5:1 David began his life as an underdog in everyone's eyes except for God's. Through David's faith, God was able to build a humble, strong, compassionate and able person. David naturally followed the life advice we receive in the New Testament.
1 Peter 5: 5-11
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
As each of the tribes of the children of Israel approach David to anoint him as king, we see God's orchestration come beautifully into place. God saw potential in David from the beginning. In the middle of crisis and defeat, God saw potential in David. When nobody, not even David, could envision a future in which he would be redeemed from his troubles, God saw potential in David. And now God hands David the opportunity at last to serve him not just as a soldier any longer but as a king: As a man who would implement the word of God on hundreds of thousands of people; As a man who would be an ancestor of the messiah.
And do not think that God will not crown you too. It is God's most favorite work to anoint the underdog, the broken one, the orphan. There are many ways to be kings and queens on this earth. And by following the advice of the scripture above, we are anointed by God to do great and important work while we are here on earth.
5:2 Suddenly the people remember David's courageous work on their behalf against the Philistines. People are fickle. The children of Israel flit from leader to leader. They celebrate their leaders one day and curse them the next. The choose the wrong people to lead them and torment the right ones. But God is steadfast in His support of you. Through your growth, trial, error and accomplishment He is cheering for you. He is actively building the conditions you need to climb and achieve. And when nobody else can envision you in a place of position and influence, even perhaps yourself, in those precise moments God is fitting that place to your specifications.
5:3 In Hebron, David is anointed king of Israel. David understands what the position means even if everyone else does not. David understands that any position of influence given by God is a responsibility to do God's work. David is a servant, and happily. Neither Saul nor Ishbosheth understood their kingship as a responsibility to serve. This crowning was not an opportunity to serve themselves or the children of Israel but God. God who has all of their best interests at heart as well as the wisdom and means to make it reality.
5:4-5 We learn that David was thirty years old when we began to reign and that he reigned for forty years. During his kingship, he reigned from Hebron for seven years and six months. From Jerusalem, he reigned thirty three years.
5:6-7 So David began to work. It was decided that it was time to claim the land of Jerusalem from the Canaanites. The people of Jerusalem scoffed at David, believing the conquest of the city to be impossible. And perhaps it is, for a man. But David and God, you and God, make a majority than cannot be defeated or held back.
5:8 For David, there is no room in this life for people who are blind to God's word and lame, lazy, when it's time to do His work.
5:9-10 David made Jerusalem his city, his stronghold. And he was able to have it and retain it because God remained with him. God remained with David because David remained with God. We learn here that David became great. David became great because he became (and never stopped being) a student of God, an instrument of His will.
5:11-12 A home is built for David as king. David sees the construction of the house as approval from God of his work. David does not see it as something he is entitled to, or some piece of art of respect of beauty... he sees it as God approving of his servitude. For David understands that if he were not building up God's word among humanity, any house or position of his would be deconstructed rather than built.
But God's powerful and compassionate love is not only for David. It has been in God's heart to find a righteous and capable leader for the whole body of the children of Israel. He rescued them a long time ago and has been working tirelessly to keep them safe. The appointment, anointment, of David as king is God's way of providing something the children of Israel desperately needed: leadership. Leadership by a person who would not abuse their rights. Leadership by a person who knew where to lead because he knew Who to follow: God.
5:14-16 More of his children are named here: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
5:17-19 The Philistines learn of David's anointing as king and pursue him. True to his faithful nature, David looks to God for a defensive or offensive plan against the opposition. The children of Israel continue to be a target because the work sees them as small and weak. Without God, they are. But because of David's righteous reign, they are not without God.
We might be small but we are not insignificant when we are aligned with God. We might be weak but when we are weak, He blazes through us with strength, 2 Corinthians 12:10. God chose a tiny, weakened group in Deuteronomy 7:7, to show the work just how powerful humility and righteousness is... how it defies the powers of the world's ways.
Go up, God says, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand. Without doubt, you can expect that God will deliver you the victory over whatever opposition is in your life. Consult Him, as David did. Serve Him, as David did. When you ask Him: Lord will you help me?" He answers: "Of course I will. And doubtless, we will win."
5:20-21 David never forgets who delivers his victory. David does not claim any piece of the win, he rightly gives all due credit to God. God who breaks through our enemies like water. He remains humble. He remains awed by God's impressive and generous defense. David has a bond with God, a deep and strong relationship. It's personal. Intricate. Made strong by steadfast faith and gratitude. Love. On both sides. It's student, teacher. It's Father, son. It's spirit to Spirit. All in one.
5:22 The Philistines continue their pursuit, as evil wastefully does. Evil is not wise. It pursues a force it cannot beat out of arrogance and foolishness and greed.
5:23 David asks for and receives God's advice to soundly defeat the Philistines.
How does God transfer that wisdom into us? Through the channel of our faith. The deeper, wider, more receptive our faith is to His will, the bigger and more clever are our blessings. Through our experiences, thoughts, feelings and circumstances God places wisdom we do not have into our hands. When we do not see a staircase, He makes one. When we do not see an exit, He creates one. When we do not have an ability He forms one. He is a creator through and through.
It's important the remember we are always in a classroom with Him. Each moment is a lesson, a heart to heart conversation, a sharing of reaction and emotion and thought. Because as long as we are sitting there before Him with a righteous heart and a humble enough disposition to actually learn, He is doing great work within us. And maybe you do not know how to skillfully defeat the "Philistines" in your life right now but you will. He's always going to make you smarter, faster, craftier than your enemy.
5:24-25 God joins David and the army on the battlefield. He's not just the mastermind, He soldiers with them. With us. With you. He is working right alongside us. He is in deep, wholly committed. He's got callouses on His hands too. He is joined in this effort against injustice because He started it. He finishes it, too. We're the bow that shoots the arrow, He's the One who stretches out the effort; He's the One Who aims. And our God is precision itself.
