02 May The Failures Of A Godly King David…

The failure to act when it is appropriate can have long-lasting consequences. It can bring fourth sorrow, pain, bitterness, frustration, anger, disillusion, anxiety, fear, and even despair. There’s nothing like missing an opportunity or misusing one. And usually opportunities only come once in a particular thing, and if you don’t have the understanding or the wisdom when it comes, you can miss it, misuse it, or just plain ignore it.

You can have plenty of opportunity, but If you don’t have the wisdom and the knowledge to see it or take advantage of it, the opportunities will not be of much benefit to you.

I think most of us look at opportunity as the things we can see. But truth be told there is always an opportunity from God’s standpoint. He is creating opportunity from one person to the next continuously. There’s not a day that goes by where he isn’t creating opportunities for people.

So my prayer is not just for opportunity, but for the wisdom to see it, not just on what I see, but what God sees. Missed opportunities is like a stumped toe on the edge of a sharp surface. It’s an excruciatingly annoying pain that lingers even after stumping your little toe.

If it was one thing I would ask of God more than anything, would be the ability to “redo over”. If possible, there are many things I would do over. If there’s any one thing or multiple things in your life that you would do over you are not alone. The Bible is full of people who wish they could redo over many events in their lives.

Take Paul for instance. The persecution of Christians, the murdering of Stephen. Lot’s wife looking back when the Angel of the Lord specifically instructed her not to. Judias betraying Christ for mere silver. Jacob with the help of his Mother, betraying his brother Esau out of his blessing from his Father Issaac.

Peter denying Christ three times, adding to his shame. Jonah refusing God’s request to be his prophet and deliver a message to a people for repentance. Aaron who allowed Israel to slip back into idolatry while Moses was away retrieving the Ten Commandments on tablets from God.

Pharoah, who’s pride drove him mad. That not only did he lose his son, but lost the lives of several of his Men including himself. If Pharoah had humbled himself before God and repented, what would have been the result of his Son, himself and of Egypt?

What we decide today, has a resounding effect on what God decides to do tomorrow. Not every decision is as impactful as the next, but collectively they steer the ship of your life in one direction or another.

Today we are examining the life of one man. A man who had made his share of mistakes as well as his share of triumphs! From an early age we see his faith, firmly planted in the God of Israel. A young boy with strength and courage, that was lacking amongst other boys his age and even the Men.

That boys name was David. And his faith could have easily gotten him in trouble. When you step out on faith, you have to be prepared for the unexpected. Take a boxer for instance. His faith in God does not guarantee his hand will be raised after the fight.

He trains, he eats right, he prays, then he hopes for the best outcome. David could have easily gotten killed by Goliath. The Bible does not say God instructed David to challenge Goliath and that he would guarantee him the victory.

You won’t find that anywhere in the Bible, but what we do see is a young boy who is offended at the audacity of this Philistine giant, who was boldly making claims against God and his people. Such anger is justified. God justifies such anger.

Moses was more than God’s servant and son. God declared Moses his friend, and when God caught wind of Moses’ brother Aaron and his sister Miriam talking ill of Moses and his Wife, he struck his sister Miriam with leprosy.

In this case God acted immediately, but in cases when God does not act immediately, it does not mean an action isn’t coming. God may be slow at times in our minds, but he is never late.

David’s willingness to battle Goliath came from a place of faith and anger. He had not the ability within himself to think he could overcome Goliath on his own. Goliath stood “six cubits and a span” the Bible tells us. That is about 9 feet 9 inches tall. A true giant.

One of the most feared boxers to ever put on gloves even to this day is Mike Tyson. Surprisingly, he is only 5’10, yet men well over 6’0 and beyond feared this Man. Goliath was named a “Champion of the Philistines”, so he was a sort of champion in his own right.

Greatly feared, and almost 2 times the Height, and at four times the weight of Mike Tyson! David stood no chance naturally.

It was his faith in God that allowed him to move that mountain. Not a “miraculous” faith, but a faith that was built up upon experience in God.  It takes experience in God to move the tallest mountains.

He does not ask you to move a mountain at the offset. We are not able to move mountains at the offset. But in time, God builds our faith to do what appears to be the impossible to the naked eye. At one moment you move a pebble, at another moment, a stone, and then another moment in your life, a rock! (And so forth)

We are all on our journeys to such a place in God, we are discussing Davids, but I want you to keep in mind your own personal journey. Because we are looking at David, but I am talking about you. I am talking about myself.

