King David, whose life we are learning from this summer, was a remarkable man who kept his heart right with God, despite his imperfections. His predecessor as king, Saul, began with the same opportunities that David had, but failed to trust in God. Much of what they each experienced in life is in fact a direct contrast to what the other experienced.
· Saul disobeyed God while David obeyed God. Both had physical qualities that opened doors for them. Saul was tall and described as an “impressive young man,” while David had “a fine appearance and handsome features.” Twice Saul disobeyed direct commands of God and then tried to make excuses and get around what he had done. David’s reign includes account after account of how he obeyed God. When he did sin, and he had some enormous public sins, he confessed his sin and walked the hard road back to God.
· Saul had the Spirit of God depart from his life while David possessed the Spirit of God in power. The middle of 1 Samuel 16 presents a direct contrast for the reader in this regard. In verse 13, we read about David’s anointing as king and are told that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” In the verse next verse, we read that “the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul.”
· Saul trusted himself and his army, while David trusted the Lord. On two occasions, Saul was given direct instructions from the Lord through Samuel how to conduct a battle, but on both occasions he disobeyed God when things did not go the way he expected. Those two acts of disobedience led directly to his removal as king. David, even before he was king trusted God. In the most famous story from his life, David killed Goliath with one stone from his slingshot. When asked how he could fight a giant as a mere boy with no armor, he responded that “the Lord will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
· Saul developed a great jealousy of David and tried to kill him, while David spared Saul’s life. Saul spent a great deal of time and energy pursuing David because he saw him as a threat to his throne. David, though, demonstrated remarkable composure in the light of these threats. On multiple occasions, David had an opportunity to kill Saul, but refused to do so, stating that it was not his right to slay the Lord’s anointed.
These are just four examples of how these two men’s lives contrasted with one another. Their stories, when compared with each other, offer us the choice of how we are going to live. We can disobey God, live without the Spirit of God, trust in ourselves, and respond to others out of jealousy. Or, we can learn to trust God, even in the midst of our sin and imperfection, and let his Spirit dwell within us, so that he can use us in mighty ways.
These are some of the lessons from David this summer that I will be sharing with our congregation this summer as we continue learning from him to live with a heart for God.
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