David’s Story.

King David’s Story is not a fable. He was a historical person whose life pointed to Jesus, the coming King and Messiah of Israel.

David’s Story – Pursuing and Being Pursued

David has a story. It is not like an Aesop fable with little lessons like “Little Guys can Beat Big Guys”.
It looks look higher, deeper and further ahead, because King David’s story points to the story of the
greater King Jesus, David’s Lord.

We could title his story “Pursuing David”. David always seems to
be pursuing or being pursued: Goliath pursued David for evil. Jonathan pursued David with brotherly
kindness. David pursued Mephibosheth in love. Saul pursued David to kill him. David pursued
Bathsheba in adultery. David pursued Uriah to murder him. Nathan pursued David to confront his
sin. Absalom pursued David to take his kingdom.

But the most important pursuit of David was by God:

The LORD has sought out [pursued] a man after his own heart.

1 Sam 13:14

David and Other Main Characters

Another way to learn about David is to look at the main characters and whether they loved or hated
David: Goliath – Giant against juvenile; sling blade against sling shot. Goliath had only ridicule and
hate for David. Jonathan – Jonathan loved David, whose name means beloved; just about
everybody loved David. Saul – Saul was one of the few who hated David.

If I had a nickel for every time Saul pointed his spear at David … well, I’d have a bunch of nickels. Mephibosheth – Lame and scared, Mephibosheth discovered love from David where he expected revenge.

Bathsheba – What a twist in the meaning of love when David spotted Bathsheba from his rooftop. Absalom – David never found a way to love Absalom. We can hear his regret in words: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you.”

The Main Characters – David and Jesus

Then we come these main characters in David’s story: David and Jesus. In the New Testament,
David is linked to Jesus from beginning to end:

Matthew 1:1 states, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

and in Revelation 22:16 we read,

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

Revelation 22:16

The first epistle in the N.T. states immediately, in Romans 1:3

“Concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh.”

Romans 1:3

David’s Battle With Goliath

David’s battle with Goliath is the underdog story that has inspired 100’s of stories of a little guy
overcoming big odds or the big guy: In history, William Wallace, outnumbered five to one. In Fantasy
Literature: Frodo Baggins, in The Lord of the Rings stated:

“A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.”

In movies, Rocky Balboa, a nobody, defeats the world champion. But that is not the big lesson we need to take from David in the valley of Elah. The main point is not that David beat a giant and so can we. He was there to fight for God’s honor. Most of the Israelites took Goliath’s trash talk as defying Israel (1 Samuel 17:25), but David saw that he was defying the
living God (1 Samuel 17:26).

And in spite of his heroics, David makes it clear who gets the credit:

“The Lord …will deliver.”

That is what I need to do – stand up for Jesus, stand up for God’s honor, not
because I am strong, but because “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”

(1Samuel 17:37)

In what ways are you like David?  Contact us at HopeStreamRadio,  or comment below.