David for King, Anointed

“I will bless the Lord who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.” (Ps 16:7-8) These words of trust and security in God are from today’s responsorial psalm. And I’ll let you in on a little secret: they are part of a biblical mystery. Psalm 16 is one of only six psalms that are known as Miktams of David, but scholars have no idea what the Hebrew word “miktam” means, so that title is simply transliterated directly into the English.

Today, we're kicking off a new message series for the summer. We're calling it “David for King”, and it has a kind of political overtone. That’s because, despite David’s flaws, despite his failures and mess-ups, he was the guy you wanted leading you. The guy you wanted to be king. And during this series, we're going to get to know the boy who defeated a giant, who became king. The guy that Scripture describes as, "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sm 13:14) to give you some context of how David became king, how he became a man after God's own heart, we need to go over a little bit of history. We begin when the Israelites are in Egypt. The Pharaoh has all of them in slavery, and God calls Moses to free them. Moses leads them on a 40-year journey back to the Promise Land. 

Everything was good, actually everything got to be a little too good. The Israelites got a little too comfortable, and that resulted in them becoming self-centered, and things quickly got out of control. And in fact, in the last verse of the Book of Judges, we read, "In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own sight"; (Jgs 21:25) Everyone did what was right in their own sight; and, because of that, they stepped away from God. And because they stepped away from God, they stepped away from His protection. Their enemies picked up on this and took advantage of the Israelites, who soon became discouraged and were feeling defeated. They're upset, they're frustrated. So, they go to the Prophet Samuel, knowing that he's a wise man and loyal to God, and ask him to find a king for them, like their pagan neighbors have.

But Samuel responds, "You don't need a king. God's your king. If you would have just listened to Him a bit more and spent some time with Him… if you’d followed His commandments, you wouldn't find yourself in this situation"(1 Sm 13:13-14) But the Israelites pushed back and insisted that they could really use a king to help wage war against the Philistines.

And so, a frustrated Samuel tells God the situation. And God's response is surprising: "Listen to whatever the people say. They're not rejecting you; they're rejecting me as their king. They are acting toward you just as they have acted from the day I brought them up from Egypt to this very day, deserting me to serve other gods" (1 Sm 8:7-8) This is important, because God, who had rescued the Israelites from slavery, delivered them to the Promised Land, and continuously protected them, was once again being ignored.

But God gives them what they want. And so, Samuel, a little confused but trusting God, goes out and looks for a king, and that's when he meets a man named Saul. Now, Scripture describes Saul like this: "There was no other Israelite more handsome than Saul. He stood head and shoulders above the people"(1 Sm 9:2) Saul looks the part. And not only that, but he acts the part—at least at first, he does. He's a good guy, but he has one major flaw.

Although God has given him this opportunity to lead, he continues to ignore God's guidance on how that should be done. His decisions and actions are based on what he thinks is best, what will work for him, and how he can benefit from it. Like the Israelites, Saul is doing what he sees as right in his own eyes. God eventually reaches his limit with Saul and calls Samuel to confront him. Samuel tells Saul,"You have acted foolishly. Had you kept the command the Lord your God gave you, the Lord would have established your kingship in Israel forever, but now your kingship shall not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart to appoint as ruler over his people, because you did not observe what the Lord commanded you." Saul's reign will soon come to an end, and God sends Samuel out to find a new king. The Lord said to Samuel, "I'm sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, from among his sons I have decided on a king" (1 Sm 16:1) So, the prophet goes to Bethlehem to find Jesse, a sheep herder with eight sons.

Arriving, Samuel tells them that God wants to have a sacrifice and hold a feast. Jesse and his sons attend, and one after another, Samuel looks to find God’s choice, thinking,"All right, God, is this the one? He looks the part.” But God says to Samuel, "Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Sm 16:7) He looks on the heart because he's not impressed with our physical strength, with our intellectual wisdom or financial success. What God wants is our heart. And he's reminding Samuel,"It's about the heart." Finally, with each son rejected, Samuel asks if there is yet another son not present.“Only David, the youngest,” says Jesse, “He’s at home tending to the chores." It's kind of odd to think that one of your sons would be an afterthought. But you see, David's really a no one, just a child, a kid tending to his chores, watching over the flock, not even important enough to be brought to a feast. But Samuel knows now, it's not about what's on the outside that matters. God's going after the heart. And he says to Jesse, "Get David." Jesse had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth with beautiful eyes and good looking. The Lord said,"There, anoint him, for this is the one." (1 Sm 16:12) Samuel immediately anoints him. And what happens next is pretty interesting. Scripture tells us:"And from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David." (1 Sm 16:13) 

And so, begins our story of David. Over the next few weeks, we're going to dive a little bit deeper into his story. But before we go further, I just want to drive home the point that, like Saul, David had flaws. Even though David was a man after God's own heart, he made mistakes. He sinned against the Lord. And when you look at some of those mistakes, you might think that they are worse than what Saul did. But there's a huge difference between the two of them.

The difference between Saul and David was their heart. Saul only cared about what was right in his own eyes; but David wanted to do everything to please God. And that's why, when you read the story of David, you see such pain and anguish, frustration and sadness. Although he let God down and sinned against Him, David loved God and did his best to live a life of honoring God over and over and over again.

You know there are times we all need to remind ourselves that it's not about us. It's not about what's right in my own eyes, but what's right in God’s eyes. It's about what I do for God. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a student, a coach, a CEO, or someone like David, simply not important enough to be brought to the feast, it’s of little difference, you can be in a position to lead. To know whether or not you're worth following, to know whether or not you're a great leader, you have to be able to answer this question, “Are you going after what's right in your own eyes or are you going after God's heart?” If you’re only going after what's right in your own eyes, you’re going to find frustration, you’re going to find jealousy, anger, and depression. If we go after God's heart, we’re still going to make mistakes.

We'll still experience pain, but we're going to be blessed continuously, and people are going to see us as leaders worth following. If we want to have an impact on those around us —our friends, our classmates and employees, coworkers—we need to be someone worth following. And that's someone who knows it's not about them. It's someone who's after God's heart.

How do we go after God's heart? Well, it's simple. It starts by spending time with him and having a conversation with him. It's going to God and asking him to bless everyone around you. Just say, "God, bless everyone around me, but mold and shape my heart. Change my heart to be more like yours."  And if you want a clear picture of what that looks like, then I encourage you to check out the Bible’s Book of Psalms, which was written mostly by David. It's like reading his prayer journal. And there you'll discover a man who had enemies, some of whom he hated. You'll discover a man who had frustrations and questions and sadness and doubt, but he always sought God. He always brought it to God.

No matter what you're facing, no matter who you're dealing with or what you're enduring, you need to bring it to God and ask God to bless that situation and to change your heart, to mold and shape it. Because He will bless you. He will heal you. He will give you the grace and the strength you need to continue to lead. If you want to be the best dad, mom, sibling, classmate, coworker, or leader out there, then you need to seek out God. And it doesn't matter if you've made mistakes, if you're flawed on the outside, because again, it's all about the heart.

Throughout this series, we're going to get to know a man who's constantly after God's heart. And even though David made mistakes, even though life didn't go according to his plan, he was worthy of being king because he made his mission in life to seek out God's heart.

God bless you always, and in all ways!