Israel’s Divinely Determined King

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[Message] We’re beginning this morning a series of studies in the life of David. And for our Scripture reading we’re turning to 1 Samuel chapter 16 and reading verse 1 through verse 13 for our Scripture reading. So if you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 1 through verse 13.

In the exposition in these lessons, I will be following the text of the New American Standard Bible, primarily, because in the Old Testament it is more reliable than the Authorized Version and, thus, will save us a little time of correcting the text here and there that needs correcting.

Chapter 16 verse 1, we read.

“Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ “You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you.” So Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to Bethlehem And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” He said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Then it came about when they entered that he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord has not chosen this one either.” Next Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord has not chosen this one either.” Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

Evidently, what he meant by that is we will not sit down to partake of the sacrifice in this sacrificial feast until David comes.

“So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance and the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.”

Incidentally, Samuel had a school of the prophets in Ramah and, later on, David will be there for a while. But this is largely the last time that we hear of Samuel in the story of his life.

May the Lord bless this reading of his word and let’s bow together now in moment of prayer.

[Prayer] Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee and praise Thee for the privilege of opening the Scriptures and reading them and hearing of the ways in which Thou hast moved in the lives of men in the centuries past. We thank Thee for Samuel the Prophet and for that which Thou didst do through him. We thank Thee for David the King and many of the other Old Testament believers in whose hearts and lives Thou didst move and work to the glory of the Triune God.

And we thank Thee today, so many centuries later, we can look back not only upon the Old Testament believers but also now a great crowd of New Testament believers, who’ve been blessed by Thee, who have been used by the Holy Spirit, and who have made it possible for us, also, to hear the word of God and to respond to it through the Spirit, believing in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice for sinners. What a great word it is, to know that we have forgiveness of sins through him. We thank Thee for that. We thank Thee for the other blessings that have been piled upon us by virtue of the love of God for us in Christ. We pray Thy blessing upon the whole church of Jesus Christ today. We pray for each individual believer. And we ask that Thou wilt continue the work of edification, building us up in the knowledge of our Lord and in likeness to him as we look forward to the day when the church shall reach its maturity.

And, Father, we give Thee thanks for this particular assembly of believers, for those who are present here and the visitors who are with us and for those who will come, we pray for each one of them. May as we think and reflect upon all that Thou hast done for us grow in the knowledge of him whom to know is life eternal. We pray Thy blessing upon our meetings of the day. May they exalt our Lord.

And, Father, we also especially pray, as Wilford has exhorted us, for those who have requested our prayers and who need them, who desire to be strengthened for the experiences of life. We pray for the sick, we pray for the ill, we pray for those who are in the hospital and some who are bereaving, also. And we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt in marvelous mercy deal with them. Give healing if it should please Thee and be in accordance with Thy will. We commit them to Thee. O God, work mightily in their lives, and in ours too. We know that it is appointed unto men once to die and we do not have any illusions that the time will come for all of us, if the Lord Jesus does not return. That we, too, shall pass from this existence into the glorious existence of life with Thee.

We pray, Lord, that this may dominate our thinking as we seek to serve Thee in the present time. Help us to be good witnesses of the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We pray for this country, we ask Thy blessing upon it. May, O God, our Triune God protect us as a nation and keep us a nation where we have the freedoms to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. We ask, Lord, Thy blessing upon all of our meetings today, now.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

[Message] The subject, as you might guess from reading the verses that we have read for our Scripture reading, is “Israel’s Divinely Determined King.” For, David was one who was chosen by the Lord God, most plainly, and then became Israel’s greatest king, outside of the King who sits in Heaven at the right hand of the throne of God at the present time.

If we only note two things, they make a study of the life of David desirable. In the first place he is a type of our Lord, Jesus Christ. That is evident as you study the life of David, and then as you look at the New Testament and notice the things that the New Testament has to say about our Lord, it becomes very plain that David is something of an anticipation of the Lord Jesus. For example, when Gabriel was sent to Nazareth to Mary, one of the things that he said about the one who was to come was this, “He will be great, will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.”

