In continuing in this blogs series on The Impact of Calling we find ourselves at part two. This blog will be dedicated on David who was a man after God’s own heart. I specifically want to start at the beginning of David’s story being his calling before he became the king of Israel.
The calling of David, is a great story that holds many valuable lessons for us. It is remarkable reading the impact of calling in David’s life and see his great faith and victories in God. However, just like many patriarchs, prophets, judges and us, David was human and had some not so great moments that were pretty low. I want to start from the beginning of David’s story in 1 Samuel 16 where he is anointed as the next king of Israel. At this time in David’s life he served his father Jesse in being a shepherd.
Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.” But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” “Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me.”
So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?” “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.
When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.” Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.” “Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.” So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.
1 Samuel 16:1-13 NLT
Now Samuel was a prophet being one who shares messages from God to his people. We read of how God rejected Saul as king because he had not been loyal to God and refused to obey his command. So God instructs Samuel to anoint a new king and that man was David.
Now we read in verse 13 that after Samuel anointed David with the oil. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. So the Spirit of God left king Saul because of his disobedience and came upon David because of his obedience.
Now many of us, including myself would imagine that since David has been anointed as king he gets a direct pass straight to the palace and boom, he is the king of Israel. But that was not the case, so what happens? David goes back out to the fields watching the sheep and goats. As one pastor writes…
David had been marked by God, but it was not God’s timing for him yet to be the next king of Israel. See, David was anointed before he was positioned.
Michael Todd
David was anointed to be the next king of Israel, but until God’s timing is perfect, he has to go back with the sheep and goats. Many of us want to know God’s calling in our lives like yesterday, we constantly seek to know what will he have us do? Here God reveals his calling to David, but it is not time yet for that calling to be fulfilled. Have you ever experienced God’s calling on your life, but after God reveals it to you he says, no not yet, it’s not the right time. This is the position we find David in.
So David went back to the last thing that God had called him to do by spending time in the presence of God in serving him faithfully as being a shepherd for his father Jesse. There’s a lesson here for all of us, if you are unsure and do not know what God is guiding and leading you to do, then do the last thing that God told you and go spend time in his presence. A believer who recognizes God’s calling in their life who is deeply confidant and committed to seeing His will be done, is a believer who can accomplish great things by God’s gracious power and mercy.
However, that got me thinking about Jesus as he was a descendant of both David and Abraham which indicates Jesus’ royal origin. In Matthew 17 we find Jesus responding to the disciples question to him in private when they ask…
“Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
Matthew 17:19-20 NLT
In these verses, the expression “don’t have enough faith” is synonymous with no faith. Faith even as small as a mustard seed means that if the disciples had even very little faith they would be able to accomplish great things. It could also mean that if they would allow their faith to grow, they could act with courageous belief. Furthermore, moving mountains is a saying for overcoming obstacles and fulfilling God’s purposes.
Jesus drives this point home further only a few chapters later in Matthew 21 in regards to Jesus cursing the fig tree. Starting in verse 20 we read…
The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Matthew 21:20-22 NLT
Here Jesus was exhorting the disciples to trust in God and to pray accordingly. He was not offering God’s unconditional endorsement of all that they might desire. Jesus focuses in on the importance of having faith and trust so that they may overcome any obstacle even the size of a mountain in making it disappear into the sea. If you have faith and trust, you can pray for anything that advances the Kingdom of God, and you will receive it.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
God is looking for a heart posture, not a plan from you or I.
Michael Todd
Coming back to David, remember, he was anointed before he was positioned. He does not give God his plan or his version of what should happen following his anointing, he has faith and trust in God so he goes back to being a lowly shepherd. Later in chapter 16 we read that king Saul is experiencing a tormenting Spirit as a result of Saul’s disobedience. So Saul’s servants are decide to look for a good musician to play the harp for Saul whenever the tormenting spirit causes him trouble and with the good, gentle and soothing music he will be well again. Then one of the servants tells Saul that he knows one of Jesse’s sons who is a talented harp player. Not only that – he is a brave warrior, a man of war, and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him. So Saul sends for David and he serves Saul and he is very pleased with his service. Whenever the tormenting spirit would bother Saul, David would play the harp and Saul would feel better and the tormenting spirit would go away.
In the next chapter of 1 Samuel, David obeys his father in taking some food out to his brothers and their captain as they are fighting on the front lines. While he is there, David sees Goliath who is a giant warrior that would come out to the front lines and taunts the army of Israel like he had been doing for every day for the past forty days. (Sound familiar? The number forty generally symbolizes a period of testing or trial).
David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”
1 Samuel 17:26 NLT
Immediately following this, David is met with a sharp and critical tongue from his older brother Eliab who overheard David’s inquiry (perhaps he was still resentful that David, rather than he was anointed to be the next king of Israel?). Then Saul tries to talk David out of it, but where Saul lacked in godly courage, David excelled in godly courage. David steps up to the plate and says I’ve got this, he saw a faith opportunity. See David had been faithfully serving God in being a shepherd in taking care of the sheep and goats. David was prepared for this moment. Several verses later we see David’s response to Saul.
But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”
1 Samuel 17:34-37 NLT
Long story short, David kills Goliath with a sling and a stone and kills him in the name of the Lord of Heaven Armies. David was prepared for Goliath because he trusted in God. Up to that point, he had been faithfully serving the Lord as a shepherd in facing lions and bears in protecting the flock. He recognized it was the Lord who rescued him and kept him safe in facing them. A question that came to me was, “Are we prepared for the Goliath in our lives?” Do we trust in God so that when the Goliath comes, we faithfully believe that it will be the Lord who rescues us? Are we prepared to step out in faith to trust God so that when the opportunity, the impact of calling arrives and stirs in our heart and spirit, we will boldly step forward as David did?
Fast forward into David’s future from this point he eventually does become king after a lot of stuff takes place in his faith journey. But he would not have been able to achieve this on his own, he had faith and believed that God was at work and would use him to further his kingdom.
In closing this blog out, the question I want to pose to you is the following. “Do we have faith and believe that God is at work in our lives and that He wants to use us to further his kingdom?” We are saved by God and then in turn called by God to go and be his feet to spread the Good News to all nations and all peoples so that they might know that God so loved the world and that they would be saved and in turn called to go and save others…
He saves us, then he calls us and he invites us into this journey with him, this partnership. That is what the church is all about. The church isn’t perfect because it’s made up of people like you and me and none of us are. You know I think what the enemy wants to do more than anything is sow seeds of doubt and to build wedges in cracks and walls around the church, what the church is and what the church isn’t.
Joel Houston