David—Young and Forgotten
by Bryan Carlson
David was chosen by God as a young man, though he may not have been noticed by anyone else.
1 Samuel 16:1-13—David anointed as king; story of Samuel anointing David who would not have been his first choice for king. Samuel first sees Eliab and was sure the Lord was going to choose him as the next king. David’s own father forgets about him out in the field taking care of the sheep. Jesse doesn’t think he is significant enough to invite him to the line up.
But God does not look at the things man looks at (1 Sam 16:7). "But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’"
David was around 17 years old when he was anointed as God’s chosen king. For the next nine years, David goes relatively unnoticed. But he still remained faithful to God.
One person who does notice David was Saul. David spent much of his time fleeing for his life. Saul is jealous of David and is trying to kill him.
1 Samuel 19:1-12: Saul tries to kill David
1 Samuel 21-31: David flees and is on the run from Saul
1 Samuel 24: David spared Saul’s life—goes to bathroom in cave David is hiding in
1 Samuel 26: David again spared Saul—walked into camp where sleeping and took spear and water jug and then called out to Saul. Saul responds the same as before.
1 Samuel 30:6: “…David found strength in the Lord his God.”
In 1 Samuel 31, Saul dies; the throne of the kingdom is finally open. In 2 Samuel 2:1-4, David is anointed king over Judah, the southern two tribes of Israel.
He’s now around 23 years old. He’s spent several years of his life running for his life from Saul. He was faithful to God the entire time and waited for his perfect timing. David was a man after God’s own heart. He was faithful in the little things. He was faithful when he was young, and it didn’t look like anyone was noticing. God always notices and will reward us for our faithfulness.
We see in 2 Samuel 2:8-11, Saul’s son Ish-bosheth is made king over Israel: David still doesn’t have control of the majority of the kingdom. So, he was anointed at 17, spent five years fleeing, and now he has limited rule of the kingdom for the next seven years. Some people would have given up and done things his own way. Not David. He followed God’s perfect plan. And it finally paid off. Finally when he was 30 years old God made him king over Israel—the job he was anointed to do 13 years earlier.
Sometimes you might feel insignificant—like no one knows who you are or no one really ever notices you. Sometimes you don’t think it matters how you behave because no one notices anyway. Actually, it is kind of fun to get in trouble sometimes because then you get noticed. God always notices. You are important to God—he knows you, he watches your every move, he expects complete faithfulness and obedience during this time in your life. If you want to be someone important and be used by God, start now by being faithful in the little things. David was faithful in the little things. We often think of David as a great king. We look over the way he lived the part of his life that no one was watching. Character—who you are when no one but God is watching.