In Scripture, it is interesting to notice the parallels between David and our Lord. Both were born in Bethlehem. Both were chosen of the Lord God. Both grew up in relative quietness, David out among the sheep, our Lord at the carpenter’s bench. Both were anointed by the Holy Spirit and both have become kings: David, King of Israel, our Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords, and also, King of Israel.

It’s very interesting, but in Scripture the name David is David’s only. We do not read of anyone else having the name David but David. Isn’t that interesting? That’s one thing that has impressed itself upon me in the past weeks as I thought about this. The name is David’s and yet our Lord is great David’s greater son. So it’s very striking that the name belongs to David only. Joshua’s name belonged to Joshua and our Lord, for Jesus, of course, is the Greek Joshua. But David is David’s own. And our Lord is the son of David. There is one passive possible place in the book of Jeremiah where one can say that our Lord’s name shall be David. But there is a bit of debate about that. At any rate, in Scripture, the name David is David’s alone. The name means beloved and, of course, in that sense, it’s especially suited for David, for he was the man after God’s own heart. And that’s the second thing that makes the study of the life of David desirable. Above all else, if we want to look at that which is pleasing to the Lord, David becomes the prime example of it. In chapter 13 in verse 14, we read:

“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.”

“The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after his own heart.” It is possible that Abram excelled David in faith. It is said, by some, that Elijah excelled David in forcefulness and in the strength of his dedication. It is possible to say that Moses excelled David in fellowship. I’m not sure that that’s true, but it has been said. But none excelled David in versatility.

One of the great expositors of the word of God has said, “Contrast him, for example, with the stern majesty of Moses, austere and simple as the tables of stone; or, with the unvarying tone in the gaunt strength of Elijah. These, and the other mighty men in Israel, are like the rude instruments of music, the trumpet of Sinai with its one prolonged note. David is like his own harp of many chords, through which the breath of God murmured, drawing forth wailing and rejoicing, the clearing of triumphant trust, the low plaint of penitence, the blended harmonies of all devout emotions.” Read the scores of psalms that David wrote, and I think you will see that what Alexander McLaren has said about him is very true.

David’s life is divided in Scripture into several parts. There is his early life in which he was a shepherd, a harper, no doubt, with his harp, which he could carry with him as he followed the flocks. And then, as a champion, how he became that, we do not know except forced to do so by the exigencies of the kind of life that he was living. It was not the kind of life in which he had no trials. We know he had bears and lions to deal with and other wild animals as well. He was a poet, a poet out on the hills of Judah.

The second part of his life was the life of a courtier, as well as an outlaw, in Saul the king’s court, as well as an outlaw. One who was forced out, not because he wished to do so, but forced out by the resentment of King Saul and the jealousy that he had of the young man. While he was a courtier and an outlaw, he lived the life of a minstrelist, for he was Saul’s psychologist with his instrument, he was a soldier, and then also lived in exile.

The greatest part of David’s life we think of as his life in the kingdom in which one might say it’s his royal life, in which he served as King of Israel for so many decades. So these are the three parts of his life, his early life, then as shepherd and harper, the courtean and outlaw life, and finally his royal life as king.

What we want to do in our study, now, is to take a look at what is written concerning his anointing as king. Samuel had anointed Saul as king and Samuel loved Saul. And when it became evident that Saul was not the king that he should have been, Samuel grieved over the fact that the Lord had rejected him. Saul’s failure may have suggested to Samuel a break in the messianic promise program. And so he was concerned about that, not only because of his affection for Saul, but for what it might mean with reference to the purpose of God. But that was only in appearance. Samuel may mourn, but God still works. And that’s the lesson that even Samuel must learn. He’s given a command in the opening verses, “The Lord said to him, Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.”

Now, this was disturbing to Samuel for the simple reason that if he became identified with him, Saul who still had the power, might as he said execute Samuel. So Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me. “And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Now, that might seem at first as if that was something that even the Lord should not do. In other words, it seems to be not the whole truth. Well, it really was not the whole truth; but it was true that he was going to do what he did, and he did do that. So Samuel did just that. He was told that he should invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I’ll tell you what you shall do and you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate for you.

