David is King

Based on 2 Samuel 5

David was in Hebron when all the tribes of Israel approached him. Look! We are your kinfolk. When Saul was king you were really running the country. Even God told you that you were the shepherd of his people, Israel.

So all the leaders of Israel sat down with David and they made a treaty, with God as their witness. They anointed David King over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years.

David and his armies marched on Jerusalem, but the Jebusites who dwelt there said, Oh, please. Even the blind and the lame could keep you out of Jerusalem. Go home!

Though the Jebusites were totally convinced that David could not conquer them, he went right ahead and took the fortress of Zion and made the city his home, calling it “City of David.”

He prospered there and built up the city. God was with him.

 Hiram, King of Tyre, sent carpenters, masons and craftsmen along with timbers of cedar to build a house for David. David felt that this was a sure sign that God had confirmed him as Israel’s king, and that the kingdom was recognized by the world at large.

 David took wives and concubines in Jerusalem and had a bunch of kids.

And when the Philistines heard that David was king they came down against him. But God was with David and assured him of victory against them, which he achieved. Twice. He ran them plumb out of the country.

• Takeaway:  David was beloved of God.  Since this is so, clearly you, too, are beloved of God.  David did not live a perfect life; in fact, he was the epitome of the flawed human nature which inhabits us all.  God loves us anyway.
• If that is true, then is it okay for us to live our lives randomly and recklessly, cherishing our sins and polishing our egos?  Not at all.  To receive the love of God, we reciprocate that love, and in so doing we will want to live as God wants us to live.   God will empower us to live the life He has planned for us, and we will thereby reap reward beyond our wildest imaginings.