Recently, I heard someone share a funny epilogue about mothers of famous children.
It went something like this: Columbus’ Mother: “Chris, I don’t care what you discovered. You could have taken time to write me.”
Albert Einstein’s Mother: “It’s your senior picture, Al. Could you not do something with your hair? Mousse, hairspray, styling gel, something...?”
Batman’s Mother: “Nice car, but do you realize how much the insurance will be, Bruce?”
George Washington’s Mother: “You better never throw money across the Potomac! If I ever catch you doing that again, you can kiss your allowance goodbye, George!”
As silly as this soliloquy is, it reminds me of how God expects us to be faithful, even in the small things.
1 Samuel 16:1-13 is genuinely a narrative of faithfulness: God’s faithfulness, David’s faithfulness, Samuel’s faithfulness and Saul’s lack of faithfulness. In chapters nine through sixteen of 1 Samuel, we see Saul repeatedly fail in his faithfulness to God until finally, God takes the kingdom from Saul and gives it to David.
A fundamental question is, “Who was Saul’s king?” Some might say that Saul was Saul’s king, and while there is a ring of truth to this idea, Biblically, the people and fear were Saul’s king. Saul constantly says he ‘feared’ or ‘feared the people.’
We can never people-please and be completely faithful to God. We do what God commands or bow to people’s demands. God grows weary of Saul’s lack of faithfulness and takes the kingdom away from Saul. 1 Samuel 15:28 says that God gave the kingdom to someone better than Saul.
According to Acts 13:21, Saul reigned for 40 years. So, even after The Spirit of God departed from Saul, Saul did not immediately stop being king. The Spirit of God then rushed upon David at his anointing and remained with David from that day forward (1 Samuel 16:13).
David was an adolescent at the time of his anointing. David was found to be faithful even in small things. I ask myself the same question I previously asked of Saul: “Who was David’s King?” We quickly see that God was David’s King.
In 1 Samuel 17:34-37, David was going to face the giant, and David said to Saul that David had kept sheep for his father. And when a lion or bear came to take a lamb, God always delivered David. David said, my God, Who delivered me from the paw of the lion and bear, will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine giant.
Our priorities must be in order. The foremost priority in every believer’s life should be to make God first place (Matthew 6:33). If God is in any other place, then not only is your life out of balance, but the foundation is faulty for us to be faithful, even in the small things.
David had an excellent foundation to build on because he recognized God above everything else. Maybe this idea of God being at the center of David’s life is another reason David is referenced as a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). We will continue with this thought next time.
(Editor’s Note: First in a series)
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