From Loathed to Loved

When I think of people in the Bible, certain figures come to mind. Jesus, Mary, Esther, Gideon, Paul, Peter, Noah, Moses...and the list goes on and on. Each person is real and raw, and their stories are ones that inspire and provoke many feelings. Other than Jesus, these people were completely flawed, and I can relate to many of them.

But there is one person that I disliked loathed, and his name is David.

David the shepherd boy that defeated Goliath? LOVE that guy.

David the King that slept with a married woman, impregnated her, and had her husband killed to cover it up? Not so much.

But here's the kicker -- King David is known as the man after God's own heart. He is emphatically anointed and a son of God, however his heart and his actions seem to differ greatly.

Keith and I just finished a 10 week Beth Moore study on King David, and the man that I used to despise is now someone that I am deeply fond of. It sounds completely insane, but after learning about David's life and diving into scripture, I actually see a lot of myself in King David.

This doesn't mean that I can relate to his actions with Bathsheba or Tamar, but that I, too, am a flawed, sinful person and am only redeemed by God's grace.

What struck me the most during this study was how much that I did not really know about David. I knew the big stuff (defeating Goliath, becoming King) and the bad stuff (Bathsheba and Tamar), but I didn't know the beginning. I didn't know that before there was King David, there was King Saul. A king that was chosen by the people, that had disobeyed God and had His presence depart from him, and then chased David for 15 years.

David literally ran for his life for 15 years, hiding in caves and moving from city to city. He even had a chance to kill Saul, but refused to touch God's anointed. I don't know about you guys, but when I'm in a hard season I am inclined to pray and to cry out for help, but it can be quite difficult to sing out in praise and to remain hopeful. If anyone was entitled to totally freak out and have a mental, physical, and emotional breakdown, it would be David. But he didn't. He put his trust in God and remained solid in his faith.

But that was David. In the midst of being chased from his home, not for anything he had done, but for being who he was, which was the next King of Israel, he had a faith stronger than anything I've read about.

And then there's his relationship with Jonathan. Jonathan was the son of the crazed King Saul, but yet he and David shared a bond like no other. This relationship is the ultimate bromance, and ends in a heartbreaking manner, but it showed me the kind of qualities that David possessed in order to create this bond.

More than just the change in the way I think about King David, this bible study changed my life.

By choosing a study written for women and doing the study with my husband, we were able to dissect the Word of God in a way that was sensitive to how I was thinking (like when I was freaking out after David married someone else soon after he had married Abigail...what the what?!), but strong enough for my husband to enjoy. The study created quality time, has strengthened our marriage, and was perfectly timed to coincide with the hardest season that Keith and I have experienced.

There were so many times where what we were discussing was 100% applicable to what we were going through on that very day, and it made me laugh and rejoice over the Lord's sense of humor. During a time where Keith and I should have been broken apart and fighting, we were growing in our faith and were a united front against an attack from the enemy. Perhaps the best part of this study was that our children were witnesses to this special time, and would often grab their kid bible and have their own study.

Today we finished the last day of our study, and I will truly miss learning about King David. (Never in a million years thought I'd say that!) My perspective has changed, I have changed, and I am more hungry for the Word than I ever have been. So thanks. Thank you satan for trying to attack what the Lord declares HIS. All you did what ignite a fire in me that was dimly lit before.