Fully Devoted: Israel, Act 1Sample

David’s Rise

Saul was reigning as the King of Israel. As the King of Israel, it was his job to lead the people to worship the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live as God’s representatives in the world. But instead, Saul let his greed and pride lead him, and the people, to disobey God.

So God sent Samuel to anoint a new king who would choose obedience to God over obedience to his own desires. A king who would be willing to trust God more than he trusted himself. A king who cared more about building God’s kingdom than building his own brand. 

Samuel arrives at the house of Jesse and sees his oldest son. He thinks that this one is surely the man God had chosen. But God says:

“... The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

Going down the line of Jesse’s sons, God tells Samuel that none of them are the one He has chosen. So Samuel asks for them to bring Jesse’s youngest son, who is out tending sheep. 

When his youngest son arrives, a boy named David, the Lord says to Samuel:

... “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 1 Samuel 16:12 NIV

David, the youngest of seven brothers, is anointed with oil and filled with the Spirit of God. This moment was his designation. 

The process of becoming king in Israel consisted of three stages: 

1. Designation. 2. Demonstration. 3. Coronation. 

The first stage, designation, is when God chooses someone to be king. In the process, they would be anointed with oil, which symbolized them being anointed by God’s Spirit. 

After being chosen by God, but before being crowned, this anointed one would have to demonstrate they were worthy to rule as king. This often included overcoming some tests or challenges. 

In the final step of the process, the chosen person was actually crowned as king over the nation. They would sit on the throne and have a crown placed on their head. This event is their coronation. 

Now that David had been designated by God, it was time for him to demonstrate his worthiness to be king. Which brings us to one of the most famous stories in the entire Hebrew Bible: David and Goliath.

David was sent by his dad to bring food to his brothers, who were soldiers in Israel’s army. When he arrived on the scene of the battle, he saw a nine-foot-tall giant decked head to toe in bronze armor and weapons so large they’d make normal weapons look like toys. 

David learned that for forty days, this giant, named Goliath, had been mocking the people of Israel and their God, challenging anyone who was willing to fight him. And for forty days, the soldiers and the king of Israel had cowered in fear. 

Until David, this young shepherd boy anointed by God, stepped up to the challenge. And with the power of God behind him, David walked onto the battlefield with a sling and some stones and brought down the giant. 

David did what nobody else would and demonstrated his worthiness to be king. But that one battle was actually just the beginning. There would be many years full of significant challenges that David would have to overcome before he would eventually arrive at the third stage of this journey: coronation.

David was not the type of king that the people wanted, but he was the kind of king that the people needed. Around 1,000 years later, Jesus would step onto the stage of history and follow a similar path to becoming king.

Except, instead of being designated by the prophet Samuel with the anointing of oil, Jesus was designated by God at His baptism. 

Instead of demonstrating His worthiness to be king by bringing down a giant on the battlefield, Jesus overcame the temptations of the devil in the wilderness. 

And unlike David, Jesus’ coronation was not a celebratory moment when the people welcomed Him with open arms. Instead, Jesus’ coronation was the darkest moment in history—as He hung on a cross with His arms held open by the nails driven through His palms, and with a crown of thorns pressed into His head. 

Jesus wasn’t the kind of king the people wanted. But He is exactly the King we all needed. On the surface, He was a ragged rabbi from Nazareth. But in reality, He was God in the flesh, who came to take away the sins of the world. 

And His crucifixion was His coronation. 

Journaling Questions  

• Write down a Scripture from today’s reading. What stands out to you about that verse or passage?    
• Based on these verses, what inspired David’s confidence in facing Goliath? What inspires yours?    
• How does Jesus’ death on the cross change the way you think about suffering? Do you believe God can use suffering for good?

Memory Verse

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome ... 1 John 5:1-3 NIV