Saul, the modest, unassuming man, with all his failures, still loved by Samuel. He still reflected upon him as the Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar of his day, whose head stood above all the heads of the Israelites, a remarkable physical specimen, and with many failures, nevertheless, many loveable characters. And I can understand how Samuel grieved over Saul. But God said, “I have rejected him.” Rejected Saul? Why? Well, for his haste in offering in chapter 13, the story is told. For the rash vow that he uttered, concerning Jonathan, which had to be taken back. The failure to destroy Agag, when God told him to destroy Agag. In other words, Saul’s failure was simply the failure of disobedience. He did not obey God when God spoke to him.

Many years ago, I heard a well-known evangelist and in one of his sermons he made some interesting statements. He said, “Don’t sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate. And he also said, “The greatest ability is dependability.” Anybody who ever went to Bob Jones University in those days would have known that statement. “The greatest ability is dependability.” And you can always pick out a Bob Jones University graduate, except in this case, if he cites that statement. If he just throws out, “The greatest ability is dependability,” you can be perhaps sure that somewhere or other, he had contact with Bob Jones, well known evangelist of a generation or two ago.

Saul’s problem was just that. He had ability but he did not have dependability. And so, God said, “I have selected a king for myself.” Now, you may remember that Saul was the king that the people wished. They wanted a king like the other peoples have; that’s characteristic of the Christian church, incidentally. I’m not going to dwell on that. But, it’s very true of many Christian churches that they cannot live with an organization that is different from other churches. And so, consequently, they always want to say, “We want to have what the other churches have.”

Israel did not have a king. Why did they not have a king? Isn’t a king necessary? Well, there is a necessity for a king and Israel had a king. But, Israel didn’t realize that they had a king in the true sense. The Lord, God, was the King of Israel. But they wanted someone that they could see.

It’s very much like the pastor of churches. How can you get along in the Christian church world without a pastor? And so, everyone wishes a pastor, like the president of a corporation, who has authority as pastor to carry out the requirements of Christian ministry. But, the pastor in the final analysis, according to Scripture, is simply a person who has a spiritual gift. In the Christian church, the elders exercise rule. Study the New Testament through; it is there. But, we don’t want to study the New Testament through and follow it because everybody else has a pastor. So, we want a pastor.

Well, fortunately for how many years, we haven’t had a pastor. And I’m so glad that we have not been so carried up – carried on, by the desire to be like everyone else that we have been unhappy with the fact that we do not have the pastor, the president of the corporation. So Israel could not be happy with God as their king; they wanted a king of their own, like the nations. And so Saul was man’s king. David became God’s king. And there is all the difference in the world. Man took the initiative in the appointment of Saul as king. If you go back and read some of the chapters here preceding, you can read all about it in chapter 8 in verse 22 for example, just to pick one statement. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice.” In other words, they are continually asking for it and finally now he’s going to give them what they ask for, trying to show them that his king is the best king. “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” “Cause a king to reign for them,” the original text says. So Samuel did what God told him to do and Israel that had so longed for a king like the nations got their king. But it was man’s king; man took the initiative. Now, God takes the imitative, and there is all the difference in the world when God takes the initiative.

Royalty, in one sense, was inborn in David. Now, I don’t mean that in the sense that we use the term inborn, what I mean is that he was prepared by the Lord God, from the beginning and, in fact, David’s life is really an emanation of the one who would come and would be, finally, God’s King.

Think of the family that David had. He belonged to one of the most honorable families in Judah, the foremost tribe of Israel. His ancestor, Nahshon, was prince of the tribe. Another, Salmon, married Rahab, who received the spies in peace. Another, Boaz, great-grandfather of David, married Ruth the Moabitess, a truly consecrated flower of heathendom, turning longingly to the light of divine revelation in Israel, someone has said, who would often speak of them, his father Jesse, and who had attained a good old age. Evidently, the family was relatively prosperous. There were eight sons of whom David was the youngest and two daughters-in-law. And as is often the case in a family, which had such a background, there were noble impulses, noble aspirations. And, furthermore, if you will remember, David was connected by Tamar, Rehab, and Ruth, with the Gentile races. And, as a result, this enlarged his sympathies and accounts for his friendly intercourse with the Gentiles. No prince of Israel was ever on such friendly intimate terms with the heathen about him. It has been said about him. So he had the proper background and as is so often the case in families that have had great experience through generations, there comes along someone who seems to have the qualities that sum up a particular family.

