Volume 25, Issue 10
Page 14
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Becoming a Man of God: Lessons from the Life of David (Part 2)
By Dr. Mike Spaulding March 2025
David up as an example of “a man after His own heart” because David’s heart was always seeking after Him. I love the picture that God gives us of David – his triumphs, his victories, his greatest moments — all right along side of his failures, his defects, and his sins.
13) and then by disobeying God’s instructions to completely wipe out the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15).
ing, God is with us and His strength is our strength. We never face our obstacles alone. When we obey God we always move forward filled with the Holy Spirit. (Verse 2) As is often the case, we miss God’s encouragement and provision. Samuel’s eyes were not focusing on the Lord any longer but on the fate of Saul and the potential for Saul’s anger to turn toward him. Here’s another lesson for us. When God calls us to a work, He will strengthen us for it and pro- vide the enabling to do it. “Where God guides, God provides.” If we keep looking to Him for this provision we will succeed. When we take our eyes off of Him and examine our circumstances we give doubt and anxiety an open door. I love God’s response to Samuel’s fear – “Here’s the plan. Take a heifer with you and go make a sacrifice.” God is saying, “listen to Me, Samuel. I’ve got this under control. Do as I ask.” (Verse 3) — God gives Samuel just enough in- formation to get him to the right place in front of the right people. Do you see the important piece of information that God withholds? God did not tell Samuel to anoint the tallest or the strongest or the most handsome. God didn’t give Samuel a name. He didn’t ask for Samuel’s opinion at all. He merely told Samuel to anoint the one that He would designate. That took the burden off Samuel didn’t it? All Samuel had to do was go to Jesse’s house and wait for God to tell him which man to anoint as the next King of Israel. We can walk with great confidence when we un- derstand that following God’s plan to the letter re- leases us from the burden of making sure something is successful. When we listen to God and don’t attempt to “tweak” His plans we can rest in the knowledge that whatever God chooses is the best possible choice. That’s true freedom. So from this verse we learn that God calls people to walk by faith. He calls us to trust Him with the results. We can also say that God desires constant com- munication with us. He gives us enough informa- tion to take the next step in obedience to Him. That insures that we will not get too far ahead. That segues into a 3rd point here – God wants us to be continually dependent upon Him. Continued On Page 15
King David is often referred to as the “Shepherd King.” He spent his adolescent and young teenage years tending his fa-
Samuel’s announcement to Saul is a key to un- derstanding the text we will consider. Samuel the prophet speaks thusly to King Saul in 1 Samuel 13:14: “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Samuel 16:1- 13).
ther’s sheep as we will see in this study. I believe it was from that foundation of servant hood, being seen and treated as the least among his brethren that David developed into a man of integrity, honor, and humbleness. As a king, David was no hireling. He loved the people of Israel and was a faithful shepherd to them. I recommend the book by Philip Keller, “A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm.” Keller paints a beautiful picture in words of the life of a shepherd and the sheep he cares for. The Bible says that hirelings take off and leave the sheep unprotected from the wolves. David never did that. Instead he protected them against all sorts of wild animals. That reminds me of the story I heard recently about the two friends that went on an overnight camping trip to the mountains. In the middle of the night they were both awak- ened by a ferocious roar of what they both knew was a grizzly bear. They both sat up in their cots frantically trying to get out of their sleeping bags and out of the tent before the bear was upon them. In the midst of this mad scramble, one guy looks at his friend and the friend is putting on his tennis shoes. The first guy half yelled “you don’t have time for that and putting on your tennis shoes won’t help you out run the bear.”
I want to look at 1 Samuel 16. Let me set the context of what we’ll be studying.
The date is around 1126 BC. Israel left Egypt about 340 years before this time and thus had been in the Promised Land about 300 years. Within those 300 years was a 240 year period of time known as the “time of the judges.” People such as Samson, Gideon, Deborah, Abimelech, and Jepthah had given counsel to and provided protection for God’s people. You may recall that the book of Judges closes with this statement: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” It was at this time that God raised up Samuel the prophet who, in effect, became the last judge. It was to Samuel that the Israelites came begging for a king because they wanted to be like other na- tions. There’s a lesson there for us – it is always a sign of danger ahead when God’s people decide to imitate the world. So, Samuel eventually anoints Saul as Israel’s first king. We read about that in chapters 9-10 of 1 Samuel. Saul’s reign was marked by victory and defeat. God removed the kingdom from him because he did not obey Him in all that he was instructed – first by offering strange fire before the Lord (1 Samuel
In verse 1, Samuel was still grieving. I think this is an important point being made here. Why would God include this piece of information? Saul had messed up and God rejected him. What I see here is that the man of God grieves for God’s people who have fallen into sin. There is a time to grieve for our brothers and sisters. There should be no joy in the heart of a believer when a brother or sister falls. We may know that it was self-induced. We may have even seen it coming and tried to warn them but when it comes there should be a sense of heartache. Notice God asks Samuel “how long” he is going to grieve. God is saying “let’s get up and get back to work.” That tells me that grieving should not be debilitating. It should not cause us to forget about the tasks God has called us to. God instructs Samuel to fill his horn with oil. What a picture that is. The horn represents strength in the Bible and oil represents the Holy Spirit. God is saying to Samuel, “I am sending you forth in the strength of the Holy Spirit.”
His friend responded, “I don’t have to out run the bear. I only have to outrun you.”
The Bible speaks more about David than any other person except Jesus Christ. Consider for example that: • 14 chapters about Abraham, the father of the faithful. • 14 chapters about Joseph whom God used to preserve His people. • 13 chapters about Jacob the patriarch who wrestled with God. • 10 chapters about Elijah the prophet who slew 400 false prophets. But there are 65 chapters of the Bible dedicated to the life of David. The New Testament mentions David 59 times. This affords a comprehensive view of the life of this man. I believe God holds
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