I’d like to make this the shortest message I’ve ever done, because it is simple and filled with common sense. I could also make it a book with an infinite number of pages because it is simple, filled with common sense, but we generally don’t care about common sense when it doesn’t suit our sense.
The Bible tells a story about King David. Before he was made king, David was anointed by God as a young boy to be His king. The scripture says the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward until his death. After this anointing, David killed the giant Goliath. Goliath was the Philistine champion warrior who blasphemed God. David took care of that. You can read this account in 1 Samuel 16 and 17.
Goliath had a behavior problem. Some people may have feared his size, but they did not respect his behaviors or his attitude. He got what he had coming to him because of his behavior and attitude.
Later the king of the Israelites, Saul, was angry and jealous that David had been anointed to be the next king, even before Saul was dead, preventing Saul’s own sons from becoming king. Saul attempted to kill David. Saul had a bad attitude and some behavior problems.
Imagine his lack of common sense. He had seen firsthand how David killed Goliath; why then would Saul think he could kill David. That’s the problem with bad attitudes and bad behaviors; they don’t permit you to use the sense common obvious to everyone around you. You do crazy stuff. You are not respected for your behaviors. If you don’t care about your behaviors, and others will not respect you because they do not care for your behaviors.
Scripture says this about Saul and David in 1 Samuel 18:12-15. “Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David, but had departed from Saul…. And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.” When Saul saw that David behaved wisely, he was afraid of David. Now this word afraid is more like respectful of him.
How is it then that David was able to behave in ways that Saul would respect while Saul was actually trying to kill David because he was jealous of him? Well, David lived in ways that Saul and people like you and me find it difficult to live because we can’t get past living for ourselves.
David had this testimony from the Lord. He was anointed King of Israel because God Himself said that He had found David to be a man after His own heart. Here are five ways David showed himself to be a man’s after God’s own heart:
- David allowed God to shape his desires; David’s wants were God’s wants.
- David allowed God to save his life. In other words, David lived a Delivered Life. God uses the lives He delivers.
- David allowed God to challenge his will. David submitted his will to the will of God. God changes the wills of those who submit their wills to Him.
- David allowed God to search his heart. David wanted God to know him as much as David wanted to know God.
- David allowed God to Love him. David didn’t just go around talking about how God loved him. David was transformed, strengthened, and favored by the Love of God to do amazing things.
From these things, David was able to form an attitude that others respected because God was in all the things David was in. Even in his failures, which were many, David had the sense to invite God to be in everything he was in. People saw this about David and they respected David’s behaviors because of it.
Its easy for us to live like Saul. All we have to do is live like we are our own king. If you don’t care about how people think about how you behave, you are probably on that path Saul took. If you don’t care about what you think about your own behavior, you are probably lost in your own ways. Learn to live and behave like something great has a hold of you, and something great will happen around you. Learn to live with respected behavior. Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 