But in addition, and more important than any of that, David had godly training. He was a man of simple piety. He had a mother, we are told, who was a handmaid of Jehovah. We do not know her name. David never mentions Jesse, incidentally, specifically. He never mentions his mother’s name, but twice in his psalms, he refers to her as a handmaid of Jehovah.

So he had a godly father and a godly mother and a long distinguished family background. A distinguished family background, incidentally, not in worldly sense but in spiritual sense. He must have been able to talk about the conversion of Ruth, of Tamar, of Rehab, and others, in specific ways that no one else could. Those stories were told to him, they were ingrained in him.

It’s really true that he was an individual who had this kind of royalty inborn in him, but fundamentally, before all of that, he was what he was, by the grace of God. And he became what he became by the grace of God. It was God and his marvelous grace who first moved in his heart and made him, out on the hills of Judah, the man that he became.

Samuel responds to God’s command. I can imagine that the people in Bethlehem were very disturbed when Samuel came because the prophets in those days had certain importance and power by virtue of their relationship to the Lord. And when Samuel, clad in his mantel, with his white hair flowing over his shoulders, for he was an old, old man then, holding the horn of consecrating oil and driving a heifer for sacrifice, the elders of the city would have been filled with fear when Samuel came because it might have suggested immediately to them that there was something wrong with Bethlehem and God was going to execute judgment. So they were filled with fear and they came, trembling, to meet Samuel and asked him, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “I come in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, a kind of family meal to which they were invited.

Now, in verse 6 through verse 12, God’s king is identified. If Jesse’s sons knew his purpose, and it’s possible they did, Samuel may have said, “I’ve come to anoint a future king.” They made their best appearance possible. And we read in verse 6, “Then it came about: When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” In other words, here is the man, obviously, that God intends to be the king, Eliab, magnificent figure, no doubt quite handsome, big, strong, impressive.

You know, it’s a very strange thing. It’s interesting that Samuel, who has selected Saul, who stood out above all people and has now seen that Saul is really a failure, in the sense that he’s failed his kingship, should now fall for the same kind of thing that Samuel represented. Here, Samuel judges by appearance. That’s the important failure, he judged by appearance again. And he was wretchedly wrong in Saul. You would think that he would be, here, very, very careful not to judge by appearance. But that’s human nature. That’s so human, to think, for example, of an individual because he looks good, he’s impressive, he’s handsome or is beautiful, in case of the females, or he has certain qualities that are on the outside, he has proper education, he has culture, and influence and wealth, all of the kinds of things that influence us to say, this surely is God’s one.

But again, Eliab as we shall see later on, Eliab was surely not the one to be king. So the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I’ve seen this principle so often in my Christian experience, as I’ve looked around among the Christians with whom I’ve been associated, and, of course, I think of the scores of years in which I spent looking at young students in the classroom. Many of them handsome, promising young men it would seem, who now are not only not in the Lord’s work, there’s nothing wrong with not being in the Lord’s work, but who are anything but interested in the things of the Lord. You can see, we never should judge by appearances. The Lord looks upon the heart. And then I think of some who came and you wonder, will they ever be a success in the Lord’s work, and then as the years go by, it’s evident that God has implanted something in their hearts, through grace, that has caused them to be faithful down through the years and to have an effective ministry for our Lord.

What an important text. “Don’t look at the appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” God’s principle.

Now, our judgment is faulty for two reasons. In the first place, we cannot see the heart of a man. And for that reason, we can never know of ourselves. But, also, we cannot see accurately because we are sinners and our own minds are not minds that are like God’s mind. We cannot see inwardly, we cannot see accurately. Strength, beauty, wealth, social position, education, cleverness, refinement, external morality, those are not things that God sees. And so, consequently, mistakes are so often made.

