Lessons from David: How to Be a Giant Killer (13 page)

1 Samuel 15:27-28; brackets mine

Right after he received the judgment that the kingdom was taken away from him, Saul grabbed Samuel’s robe and it tore. Samuel used that as a word picture to illustrate what God had just done in the spirit as he told Saul, “God just tore the kingdom right out of your hand!” Look how Saul reacted to this terrible judgment pronounced upon him:

Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God.

Do you see what Saul was doing? He said, “Alright, I’ve lost the kingdom. God has rejected me. He’s punishing me, but that’s not really what’s important in my life. Please honor me so I’ll still look good in the sight of the people!”

Saul’s problem was that he was a man pleaser. The evidence is right here. He had lost everything but instead of repenting and saying, “Lord, forgive me! How could I do this? I love You more than anything else. I must have Your acceptance,” he was willing to let all that go. The main issue for Saul wasn’t the Lord’s favor, but rather honor in the sight of the people.

Are You a God Pleaser?

God’s Word is very clear about this.

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Proverbs 29:25

Being a man pleaser brings a snare. A snare is a trap that was used to catch animals and birds. Satan goes about “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). When we become a man pleaser, we open the door for the enemy to come in and devour us. This happens when we seek to receive our approval and validation from people more than God. We need to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). We need to seek the Lord’s acceptance and approval more than man’s acceptance and approval. Make God first place in your life. Be more concerned about pleasing Him than your own reputation. That’s how you can avoid this trap of the devil.

In a sense, we’ve all become the politicians that we abhor. Many politicians—not all, but many—constantly keep their finger in the air to check which way the public opinion polls are blowing. And whatever it is that the people want to hear, that’s what they have to say. They’re like chameleons, void of any convictions of their own. They change and do whatever will buy them enough votes to get them re-elected. They’re out to please people one hundred percent of the time! They have no integrity. You can’t tell what they’re going to do in a particular situation because it just depends on what the polls show at that particular time. That’s terrible!

You’re probably thinking that I’m right in saying this is wrong; that we ought to be people of convictions. But may I ask you a personal question? Is that the way you are? It’s easy for us to judge politicians, but what about you? If you were applying for a job or a promotion at work and you had to be really candid about something in your background that might affect whether you receive the job or promotion, would you be honest and open about it? If you were applying for a loan, would you tell the bankers the things they want to know, even if they could be used against you? Are you a God pleaser or a man pleaser?

If I was being considered for a job and had something in my past like a police record, I wouldn’t conceal it. I would be open and honest and tell people up front. I am not a man pleaser. My security is in God. Because of this, I’m secure. I’m safe. The Lord is my Provider, and He will provide me with a job (Psalm 90:16-17).

Completely Transparent

This is a major difference between David and many Christians today. David humbled himself and accepted responsibility for what he did. He didn’t try to cover it up or blame someone else. David was so God conscious that it didn’t matter to him if the entire nation knew of his sin. What mattered to him was getting his relationship with God back to where it should be.

To be a person after God’s own heart, you need to quit covering up, hiding, and concealing sin and failure in your life. Of course you need to use wisdom. Don’t just go out there and announce your sin like it’s something you’re proud of. But if you’re applying for something and they expect you to put down any past problems you’ve had, be honest. Trust God and tell them the truth.

The Bible doesn’t say, “You shall not lie.” It says, “You shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16). If you’re filling out an application and it asks for a past history and you fail to put something there that should be, you just given false witness. You may say, “But I didn’t lie!” Well, yes, you did. You gave a false representation of yourself. You need to be candid. Don’t carry a sign down the street that says, “I’ve committed adultery” or “I went to prison,” but if something needs to be said, be honest and courageous enough to expose it to light.

Sometimes you need to tell someone about your past sins in order to help them. Perhaps somebody you are dealing with has a similar problem to what you’ve had. You desire to keep these dark things concealed in your life and don’t want them to be known. But if you shared them, you could minister hope and encouragement to someone. You could testify of how the Lord forgave you, how He healed your heart, or how He restored your marriage. If you won’t share something just because you don’t want anyone else to know about it, then you’re still a man pleaser. You’re still ensnared by the fear of man.

Jesus spoke the truth. He didn’t enjoy upsetting people. He didn’t rebuke because He loved controversy, strife, and criticism. Some of today’s talk shows just love controversy because it sells. It draws people in. It improves their ratings. The Lord wasn’t like that. Jesus was absolutely free to tell the truth to people who had the authority to hurt him (Luke 22:66-23:3). He was fearless. There were no snares in His life because He didn’t care about man’s opinion. Jesus was out to only please His Father. That’s how we need to be too. We need to be completely transparent.

Be Who God Wants You to Be!

Are you willing to do anything the Lord wants? Will you maintain your integrity in the face of negative peer pressure from your fellow employees, or if it means possibly being passed over for a promotion at work? Do you have that kind of attitude?

I remember hearing a fifteen-year-old girl give a testimony at the local church I attend. For the past two years of her Christian life, she had been living a life of compromise. She hated who she had become and what she was doing. However, she wanted to be accepted by certain peers.

She went on a mission trip to Costa Rica and while there, she visited a girls’ home. She met young ladies who had been beaten and raped, were impoverished, and had all kinds of disadvantages. This caused her to realize how blessed she really was. The Lord had given her a good home, loving parents, and a wonderful church. She began to feel ashamed of the fact that she wanted the approval of these other teenagers more than God. All of a sudden, it just clicked inside of her and she declared, “I’m going to start being true to myself. I’m going to be who I want to be and more importantly, who God wants me to be!” In a sense, she was saying, “I’m going to start pleasing God more than people.” This was a tremendous testimony of something that most adult believers have never grasped. This young girl was choosing to be a God pleaser instead of a man pleaser.

