The Leading Man.

King David. I dedicated this past month to re-reading the books of Samuel (encouraged to do so after hearing a sermon on 1 Samuel 14 awhile back). For the longest, I've always held King Solomon and Joseph as my Top Leading Men of the Bible (aside from [King] Jesus of course :)); however, after re-reading Samuel again, Mr. David made his way up to possibly being my #1 Leading Man (though it may change since I'm back to re-reading Kings....where King Solomon enters the picture again! :)).

Anyways, King David's story is intriguing. Although David is famous for fighting the Giant (Goliath) and for his beautiful psalms, the truth and the reality is I feel as if his unbelievable faith in God throughout his entire life is not emphasized as much as it should, aside from him and Goliath. There's more to David. David, in my opinion appears to have had an 'arrogantly' beautiful and humble soul that deserves a long overdue spotlight. Sounds contradictory? Maybe, but I found arrogantly to be a suiting word for now. Read why. I'll try to make it short, though. Finally, it was obvious that the relationship David had with God was unique.

Check this out:

 1. Faith/Fear of God:

         a. When Little David heard the words of Goliath "defying Israel", instead of losing courage and being terrified like the rest of Israel (1 Samuel 17:11), David responded, "Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (Verse 26b). Be reminded that David was the youngest of them all.....In other words, David was saying "Are you serious? How can you allow a man like this, who is not even part of the chosen people of the living God, to talk to us like this!? You've GOT to be kidding me!" Solid Deepness #1. [Continue reading the chapter and the book, you'll find more Solid Deepness of his Faith]. [Message to us: If you believe that you serve a Mighty God, show through your words and actions]

2.  Personality

        a. Looking back at his story, I'd say that the reason I would describe his character as being beautiful, would be because of his genuine and respectful personality that resulted from his fear and faith in God. As you may know, it did not take too long for Saul to start envying David's status (Chapter 18 now). King Saul became furious at David because of his accomplishments (in modern day's word, we would call him a "hater" and righteously so). To make a long story short, King Saul spent the rest of his life pursuing David, seeking to kill him. Yet, watch this, when  David had the chance to take revenge and kill Saul,the Bible says "[after cutting a corner of Saul's robe] Afterwards, David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men: I swear before the Lord; I would NEVER do such a thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed. [I will never] lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord's anointed" (1 Samuel 24: 4-6). David knew to respect the Lord's anointed (even though, the Lord regretted that He made Saul king over Israel, 1 Sam.5:34). He left King alone. After all, didn't God say "revenge is His?!"  [Message to us: Respect your parents, elders, teachers, people period.  Respect should be required from us, not given based on how we feel. It won't hurt you, I promise. In fact, it will do you MORE good than you think or even expect.]. Solid Deepness #2.

And surely God proved so. If you noticed, after reading the books of Samuel...All of David's enemies--even though he cared about all of them, respected them and didn't even want them to die--the Lord blessed Him by wiping out all his enemies. When God is for you, who can be against you?. I guess instead of a beautiful character some might consider David to be a coward (or weak) now that I think about it...maybe? not in my opinion. I believe all of these were a product of his faith and trust in God.

In addition, because of his humble and genuine character, King Saul's own son (Jonathan) loved David SO much that the Bible said that he loved David even more than he loved his own self. Isn't that powerful? As Christians, Paul advised us to (can't remember the verse) always do the right thing so that no one will find any unjust things to say about us. Solid Deepness #3.

3. "Arrogantly" Beautiful Soul and Faith

      a. Finally to conclude, towards the end of his story, we find David singing praises to the Lord. 2 Samuel 22 (read it first!!). Okay, so I was reading the chapter, I caught myself re-reading verses 22-25. Had a triple take. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking to myself, "How could you boldly say something like that, David? Weren't you the one who slept with someone's wife, then staged his murder so that he wouldn't find out that you impregnated his wife? and and weren't you---" Then I caught myself. ha. Unlike me, apparently, [Praise God I am  not! the Judge], once David sincerely repented, he believed in the power of forgiveness (aka the Power of the Cross). His sins were washed away, never to be found again. He came boldly before the throne of God to obtain mercy and grace. He knew he was a sinner, but he also knew of God's grace and mercy. Solid Deepness #4.

How far is the East from the West? From one scarred hand to the other.....[Casting Crowns]

What can we learn from David? A whoollllle lot. In three sentences: As children of God, our actions and words should testify  our love and faith in our Lord. If we follow  and believe His words, He will never fail us. Don't let your past sins overshadow the Power of the Cross.

Happy Friday!!!