Jacob or Esau? Oh, pick Esau. He’s impressive. He’s a man. And Jacob is a mama’s boy, he’s a sissy. But it’s God’s choice to have Jacob. And when the end of Jacob’s life comes, one sees God’s choice was the right choice. There is no evidence at all that Essau could ever say, as he looked back over his life, I have seen through my experience that the Lord has fit me all the days of my life, as Jacob did.

Or in a Luther and a Erasmus? Who could pick that rough, unruly, coarse Martin Luther, instead of Desiderius Erasmus, the cultured, refined, greatest scholar, greatest humanist scholar of his day. Who would suggest Luther as the man to head the Reformation as over against Erasmus? Or, countless illustrations of this down through the years? “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,” so the Psalmist said. The builders always reject, if they judge by appearance. But God looks upon the heart. He knows in whose heart he has planted the principle of divine grace and it’s that individual who will serve him.

Again, my friend, Bob Jones said, “If you will give God your heart, he’ll comb out all of the kinks from your head.” [Laughter] I always liked that statement. “If you give God your heart, he will comb out all the kinks out of your head.”

Well, you can see what happened. Jesse called in Eliab; he was the oldest, impressive son. Samuel said, “God hasn’t chosen this one.” Then, he called in Abinadab. Samuel says, “The Lord has not chosen this one. He called in Shammah. He said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one.” All seven of his sons passed before Samuel and Samuel finally says to Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t chosen these.” And he said, “Are these all your children?” And Jesse says, “Well, there’s one, the youngest. He’s out tending the sheep.” Later on, Eliab says, “Those few sheep.” So it’s probably a few sheep. It probably was not many. So he’s out tending the sheep and so Samuel said to Jesse. “Send and bring him in for we’ll not sit down to the sacrifice until he comes.”

So he sent and brought him in. Now, he was ready. It’s very interesting. What does that mean? Well, of course, it means some things about his appearance. We’ll save that for just a moment, but the point I want to especially note is that when David was chosen, the people weren’t consulted. As a matter of fact, the people weren’t heeded.

So he comes as he says later on, from the sheepfolds to the kingship of Israel. God magnifying his sovereignty in that. Think of it? Everything pointing the other way, but God says, I have chosen David. Was it unfair? Well, it was unfair in the sense that God had in his wonderful sovereign grace marked out David as the one. Why could not those other sons say, “That’s unfair. I should be the king.” Well, they could have said that. But, my Christian friend, God has the perfect right to do what his will determines to do. Never forget that. That’s precisely the principle that guides him in all of his actions. And when men say unfair, they only reflect the fact that they are not like God. They don’t know the truth as God knows the truth. And they do not act as God acts in truth. So he magnified his sovereignty and he chose David from the sheepfolds.

Saul we meet running around after the asses, in the Book of 1 Samuel. David, incidentally, he never found them. And David we meet out on the hills of Judea with the sheep. And David is the man in whose heart God had planted the divine future for him.

The choice, obviously, was one that had traversed the line of natural precedence, just as God has done in many other cases. He had respect to Abel and not Cain. He had respect to Jacob and not Esau, to Joseph, above his elder brethren, Ephraim was blessed above Manasseh. Moses was set over Aaron. Gideon was the youngest in his family’s house. All of these illustrate the principle of divine sovereignty in the determination of his purposes. So isn’t it interesting? The one who becomes the honored guest at the feast is the one who wasn’t even supposed to sit at the table. He was supposed to stay out on the fields. He was supposed to stay out with the sheep. Not a happy place to be, perhaps. But he was really the principle guest at the table. And Jesse and his seven sons have to sit around and David becomes the one, God’s sovereign purpose.