David lived to please God, but Saul and Absalom lived to please man. If you want to become a person after God’s own heart, you have to get to the place where you love God and value His acceptance and approval more than man’s. When David was reproved for his sin, what broke his heart was how he had broken his relationship with God. He didn’t care what anyone else thought. He wanted that relationship with God back more than anything. It didn’t matter about his kingdom. Let somebody else take it; he didn’t care. David just wanted God.

Saul didn’t value his relationship with God that way. When the Lord forsook him, quit responding to him, and wouldn’t answer him, Saul just went and consulted a witch (1 Samuel 28:3-19). He didn’t care how he got his answer. His relationship with God just wasn’t that important. Saul wanted results. This is exactly the reason why many people aren’t men or women after God’s own heart today.

Chapter 14
A Purpose Bigger than Yourself

David was a man after God’s own heart. This wasn’t always obvious from his actions, but it was definitely evidenced by the attitude of his heart. David accepted responsibility and was accountable for his actions. He always sought God’s acceptance and approval, not man’s. David had a cause that was bigger than himself.

In other words, David wasn’t the center of his universe. He wasn’t the focus of his own life. David knew he was where he was to serve God’s purposes, not his own. He didn’t just use God to get his way, but longed for the Lord to use him to accomplish His purposes. This important trait helped make David a man after God’s own heart.

If you live a self-centered life, you will never be a person after God’s own heart. Take, for instance, the business realm. If you’re running neck and neck with someone for a promotion at work, are you thinking of what’s best for the company or is your attitude,
Who cares about the company—what’s best for me? I need this promotion. I need this money. What about me? What about my ego?
This self-serving, self-centered kind of attitude is completely inconsistent with God’s heart. If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you make a very small package!

I have a book entitled,
Self-Centeredness: The Source of All Grief.
This book goes into much more detail about this. I encourage you to get it!

The Ark Stays

David didn’t have a selfish attitude. Serving God benefited and promoted David in life. It brought him from being a shepherd boy to being king. But this was just a fringe benefit. These things came as by-products of his relationship with God. David’s heart was to serve the Lord.

Even when Absalom revolted against him, David’s heart was to serve the Lord. Absalom invested years into winning over the hearts of the people. He was a handsome, gifted individual, and the people loved him. He literally stole the people’s hearts away from his father, David (2 Samuel 15:6). Absalom invited certain nobles to join with him and proclaimed himself king. When David got wind of this, he had to flee for his life from Jerusalem, or he would have been trapped there and killed by Absalom (2 Samuel 15:13-14). While leaving with those still loyal to him…

The king said unto Zadok [the priest], Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation: but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.

What a tremendous passage of scripture! What a revelation into David’s heart. David was fleeing for his life, fleeing from the shame brought on by his own son’s rebellion against him. Yet when he had opportunity to take the Ark, which would have given him a great advantage, with him, David said, “No. Take the Ark back to its place in the tabernacle. If God is pleased to return me as king over Israel, then I’ll come back to it. But if the Lord is through with me, then let Him do what He wants.” In other words David was saying, “If God wants me to be king, I’ll come back to Jerusalem and the Ark. But if not, let the Ark stay here and serve God’s people.”

David had a purpose that was bigger than himself. Although he was king, he did not view the position as an opportunity to boost his ego or benefit him. David was king to serve the Lord and the nation of Israel. This was God’s call on his life. When David stepped up to the plate when his nation was impoverished and oppressed by the Philistines, he didn’t fight Goliath for himself, but to serve God by overcoming the armies of the Philistines to bring deliverance to the Israelites. David was king for the same reason—to serve God and His people. That was his purpose. David wasn’t just consumed with self. Self was not the god of his life!

Focus on the Message!

In order to truly understand what it means to reject self as the god of your life, the Holy Spirit must reveal it to you. This trait will make you a person after God’s own heart. You must die to yourself and come alive to something that’s bigger than you. There are so many ways we’re all tempted to exalt ourselves in everyday situations. If you can overcome in the small things, you’ll be able to handle the big temptations when they come.

The year 2003 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the incorporation of Andrew Wommack Ministries. It was also the thirty-fifth anniversary of God supernaturally touching my life. We produced an anniversary magazine detailing some of the things the Lord had done. We also stated our vision for the future in this magazine.

As we were preparing this magazine, members of our production department came to me with a list of questions they wanted Jamie and me to answer. Some of the questions were: “What is your favorite color? What are your hobbies? What do you like to do on your days off?” I understand that these are questions that people would want to ask a leader in a newspaper type of article, but I had to tell them, “Look, I understand what you’re doing, but you’re missing something here. This ministry isn’t about me. It’s not about what my favorite color is or what I like to do in my free time. This is about the message God has given me to share with the entire world!”

All of our ministry expansion, including this new building and the multiplying of Bible colleges all around the world, isn’t about me. It’s not about me looking at something and saying, “Look what I’ve built.” No! All of these things are just tools to get the job done. The important thing is getting the Word out about God’s unconditional love and the balance of grace and faith. The reason I get excited when I see the new building, our schools multiplying and growing, and new radio and television stations added is because the message the Lord has put in my heart to share is changing people’s lives. It’s exciting to accomplish what God has called us to do!