Sunday Message- A servant like David

A while back, you'll recall my personal debate about David's good vs his bad, and how it was resolved in the sincerity that he brought everything- sins in confession and glories in humility- before God.  So last night I was reading in Acts 4, and came across these passages...

Act 4:24  And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 
Act 4:25  who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'-- 
Act 4:27  for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 
Act 4:28  to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 
Act 4:29  And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 

See the key word "servants."  What I learned was, however, the word translated servant in the first two cases, and the one in the third-which applies to US- are somewhat different.  The word applying to David and to Jesus:

pais

paheece

Perhaps from G3817; a boy (as often beaten with impunity), or (by analogy) a girl, and (generally) a child; specifically a slave or servant (especially a minister to a king; and by eminence to God): - child, maid (-en), (man) servant, son, young man.

"...as often beaten with impunity".  We can find it easy to find fault with David if we look- from the affair with Bathsheba, the treatment of Uriah, to the cold response to Michal and the lukewarm punishments of his evil sons.  But rarely do we place them in the context of the terrible trials he went through- serving a king turned homicidal maniac in his own house, living amongst a people he detested in Philistia, all those years on the run, being unable to save his best friends.  A lesson in this is learned in that you cannot judge without looking at the circumstances- and the heart.  Later, I was reading the latest Michael Yussef devotional, and came across this from a Leading The Way listener:

"In my life, there has been discouragement, anxiety, doubt, fear.... Yet God has been there to provide encouragement, happiness, comfort... through His Spirit.  Therefore, it doesn't matter if my circumstances seem to be contrary to God's promises..."

Because the seeming to those who haven't been in his-or our- shoes doesn't match the Love God has given us.  Let me move on from this very important sidebar.

So the word for us as servants, as I said, is a little different.  

doulos

doo'-los

From G1210; a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.

Notice the aspect of beatings isn't expressly there.  Doesn't mean we won't receive them for Christ- and God is with those who have, and do- but even without it, we are to act the same.  To seek His will over our own.  Now, that doesn't mean we can't -and shouldn't- MOVE from being an "us" servant to being a "David" servant.  But how does one do that?

I wondered that, myself.  So I Googled 'David the Servant'.  And it took me, amazingly, right to where I needed to be-Psalm 18.  In this Psalm, subscripted "...A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O LORD, my strength", David goes through the great things God has done for him, and then a bit about how David "earned" that favor- which is a lesson unto itself and will wait.  Studying analytically, as I often do, it wasn't until I got into the 40's of this 50-verse passage that I realized the narration had shifted- somewhere along the way, it had went from David's prayer to God to JESUS' prayer to God: 

Psa 18:43  You delivered me from strife with the people; you made me the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me. 

Psa 18:44  As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me; foreigners came cringing to me. 

Psa 18:45  Foreigners lost heart and came trembling out of their fortresses. 

Psa 18:46  The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation-- 

Psa 18:47  the God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me, 

Psa 18:48  who delivered me from my enemies; yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me; you rescued me from the man of violence. 

Psa 18:49  For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing to your name. 

Psa 18:50  Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever. 

A better translation of the key verses might be found in the KJV:

Psa 18:43  You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; You have made me head of the nations; a people I have not known shall serve me. 

Psa 18:44  At the hearing of the ear they listen to me; the sons of foreigners shall bow down to me. 

Psa 18:45  The sons of foreigners shall faint and come trembling out of their strongholds. 

Point being, being a "David" servant isn't necessarily about the beatings, either- the word "servant" in the subscript is the same as for "us"- but it is in gradually becoming MORE LIKE JESUS- something that David had mastered, despite his faults, and we can to.  Pray that God shows us how to do that in the weeks and months to come.