WHAT DAVID HAD GOING FOR HIM

WHAT DAVID HAD GOING FOR HIM

David has a servant’s heart, he was skillful as a shepherd before that led to his promotion to be a king, and he had integrity; so God make him to prosper in all his endeavors.  

Servant is a copulation of two words [serve-ant] which means to serve like ants serve selflessly in their colony. Skillfulness has to do with acquiring ability and competence to be the best in our chosen or God given activities; to have integrity has to do with honesty, truthfulness, honorable, dependable and reliability. In one word David had divine competence!

“He chose David also his SERVANT, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the INTEGRITY of his heart; and guided them by the SKILLFULNESS of his hands” Psalms 78:70-72 [Emphasis mine]

David was described as a servant of God in the above scripture who serves God with all his heart and hereby qualified for prosperity because those that serve and obey God will spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure [Job 36:11].

“David cared for them with pure motives; he led them with skill” Psalms 78:72 NET Bible        

David was skilled as a King and also as a shepherd because he had physical and divine abilities; he was clever, expert in his vocation and had God given talents which he used maximally. Looking at his many psalms he had an upright heart and his motives in kingship were pure. Many of us should go and sharpen our skills even if it is a vocational school in order to acquire better ability to excel.  

"It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage." - George William Curtis

David had been as a shepherd, one who carries a staff in his hand, and guides his flock with it; and partly with respect to the acts and administration of government, which were wisely performed by him: he made wise laws for his people and soldiers, and put them in execution; he behaved wisely in the court and in the camp; but was greatly and infinitely exceeded by his antitype of Christ, the servant of the Lord, that should deal prudently [Isaiah 52:13], and who is abundantly qualified for it, as being not only the Wisdom of God, and the all wise God, but even, as Mediator, has the spirit of wisdom on him, and the treasures of wisdom in him. David therefore excelled in all his works as a shepherd, poet, priest, warrior and king.

Integrity is what you are like when no man was around. It is gotten from the mathematical word “integar” which means completeness or wholeness. A heart and life of integrity is consistent in one honest direction and he is not given to hypocrisy. He says what he means, he means what he says and not a double tongued person. When such people makes a promise, they keep it. If they commit a huge mistake, they admit it and if they believe in a cause, they support that cause with appropriate lifestyle.

There are three main areas where one may win or lose out in integrity and David excelled in all three. There is in the ability to govern those put under you aright and with the fear of the Lord; the integrity of the governance process may drain when finances drain, when extreme difficult challenges happens like David in Ziglag when his entire people were captured by the Amalekites and how he recovered all by leaning on the everlasting arm of the Lord. You may have to make tough and unpopular calls sometimes based on your understanding of God like David gave portions of spoils to folks who were too weary to go to war. David gave his word to Abigail not to destroy Nabal and that earned him respect and it was easy for Abigail to say yes when David asked for her hand in marriage after her husband Nabal died.

It is important that we walk aright in stewardship [faithful and wise steward – Luke 12:42] and accountability of all that God committed into our hands to manage on His behalf. Stewards is expected to be upon their watch and guard at all times [Mark 13:37]. Such have godly character and man their offices, work, dignity, duties and honor diligently and as unto the Lord. They are entrusted with the lives of men, storehouse provisions of his house or in their given vocation as officers; "faithfulness" and "wisdom" are mandatory in them; such must not corrupt and adulterate the word of God, and mix it with human doctrines, but that they deliver it out pure and sincere as it is; and the other, that they may rightly divide it, and wisely distribute it without prejudice, adding or subtracting from it

The failure to maintain high integrity in the stewardship process is a cancer that will destroy the integrity of all who find themselves in the service of the Most High God.

“Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?” 1 Chron. 29:2-5

David was prosperous in all realms not just financially but in government, war strategy, exercising of wisdom and he was strikingly rich and amassed wealth [check out 1 Chron. 22:3-5, 1 Chron. 22:14-16, 1 Chron. 28:14-18]. The way in which David trained the distressed, discontented and depressed four hundred men and turned them into mighty men of valor shows how he would have trained different men and women manning different posts in his government and how per excellence they would have excelled and administered very well in their vocations.

David was not given only the compliant, the submissive, the agreeable, and those broken-by-an-encounter with the "angel of the Lord" people to rule over. No, he had to lead the self-willed and the submissive. At one time the discouraged, distressed and disgruntled came to him and he trained them to become mighty men of valor.

The Psalm progresses as God choose David to be king over Israel, taking him from tending the sheep to the place where he "feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance". David had what it takes to fulfill his assignment and requirement for leaders having being well trained himself as a shepherd tending the flock. He had integrity, completeness, fullness, innocence, simplicity, uprightness, and perfection. David was not flawless, but he was mature and whole.

As leaders, we must understand that the opposite of integrity is corruption, dishonesty or fraudulence. We need to be people of wholeness - without cracks or inconsistencies between what we say and who we are; we need to walk in pursuit of healing and wholeness so that what flows out of us in godly, innocent and without guile. As leaders, our hearts must be whole, not seared or hardened by sin or the wounds of the past; our desires must be pure, not looking after our own interests, but after the best interest of those we are called to lead. We must be people of excellence in knowledge, understanding, council, and wisdom. As leaders, we are to lead, to guide, to bring, to govern, even to straighten out when out of course with reality and right course. We cannot be timid or overbearing in leading, but we must lead and guide with the gentility, humility and meekness found in Christ.

Leaders must have understanding, intelligence, skill, insight, discernment, and knowledge that is needed to teach, lead, and guide according to the Lord's good pleasure if they want to excel and be prosperous. As leaders, we must always be in pursuit of improving our skills and understanding of the ways of our vocation and the ways of the Lord; and be found in the ways of excellence in everything we do. David is worthy of our very best -- and the people we are set in place to lead need us to be filled with great skill. We must be determined to see Christ's kingdom advanced and His life demonstrated -- serving our generation according to the will of God even as David did. (Acts 13:36)