The man after God’s heart

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Liz Nixon:

What did I like about today’s passage?

I love the contrast between how the servant describes David “a brave man, a warrior, speaks well, is a fine-looking man and the Lord is with him” versus Saul saying, “you are only a boy”.

Saul is so far from the presence of God that he doesn’t see anything in David. I recently heard a talk where the speaker said that as people of the kingdom, we are to look at people and speak into their destiny, not see their past or their present. In David’s case, we would see a giant killer, not a boy!

I also appreciate the training that David has received in the fields: he learned how to fight bears and lions, how to lead and protect his flock and most importantly, he learned to trust and worship God. I imagine some of his psalms, including Psalm 23, were probably written based on his experiences alone in the fields, just him, God, and his sheep. Years of being a shepherd to flocks of sheep were not a waste, in fact it was the perfect training ground for years of being a shepherd to God’s people.

God uses the seeming insignificant, young shepherd boy to bring down Israel’s greatest enemy, Goliath. Think similarly of Samson, weak, blind, imprisoned and chained to pillars but in his death, defeating Israel’s greatest enemy, the Philistines. In fact, Samson’s death results in more philistine deaths than he had killed in his lifetime.

The shadow of Jesus hangs over both these characters – all three insignificant in the world’s eyes and yet God uses them to bring down His greatest enemy. In Jesus’ case, his death brings down humanity’s greatest enemy, death itself.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God described Himself as the shepherd of His people, as did Jesus. This is therefore an important concept that we need to grasp! Jesus talked about being the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the flock and in the Old Testament, we see God say that as Israel’s shepherd, He will carefully gather them together, carrying them tightly to His chest.

It’s so wonderful to be reminded of this nurturing and caring side of God, paired with His leading and provision of protection, food, and rest. We don’t have a God who wishes to have us fall in line as soldiers, robotically serving Him out of a sense of duty but a loving Father who wishes to hold us tight in the most intimate way as His children, whilst leading, guiding and providing for us as His flock, His people, His beloved.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I’m going to spend some time thinking about God as my shepherd as well as understanding the role of a shepherd given how important it is to God.

Who am I going to share this with?

The staff team during our Monday morning devotional.