Rest in Jesus, Our Shepherd King

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions.

This morning we're at 1 Chronicles chapter 11, the first few verses.

We're going to talk about more detail 1 Chronicles gives us about David becoming king.

And what did the people say when they came to King David to ask him to be their king?

Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.

Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your Word.

Father, we come to you knowing that your Word is truth.

And we pray to you because we need your help.

Lord, it's not just routine, but your Word helps us, instructs us, trains us, corrects us, rebukes us.

But your Spirit applies it.

Lord, we pray that these would not just be words on a page, stories of a bygone era,

but you would please care for us, body and soul. In Jesus' name, amen.

Here you go. 1 Chronicles chapter 11, the first three verses.

Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying,

Indeed, we are bone of your bone and flesh and your flesh.

We are your flesh and bone.

We are bone and flesh. Oh boy, I'm having a hard time today.

Also, in times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel and brought them in.

And Jehovah, your God, said to you,

You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over my people Israel.

Therefore, all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before Jehovah.

And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by Samuel.

Wow, that gives us some interesting things.

We need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about?

B, what's the best verse to summarize this?

And C, what do we call it to do?

So, A, what's this about?

Well, this is the speech, or a summary of the speech that the elders have.

It's the elders, the leaders, come to David at Hebron, and they say,

You're our flesh and blood, our flesh and bone.

That's their way of saying, We're of the tribe of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We're your heir, or we're your kinsmen.

We are of that same covenant promise, that same group of people.

And we remember two things, they point out.

We remember that God Himself said you were going to shepherd Israel.

And number two, we remember even when we did have King Saul, you were actually the commander.

You were the one who was leading us into victory in battle.

And so we want you.

We want you to be king over us.

And once again, here in 1 Chronicles chapter 11, it's clear, they enter into a willing covenant.

Both parties enter in.

They're asking David to be king.

They want him to be commander.

We don't know the substance of these promises that are being made between them,

but it's clear that David is accepting that he will be their king, providing military care, conquest for them, protection for them.

And they're going to give him their loyalty, their service.

And so this is fulfilling, right?

What it says at the very bottom.

And they anointed David king over Israel according to the word of the Lord by Samuel, right?

This is fulfilling God's prophetic utterances and promises.

So that's what this is about, David becoming king.

I think there's some things that are helpful for us here too, right?

It's the elders who are actually doing this.

And they're representing the people.

They're doing this for God's people, right?

And so there's this idea here, not just of a full democracy, but it's those who are making the wise decisions, coming to King David.

And it's not David anointing himself, but it is the elders themselves anointing David.

They're the ones who are willingly placing the sign on him.

This is a willing contractual agreement, right?

It's not by just power structures.

This is a beautiful thing happening here, right?

David knows he needs to reign in righteousness.

He needs to do certain things.

He needs to conduct himself a certain way.

This is not just an absolute monarchy.

This is not King James, you know, the divine right of kings type stuff.

That's not what's going on here.

And so David becomes king over Israel.

So what's the best verse to summarize this?

Well, I would underline verse three.

That's what I would underline.

And I already read some of that to you, so I'm not going to do it again.

What are we called to do, right?

Well, I think once again, we're called to have principal politics.

I think that we're called to actually look at these things and go, man, this is good, right?

These are people willingly coming to David.

This is very different than those two bros who are assassinating Ish-bosheth and beheading him and all their ugliness, right?

This is David actually ruling by principle.

This is David having his throne established righteously, willingly by the people wanting to be governed by him and the people recognizing, submitting to the Lord.

This was God's will.

Now, we don't have that, especially if you're watching this and you're an American, right?

I can't tell you who should be the next president.

I can't tell you who should be the next senator or congressman.

Why?

Because I'm not a prophet nor a son of the prophet, right?

But I can tell you, we could go off principles, right?

We could look at biblical character.

And when those things happen in our leaders, we're typically blessed.

And so I just want to encourage you as you seek to follow after Jesus.

How do we walk like Jesus?

And maybe there's a weird chance that this gets into the hands of political people.

We get a little power hungry.

Remember the people.

And remember God's the one who, in his providence, raises up princes and tears them down.

Raises up kingdoms and brings them down.

And so princes and elected people should be humble.

And not power hungry.

But this also shows us that God has a plan.

And his plan was to make David the shepherd of the people.

And the king.

You also have a great shepherding king.

And his name is King Jesus.

The better son of David.

The one who is king.

And who invites you into his kingdom.

Who does have absolute power.

And yet, he is meek and humble.

He is gentle and lovely.

And he invites you into his kingdom.

And he promises you to care.

And so we can rest in him.

We can trust him.

Knowing that his is a wonderful kingdom.

Father, we thank you for giving us such a great king.

A king who does not reign by power hungry thirst.

But who really is for our good.

Lord, we thank you.

For the goodness and care you have shown us in Jesus.

In his name we pray.

Amen.

May the Lord bless you.

May you rest as you follow King Jesus.

May you strive for righteousness.

Knowing that your king of justice lives.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.