King David's Choosing, Annointing, and Proving
In this lesson we are introduced to one of the main characters of the Bible, David, son of Jesse, great grandson of Ruth and Boaz, ancestor of Jesus. He is extremely important in the Old Testament and the history of Israel. His time as king was sort of the pinnacle of Israel as a nation.
But, David is not a role model, not really. He does love God and seeks God’s heart, but he is often led by his anger, emotions, and hormones in destructive ways. He is not a good father or husband, not really. He is more of a warrior than a wise king. He makes a lot of mistakes, is very charismatic, and humbles himself before God. His posture toward God is always worship. In short, he is very human.
I do not want to allegorize or spiritualize David. I don’t want to say, “See, David did this, so we should do that.” Or “David did bad, don’t do bad.” We already know that. The Bible is about how we should be like Christ, not any other character. The story of David is valuable because it advances the story of Israel and thus of Jesus Christ.
So I am going to teach July 3 and 10th lessons today, but focus on the application.
I. David being chosen. Passages I Sam 16:1-23.
A. Saul rejected for disobedience and irreverence: past lessons: foolish oaths and disregard for life; Amalekites and Agag; sacrificing. Leads to mental illness/punishment from God (discuss).
B. Clearly, the Israelites needed to look for a different kind of leader.
C. Where are we with finding a pastor?
D. The process of finding David—not the obvious.
E. Why David? Youth? What do we wish we knew then we know now? Youth is wasted on the young.
F. Leads to mental illness/punishment from God (discuss). Why would God send an evil spirit? Is mental illness ever from Satanic forces? What was Saul’s problem? Unconfessed sin?
II. David and Goliath. Read it. I Samuel 17
A. Why do we love this story? Do most people even know where it is?
B. The details that stick out to you.
C. What do you take away from it?
David is “already but not yet” fully king of Israel. In a sense, in this age, Jesus his descendant is already but not fully yet King. How is this true? It’s something of a mystery. We make Him king in our hearts and lives by choice, living up to the reality, while nonbelievers are still allowed to live by a different choice. We both experience consequences. The blessings of following Christ and the consequences that some will oppose us, as Jim Shaddix has been preaching. The consequences of eternity without God.
The eternal reality is that the Lord Jesus Christ will be King. I really don’t think we unpack that. Rather than thinking of ourselves floating on clouds with harps or going to the fishing hole, the book of Revelation is pretty clear that we are looking forward to a “political” environment where Jesus is King. That means we don’t have elections and we don’t have talk radio and debates. We won’t need lawyers or the Supreme Court to decide the justness of laws. They will be just. But we also won’t have freedom of speech in the way we think of it today, to dissent, because there will be no reason to dissent. There won’t be a royal family. Just a king, and the “law will be written on our hearts” so we will desire obedience and worship. I have a bit of trouble wrapping my head around this kind of system because we are so entrapped by sin. A kingdom would only work with a perfect King and contented followers.
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