Bible Men: King David: Kingship and Sensitivity

David's heart smote him - 1Sa 24:5 

The Search for the True Man Continues

Sensitive. Men tremble at that word. It is not a beautiful word.  It conjures defeat. It is not a mountain word but a valley one.

But David’s heart smote him.

That is a peculiarly King James Bible word (that book which is alone the word of God and a literary masterpiece). The word roughly means to beat and cause wounds.

One remarkable thing about our forefathers is that they lived the ideal of manhood to the full. They brooked no sensitivity. They fought everything fiercely including the heart. It is only in our age a man can say to his boy, “I love you, son.” My grandpa would’ve spat to the ground for such “nonsense.”

They had no God or hope in the world. So they knew nothing about praise. And without love the heart wilted. They died early because of an overkill of anger and hate.

Nevertheless today’s man is in a different maze. He doesn’t want to become like his fathers. He detests it. But he doesn’t also want to be consumed in the flames of love. It confuses him about his manhood. Fears ravage him. If he speaks his mind he is a chauvinist. If he doesn’t speak he is useless. If he hates he is a bigot and a hater.

But man is human. He feels, he hates and he loves (he judges).  But if he denies the testimony of his own heart he shall never have peace.

He should love to believe God, but he fears for his education. Reason is his refuge but also his jail. He can’t beat or fight because he will be called an abuser. He can’t even beat his own heart or allow it to beat him.

Our fathers took one path and ignorantly died in it. “Wisely” we tread the middle path, but it is a path without convictions. Our fathers paid the price of churlishness; I believe we pay the price of indifference. And to die without a heart usually denotes the beginning of hell.  

David’s heart smote him. We have to feel again. We have to be beaten in the heart without flinching because we are human.

God insisted on the children of Israel to be different in the world. But he also insisted on them learning how to fight. Today’s boy child cannot kill a snake because of mom’s protection. His dad absconded. He also fears his wife. So the boy child lives in a limbo.  

But if we want to be true men I think we have no choice but to be different. God shows how to fight differently. It can be through prayer or his word. Therein is his power.

Have you searched for joy in this life but without success? Try God. His joy will surprise you! “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jer 33:3).  

I think we err to kill humanities because of love of money. I think it is a fruitless search. Money is good, but without the heart we cannot breath.

David was Sensitive: That is why He was Man after God’s Heart

He may have been a king, but he was also constantly aware of his own poverty. “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak.” Today we tell jokes to hide our sensitivity. But that is cowardly. Besides jokes can backfire badly.

But to know that “in me dwelleth no good thing,” to know one’s own proclivity for depravity, that demands deep sensitivity, and it is always to dwell closer to God.

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Ps 139:1

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.  Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Psa 63:1-3 

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Psa 42:1-2 

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psa 29:1-2  

David’s Strength was His God

David was a well-rounded man. He was a “war machine,” but he was also a lover of men and family. He could dance like mad for his God, but he could also cry like a child without shame. Now that is a free man! “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh 8:36). 

Who is your strength?

In the Bible God has given us the perfect example of manhood. He has given us Christ. He also gave us Solomon (and the prophets) to show us the futility of being in love with anything else in this world apart from him. We came from him, and we shall return to him.

Some men aver that Samson broke one chief rule of manhood. He became sensitive. So Delilah’s “love” killed him.

But it’s not that he became sensitive. Rather it is because he became insensitive to God. That is how he lost his strength.

It is the same fate which met King David. While he was running away from King Saul he was very sensitive towards God. But after Saul died and he became king, things eased off. That is how he met Bathsheba, and how he lost his strength. So too followed one of the most insensitive acts of his life.

And David’s heart smote him.

But always there will be things right and things wrong in this life, and to lose that is to lose sensitivity. God did not abolish the manly attributes. He ennobled them. He gave them the coat of beauty and glory. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psa 8:4).  

God picks the rough diamond from the dust and washes it clean. You are that diamond. Have you been washed? I beg you to ask him! He will do it.

 

Bible Men: King David: The Suffering King

“but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death”  1Sa 20:3. 

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psa 23:1 

David Never Walked Alone

That God was behind him in everything he encountered in life was David’s greatest belief and strength.

God was a real person to him. He was his life. Do you know a God like that? It may take time to come to that sort of acknowledgement, but when it does no one is ever left in doubt that a threshold has been crossed.

He was a shepherd boy watching over his father’s flock but always he knew there was a greater Shepherd watching over him day and night.

The wilderness didn’t just happen to be his favorite haunt, it was sent, the green pastures didn’t just sprout, nor the trickling streams, and the overcast skies, they were sent. So when he lay down at night David knew it was God who sent and God who took. Even the words which flew to his mouth at the touch of his harp were sent by God and not a human being!  

I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. Psa 3:5   

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. Psa 4:8 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Psa 23:2 

The Anointing to Hardship

David got anointed to be king at childhood. God gave Abraham a dream. Rise up and leave. Abraham clutched onto that dream day and night. But he arrived in Canaan only to be sent to Egypt! He dreamt of plenty only to find a famine in the land. Had God lied?

No! Abraham believed God. He hoped against hope but the luster of his dream never faded. Why? Because he believed!

So David’s leap from the hinterland to the palace had backfired? No, David believed! Are you a believer? It pays to believe! “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6). 

God Must Be Crazy!

 This loving God. This “crazy” God. Who could give up such a “crazy” love? Moses had begged God to leave him alone once but God refused. Have you ever imagined what might’ve happened to Moses if God had listened to him?

That’s how obsessive our God can be! And who can dare lose such a God? So David knew. His troubles were merely accoutrements for his wilderness song!

Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. Psa 33:3  

I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. Psa 144:9  

It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. Psa 144:10 

So David’s entire life was knit around worship. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.”

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psa 23:3 

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psa 103:1-5   

Loneliness is a terrible affliction, but even that was sent. Compounded with life in the wilderness, and forever fleeing his enemies, David knew the pangs of sorrow from childhood. That had to happen so that he might know without doubt that God loved him. Do you see God in your own sorrow? “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved” (Psa 62:5-6).  

So David learnt quite early that God’s anointing is really anointing to hardship. His anointing was only a precursor to the future anointing of the suffering servant. And Jesus is a descendant of David. Beloved, have you learnt only to expect good and not evil from the Lord?

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 1Pe 4:12-13,16  

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Ps 23:4-5 

And so we believe, and so we praise! Because we judge him faithful who hath promised.

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Heb 13:5-6  

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2Pe 1:3-4 

God is Patient, Gentle and Loving

And when eventually he became king David had no doubt that it was the gentleness of God which had made him thus (Ps 18:35). It is the gentleness of God which is still keeping us this day – and forever!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Psa 23:6  

 

I pray you believe that. I pray you feel really crazy about that!