David established the family of God as one Holy Kingdom (2 Samuel 6-7). He brought the Ark of Covenant to Jerusalem. He's like much of a priest than of a king as he danced and rejoiced before the Lord wearing a linen ephod, and become true to himself even if the people would see him, and even blessed the people around him! He understood who is the true king of Israel. God promised to make his name great and will give him a kingdom that will reign forever. It's a prophesy about Jesus, yes, he came from the line of David.
Though, David went through a lot of pain. Trouble chases sinners (Prov. 13:21). He pursued Bathsheba and committed adultery. He plotted the death of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. The consequences of his actions: his son with Bathsheba died. His son raped his daughter. His another son rebelled against him. He went through adversities. But sometimes God used adversities to deepen our commitment to him. During David's reign, Israel was the most powerful nation. After David committed his sin, he repented with a contrition and retribution. His beautiful response about repentance was written in Psalms 51. Yes, adversities can bring out the best in him even to us!
Our irritations become our gems, because God wants to refine and purify us. Solomon wasn't the wisest man, because in the end he didn't use it for goodness. He can be knowledgeable because he had written his wisdom literature in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon but he overlooked his common sense. He didn't follow Moses' prophetic warnings in Deuteronomy 17 regarding a King shouldn't multiply his gold, chariots and wives. Solomon has 700 wives, 300 concubines, and 666 talents of gold. His foreign wives made his heart turned to other gods. And during his reign, he became tyrant. He didn't put his wisdom into practice thus he ended in ruin, later on it caused the kingdom's division, in which his father David built and united.
In today's generation, temptation is related to pride and sexual immorality. We must be careful and be guarded not to fall in any of those.
It's still good to be wise in the way, God's wise.
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| David, a Man after God's Heart |
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