through his life and purpose (Jamieson). David was a public good, and he lived and governed by the rule and square of God’s word. The men of that age and generation in which David lived, the subjects of his kingdom, by governing them with wholesome laws, protecting them in their rights and properties, defending them against their enemies, and regulating and promoting the worship of God among them. He acted according to the will and purpose of God, fulfilled it, and did what the Lord declared to him, or he knew to be the will of God (John Gill). Indeed, every man has enough to do in serving the will of God in his own days. The same GOD who heretofore has governed the world, will also hereafter govern it. He commands from time to time a new crop of good men to spring up to maturity (Bengel Gnomen).
David became a leader to the downtrodden, neglected, and rejected people. They were his own brethren, distressed people, lived in debts, and were discontented. But he made them as a great army, made them rich and fatty men, and good civilians. He had 400 ordinary men, whom he trained for battle and increased his strength to 600 men (1 Samuel 22:2,22). The Lord brought all to David (1 Chronicle 12:32-33, 38-39). He gathered all who had committed to the Kingdom of God (1 Chronicle 28:1). A true fellowship was cultivated among all of these tribes and followers of David. There was great joy among the Israelites (1 Chronicle 12:40).
3. David was a man of integrity (Psalm 78:72 & 1 Samuel 18:16)
His life was a mixture of all: good and evil, ups and downs, comforts and compress. Luxuries and lacking. Plenty and wants. The period of the fugitive was a dark period in his life. He was a man with zeal, noble, trustworthy, fearless, and peerless. However, when God put David in charge of the His people, having so great a trust, he obtained mercy of the Lord to be found both skillful and faithful in the discharge of it. Under David, the Jewish kingdom rose to an honorable position among the nations and exercised an influence over its neighbors.
The happiness of his management. God having so great a trust in David, put into his hands the Kingdom of Israel. So, David sought and obtained the mercy of the Lord to be found both skillful and faithful in the discharge of it. So, he fed them; he ruled them and taught them, guided, and protected them (Psalm 78:72). David led them honestly, happily, tastefully, and discreetly (Matthew Henry).
Integrity refers to his sincerity towards the good and welfare of his people, avoiding and abhorring those counsels and courses which were contrary thereunto. But today, we could see many leaders with contrary principles with many leaders. Integrity further presses aiming at nothing else but the glory of God, and the good of the people committed to his charge. The principles of spirituality were the maxims of his government not with carnal policy but with godly sincerity. The grace of God was the underlying principle (Matthew Henry, Benson).
The integrity of David’s administration of government was not sought after his own honor and interest, and the aggrandizing of his family, but the good of his people, and the glory of God (John Gill). Not putting the family and its interest, not looking for personal interest and needs but Kingdom and people. However, citizens, people should not withhold the rights, and privileges of the leaders. There should balance between these two extremes.
David was not only an upright and faithful king but also a "skillful" and prudent one. God testified to the integrity and faithfulness of David. He was a skillful and truthful king. David had wisely performed kingship: he made wise laws for his people and soldiers and put them in execution. He behaved wisely in the court and the camp but was greatly and infinitely exceeded by his antitype, the servant of the Lord, that should deal prudently (Isaiah 52:13).
We want upright hearts and skillful hands in everything we do to become successful men. We hope that every leader would possess an upright heart and skillful hands for the work of God. If you are a leader, do it with an upright heart, with a heart that is pleasing to God, that is righteous before God, that is good and just, that is a reflection of God’s character. Particularly in any capacity, you have given to lead in the home, outside the home, in a classroom, in a job, in the church. Not only that lead other people with upright hearts and guide them to lead with skillful hands (Rev. David Platt).
He was a champion (1 Samuel 17:40), a great soldier, and captured Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:7). His versatility is: at young an athlete (1 Samuel 17:34-36), at youth fine musician (1 Samuel 16:14) and lifelong a poet (Psalm 8, 18, 19,23, 119, …). He had magnanimity and generosity as a man of God to spare the life of Saul. Because he loved so much Jonathan, he can’t think of doing evil to his friend’s father. He doesn’t want to see Jonathan as an orphan.
Conclusion:
God raises saints, valuable servants of God who are obedient to God against the wicked and notorious group on every generation. Remember in the History God raised St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Martin Luther, Ziegenbalg, John Wesley, William Carey, David Livingstone, Hutson Taylor, DL Moody, Spurgeon, Muller, John Knox, Stanley Jones, Billy Graham, P Samuel, Theodore Williams, Sam Kamelesan, and many others all over the world. There are many silent saints among you. God calls you to be a man who does the will of God on daily basis. Will you stand with them? If anything is entrusted to you, how would you like to set an example?