Now, don’t you know there were people, there were Armenians in those days too, don’t you know there were people standing around who said, that’s not fair. Eliab, he’s the oldest. He’s impressive. He’s smart. He’s strong. He could be a king. And this little stripling? That’s unfair. While the other brothers, that’s unfair. I can see them now. They’re all standing around. They’re there, all down through the centuries, into the present day. That’s unfair! That’s unfair. We know that’s the truth because John Kennedy said, “Life is unfair.” [Laughter] But God’s sovereignty manifested in the choice of David and now David is anointed.

1 Peter 5:6 finds its example. “God exalts the one who is humble.” And so the youngest son, the little stripling, out in the fields is brought in from the fields and anointed and designated as the future king of Israel. He is described as ruddy. That Hebrew word means red haired. It’s the term that was used of Esau, incidentally. He was red. And so, he probably had reddish hair, fair skin. That was a special mark of beauty in the orient since it was exceptional. Most of them were dark and even sallow faced, some of them, like Khomeini. That’s the way he always appeared to me, sallow face but at least dark and swarthy and so he stood out. Beautiful eyes, goodly to look at, the Hebrew text says. A male Sarah or Rachel. Well, I wouldn’t call him a living doll. I wouldn’t call any man that. But he was a handsome young man. But those are not the important things. He was not chosen for that, it’s quite obvious. As a matter of fact, some of the troubles into which David fell were caused by those very things.

Samuel anointed him, anointed him outwardly and God anointed him inwardly; the oil symbolical of power to dispense light, life, joy, and healing. Oil today represents the power to cause us to pay taxes, but then it was different. It was the designation of David for government and it represented the communication of the graces necessary to carry on his task. The viewers may not have realized what was happening here. It’s possible that they thought that he was simply anointed for study in Samuel’s school because Samuel did have a school and later on he did study there. And, in a sense, David was Samuel’s crowning work as a prophet. “And the spirit came mightily upon him.” Enduement with power. And, in David’s case, as it is with us who have the indwelling Holy Spirit permanently, the power of God to exercise patience. For that, being what Paul says in Colossians, is what David must do, now, for a considerable period of time.

Let me just remind you of the lessons, for our time is up.

God’s ways are not our ways. Please remember that. That has application to your life also. God’s ways are not our ways. The things that he does with us are often things that we do not like, or at least things that which we are very surprised. But, his ways are not our ways. God’s preparation for us and the ministry he would have us to have is often in the quiet ways of life. Here is David who keepeth the sheep. That built habits of vigilance we now know. He was grieved in later life when the sheep suffer because of his sin. He says to the Lord God that the sheep are suffering and why should they suffer because “I” am the one who has sinned. And even calls his people his sheep. He had the sense of a true ruler from his experience out on the hills with the animal sheep. And so in this with habits of vigilance built, habits of courage when he dealt with the lions and the bears, and the habits of meditation, it’s likely he wrote such psalms as Psalm 23, Psalm 61, other psalms as he was thinking with his sheep out on the hills under the skies.

It’s also possible he wrote Psalm 19 in which he talks about the heavens declaring the glory of God, the firmament showing his handiwork, and then thinking of the word of God, also, God’s preparation for his king, David, of course, the type of Christ and emanation of his life before he came.

You remember, the Lord Jesus is called in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelation twice, the root of David. Isn’t it interesting what lessons there are to learn from David’s life? If you’re here today and you’ve never believed in our Lord, we invite you by virtue of what David’s greater son has done, in accomplishing the atonement, in dying for sinners, to trust him. May God touch your heart. Come to him. Believe in him, and by God’s grace be brought into the family of God.

Let’s stand for the Benediction.

[Prayer] Father, we are grateful to Thee for the lessons that come to us as we reflect upon the lives of Thy saints as they have lived in the days that Thou didst place them upon this earth. We thank Thee for David, for what Thou didst put in his heart. We thank Thee for the things that we can learn from him. Help us Lord in 1990, to live according to the principles that were revealed so many years ago in the lives of Old Testament worthies. We ask Thy blessing upon us and if there should be someone who has not yet believed in our Lord. We pray that through the Holy Spirit, with whom Thou didst anoint David, they may come to trust in him who died for sinners.

For Jesus’ sake. Amen.