[Music] today we are going to talk about a man who takes a very very prominent place in your Bible King David a man after God's Own Heart David's life teaches us important lessons about faith obedience and perseverance David was born in Bethlehem the youngest of eight sons of Jesse despite being the youngest David was chosen by God to be the future king of Israel but before he could take on this role he had to go through a period of testing and preparation David's early years were spent tending sheep in the fields this may seem like
a humble and mundane task but it was In These Quiet Moments that David learned important lessons about leadership and trust in God he had to protect his flock from wild animals and other dangers and he learned to rely on God's strength and guidance waltzky was a boy David was busy killing lions and bears David was killing lions and bears first Samuel chapter 17 verses 34-36 and David said unto Saul thy servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock and I went out after
him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth and when he arose against me I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him thy servant slew both The Lion and the Bear in this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seeing he hath defied the armies of the Living God we gloss over this point we gloss over the courage that David had as a little boy the same courage made him a great king back in those days these two vicious Predators roamed the holy land that was no small feat
killing a lion but that's the man who David was he was a Warrior from birth even as a King David was a warrior he was not like the kings of this day and age David was on the front line with his men David was a king that would be in the trenches with his men David and his men went and killed 200 Philistines and cut their foreskins off and went and presented them before the King David was no average man songs were sung about David and the man he killed in battle so the woman sang
as they dance and said quote Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands David was a militant man he was the type of man who would run to the battle whilst other man ran away from the war he would run to that battle he ran after the lion he ran after the bear he was a radical man he had the resume of dead bodies behind him Giants Lions Bears armies all dead at the hand of David and David understood that it was the Lord who had trained his hand for war and his fingers
for battle The Story begins with the reign of King Saul who was the first king of Israel Saul was disobedient to God and as a result God rejected him as king Samuel the prophet of God was tasked with anointing a new king one who would be a man after God's Own Heart God LED Samuel to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem where he was to anoint one of Jesse's Sons as the new king interestingly when Samuel the prophet arrived at Jesse's home Jesse lined up his sons and the prophet said quote surely the Lord anointed
is before him however the Lord responded to Samuel stating do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature because I have refused him for the Lord does not see as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart from Samuel's initial response to seeing David's older brothers we can conclude that these brothers were impressive in stature and looked like leaders Jesse the father of David called abinadab and made him pass before Samuel and he said neither hath the Lord chosen this and Jesse meets seven of his
sons to pass before Samuel and each of them were rejected then Samuel said to Jesse are all your sons here and he said there remains yet the youngest but behold he is keeping the Sheep and Samuel told Jesse to call him when Samuel saw David he knew that he was the one whom God had chosen Samuel took the Horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers from that day on the spirit of the Lord Came Upon David in power and he began to prepare for the role of King David's anointing is
a powerful reminder that God looks beyond our outward appearance and chooses US based on our hearts David was not the most likely candidate for kingship but he was the one whom God had chosen we too must remember that God looks at our hearts not our outward appearance or status David was known for his bravery and strength on the battlefield he defeated the Giant Goliath and led his armies to victory in many battles David was a fierce Warrior and his military prowess earned him a reputation as a mighty man of Valor but David was also a
man of deep emotion he was known to weep and mourn openly and his heart was sensitive to the pain of others he wrote many of the Psalms which are filled with expressions of both Joy and sorrow David was not afraid to show his emotions and he poured his heart out to God in prayer and worship throughout his life David expressed his emotion through song and or weeping David's emotional side is perhaps most apparent in his relationship with God he loved God with all his heart and he was not afraid to express his feelings openly in
Psalm 42 David writes As the deer pants for streams of water sold my soul pants for you my God David's love for God was deep and genuine and it drove him to pursue God with all his heart it is interesting to see that David struggled with depression at times it is interesting to see that David was in the pit of despair at times arguably the Greatest Warrior in the Old Testament went through periods where he struggled and his life shows that even the strongest of men sometimes struggle nevertheless he was a man of courage and
in every man there is a David in them I have pastored a lot of men over the years and one person that a lot of men relate to is David because the Bible is straightforward and honest about his life and the trials of being a man and I know there are women who are listening to me right now you may have had the perception that it is straightforward and easy to be a man allow me to tell you it's not I am not qualified to speak on what life is like as a female and I
do not negate or attempt to argue the things that women go through but I am qualified to speak on what men go through there are real pressures and great and Grave responsibilities of being a man and most men don't even speak about it they are just silently getting on with their duties and most men when they go through struggles or battle depression they don't speak about it they just silently get on with their duties silently taking care of their business all the while whilst they are silently dying you have men who are your brothers husbands
Sons uncles nephews who are secretly and quietly dying inside they are alone in their situation but they are fully functioning whilst they are secretly quietly dying inside they are going to work taking the bins out going out with you on dates paying the bills raising children all the while they are secretly and quietly dying inside it's no accident that the highest rate of suicide is among middle-aged men males make up 49 of the population in the U.S but nearly 80 percent of suicides that is not a coincidence they want to reach out but they can't
they want to ask for help but they physically can right now A man you know cried themselves to sleep and no one knows not a single person knows because he woke up the next morning and put on a brave face and carried on with his duties right now there is a man under so much pressure he genuinely believes that he is going to suffer a mental breakdown right now there is a man who is miserable miserable with life and he cannot actually remember the last time he was happy and no one knows struggling with depression
quietly and secretly and generally speaking when men go through tough times like this they go through it alone and there can be many things that cause this dark season in their life it may be them losing their job or their income their whole identity was in their job or their income and now it's taken away from them and now they are in a pit or their wife leaves them or cheats on them and now they are in a pit or their loved one dies or their dreams are shattered the vision of their life never came
to fruition and now they are just not even living they are existing just passing the time whilst they are in a pit a pit of despair a pit of hopelessness a pit of desperateness allow me to read a narration of where David was at falling into the pit first Samuel chapter 30 verses 1-6 and it came to pass when David and his men were come to ziklag on the third day and the amalekites had invaded the South and ziklag and smitten ziklag and burned it with fire and he had taken the women captive that were
therein they slew not any either great or small but carried them away and went on their way so David and his men came to the city and behold it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep and David's two wives were taken captives Ahi Noam the jezraelites and Abigail the wife of nabal the Carmelite and David was greatly distressed for the people speak of stoning him
because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and for his daughters but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God David encouraged himself in the Lord his God Encourage Yourself when you have no one to count on Encourage Yourself pick yourself up from the floor and encourage yourself in the Lord your God I am going to get out of this situation I am not going to be defeated I will not give up when other people give up I will not surrender when other people surrender in your situation today encourage
yourself in the Lord you will get through this I want to encourage you today to keep fighting to keep pushing forward and to not give up choose to keep fighting even when it feels like everything is working against you choose to keep pushing forward even when it feels like you're not making progress choose to keep going when it seems like you can't go anymore David was the type of man that would get better in the battle when you have no one to count on when you are struggling when you are alone and in a pit
of despair and hopeless learn from the warrior king David encouraged himself in the Lord his God
