By Rosetta Thomas

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David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel was a man after God’s own heart, but he got to a point in his life where he was so sure of himself that he did the unthinkable. He committed adultery and later murdered someone in an attempt to cover the sin. This was a man who fought many battles, had sweet fellowship with God and notably slayed a giant. Although David could handle external giants in his life, he had one on the inside which eventually floored him, the impact of which has been felt by his generations, and will be felt by even those yet to be born.

There are many lessons we can learn from this story and we will take a brief look at a few of them.

1. No matter how anointed we are, we can fall.

One of the lessons we can learn is that no matter how anointed we are, we can fall. David was chosen by God and was anointed by Samuel to lead the people of Israel after Saul fell into sin.

2 Sam. 16:13 tells us:

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

From all indication, the hands of the Lord was upon David and it was evident in the exploits he did. He enjoyed many victories but somehow, he came to a place of complacency. He believed that his army would certainly win the battle because God was on their side and as such he stayed home at a time when kings went to war (2 Sam. 11:1). His complacency led him to a state of spiritual laziness which manifested when he took a spiritual vacation at a time when he should be waging a good warfare. This cost him dearly because the giant that was living in him was provoked when he saw a naked woman bathing. It floored him!

It floored him because his complacency led him away from the presence of God and so he was not in a capacity to mortify the flesh and flee from that youthful lust.

Now the Bible clearly warns us against complacency of every sort. In Amos 6:1 the scriptures tells us:

“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!” – Amos 6:1

It was this state of complacency which gave room for the devil to take David at unaware. He sowed to the flesh and reaped the corruption of shame and disgrace and in spite of the great anointing that was on his life, that seed set in motion a generational curse which ran through his bloodline.

2. We should not be righteous in our own eyes.

Another lesson we can learn from the story is that we should not be righteous in our own eyes. David was quick to condemn the act of unrighteousness pointed out by Nathan who spoke to him in parables on the subject matter, not knowing that he was the subject in question. (2 Sam. 12:5-7). The Bible tells us categorically that our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). It also tells us that there is no one that is completely righteous at any time (Romans 3:10-12). Rather, the righteousness that is accepted by God is one in which He Himself engenders:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

David could not see himself because his self-righteousness blind-folded his eyes. He knew he had a moral failure but he felt that he, … the sweet Psalmist of Israel would get away with it.  Self-righteousness however, always leads to huge problems. It is always said that the persons who crash the most are experienced drivers. They know every rule in the book and as a result they take things for granted, but to their own detriment.

 In Psalms 10:13, the Bible describes the heart of a self-righteous man when it says:

“Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.”

But the truth is that God is not unrighteous to forget anything, whether good or bad because He has already established in Heaven that a man’s sin will surely find him out. In this regard, the sin which David did in secret was exposed and made known from generation to generation, so much so that today, thousand of years later we can be discussing this matter of his moral failure.

3. Beware of what you feed

Another lesson we can lean is that we should be careful about the thoughts and feelings we nurture. The truth is that whatever one feeds grows so if someone constantly feed their minds on filthy things they will eventually become filthy. Essentially, it is the little sins here and there, which left unguarded that eventually leads one to destruction. Furthermore, no one falls overnight and no one backslides overnight. It is a gradual process of degneration borne out of little acts of disobedience and compromise. The Bible warns us that it is the little foxes that spoil the vine (Songs of Soloman 2:15). Similarly, we are cautioned that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump (Gal. 5:9). David must have been compromising here and there without being caught and he eventually took it a step further. Those compromises graduated into an enormous giant which turned him into an adulterer and a murderer.

What is your Giant?

The question for you and I is what is that giant inside of us that we are feeding from time to time with little acts of disobedience and compromise? What is that thing that causes us to become spiritually lazy and causes us to take a spiritual vacation from time to time? What is it that takes us away from our regular devotion with the Lord and what it is that take us away from the place of prayer?

Whatever those things are, I submit to you that that those things are our giants.   

We are spiritual beings and we do not operate in a vacuum. Whatever we feed grows, whether it is the flesh or the spirit. The Bible tells us that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord (Deut 8:3, Matt. 4:4). It is therefore important that one caters to the needs of the spirit through areas of worship like personal fellowship, fasting, prayer and Bible Studies. Without that, the inner man will become weak while the flesh will become empowered. Once this happens, degeneration begins and if one does not get a quickly hold of themselves, it can lead them to do the unthinkable.

I am sure David was very shocked at what he had done when he came to himself. He never knew that he, the sweet Psalmist of Israel could commit adultery and kill his loyal army man. But the truth is that none of us knows what we are capable of doing and so it is very important that we guard against feeding the flesh, lest we fall … mightily!

Practical Steps

Having established that, let us now briefly look at some practical steps that we can take to slay the giants within us.

1. Walking in the spirit

We can slay the giant within by walking in the Spirit. We are admonished that if we walk in the spirit we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal 5:16). We can do this by spending time with God in personal fellowship, and spending time in fasting and prayer. We can also do this by regularly listening to sermon podcasts from people who are rooted in the Word of God.

2. Crucified with Christ

Another practical step is to be a partaker in Christ’s suffering. Suffering is a fruit of the spirit and it helps to prune us and bring us into alignment with God. As Luke 9:23, says,

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”.

3. Be doers of the Word

Finally, another practical step in slaying the giants within us is by being doers of the Word of God. James 1:22-25 says:

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Knowing the word of God is not enough. It is the Word that we know and apply to our lives that will help us to overcome.

Conclusion

Like David, we all have some giants that we battle with from time to time but we must ensure that we guard against them. Although David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel was a man after God’s own heart, he was floored by the giant of moral failure which was left unguarded in his life. This story clearly highlights the fact that we should never be too sure of ourselves, and so no matter how anointed we are, we can still fall. Let us not be righteous in our own eyes but let us rather resist all appearance of evil by killing the little foxes of small compromises here and there. Let us also take practical steps to slay the giants in our lives by walking in the spirit, being a partaker of Christ’s suffering and being a doer of the Word of God. The story of David’s moral failure is in the scriptures as a lesson for all of us to learn from and the best way of learning is from other people’s mistake. Let us therefore take advantage of the message being taught on the subject matter so that we don’t end up falling into a similar trap. God bless you!

CREDITS:

The Intro and Exit Music used for the audio podcast included in this article is: “He didn’t throw the clay away” by Michael English. The background music is a karaoke version of Yeshua Hamashiach by Nathaniel Bassey. I do not own the rights to any of the music used in this or any of my audio compilations.