The Life of King David: Bold or Reckless?

By Carl JonesAs a teacher of a Sunday School class comprised primarily of single adults, it is with some difficulty that I watch as some class members temporarily leave us to serve as short-term missionaries in foreign lands. Much like their parents, I am sure, I admit to possessing some fear for their safety and well-being. Having lived in several foreign countries myself and having traveled to many more, I am cognizant of how vitally important it is to maintain a sense of situational awareness and to know when your travels or circumstances are crossing the line of good judgment and personal safety. Yet I also am aware that Jesus Christ has commanded us to go and to serve Him to the ends of the earth. So how do we know when we should be bold toward the myriad of opportunities that the Lord may have put in front of us and how do we also ascertain when to avoid or decline certain opportunities?I believe that the life of King David provides much Biblical content to help us answer that question. As a youth I loved reading about David’s mighty battle with Goliath and his daring exploits as a fugitive from King Saul. I saw David as a fearless, bold, swashbuckling warrior who lived an exciting life of adventure. Now, as an adult, I have enjoyed digging into the many chapters of the Bible that deal with David. I see David also as a man who had to wait patiently on the Lord for many years and who was careful to seek the Lord’s approval and guidance prior to going to battle or making significant decisions. David’s continual habit of praising the Lord, as seen in the Psalms, is arguably instrumental in the development of David’s spiritual life which in turn so vividly influenced his actions and decisions in life.A close examination of David’s confrontation with Goliath reveals many interesting details. David is likely just a teenager, as evidenced by his brothers’ (and father’s) assessment that he was too young to be a warrior, King Saul’s skepticism as to David’s suitability to fight Goliath, and Goliath’s own disdain that the army of Israel should field such an unlikely candidate to take him on. Yet David seemingly without fear volunteers to take on Goliath. Was this due to David’s great faith in the real and living God, or a result of his confidence that God had already given him the ability to take on a giant? Yes and yes! When Samuel anointed a very young David, perhaps several years prior to his encounter with Goliath, the Holy Spirit came upon David in a powerful way. Consequently, David possessed a boldness in the Lord that was a product of God’s own Spirit dwelling in him and prompting him to take action when God-ordained circumstances dictated it.We also see that earlier in David’s life, David was a lion killer and a bear slayer - no small feats for any man. As David attests in I Samuel 17: 36, God had prepared David for his battle with Goliath by using fierce wild animals to train him and to instill a confidence in David that he could accomplish mighty acts with the hand of the Lord upon him.David acted boldly on the day he killed Goliath and became a hero to all of Israel. However, to think that David’s skill as a warrior made it possible for him to recklessly go forth when faced with challenging circumstances would be to ignore the facts recorded in Scripture. David is aware that he has been anointed to replace Saul as the king of Israel and yet he lived the life of a fugitive for many years. David would not become king of Judah until he reached 30 years of age and then would not become King of all of Israel until reaching an age of 36 years. David learned to wait on the Lord during these many years, learning leadership, management and war fighting skills along the way that would be key to his eventual leading of a nation. Perhaps most importantly, he learned to patiently and contentedly wait on the Lord, as evidenced by his insistence to his own men when given the opportunity to slay Saul that he would wait for the Lord to open that door in perfect timing.Lastly, David did not make any major decisions without first consulting the Lord and receiving clear guidance. We see this in numerous places where David’s life is recorded, such as in 2 Samuel 2:1 where David seeks divine guidance prior to selecting the cities of Judah as a place to reside. David would make his mistakes in life, but, he is overall honored for being a man after God’s own heart and a man that was willing to be bold for the Lord. He was also willing to wait for the Lord’s timing as evidenced by David’s sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s direction.Like David, we too need to be bold when we feel the prompting of the Lord, when our decisions align with the Word of God, and when the circumstances allow us to act. Also like David, we need to seek the Lord’s guiding hand and spend time seeking and praising him with all of our hearts.Carl Jones is a retired NCIS Special Agent who presently teaches a singles' Sunday School class, maintains several small businesses, and lives with his family on their farm in Honea Path, SC.