David was not a man who had a great title attached to his name like “champion”. In fact, David was not even a soldier in Saul’s army. David’s job was tending to his Father Jesse’s sheep. His Brothers were soldiers in the Army of Saul.

Tending sheep was never looked at as a prestigious job title. Jacob could speak to this. His Father loved his brother Esau because he was a hunter. Esau was a “man’s” man. Jacob was the complete opposite.

Jesse also did not see his son David as a man of great might and strength. This could have been because of David’s appearance. David was a very handsome man. Not one you would look at to be a conqueror. You know the saying “lover not a fighter”, David looked the part of the lover.

His stature was also not as impressive as his elder brother Eliab, who was size-able. But there was a warrior underneath the handsome appearance of David. And a heart God would say out of his own mouth one that was after his own heart.

When Samuel came to Jesse’s house to anoint the new King God had chosen, Jesse presented to Saul all of David’s brothers. He did not even present David to Saul. Saul requested David’s presence.

God does not choose the obvious. If you watch American Football, it is all about the obvious. Size is everything. Strength and speed is everything. With God the choice is never obvious because he chooses his servants according to a different criteria.

If I told you the formula, it would just be an educated guess. But what I can tell you for a certainty is that he chooses people by Faith. This means the people he chooses are never at the moment the people they will be.

God works backwards. He does not pick the people who are already there, he chooses the people who are not, and he brings them there, and this is how he gets the glory.

If I pick the greatest swimmer to train and take to the Olympics, he will get the glory. And rightfully so. But if I choose the weakest swimmer to train, take him or her to the Olympics and win the Gold medal, then I would receive the glory.

God was grooming David before the Goliath fight. What may be “low” to man is not low to God. David tended to his Father Jesse’s sheep. So he was familiar with the behavior of sheep. He would soon be tending his heavenly Father’s sheep, Israel, according to God’s timing. He learned many things by doing this, especially the patience it takes to deal with stubborn sheep day in and day out.

It is a hands-on position. Not one for a person who doesn’t like to get their hands dirty, such as the Pharisees. Who loved walking around the temple and the yards in expensive fine prayer robes.

It was also a job that carried with it life threatening danger at times, for sheep always have a multitude of predators. We see in Samuel Ch.17 verses 34-36, that David had killed a Lion and a Bear for attacking his flock. God was grooming David to be a “good” Shepherd, not just a shepherd.

The lowly job of tending sheep was God’s training ground, for the Man God would soon proclaim was a Man after his own heart! In our own lives God will give us tasks that seem menial. To the naked eye and to others, it will seem insignificant.

It will lack the luster of being a Pastor for a mega church, or being the CEO or President of a large prestigious company. It won’t have all the glitz and glam of being a Celebrity. It may be something you may not even feel compelled to even mention much. Not an interesting conversation piece. “I tend sheep”, or whatever it is God has you doing.

Oddly enough, I don’t know one person who wouldn’t want to hear about someone battling and killing a Lion or Bear.  The people God chooses often do not think much of themselves at the time.

God always has a plan. He never does things because he’s bored or out of ignorance. He’s a planner. He’s in the planning business. He doesn’t waste one gesture, one moment, one minute or one second of the day. He is constantly moving with purpose in mind. Your purpose. My purpose. Everyone’s purpose.

When the time was right for David to take the throne, he did. He didn’t take the throne after Samuel anointed him. That’s not usually how it works. God never takes people who are ready. He takes those who aren’t, and gets  them ready by the shaping and molding of their character.

David was not a Man after God’s own heart from inception. He became that way through the trials, tribulation and testing of his faith in the course of his life. You want to read about a hard life, study the life of King David. Not easy. The Apostle Paul. Not easy. Abraham. Not easy. Joseph. Not easy. I can go on and on and on.

Yours won’t be either! Neither will mine. And it hasn’t. I write this now, while at the same time my trials and tribulations and hardships are in the back of my mind. I’ve given so much credence to my own problems over the years, that I’ve come to the conclusion that letting God work out my issues through faith, was far less stressful than me trying to fix what is out of my control.

I’m still learning to do this. At the age of 42. God’s school of wisdom has no graduation date. You are eternally enrolled. When we turn our hearts away from God, chaos ensues. There’s no question about it. You cannot turn your heart away from God, and maintain an ordered lifestyle.

God helps you prioritize what is important, what is right, and what is most beneficial. I’ve been busy for large parts of my life doing absolutely nothing. Busy in activity, but not busy in anything that would last once my time here is up. When the Bible says to focus on the eternal, it means to focus on the things that will have a lasting effect once you leave her.

