David: Shepherd, Warrior and King
I want to look at for a moment the life of David and how God led him from the shepherd's fields to be a warrior and then a king. Each step along the way God was guiding and he used the early experiences that David had to teach him things he would need to know for the next step. Much like God still does today when he uses life's experiences to teach us things that we need to know in order for us to be fruitful in our ministries and life. I will mention first though that it was not an original part of God's plan for Israel to have earthly kings. Samuel was the judge over Israel when he was getting older and the people did not want Samuel's sons to be judges over them. So, they said that they wanted to be like the nations around them and have a king 1 Samuel 8:5. God understood their request as a rejection of his being king over them 1 Samuel 8:7-8. God would first give them a king like the nations around them in the person of Saul. Then he would give t