David

Well, sometimes Pastor Bob is just ON and yesterday was one of those days. He spoke about David in terms of three words: dwarf, dwindle and dwell. If I remember correctly, the point(e) was that sometimes our problems can dwarf us (in the example yesterday, it was Goliath who was 9' tall and who's armour alone weighted 5,000 shekels), our spirits and enthusiasm can dwindle (it happened to Israelites when Goliath taunted them for 40 days), but we can do anything when the Spirit of the Lord dwells within us (although in David's case, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, as opposed to now, when the Spirit of the Lord dwells within us).

Really, these giants that come along in our lives can be referred to as "just the next thing." There is spiritual warfare often going on (i.e., Satan would like us to be discouraged, and can throw rocks in our path to try and discourage us). Just the next thing. Just the next thing. The next thing. I need to remember this.

Anyway it was a great sermon. I started to think about this concept in terms of David's whole life. The Bible covers David's life so well. List of possible struggles or "next things" in David's life:

1. David is the youngest son, short -- perhaps giant #1.
"But the Lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height,
for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them.
People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7 (one of my absolute favorites)

2. David is anointed . . . but with no current kingdom to rule, since Saul is still King. Perhaps giant #2.
3. David gets a new job to play harp for his King, who has a tormented spirit. Gotta be hard.
4. David is appointed armor bearer for Saul, the King he is to replace.
5. David faces Goliath.
6. David is attacked again and again by Saul.
7. David has to leave town and goes to Gath, but then has to leave there to go to the cave of Adullam.
Now here is something I really, really like -- men who were in trouble,
in debt or discontent came to him there and so he had an army of 400.
8. Saul chases him down, and David ends up in the wilderness with his army of 600 now.
Has to go further and further because Saul keeps chasing him to kill him.

You know what? I was going to go through and list every "next thing", but I don't really need to. I wanted to see how many "next things" David had to deal with and there are plenty.

Off the top of my head:

Bathshebagate

The incident where his son rapes his daughter, Tamar.

His son taking over his kingdom and kicking him out of town.

Being denied the building of the Temple.

There were other things in there, but I am getting it in my head (hopefully) that David had a LOT of "next things". It seemed things were not always stable and smooth -- instead, there was always something significant that had to be dealt with. So, I wonder if there is a relationship between character-building and the number of "next things" you have to deal with? I hear alot of different views on this for sure.