Our world desperately needs models worth following. Authentic heroes. People of integrity whose lives inspire us to take God seriously, to follow His Word obediently, to pursue Christ passionately.
Thankfully, the Bible places before us a spiritual "hall of fame"—raw, uncensored, gritty stories of men and women sometimes soaring, often stumbling, through the incredible life of faith. They wrestled with sin, experienced God's grace, struggled with weakness, and overcame by faith. Their inspiring biographies have been memorialized in Scripture, not simply because of their faith in God but because of God's faithfulness to them.
These great lives from God's Word not only provide realistic portraits for appreciation but also relevant principles for application.
David refused to repent about his sin until a man of incredible courage and bold honesty stood eyeball-to-eyeball with David and exposed the truth of his deeds and deception. Let's honour that man—the prophet Nathan.
Those of us looking at David's life may use different words to say the same thing about his fatal experience with Bathsheba. We might call it the most distressing episode of David's life; some will see it as an exceedingly dark day; others will lament how the mighty have fallen.
Looking at 2 Samuel 7, we found David enjoying a brief time of relief from the demands of his role as king…an interlude of quietness. Now we find him in a similar context. He was thinking back over his past.
Some experiences in the Christian life are a mystery. Nothing is necessarily wrong or missing in your walk with the Lord, but for some unexplainable reason He places a definite restraint on you. His denial can lead to disillusionment or be used as a cause for continued growth in obedience. David experienced that mysterious “no” at a crucial juncture in his life. Let's see how he handled it.
The chapter of Scripture 2 Samuel 6 involves all that transpired in moving the ark to the capital city and David's response to its presence.
No one has ever known the experience of being promoted from a fugitive to a king overnight. It happened only once in Scripture—to David. With wisdom and humility, the new king took over a new throne because he had the same Lord.
In our study of David, we have come to the crossroads in his pilgrimage from the sheep to the throne…from an Israelite fugitive to the highest office in the land. And it is a death that altered David's direction—the death of King Saul.
Several lessons emerge from the story in 1 Samuel 27 as we learn from David's cloudy days and dark nights.
The story contained in 1 Samuel 25 is extremely practical, showing us the humanity of this great man of God and illustrating the power of a woman who knew how to use her culinary art with wisdom.
After being pursued by Saul all over southern Israel and with the opportunity to take his vengeance, David resisted and offered us a glimpse of what it looks like to turn the other cheek.
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