These are the things that matter. I can write a whole sermon on that, but for now we are talking about David, God’s chosen King for his people. David had multiple wives, with Bathsheba being his favorite. How David met Bathsheba was of a great concern.

He didn’t meet her at the Temple. He didn’t meet her on one of his outings or through a mutual friend. He spotted her from the rooftop of his palace while she was taking a bath.  What comes next is a series of events, one more reprehensible then the next.

Lust, Adultery, Fornication, death, and even murder. David had done all these things. What happened to David? How can a Man after God’s own heart, do such evil and reviled things? It’s what happens when we put our own desires ahead of the desires of God. It’s what happens when we place our own happiness ahead of God’s.

If you do that, you’ll be surprised at the type of things you are capable of doing. Out of all the women in the Kingdom land, David chose to sleep with another man’s wife, and then had her Husband killed!

David had failed. He failed big. It was just a matter of time. We all fail at some point. The magnitude of one person’s failure may be more than another persons,, but all failures smell the same. The King God appointed to rule over Israel, had not only slept with and impregnated another Man’s wife, he went to the next extreme and had the Man killed.

How does one reconcile such a thing and move forward in Christ? How do you do it? The guilt, the shame, the humiliation. For all of us it’s a struggle. For some it’s a struggle everyday. Trying not to let the sins of the past ruin the hopes of tomorrow. David would go on to suffer many more things because of his sins.

The prophet Nathan, whom God sent to confront David about his sin, told David that his sin was forgiving and the Lord would not take his life.

But the Lord never forgets. David’s life would suffer many setbacks, obstacles and hardships. Was David no longer the Man God had chosen? He was. But like you, and like me, David suffered failures along the way. Not just failures as a King either.

He had failures as a Father. David failed to act accordingly when it was brought to his attention that his oldest son Amnon had slept with and raped his own sister Tamar. Davids failure to act led to Family turmoil, murder, and a division in the Kingdom.

This is the same man that beat the giant Goliath in the name of the Lord. The same man who led Israel to countless victories over the enemies of God. All the victories you’ve had in your life. All your triumphs you experience by trusting in the Lord.

All it takes is short term negligence on what the Lord wants. Once you decide in your heart that your happiness is more important than Gods, you’ve already failed in your mind before you even began to act.

Nothing good can come out of it long term. The Lord never forgets. Remember that.  God doesn’t take away the regrets of the past for us. We all have to learn to live with our past sins and past mistakes. David had to learn to live with the fact that his sins regarding Bethsheba brought death to his newborn son. He’s responsible for it.

Failure to properly punish his son Amnon for raping his daughter led to his son being killed by his brother. He had to live with that. This was all Davids doing. Some of you have the Lord on your life, and through the many victories and triumphs in your life, you have started to take for granted the easiness and comfort of the Lord.

God knows it. Satan knows it as well. These are the times we need to keep our eyes on the Lord the most. The most cunning sins are the most subtle. Subtleness leads to compromise, which leads to more compromise, which leads you out of the house of the Lord and into the thralls and the pleasures of sin.

After the death of David’s new born son, David went to the house of the Lord and worshiped him. A proper response when one has realized that he’s sinned against God. Not only did he repent, the Bible said he worshipped him.  (2 Samuel ch.12 verse 20)

It is hard to worship when you are in mourning. David fasted the entire time his son’s life was hanging in the balance.  He did not eat, he did not drink.  But because God is just, his son could not be delivered from the death sentence that was brought upon him due to David’s sins.  It takes some people years to get to a place where they call on the name of the Lord again after losing a Child or a spouse, someone very dear to their heart.

The Bible says David immediately went to the house of the Lord to worship God (2 Samuel ch.12 verse 20).   That is a man who is after the heart of God. A man who is quick to repent, and who has the faith to still worship, even after losing what is most important. David’s failures are not much different from ours.

What are your failures? What are the things you have done in your life that have had a long lasting and resounding effect? If you have confessed as David “I have sinned against the Lord”, then God has forgiven you. But the consequences of your act God does not take back.

There is always a consequence to our failures in Christ, but God is able to rebuild and restore. Keep your heart and your minds turned towards God. He knows your propensity for  failure and to sin. Learn from David when he was on the rooftop.

Be a man or a woman after God’s own heart. It means becoming a person who’s dedicated to seeking the things of God first….