King David would be memorialized forever as a bedrock of our spiritual heritage. The genealogy of Jesus Christ rightly begins with an immediate mention of his name.
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. Matthew 1:1 (NKJV)
David, the second king of Israel, held a unique and honored position in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, our eternal King of Kings. David’s prominent position in this record makes it worth looking at his life to learn what it was that made David so important in God’s eyes. As we look, we see that it was his faithful heart toward God that pleased the Lord so. In each celebration of joy or anxious trial of hardship, David poured out his innermost thoughts and deepest yearnings before the Lord, thanking Him for each blessing to come and trusting Him to get David through each trial. Many of these prayers are recorded in the Psalms which David authored.
Like each one of us, David had significant failings, but God saw beyond his flaws to regard his faithful heart of love toward Him and towards others. In this way, David reflected the true heart of God.
David initially had been anointed king of Israel by the prophet Samuel, fifteen to twenty years before the nation’s elders came together to re-anoint him king over all the people. There had been several years of continued conflict and drama after the death of Saul and before the nation’s acceptance of David as Israel’s king. David chose to sit back and let the promised kingdom come to him through God’s providential hand rather than to take it himself by his own initiative. Seeing how David conducted himself during each subsequent challenge, the nation came to admire him, and chose David as their king, rather than having him forced upon them. This would be a high point in the nation’s history.
3 Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 2 Samuel 5:3-4 (NKJV)
Both the people and God were pleased with David as king. God granted David favor in the people’s eyes, just as He grants us favor with key people today to help us get through difficult situations.
What did David have that pleased God that his predecessor King Saul did not have?
I believe the answer is faith. Faith to seek an intimate relationship with God, faith to trust Him and to take Him at His word, and faith to believe that God would do exactly what He said He would do, This faith exhibited itself in the times when David showed restraint toward Saul, choosing not harm him in order to protect himself, because Saul had been anointed as Israel’s first king, chosen by God Himself.
Saul had been chosen to serve the people and protect them, but ended up serving only himself. Israel’s second king, David, was chosen to serve God, who said, “I have provided for myself a king”, but in so doing he would serve the people, as well. David would walk with God and exhibit a great faith which greatly pleased God despite David’s human failings and shortcomings. This can be a great encouragement to us who also fail in our faith journey on a regular basis.
If David’s faithful heart was what pleased the Lord, how do we achieve or acquire one? What steps can we take to become more faithful and pleasing to God in our daily lives?
The Bible gives us some guidance:
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)
Faith pleases God, but faith is also a gift from God. We increase our faith by spending time in the word, reading and meditating upon it. Through His word, God speaks to each of our spirits, strengthening us and giving us exactly what we need to successfully negotiate our way through each day’s challenges. The Lord pours out His Holy Spirit in abundance into the hearts of His believers to lead us, guide us, and give us the faith which helps relieve the fears and anxieties which can confront us each day.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7 (ESV)
Reflection:
Father God, help us to grow in our faith today by the reading of Your word and by the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit. Successfully guide us through each obstacle and challenge we face today. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 