We are continuing with our summer message series, “David for King.” While this series does not follow our current Sunday readings, it is highlighting some important leadership and discipleship skills, so that like David, we can also be someone after God’s own heart. If you want to read the biblical account of David, you can find it in 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles.

Last week we left off with one of the most famous episodes in David’s life; his defeat of the giant, Goliath. Unlike so many of us who when facing gigantic problems become almost paralyzed, leaders, like David, choose to act. Such action requires preparation and perseverance, often in obscurity. David’s victory over Goliath did not make him a leader, it revealed him as being one. It also did not make him king, but it was a step along that road.

King Saul was impressed with David after he defeated Goliath, and put him in charge of Israel’s army. David was very successful in fighting the Philistines. In fact, he might have been too successful. The Bible says that women would come out to greet the returning army singing, “Saul has killed his 1000 men; David his 10,000.” Saul started to become very jealous of David. Remember the Bible describes Saul as having a violent temper, and in his jealousy he tries to kill David. 

David hadto flee, and for about 10 years, Saul huntedhim. At first David, goes to a cave in the southern part of the country, and his brothers join him there. Eventually, others who were in distress joined David; totally some 400 men. This indicates that things are not going so great in Israel, and more and more people are becoming unhappy with King Saul.

David and his men then move into the forest area of Israel, and become some kind of Robin Hood, helping those with problems. While in the forest, David hears that the Philistines have been attacking a nearby village, and taking all their food. Having beena soldier, David wants to help, but first he does something which might seem small, but is vitally important – he inquires of the Lord. This phrase, “inquires of the Lord,” is used a lot in David’s story. David asks God if he should go help this nearby village by fighting the Philistines, and God tells him to do so.

This is an important lesson for us, forsome of us more than others. Some of us, like David, have a really good heart and we want to help people. But the problem is sometimes we are running after helping too many people, and we are a little bit frantic and we are a little bit fractured because we think we have to help everyone. God doesn't expect us to solve everyone else's problems – those ofour friends, or family members, or coworkers. There are some problems he wants us to leave alone. 

OK, back to David – God tells him to go help the village, but David’s men push back. They say that they are only about 600 men, which will not be enough to fight the Philistines, and besides, Saul will then find out where they are hiding. Again, David inquires of the Lord, and again, the Lord tells him to go help, so David gets his men to join him, and they rout the Philistines. In doing so, not only do they save the village, they also grab a bunch of booty from the Philistines – animals and other foodstuff – which David and his men need.

So David’s men were wrong about them not being strong enough to beat the Philistines, but they were right about Saul finding out where they were hiding. And Saul is coming with the army to get David and his men. David inquires of the Lord again, and God tells him, that Saul is coming, that the villagers that he just saved will betray him to Saul, so he and his men should flee again to some caves.

All this inquiring of the Lord that David does, begs the question, how did God talk to David? The Bible does not tell us exactly how David and God communicated. I think that is probably because God speaks to different people in different ways. For some it might be in a loud thunderclap, while for others it is a small, whispering wind. However David heard God talking to him, one of the reasons he was a person after God’s own heart is because he was always seeking God’s counsel and wisdom. It makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean God is God. He created everything, so he knows how everything works. God sees all of time in an eternal present, so He knows how everything is going to work out. When we seek out God’s wisdom and counsel we honor him.

So, why don’t we seek out God’s wisdom and counsel all the time? I think there are a lot of reasons. We might think it is only for super holy people, like David and the other people in the Bible, and the saints. But if we remember what we said last summer when we looked at some of the heroes in the Bible, they are meant to be role models for us. The Bible often shows their shortcomings, so that we can see that they really are just like us. God is just as willing to talk with us, as he was to talk with them.

Maybe we think it sounds weird to ask God for his wisdom. We don’t want to seem to be some kind of “Jesus freak.” But why not? We are called Christians, right?

Another reason why we don't do this, I think, is ignorance. We kind of think of prayer is just talking to God, but prayer is not talking to God. Prayer is more of a conversation with God; so we listen to him as well as tell him our concerns and questions.

You know, another one is fear. Hey, if I talk to God and I hear God's counsel, He's going to tell me to do something I don't want to do. Even Jesus experience this in the Garden the night he was arrested. But he continued his conversation with his Father, and aligned his will with his Father’s will. But this takes practice and perseverance, like we talked about last week.

Would you be willing to practice listening to God, seeking His counsel this week? Inquiring of the Lord? What's a decision you're trying to make, or a problem you are trying to solve, maybe at work or at home? Would you just lay that before God saying, "God, I want to be like David. I want to hear your wisdom. And like David, I'm inquiring, Lord, what should I do?" Then, for this week, every time you wake up in the morning, or maybe every time you brush your teeth, or maybe every time you just think about this problem, this issue, this decision, you would say, "God, please give me your wisdom, please show me where you want me to go." I promise you if we can make this a practice, three things will happen. Number one, we'll make better decisions, we'll experience more victory in the choices we make. Number two, we'll have a greater sense of peace in our lives. But third and most importantly, our hearts will be drawn closer to our Heavenly Father.