Some of the methods God uses on His people are hard! Praise God that He continues to remind us of who we are and his plans for us, so we can keep going in the right direction!
David’s early life was not an easy life, but what He went through allowed him to become a man that the scripture tells us:
“Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; Acts 13:36 a (NIV)
Now, that’s quite a statement being made about someone’s life!!
David through being the youngest and Saul’s insecure leadership (1 Samuel 16-31)
David was the youngest of eight boys. The Bible tells us that when Samuel came to Jesse’s house (David’s father) to anoint one of the sons as the future king, David wasn’t even invited to the party. The other seven were all there, but David was tending the sheep. They not only didn’t think of him as the future king, but they also didn’t care having him there for the celebration of one of the boys getting anointed as future king.
If your family is having a graduation party or a birthday party isn’t everyone in the family invited? Someone was going to be declared and anointed as the future king in Jesse’s house that day, but David wasn’t considered to join the celebration. His family didn’t value him enough to invite him to this significant occasion! Being the youngest in the family, he was doing the menial work of tending the sheep and was treated like a servant rather than a son.
One day David went to take food for his brothers at his father’s request. Three of David’s brothers were in military and worked under King Saul. They were in a battle against Philistines. When David arrived at the camp, he found that everyone including his brothers were afraid of this giant named Goliath who was intimidating the people of God. When he declared that he can fight him, his brother Eliab had some choice words for him.
Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 1 Samuel 17:28
That’s so interesting! Elaib must have forgotten that some day he was going to serve his youngest brother! For now, he chose to be as hateful as he had the power to do it! David killed Goliath against all the naysayers.
Based on David’s birth order and the way his father and brothers treated him, he could have had inferiority complex and been unsure of himself. On the contrary, his time alone as a shepherd boy had allowed him to have more time for God, to worship him, and to become a strong warrior. While his family didn’t give him encouragement or a sense of value, the Lord instilled a sense of worth that his family could not possibly provide!
After David killed Goliath, he was rewarded with Saul’s daughter. David married Michal and became King Saul’s son-in-law. Saul could have trained David to become a strong military leader given the fact that he had become part of the family. Unfortunately, Saul was so insecure that he didn’t want to see David’s success. Saul even chased David several times trying to kill him. God trained David as a warrior through being a shepherd, and He also taught David “what not to do” by watching Saul.
When David became king, the scriptures do not mention that David ever became insecure about others taking his position. While David made his own mistakes, he was not suspicious and insecure in his leadership.
Through all those tough years, David had learned to trust God. Since David didn’t manipulate or take short cuts to become a king, he was secure with his position. He had settled the matter that man was not in control of His God-given call. He didn’t need to feel insecure about anyone taking his place. I believe, He was the kind of man that if God said, “I’m going to give the kingdom to another man.”, he would have willingly given it over without wrestling or arguing with God.
Thank you Lord for the opportunity to grow in your ways. Thank you for the varied training grounds that sharpen us for your purpose. Amen.
For comments, please email me at Karlinefischer@yahoo.com.