18. David

Our family love playing ‘Top Trumps’. We’re all very competitive, so it can often end in some sulking! Whether it’s ‘Sports Cars’, ‘Dinosaurs’, ‘Premier League Footballers’ or, my favourite, ‘Gumball 3000’, there’s always a chance; if you can’t trump your opponent’s ‘max speed’, maybe it’ll be the ‘cost when new’, or the ‘0-60’, failing that it could be the ‘BHP’. Each car, great in many departments, but not so good in others. Perhaps that would apply to David in a ’52 Men’ version? Without doubt a ‘Top Trump’, but also with some weaknesses. 

Bible Reading:

David’s story begins in 1 Samuel 16 and runs through to the opening of 1 Kings

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Idea 1: Uncovering the Cover-Up Way before mobile phones, when I was about eleven, I went for a bike ride. I was told not to go too far and to be home by 5pm. At 4.30pm I was still a good eight miles away and knew I’d be in trouble. I decided to make up a story about some ‘teenagers’ who’d pushed me into a ditch and how I’d had to fix my bike to get home. My parents bought it, but quickly it started to unfold; they contacted the local newspaper, who sent a reporter around to interview me, before driving off to photograph the fictional ditch! The story appeared in the next edition and I had to own up.

After David commits adultery with Bathsheba, he goes into immediate cover-up mode. He tries to orchestrate events so that her husband, Uriah, takes responsibility for the pregnancy and when that doesn’t work he gives orders to have him killed on the front lines. The more he tried to hide the problem the worse it became.

• Are you compounding a situation by covering up a sin?
• How about admitting the mistakes and taking the first step towards dealing with them? 

Idea 2: Faith and Courage When we think of David, we think: shepherd, poet, giant-killer, king, ancestor of Jesus, described by God Himself as being a man after His own heart. David was a man who demonstrated his faith and was committed to following God. That faith was tested on a grand scale, and, as we’ve said, he failed at times. However, after his sin he sought and received the Lord’s forgiveness. He loved God’s Law and sought to follow it exactly. 

That relationship with his Father fuelled his bravery in battle. As a boy, while the experienced soldiers of Israel were afraid of Goliath, David’s knowledge and intimacy with God was stronger than the perceived reality of the situation. The strength of his faith outweighed the danger he faced in the natural.

• What can you do to strengthen your knowledge and intimacy?
• Are there some ‘giants’ you’re afraid of?
• Do you feel ‘courageous’ in your faith?

Idea 3: Accepting “No”  How often have you been denied the opportunity to do something you feel best placed to do, only to see a ‘less qualified’ person get the job? Maybe it’s at work, in sport or even at church? David longed to build the temple for the Lord, but God said no and instead gave the job to his son Solomon (2 Sam 7). Sometimes we have to yield our greatest desires to the will of God and be prepared to hear Him deny our request from time to time when they are not aligned with His purpose and plan.

• Do you have a picture of God’s purpose and plan for you?
• What things might you be longing to do that aren’t a part of that plan?
• Are you making the most of the opportunities God does give you?

Action

Knowing that we share much more in David’s failures than in his greatness, be encouraged, like him, by God’s faithful and forgiving nature.