You Have Arrived

King David is celebrated as the greatest king in the bible, a man after God’s own heart, and will reign again in the new Jerusalem under Jesus Christ, The King.

Read his biblical account in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. Archaeological discoveries are now being made that substantiate his position in history.

Ezekiel 37:24-25

“‘My servant David will be their king, and they will all have one shepherd. They will live by my rules and obey my laws. They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will all live on the land forever: they, their children, and their grandchildren. David my servant will be their king forever.

I’ve generally thought of David’s life in three phases. Shepherd boy, hunted outcast, and, “finally arrived”, King. In fact, I now realise his purpose was to be the king but his ministry was to be a shepherd. And it will always be!

It’s amazing to think, if David’s purpose and ministry continues like that in the eternal, it may be that our purpose and ministry does also, if indeed we are following what God has called us to do on this earth. If we’re not, it will change to God’s original design that perhaps we didn’t follow.

David learnt to be a shepherd and warrior, alone as a boy, looking after his family’s flock of sheep, defending them from attack of lions, bears, wolves and thieves. He was rejected in his family and had no convincing family identity until he was discovered by King Saul and taken into the royal household as one of their own. When he was rejected again, this time by Saul because of Saul’s jealousy and insecurity, he had to run for his life and became an outcast for the next 15 or so years. We think of David as being shaped and pruned and moulded through his life so that he would become the king that God desired him to be. And that’s true.

What we don’t talk about is how he was, in fact, all of the time, a shepherd. He was a shepherd to the broken outcasts who flocked around him, just like lost sheep. He ministered to the hardened men and their families, outsiders themselves, in the desert even while he himself was broken and an outcast in the desert, hunted, yet being led by his own Shepherd.

Even while he was an outcast he continued to shepherd, lead, and input into those people's lives who needed someone to turn to and something to believe in. He still had a role to play, a life to live, something significant to learn and be and do. Even while he was desperate, lonely, confused, and crying out to God, how long?

When David learned how to be a king from the position of a shepherd, he then became King.

Speaking of Jesus:

Mark 9:35 (NLT)

He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Even as David ruled, he was a servant shepherd, foreshadowing Jesus Christ.

I take a lesson from this. We are all called to minister to those around us no matter what phase of life we think we’re in. There is never a ‘later’, there is just now.

No matter what has happened to me and where I think I am in terms of life’s progress, I am always a sheep and Jesus is always my Shepherd. And I’m glad. But I am always also part of His priesthood, his holy nation, being called to minister wherever He’s positioned me in the way He’s called me.

I am to fulfil a destiny that God designed for me before I was born, for eternity. I am living in part of my eternity now. I am fulfilling the purpose and ministry (the call) God has for my life now so that I may continue it in purity and perfection in eternity.

The ultimate life God has for me has already begun.

Don’t wait for tomorrow until you’ve gained a certain place you think you need to arrive at. You have arrived. Your arrival has already come. You are called and preserved for now. Make use of it. Be who you need to be today. Know how God wants you to minister to others and your purpose will unfold and be fulfilled throughout eternity.