DAY 20: GOD CHOSE DAVID

 THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY

(A DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM)

 

TOPIC: GOD CHOSE DAVID

DATE: 20 SEPTEMBER, 2020

BIBLE READING: 1 SAMUEL 16

MEDITATION/MEMORY VERSE: PSALM 78:70 (CEV)

The Lord God chose David to be his servant and took him from tending sheep.

 

In verse one of our Bible reading, we understand that Saul, whom God had chosen, had been rejected by God as king. The Bible did not record, ‘God rejected him’, but recorded ‘God rejected him as king’. These are two different things; which has become a controversy in the church today. Saul was only rejected as king because when we study our Bible carefully, David still referred to Saul as ‘the Lord’s anointed’ (1 Sam. 24:6).

Saul was rejected as king, just the way Adam too was rejected from the Garden of Eden for a divine purpose (which will be discussed later on our blog). And both were rejected from their position because they failed to acknowledge their mistakes and act by faith that He is a merciful God. So if you check out Hebrews 11, both of them were not enlisted in the Hall of Faith.

Now judging Saul and David with the human scale of judgment, David should not be qualified. But David, unlike Saul, acknowledged his mistakes (Ref. 2 Sam. 11-12), he even went as far as writing and singing his sins in Psalms 51. Even when he sinned again in 2 Samuel 24, and God gave him a choice to make on how he should be punished, he acted by faith because he understood the mercies of God (2 Sam. 24:14; cf. Ps. 25). Truly, this is a man after God’s heart.

When Saul failed God, God raised up David as king over Israel. Why? The answer is encapsulated in Acts 13:22

 

Acts 13:22 ESV

And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

 

God chose David because he was faithful, yielding, passionate for God and the things of God and he was always obedient. Let’s look at the overview background story of David to establish our fact.

In 1 Samuel 13, after Saul failed the test of time, God sought for a man after his own heart (1 Sam. 13:14). Not a man of his heart, because God doesn’t play favourites (Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11). But he sought for a man after his heart- one that is passionate about Him. You may want to ask, “Didn’t He play favourites with Jacob over Esau?” That was not an unfair play; but an expression of His Sovereignty, because He is King. And we discussed that He chose an imperfect Jacob in order to find an expression of His glory. Even all the characters we’ve been discussing all these while are just an expression of His Sovereignty, because His is King; not because of your works, but because of His plenteous grace and mercy.

 And in our Bible reading, verse one, we read, “I [God] have chosen one of his [Jesse’s] sons to be the new king.’ So the man after His own heart have been discovered. We were not told of the life of David beforehand, but we know from scriptures that God took him from tending sheep into the Palace (2 Sam. 7:8), and while he was tending sheep, he put to death lions and bears (i.e. several of them) that came after his flock (1 Sam. 17:34-37). He was also a talented harp player; a musician (1 Sam. 16:18).

So we can say that while he was tending his father’s sheep, he played the harp melodiously. And it was he who said, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel” (Ps. 22:3). So David knew how to invoke God’s presence in his father’s field. He wrote, “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirst for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.” (Ps. 63:1-4 NLT). This must be what God saw in him; a man chasing after his heart in praise. And all what he passed through in his father’s field was his wilderness experience- his leadership training. He had to learn how to protect his father’s sheep and also learn how to kill lions and bears, which he eventually used that skill to kill Goliath.

A humble man won’t give excuses and a proud man won’t give God the glory. God sought for a man who is humble, thankful and capable of ascribing all glory to him, and he found these in just one man (Ref. 2 Sam. 7).

In verse 6 of our Bible reading, Samuel was using the eyes he used to judge Saul’s physique to judge Israel’s next king (1 Sam. 16:6; cf. 1 Sam. 10:24). But God who was seeking for a man after His own heart rejected Eliab (1 Sam. 16:7), and chose the unlikely- one with no physique, a young teenage boy. How God chose a foolish and weak boy to shame the wise and the strong in order for him alone to be glorified (1 Cor. 1:25-29). One has to be spiritual in order to discern God’s choice and anointed. Samuel acted naturally until God called him back to be spiritual. David was spiritual when he restrained his men not to kill Saul because he discerned that God only rejected Saul as king, and so he was still God’s choice (1 Sam. 24:4-7). You have to be spiritual in order to discern god’s choice. Not all whom god had chosen would act like Joseph who ran away from sexual immorality, some might be as carnal as Samson who was a womaniser; yet God’s choice. Apostle Paul when writing to the church in Corinth, he called them ‘sanctified’ and ‘God’s holy people’ (1 Cor. 1:2), yet he called them ‘carnal’ (1 Cor. 3:3) and addressed the issue of sexual immorality amongst the church (1 Cor. 5-7). As spiritual men, learn to discern the body of Christ- God’s choice, and pray for them, instead of judging.

And finally, the other part in Acts 13:22 is that God found in David a man who will do all His will. As God’s chosen vessel, can God testify of you in the court of heaven, just as He testified of David? Or will He reject you from your assignment because of your rebellion and give it to someone else just as how He did to Saul? (2 Sam. 3:18; cf. 2 Sam. 6:21; 1 Sam. 9:15-17; 15:22-26).

 

DECLARATION: I AM CHOSEN! LORD USE ME!

 

FURTHER STUDY: 1 SAMUEL 17