David

A few months ago I started a series of messages in Genesis. The plan is to move through the entire Bible by sharing 2 messages from each book. I knew it was going to be a challenge to limit myself to two messages in some of the books. For example, Genesis includes material about several major "events" such as creation, the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Not to mention the fact that there are some interesting people such as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Abraham and Sarah. Oh yeah, there's also Joseph. So, now I have come to 1 Samuel. In this book we meet Hannah, Samuel, Saul and David. Each of these provide some major lessons. David is my focus this week. He was a shepherd, musician/writer, warrior and king. How's that for a bio? Each of these descriptions carries some significant weight in our view of David. Also, they remind us that each responsibiliity or "station" in life provides some personal growth opportunities and significant temptions. David's successes and stumblings are well documented. Fortunately, we have his life story as a backdrop for learning how to become better stewards of the opportunities that God gives us. Too often we search for signficance based upon the outward symbols of importance rather than the inner virtues of faithfulness. It's easy to crave the taste of victory over Goliath without learning how to defend the sheep from lions and bears as David did. A fast track to character development is an illusion. The Psalms of David show us the pain and the beauty of God's grace in the process.