David & Saul

 

The Bible commends David, not once, but twice, as, “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22).

What does this mean? Without over-analyzing, it means God desired wanted someone to be in tune with his will, someone who would pursue after him with a desire to know him. The Bible makes it clear that this was David.

But why is David given such honor, when his life was filled with multiple significant sinful acts? And why was God so forgiving of David, but so impatient with King Saul?

Sovereignty and Foreknowledge?

One attempted explanation is to assert God’s sovereignty. It is certainly true that God does what he pleases for reasons of his own, but this could be applied to anything God does, or doesn’t do. But let’s not be lazy. We can arrive at God’s sovereignty after careful study, but not before.

Another argument can be offered that God knew that David would be a better choice than Saul, thus dismissing him from the kingship after his transgressions, While God has the ability to look ahead in making his decisions, he is not obligated to do so. This also is an unsatisfactory conclusion.

These two men’s lives are detailed in the Bible for our benefit. There are many things we can learn from their behaviors and God’s responses. To be a person after God’s own heart is to aspire to know who God is and devote yourself to his will and way.

Saul’s Career Limiting Action #1

1 Samuel 13:1-14: Saul was instructed to wait for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice before going to battle. Samuel was late. Saul took it upon himself to perform the ceremony.

Was it such a bad thing that Saul did? Consider that Saul’s army had no weapons. They were badly outnumbered, and shrinking through desertion daily. From a human perspective, Saul’s actions might even be construed as decisive leadership.

But look deeper. Do you think Saul’s explanation in v11-12 was the truth? Or was he desperate to establish himself in leadership? Saul was using human methods to attempt to achieve spiritual victories. See Zechariah 4:6. Like Gideon, Saul needed God’s intervention to fight the Philistines. Nothing he did on his own would have made a difference.

Contrast Saul’s actions with David’s in 1 Samuel 30:1-8. When the situation was dire, Saul relied on himself; David enquired of God.

Saul’s Career Limiting Action #2

1 Samuel 15:1-26: Saul was instructed to eradicate the Amalekites. He kept the best, and destroyed the rest. When confronted, he offered up numerous excuses until informed he would no longer be king. By then, it was too late for forgiveness.

What was Saul’s motivation for saving the spoil and keeping the king alive? The first seems rather obvious – simple human greed. As for the enemy king, it was not unusual to treat the conquered king as a trophy (Judges 1:1-7). It brought glory to Saul, but in direct disobedience to God’s command.

At the heart of Saul’s classic rationalization responses was a disregard for what God had instructed him to do. God’s Word was just one of a number of options. His heart was not tuned to obeying and pleasing God.

Then There’s David

Traitor: 1 Samuel 21 & 27; he defected to the Philistines on two separate occasions.

Treasonous: 1 Samuel 28; he was prepared to fight against his own country.

Adulterer, Deceiver, Murderer: 2 Samuel 11

2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21: he numbered Israel, motivated by pride. Numbering was intended to place faith in his army, rather than God.

What’s the Difference?

We saw Saul’s attitude when confronted with his actions. Compare to David:

1 Samuel 24:6: David had a chance to kill Saul, but instead took a trophy of his clothing. Then he felt guilty, because God had set Saul up as king, and David felt he had no right to rebel against him. Romans 12:19

2 Samuel 24:10: David felt guilt for numbering Israel

2 Samuel 12: When confronted with his actions toward Uriah and Bathsheba, David instantly confessed.

David was not an elevated creature or ascended master. Neither was he a soft-spoken sissy. He was an accomplished warrior, with a long history of waging bloody campaigns against his enemies. And, as evidenced by the Psalms, his heart was in constant pursuit of God. He questioned God’s ways. He argued with him. He pondered the ways of God. He had a relationship with God, and when he sinned against him, it mattered.

It is not the mistakes we make that grieve God’s heart and separate us from him. We are dust, and he knows that. It is the rebellion; the rationalizing; the self-justification; the ignoring; the displacing of him in our hearts. Just as in human relationships, it takes effort and desire to know someone. That’s what God wants, and that’s what David did. Saul just didn’t care.

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What Are You Saying?

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

What is “corrupt communication”? It’s rotten, or worthless speech. Is that a little vague? It’s the opposite of edifying (building up); it’s the opposite of gracious speech.
We need to pay attention to the words that come out of our mouth, or that flow from our fingers. Followers of Christ are called upon to use their words to build each other up, not tear down. This is not being cheesy and fake. This is part of a daily strategy to seek good, and pursue it. Look for the best in people, especially fellow Christians.

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5:3-4)

Foolish talking is silly talk. Unsure what that means? Well, it’s the opposite of expressing thanks for what you have. We are instructed in Scripture to give thanks in everything, because it’s the will of God.

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (Colossians 3:8-9)

Filthy communication is “vile”. It’s the opposite of speaking truth with one another.

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:6)

We are commanded to be gracious in our speech, flavored with practical wisdom.

This does not preclude us from standing for truth, speaking against sin, or even speaking truth to power. Christians actually do a poor job articulating truth and righteousness because they do not obey the clear commands of the Bible. We can be bold and gracious. We can speak truth without rotten words. We can be direct without being vile. We need to learn this, and we need to practice it.

We are The Church Where You Live, a Christ-centered church meeting every Sunday at 10:30 AM at Grove City Christian Academy, 301 N Madison Ave, Grove City PA. We would love to have you visit us. Just reply to this post or email us at thechurchwhereyoulive@juno.com.

What Does Faith Look Like?

Faith in action is misunderstood by many today because of incomplete Scriptural understanding or outright deception. Let’s look at a simple example in the Book of Daniel to see what faith looks like in real life.

Daniel 3 records the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the burning fiery furnace. Read until you get to verses 16-18:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 

At this moment, Scripture informs that there’s nothing to indicate that these three friends are certain they will be saved. They declare and have complete confidence that God CAN save them. But if God did not deliver them, they remained steadfast that they would not disobey God’s Word by bowing to an idol.

They did not have faith in a particular outcome. They did not demand of God or “confess” that he would save them from the furnace. Rather, they had complete faith that they were in God’s hands.

This event illustrates what faith looks like in real life. These three men knew God COULD save them, but also rightly recognized that God is not bound by man’s words, but by his own desires. He chose to save them from the furnace, for the same reason that God does (or does not) do anything – to bring glory to himself.

It not about us. It’s all about him.

We are the Church Where You Live, a New Testament church focusing on Jesus Christ.  We meet in the Mercer – Grove City area. If you’re interested in meeting with us, reply to this post or email thechurchwhereyoulive@juno.com.