Will the Real David Please Stand Up!

By Audrey Wong

Did you hear about the young shepherd boy who killed a giant, was made king and won countless military victories?

That’s the story about King David we always hear about. Sounds like something out of Star Wars? It’s surprising how few people talk about the real David, the un-adulterated version (no pun intended). It was only after I discovered the real David that he came down out of the stars and became someone so deeply inspiring to me. Quite apart from his military victories, there is a side of him that reminds me very much of our own human frailty.

The Forgotten Child

Picture this: it is a hot, sunny day and the Prophet Samuel visits the house of Jesse. Now the Prophet is a well-known character, well-feared and revered, and his visit is an event of great excitement among the villagers, even though they are a little afraid. Everyone comes to their windows to see him.
After the pleasantries Samuel asks to meet Jesse’s sons. They march out one by one for his inspection: Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah… all mighty and strong in stature, looking like everything a woman could want. But Samuel, cautioned by the Lord, looks past their appearances, and finds them lacking. “Is this all the sons you have?” he asks Jesse.

Only now do the people remember David’s existence. David has been out in the fields with the sheep, perhaps wondering what the sounds of excitement coming from the village below are all about. But David’s own father has forgotten him, perhaps thinking him too unimportant compared to his other strapping sons and definitely not the MAN the Prophet is looking for. David is young and doesn’t have stunning looks. In fact, he’s small for his age.

But when they finally remember David and call him from the fields, the great Prophet Samuel says “Alas, this is the man God has chosen!” and anoints David as the next king of Israel, much to the shock of everyone present, including David himself.

The Psalmist proclaims God’s love in words like these: even if a mother abandons her child, God will never forsake you! Everyone had forgotten David – except God. And God was the only one that mattered, in the end. If ever you felt unwanted (as I have), remember this!

David’s Mercy

David’s reign wasn’t a smooth, swimming one (as the stories we often hear suggest). In fact, even before the throne was in his grasp, he had to suffer for months the deadly jealousy of his predecessor Saul. Now Saul was angry that God had chosen David over him, and his jealousy burned like a bonfire. He wanted to kill David, and, together with his whole army, chased David into the dry, arid desert and hunted him.

I imagine David must have been afraid and confused at what God’s plan was. But the Bible tells us that he trusted in God. One day, David and his men were hiding from Saul in the mountains, and they sought shelter in a cave. Lo and behold, into the cave mouth came Saul, walking in alone to obey nature’s call. Such a golden opportunity for David to get rid of Saul once and for all, away from the interference of Saul’s men!

But because he trusted in God, he did not fall prey to his instinct to reach out and kill Saul who was once God’s chosen king. Instead, he crept up to Saul and cut off the edge of his cloak.
When Saul had gone some distance from the cave, David came out and called to Saul. He bowed to Saul in reverence, and in his hand he held the piece of Saul’s cloak he had cut off. “The Lord put you in my power, but I didn’t kill you!” he said to Saul. As Saul realised David’s mercy, he wept in remorse at his persecution of this man who was God’s anointed, and who had chosen mercy over vengeance.

David’s act of mercy moves me as well: how many of us, faced with our powerless enemies in a dark cave, would do what David did? How many of us would have gone against our human instinct – boast, humiliate, cast down – and offered mercy instead? I think it must have taken much faith on David’s part to trust God to resolve things instead of taking matters into his own hands.

Dancing for God

Another image of David that stays with me comes from the time when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Jerusalem after many years of estrangement. There was great joy in the nation that God was coming back among his people, and there was a mighty procession before the Ark amidst shouts of joy and trumpet calls. David (who was now king) was at the head of the procession, and he was dancing and whirling with joy before God’s presence.
When the procession ended, David went tired back to his house. There, his wife, Michal, came out to confront him. The Bible tells us that she despised and reproached him for being so undignified in front of the people. But David was undaunted. “I will go on dancing to honor the Lord,” he told her, “even if I make a fool of myself in others’ eyes!”
David’s simple, humble and uninhibited joy in the Lord is just amazing. Many times I find myself thinking “what will people say of me?” and this puts a damper on my expressing praise to God or witnessing to him. Many times peer pressure prevents me from saying what I really think, or makes me just go along with the crowd. When my friends gossip about others I sit unhappily in the background not daring to say anything to stop them. But this is not what David, a man after God’s own heart, would do. Perhaps we need to follow his example of courage and trust in doing what is right.

The New Davids

David lived such a long time ago, in such a different age and place. Sometimes it’s hard to see him as anything other than a historical artifact. But God in his infinite wisdom has let others rise in his place. I like to call these the “new Davids”. They are the all-too-uncommon people around us who have heeded God’s call.

I’ve been really blessed to know several new Davids. The first time I became aware of them I thought: oh my gosh, is this real? These people were insane – they were passionate about God, they loved to read the Bible, they praised God unabashedly, they gave testimony about how God had touched their lives in tangible ways. “No way,” I thought. “Holey moley. Out of my league.” But another part of me was longing to be like them; to have the joy they had in their faces.

Then I realised they had not always been this way. A brilliant, inspiring teacher of God’s word told me he used to be a true blue “ah beng”, stammer badly and have a fear of public speaking. But to look at him now, the change is just unbelievable; he is a leader in youth ministry and has inspired countless youths to turn back to God! He was also the one who told this little story that I’m about to pass to you.

The Puppet and the Water Wheel

Once upon a time there was a man who went to a fair. As he stepped into the fair grounds, he caught sight of a figure of a man in the distance, dressed in ancient Chinese clothes, turning a water wheel. The water wheel was so big and heavy, even as seen from afar, and the visiting man thought to himself: “I’ve never seen such a strong man before, who can turn such a great big water wheel!”

So he went forward to take a closer look. As he walked closer, he realised that the Chinese man turning the wheel was not real; it was just a puppet attached to the wheel, in such a way that it looked to be turning the wheel. The wheel was in fact being turned by the gushing water that flowed into it from a stream.

And that’s the secret that King David and the new Davids share. From afar we see their joy and their strength in adversity and we think that they are somehow inhumanly special. But the real secret is that it isn’t their strength – it’s God’s strength, and he’s promised that strength to each one of us as well, if we only let him take over!

So I say, praise God when he says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”! (2 Cor 12:9)