Hiya my lovelies and Welcome to An Inquisitive Mind – Illumination through Christ.

As noted in my last post, I have now since finished my Bible study on David and have really learnt a lot in respect of his journey to ‘becoming’. During this process, we can see how David had initially been disregarded by those around him, to then him becoming a King who was known and appreciated.

Along the way he had encountered a few people who contributed to his story and I wanted to share my learnings on this.

Can you see your value?

In 1 Samuel 16:5-11, we can see that Samuel was instructed by the Lord to go and visit Jesse, and asked to bring along his sons. As he did so it was interesting to see how ‘one by one’ all of Jesse’s sons had gone over to Samuel but they did not appear to ‘qualify’ the criteria expected.

Yes, Jesse’s sons seemed to appear the ‘part’ which could potentially be due to their appearance, title and/or hierarchy in the family but the Lord told Samuel that these were not the ones that He himself had chosen.

We then see that Samuel had asked Jesse if he had any other sons to which he answered yes he did – ‘my youngest son David is taking care of the sheep’. Not only did Samuel have to ask if Jesse had anymore son’s but also had to specifically ask for him to send for David.

In 1 Samuel 16:12, we see that as soon as David came out the Lord had spoken clearly to Samuel confirming that he was the one. With that said, it was further highlighted that even the ones closest to us may not see our value but despite this the Lord does.

As noted a part of me wonders if Samuel didn’t ask Jesse if he had anymore sons I am not sure if Jesse would have even considered calling David. This being as it appears he was the only one away from them all, despite the invite being sent to all of Jesse’s sons – not some.

Although, as noted in Verse 7 ‘People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts’. I am reminded that we should not disregard others or even ourselves as the Lord sees our value even whilst others may not.

Can you see your worth?

In 2 Samuel 9:6-10, we see that David being a man of his word wanted to honour Jonathan by keeping to the promise he made prior to his death (1 Samuel 20:13-16). This being to ensure he remains kind to his descendants and blesses them.

With this said, David approached Mephibosheth with the knowledge of who he was despite what he saw on the outside. Although, Mephibosheth’s response stuck out to me as he said ‘why should you care about me? I’m worth no more than a dead dog‘.

Mephibosheth had been described as ‘lame’ and because of this all he saw was his limitations whereas David didn’t see this as a reason to disqualify him. Instead he even disregarded Mephibosheth’s ‘excuses’ and continued with his plan to ensure he followed through with his promise.

Although, David did not stop there despite being a King and Mephibosheth being a ‘nobody’ David had seen Mephibosheth as worthy enough to eat with him (‘just like one of David’s sons – 2 Samuel 9:12’.)

Imagine – how much more God?

No matter how you much you may discount yourself or feel as though your not worth it please be reminded that you are precious and hold so much value (1 Peter 2:9).

Can you see your strengths?

I could see that David was quite confident in his identity (1 Samuel 17:26-58) as noted he appeared quite assured in his skill set and the God he served (1 Samuel 17:45-48).

In 1 Samuel 17:28, I could see how his brother – Eliab had become somewhat angry with David’s confidence and even Saul had tried to humble him thinking he would be unable to defeat Goliath (1 Samuel 17:33).

Although, David did very much defeat Goliath (1 Samuel 17:50) and in 1 Samuel 18:5 we can see that he continued to be successful in all that Saul sent him to do. This also resulted in him increasing in rank despite having no army background knowledge.

I wanted to highlight that even if people may underestimate us and discredit us, the way in which you you see yourself and your skills is important.

We see how David was confident in the God he served and the abilities he had been blessed with. This of which I believe contributed to David’s long reign and success as a ruler for he knew that God was with him (2 Samuel 5:10).

Can you see your weaknesses?

As David had an increase in success, it became very evident that it was hard for Saul to regulate his emotions with this change. This of which led to him becoming very jealous of David to the point he became angry and distrusting of him (1 Samuel 18:6-12).

With respect to Saul’s increasingly concerning behaviour, I was reminded of the fact that we should remember to check ourselves on a consistent basis – asking God to reveal and remove the things that are not of Him.

Although, I do believe that initially Saul wanted David to do well but it was made very clear he did not want him to become better than him. As this had started to happen we can see Saul’s insecurities started to make him act irrationally.

This being as we see how Saul became jealous at others celebrating David and this inferiority resulted in him initially not trusting David to the point of sin – wanting to kill him.

In the same way David’s success does not take away from Saul’s, is the same way your success does not take away from mine.

As noted above when we start to feel certain types of emotions it is important we catch it and bring it to God. We shouldn’t let it get the better of us but rather we can rely on God who is able to help us with these emotions.

We can see what happens when this isn’t caught and how emotions left to fester can quickly escalate matters. This of which we can see where Saul reached the point he was harming innocent people (1 Samuel 22:13-16) and as he continued on this path of self destruction we see the extent of his pride – which led to the death of his sons and himself.

He was the cause of his own downfall because he was unable to see beyond himself (1 Samuel 31:2-4).

So, what are you going to do about it?

In 2 Samuel 12:4-6, we see Prophet Nathan come to tell David a story which helped him better recognise his current behaviour. Although, David did not know that the story was an illustration of his own poor behaviour which helped him to better recognise what he himself had actually done.

This made me reflect on how do we see ourselves;

our sins, our strengths, our weaknesses?

Can we be objective or are we justifying our own actions?

Do we see our faults or do we pass the blame?

It’s easy covering things up and/or giving excuses but in order to make positive changes we need to take accountability. Yes – there are consequences to our actions but it is important to acknowledge and repent for our wrongdoings. The Lord will forgive us and help us (Acts 3:19).

Let’s pray:

Father Lord, please help me to see myself in the way that you see me – precious in your sight. I ask that you will help me to see the value I have and shine your light in my life for all to see, so that you will be given all the glory.

Please remove every lie of the enemy that is causing me to see myself negatively and highlight the things I need to work on so that I can do and become better.

As I guard my heart in a world that so easily misuses ‘good’, please help me to remain in right standing with you so I can become who you have created for me to be. Amen x