David a Model Youth?
PART THREE: "AVENUES OF SADNESS"

    All of David’s life was not the storybook happy ending sort of thing. He faced many problems along with his great victories along the way. I have chosen just a few of them to see how he faced them and how it changed his life.


Loss of Michal I and II:


    David earned the right to have Michal as his wife when he slew Goliath. Saul considered giving David his daughter Merab, yet chose to give her to another. When Saul learned that Michal loved David, he hoped to use her against him and gave her to David. Evidently David had some desire to wed this gal, he went out and took the lives of one hundred Philistines and brought back proof of their death to Saul for a Dowry.
    When Saul chased David all over the countryside (to take his life if possible), David had fled with the help of his wife Micah. It would appear that she was a "good" wife at this point.
    It is later that we find that while David was on the run that Saul had given Michal to Phalti the son of Laish which was of Gallim. The pain that David felt was at least hurtful to his pride. The fact that he later gains her back speaks highly of the sadness that this must have caused him.
    Even later when David had reclaimed Michal, he found her to be different. Whether her problem was one of jealousy or what her attitude must have wounded David deeply. So deep was his sadness it would appear that it permanently changed his relationship with her!
 

Separation from his friend Jonathan:

    Jonathan and David were the best of friends. Nothing could stand in the way of their friendship; Not the fact that he was only a shepherd boy; Not the fact that he had been chosen to take his father’s place as king of Israel; Not the fact that Jonathan’s father was trying to kill David; Nothing could stand in the way of their genuine friendship. This is still true today. Real friends stand together through thick and thin, good and bad, happy and sad!
    How tragic it was that the events of the day not only separated them at times but totally separated them when Jonathan died. A sad time for David indeed!



The Loss of a Child:

    Can anything hurt more than the loss of a loved one? The most tragic of all these could probably be the loss of a child. David experienced this loss several times.
    One of the most down cast we will ever fond David was when he lost his and Bathsheba’s first child. True this child was the product of a great sin in his life and he no doubt spent a considerable amount of time blaming himself. The pain was still there, just as real, just as hurtful, just as enduring!
 

Problems with Absalom: 2 Sam 18:33  And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

    How many fathers and mothers have wept because of pain brought on by their children! David’s dealings with Absolom had culminated in a trying event for him. He almost lost his kingdom, lost one son, then lost another.
    Why did all this happen to David? Was he not a man of God? How, where did he fail? These are but a few of many questions that we could look at and get an idea of this terrible time in his life.
    One problem that came back and haunted David was his sin with Bathsheba. Even though he was forgiven and he went on with his life serving the Lord, it opened up the avenue for problems on down the road.
    Another area that caused grieve was his polygamous marriages. Jealousy no doubt was the norm not only of his wives against each other, but for their children and their place in David’s household. It was even the prime factor in the rape of Tamar by her half brother, Amnon, and his subsequent murder by her brother Absolom.
    Absolom ended up fleeing from David for a lengthy time and later when David was tricked into bringing him back, things looked okay on the surface. Sin had entered into the house of the King! It had reared its ugly head and David went down the avenue of sadness that it caused. All this ended up with David losing a son that he dearly loved. ALL BECAUSE OF SIN!
 
 

Youth Lesson - East 38th St. FWB Gary Marcum