"Are These All The Sons You Have?"

I'm just beginning A Heart Like His by Beth Moore - which is a study of David.  I'm excited about the study because David is probably my favorite male from the Bible.  I relate a lot to David and it's comforting to know that, despite all that God knew about David...all the dirt that he had done (or was going to do since God knows the end from the beginning), God still said that David was a man after his own heart (I Sam. 13: 13-14).  I don't know about you but that is music to my ears.  Personally, one of the things that is the toughest to move past is my own inconsistencies.  In the past, I've drawn closer to God only to let the devil use the distraction-du-jour (that's my high school French kicking in) to trip me up and get me right back off course.  And boy did David seem to have that problem!  I know sometimes when reading and studying the Bible it's hard to conjure up a mental picture of what is being talked about...but even for the weakest imagination, it's not hard to experience the drama David caused with Bathsheeba.  Whew!

Don't get me wrong, David's inconsistencies and shortcomings aren't a get-out-of-jail free card...meaning that because David was able to "get away" with this or that, that we're okay to keep disobeying God's will for our lives.  We are still called to be dead to sin and alive in Christ.  In fact, we're told in Romans 6:1-2 that we should not keep on sinning so that grace may abound. What is so comforting about David's biography is the beautiful portrait painted with the vibrant colors of God's love for His people and broad strokes of His unending grace and mercy.  When the enemy tries to tell me that I'm less valued because I've fallen short (okay - sometimes way short), reading the love story between God and his chosen leader reminds me that, not only am I still of just as much value and worth to God, I can be used by Him just the same.  I'm not relegated to the sidelines because I have a wrap sheet.  That's Good News! God knew everything David was to do...He had intimate knowledge of every shortcoming, every disgression, and every sin that David had committed...AND was going to commit.  Yet, God didn't choose Jesse's first son - the one that Samuel thought would be the annointed one.  He didn't choose any of the next six that Jesse marched on by.  Samuel, as the prophet of the Lord, said, "Are these all the sons you have?" God saught out his annointed...and as David was out tending the sheep (and sheep stink!), God set him apart. 

Isn't God amazing?