Hello Amigos!
How are ya'll doing?
I hope everyone is good and safe. And I thank you for the wonderful response to my previous blog, if you didn't read yet here is the link, Depression
After reading your comments, I realized many of my non-christian friends are also showing keen interest to know about the characters of the Bible which I mentioned in the previous blog.
So I decided to share their stories from which we can learn about their lives and apply what we learned to grow closer to God.
So today I am gonna tell you about my favourite character from Bible that is 👑 King David.
We are gonna learn some interesting facts about David's childhood.
I am so excited to share them with you, so without any further-do let's get into the story.
David's childhood was mostly spent guarding the sheep flock, from wild animals like lions, bears, etc.
1 Samuel 17:34-35
(V.34) But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock.
(V.35) I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it".
The parents of David are Jesse, who also spelt Isai(who is Jew) and Nitzevet(who is Moabite).
Jesse is a farmer, sheep breeder and member of the Sanhedrin trial(if you are wondering what is this Sanhedrin trial, in our terms it is the Supreme Court). He is a very rich man.
Being the son of this rich man, Why did David choose to look after the sheep flock?
Members of this Sanhedrin trial should only marry the women of Jew.
But Jesse already had seven sons and two daughters with Nitzevet.
Jews told Jesse that if he wants to be a Sanhedrin trial member, he should marry a woman from the Jew tribe or get out of the Sanhedrin trial.
Knowing these Nitzevet agreed to give divorce to Jesse.
After this Jesse married a woman from the Jew tribe but still maintained a secret relationship with Nitzevet by keeping her in his home as a maid. Nitzevet became pregnant and gave birth to David.
PSALM 139:15
When I was made in the secret place.
So society doesn't know that David was born to Jesse, neither his brothers accept him.
In PSALM 51:5
David says, 'Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
But Nitzevet is a spiritual woman, and David learned how to praise and worship God wholeheartedly from his mother.
PSALM 116:16
I serve you just as my mother did.
His brothers tried to kill him. So to save David from his brothers and from society Jesse sent him away to the forest to look after the sheep flock.
David prays in PSALM 7:1
Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me.
No matter how much Jesse tried to convince his other children that David was also their own brother, they couldn't accept him but treated him as a stranger and a foreigner.
In PSALM 69:8
I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother's children.
David's brothers hoped that he would be dead in a forest by any wild animals attack, so they appointed workers to check on David whether he was dead or still alive.
PSALM 56:6
They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, hoping to take my life.
With so much pain David asks God, PSALM 13:2
"How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Even when David come home to visit his mother, his brothers would create false witnesses to blame and suffer him more. So David prays in
PSALM 27:12
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.
PSALM 35:11
Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about.
Almost 250 times the word 'Praise' was mentioned in the whole Bible, which more than 100 times we can see in the Book of Psalm which was written by David. By this, we can understand how much David used to praise God.
When you praise God, the Almighty, alone definitely you will observe changes in your life.
When God was dissatisfied by the actions of King Saul(the first King of Israel), he told Prophet Samuel to go and anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next king of Israel.
1 SAMUEL 16:1-13
As Prophet, Samuel was afraid of King Saul 1 SAMUEL 16:2 God advised him to say that he came to sacrifice to the Lord 1 SAMUEL 16:3. So Samuel invited Jesse and all his sons to the sacrifice 1 SAMUEL 16:5
Jesse prepared his seven sons and brought them to the Prophet Samuel who was already soldiers in the army.
Seeing Eliab, the eldest son, Samuel thought he would be the king, but Lord said 1 SAMUEL 16:7
"Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart".
Likewise, Lord rejected all the seven sons.
So in 1 SAMUEL 16:11
Samuel asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered."He is tending the sheep."
Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives."
So when David was brought, Lord said 1 SAMUEL 16:12
"Rise and anoint him; this is the one."
(v.13) So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
So my dear Amigos what did you learn from today's story?
No matter how much David suffered from his family and society, he never stopped praising God. Because he praised God in every one of his circumstances, he was anointed as King of Israel. His brothers thought he would die when wild animals attack but he was strengthened by God as he praised God always.
Our troubles may look like wild animals which may attack us, but God will strengthen us to defeat them when we praise him wholeheartedly. Always glorify him in every situation. Cling onto Him in every of your difficulty.
Let's pray together,
Father Lord, thank you for speaking to us through David's story. Help us to praise you always like David. Lord strengthen us in our weaknesses. Lift us up from our troubles. In the mighty of Jesus, I pray Lord. Amen!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!😇
Comment down what you learned today 😊