The Faith of David

Articles

Derek Long
08/25/19 - Faith

The Faith of David
By Derek Long
The fact David is a great example of faith and is spoken of in Hebrews 11 should not surprise us. Hebrews 11:32 says, “And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.” When God rejects Saul as being king, Samuel tells Saul, “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:14). Later Saul is told, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you” (1 Samuel 15:28). David was selected to be the king who would take Saul’s place as ruler over Israel. Paul mentions David as he teaches those in Antioch of Pisidia. He says, “And when He removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My
will’” (Acts 13:22). Let’s examine a few things we can learn from David’s example of faith.

• David trusted in God to deliver him from his enemies. Goliath challenged the nation of Israel and defied the Lord. David had trust in God to deliver him from this expert in war although he was just a youth. 1 Samuel 17:37 says, “Moreover David said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’” Saul eventually became David’s enemy and David trusted in God to deliver him from the hand of Saul and to recompense Saul for his evil. In 1 Samuel 26:10, “David said furthermore, ‘As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.’” Do we trust and rely upon God to deliver us from our enemies or do we feel we must take revenge ourselves? Remember what God commands us today (Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:18-21).
• David’s faith in God led him at times to inquire of God. After David becomes king of Israel, the Philistines come against the Israelites. Notice what we are told about how David responds to this situation. “So David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?’ ... Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, ‘You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees’” (2 Samuel 5:19, 23). Faith does not act without first consulting what God would have a person to do. Faith is always rooted in the word of God (Romans 10:17). People who fail to stop and consider what God commands to be done are not people who are acting by faith. 2 Samuel 6 gives us an example of what happens when we do not
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consult God about how to do things. 2 Samuel 6 tells of how David and Israel decided to transport the ark by placing it on a new cart. God had given instructions for the ark to be carried by the Levites. Their failure to inquire of God (1 Chronicles 15:13) and follow the instructions given by God resulted in God’s anger being aroused (2 Samuel 6:7). Do we inquire of God before acting? Do we make sure everything we say and do is authorized by the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17)?
David acted upon God’s instructions when he acted by faith. 2 Samuel 5:25 says, “And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.” Faith does not stop at simply hearing or believing what God says. Faith moves one to act upon what God says. James 2:24, 26 says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only ... For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
David was faithful to God but he did not always live a life completely free from sin. 2 Samuel 11 tells of David’s sin with Bathsheba and him having her husband, Uriah, killed. David demonstrates he is a man after God’s own heart though as he responds with repentance when confronted with his sin by Nathan the prophet. God was willing to forgive David of his sin but the rest of his life was spent suffering the consequences of his sin.
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Could we be described as a person of faith like David was? Could we be said to be people after God’s own heart? Let’s seek to imitate the good examples of faith we see in the lives of men like David!