Lessons From the Life of King David

David is Israel’s greatest and most famous king.  His success and legacy as king and ancestor to Jesus is the work of God, as God declares, “I took you from the pature, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.  And I have been with you wherever you went…”  (2 Sam 7:8-9a, ESV).  With so much written about David and by David in the bible, the reader has the privilege of seeing a leader grow through circumstances and different roles.  David is a man and leader who models so many good qualities for today’s leader to study.

College basketball teams often play unknown, small, insignificant teams in the pre-season.  These games are designed to get a few wins under their belts and help them gain some momentum, experience, and trust in their teammates.  Biblical counselors often attack small issues first before dealing with real deep-seated issues of the heart so that the student can experience the efficacy of scripture and faith in their lives.  Confidence and trust and hope in God are built before dealing with addictions or other strongholds.  This process also allows the coach to train and equip his team.  It allows the counselor to give theological and biblical training to the student.  God did the same with David.

What would make a young shepherd boy have the courage to face a seasoned, strengthened, skilled soldier like Goliath of the Philistines?  To take on such a man was not even within the foresight of Israel’s best soldiers.  They all ran and hid  (1 Samuel 17:24, ESV).  David had a different perspective.  His perspective was gained from a knowledge of history and theology.  His perspective was also gained from personal encounters as a shepherd.

David says in a sense of incredulity and outrage, “…who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God…”  (1 Samuel 17:26, ESV).  The rest of the army had noticed Goliath’s physical size.  Standing a head and torso taller than David, he noticed another detail: Goliath was not circumcised.  And since the uncircumcised soldier was challenging God’s own army, David theologically surmises that God will have none of it.  David has learned his bible lessons well and is willing to put his knowledge to use.

David also has experiential training.  He says to Saul, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine”  (1 Samuel 17:37, ESV).  As a shepherd, David had taken his role as protector seriously.  When challenged by a lion, David killed the lion.  When challenged by a bear, David killed the bear.  But David recognizes the source of these victories.  David was not superior.  God was superior.  David’s perspective was of an all-powerful God who was faithful to the covenant he makes with his people.  The sign of this covenant was circumcision.  David was circumcised.  Goliath was not.  Let’s fight.

The humorous counterpart to this whole scene is David’s response to his brothers when they give him trouble for asking about Goliath.  He sounds like a child when he says, “What have I done now?  Was it not but a word?”  (1 Samuel 17:29, ESV).  It’s as if God intends to remind the bible student that David’s faith was a child’s faith.  And God rewards such faith.

David is victorious.  The victory over Goliath kicks off a lifetime of growth and change for the boy.  David will undergo trials that develop in him faith, perseverance, fortitude, wisdom, and many other distinguishing traits of a leader.

David learns to serve an impotent and irrational king who seeks to kill David (1 Samuel 19).  Saul becomes crazed that he is no longer the popular leader.  David is loved by the people, he is celebrated, he is liked.  This angers the king greatly  (1 Samuel 18:1-8).  Saul is prideful and self-consumed.  He is insulted.  Saul also realizes that God had abandoned him and was now with David (1 Samuel 18:28-29).  The king is now angry, hurt, and afraid of David.  Such a dangerous mix leads Saul to become murderous.  For David, the challenge is immensely complex.  Saul is his king, to whom he owes honor.  Saul is his father-in-law, to whom he owes respect  (1 Samuel 18:21).  Saul is his best-friend’s father, to whom he must be grateful and generous  (1 Samuel 18:1-3).  But Saul is also seeking to kill David, the anointed future king of Israel  (1 Samuel 18, 19).

Such a crucible is the source of some of David’s greatest psalms.  David learns to worship in the midst of struggles, as will be exemplified later.  He learns to have strength in God when he is weak.  He learns to be gentle and kind but also strong and cunning.  David becomes the leader of a motley crew of rebels, malcontents, debtors, and mercenaries   (1 Samuel 22:2).  They compose a makeshift army that could easily have become a marauding band of brutes and outlaws.

But instead, under the leadership of a former shepherd, they become a national guard for local farmers and ranchers (1 Samuel 25:7).  This time must have been a challenge–teaching people from different walks of life to get along is not an easy task.  Much more difficult is the task of training them to work as a team, to watch each other’s back, and to move as one unit with one mind.  David was gaining skills that would serve him well as king.  He was also grooming his leadership for when he took office.

David had opportunities to kill Saul.  He had the opportunity to stop running for his life and take by force the throne that God had promised him.  But David spares Saul for the respect of the throne and the Lord  (1 Samuel 24, 27).  Such a character-a fear of the Lord-creates a heart receptive to God’s wisdom.  Proverbs says, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction,”  (Proverbs 1:7, ESV).
   
David was always a man of worship.  He was a man of God who kept his eyes on the Lord.  There were times of sin, even great sin, but God was faithful to David.  He led David to repentance and to restoration.  He blessed David through his sin and kept his covenant with David.  Psalm 23 is a great representation of his faith.  Since he refers to enemies, David most likely wrote the psalm later in life.  He still thinks in terms of a shepherd, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,”  (Psalm 23:1, ESV).  Yet he has experienced times of great fear and potential peril, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”  (Psalm 23:4, ESV).  God is David’s shepherd and his protector.  A king who is not dependent on his own strength but on the strength of God is a great king.
   
David’s commitment to God is physically evident in his life’s project: the construction of a temple.  David seeks to build a palace for the Lord.  But God does not permit a man of bloodshed to construct it.  So David makes all the preparations for his son, Solomon, to implement.  The temple is designed and planned, the materials are prepared, and the funding secured before David dies  (1 Chronicles 22-26, 1 Kings 5:5).  He is a leader who is ready to pass on a functioning, vibrant nation and entrust it to God and the man whom God has chosen to lead.
   
David’s life is opened for the Bible student.  So much occurred during his life that cannot be included in the scope of this essay.  His strengths, weaknesses, sins, and triumphs are laid out as a model of what God does with his children: taking each one from infancy to glory.  Every leader should be growing, changing, and becoming more and more in tune with God like king David.