[David Part 1 Movie Download
Amancio Mccrae
Steve Conover: Welcome to The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover. With me is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka, have you visited our website, foiradio.org? After this episode ends, I invite you to visit us if you haven't been there. We have over eight years worth of programming on our site for you to listen to. Again, that's foiradio.org.
Chris Katulka: Steve, we've been looking at the life of David and one of the amazing things is that David was a multifaceted, complex individual who was both a shepherd but a warrior, and today we're going to look at another element of David's life in this study, which is the fact that he was also a psalmist, a songwriter, and somebody who played the lyre. Just amazing gifts that David has as we're going to unpack this component, this aspect of David's life, David the Psalmist.
Steve Conover: But first in the news, the Jerusalem Post reports that thousands of Palestinians and Gaza took to the streets to participate in demonstrations of their own. They were not protesting the Netanyahu government like many Israelis. They were calling for the end of Hamas rule in Gaza, protesting the high cost of living and shortage in electricity and gas supplies.
Chris Katulka: Well here's my take. The protests in Gaza against Hamas fell on deaf ears, since Hamas leaders live comfortably in Qatar, Turkey, and Lebanon as their people suffer. I hope that mainstream media pick up on this story and highlight the third world conditions of the Palestinians in Gaza under Hamas. Instead of waiting for the next time Israel has to defend itself against Hamas rockets. Maybe the problem in Gaza isn't Israel. Maybe it's Hamas.
Chris Katulka: We're continuing our series on King David. Now, over the past two weeks, we've been looking at the life of David through the lens of a shepherd and then a warrior. We saw that David would use his resume as a shepherd to show that he was capable of putting to rest Israel's enemies, Goliath and the Philistines. David would not only tell King Saul that he was brave enough to tackle the Goliath problem, but he was willing to risk his life just like a shepherd does, to rescue God's flock Israel from their enemy. David believed he could take down Goliath because David trusted in God's Word. He knew the creator of heaven and earth was on Israel's side, so David wasn't just a shepherd. He was showing that he was capable of being a king who could lead and guide his people in the ways of the Lord.
His time as a shepherd prepared him to also become a warrior king, a king who was able to ward off Israel's enemies and expand the kingdom of Israel to the place God wanted it to be while still maintaining that care and concern for his sheep, the nation of Israel. Well, today we're going to talk about David the Psalmist. If you didn't get a chance to listen to the last two weeks of the program, I'd encourage you to go to foiradio.org and there in our archives page, you can hear our first two installments of the David series and nearly eight years of teaching. Again, that's foiradio.org. Okay, so David was not only a shepherd growing up, he was also skilled at playing the lyre just before first Samuel 17 when David killed Goliath, David was handpicked to serenade King Saul with his lyre to help alleviate Saul's spiritual anxiety and torment that he felt after the Lord's presence left him and then went on David.
Remember, God had rejected Saul as king of Israel. He removed his Holy Spirit from him and placed it on David when Samuel anointed him in First Samuel chapter 15. We know what a lyre looks like because of an etching that was found at Tel Megiddo in Israel. The lyre usually had two arms rising up from the sound box. The strings were attached to the crossbar at the top of the instrument and when it's played properly, the lyre is actually a very soothing sound. David would use these musical skills over time to share his love for God through the writing of the Psalms, and one of the most famous Psalm is Psalm 23, a psalm of confidence in God and one that I really think defines David's love and devotion to God.
Psalm 23 is very much a psalm of David's life. That's why I wanted to stop here for a moment and highlight the way David opens Psalm 23, David the shepherd calls the Lord his Shepherd. In the first installment of the series on David, I highlighted that the term shepherd was used to describe both the spiritual and political leaders of Israel.
They shepherded the people of Israel and they should have been shepherding the people toward the Lord. Well, David does something amazing here, in the opening of Psalm 23. He says, the Lord is my shepherd. Now, I may have said this before on this program, but I want to share it again. The scriptures highlight the first of Israel's kings, Saul, David, and Solomon. Growing up, I always heard that Saul was a bad king, David was a good king and Solomon so-so. Good in the beginning, and then he fizzled out in the end. Well, Saul was remembered for abandoning God's commands. David is remembered as a man after God's own heart, and Solomon is remembered for asking for wisdom over riches, but eventually lost sight of God's wisdom.
David had confidence that God would shepherd him in this life and the next to the point where he would never want for anything. As the shepherd, it was God who would guide him to everything he needs in life, not only his physical needs, but also his spiritual needs. It was God who would lead David on the paths of righteousness. Why is God a good shepherd who guides David and guides us as well? Because it says in verse three of Psalm 23, it's for his name's sake. God's guidance and provision for his sheep is tied to his name. God promised to guide and direct David's life and that through David's lineage, the true king of Israel would come. That's the Lord Jesus. God is shepherding David because God tied his name and reputation to him. The same could be said for us as followers of Christ.
Chris Katulka: You know Steve actually, believe it or not, I did, and that's why it's so important to make time to consider your future planning, especially since it's so easy to put it off until another day.
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Chris Katulka: When we were planning out our will for the Katulka family, I wish I would've known about FREEWILL and so we hope that you'll join us on Make-A-Will month. To get started on writing your legal free will go to foi.org/yourfreewill. Again, that's foi.org/yourfreewill.
Chris Katulka: Welcome back everyone. We're in the middle of a series on King David and one of the most influential characters in the Bible. Well, over the past few weeks we've studied David as the Shepherd, David is the warrior, and today we're looking at David the Psalmist. He was such a talented individual who left an indelible mark on how we today worship God. In fact, the Psalms are the oldest comprised prayers of antiquity in the world. We can't review all of David's psalms, so I decided to highlight one I believe helps to define his relationship with the Lord in the midst of his turmoil in life, and listen, David certainly accomplished a lot of things as the king of Israel, but his successes were certainly matched by the difficulties that arose in his life. Just read through First Samuel. The earliest movements of David's kingship were marked by anguish, confusion, war, danger, anxiousness.
Even when David rose to power in Second Samuel, his life was marked by family struggles, sin, shame, succession issues, and even death. It's enough drama in one's life to feel like you're walking in the valley of the shadow of death. This was David's way to worship God because David is confident God is with him in all of it. That's why God's rod and staff comfort David. A rod is a shepherd's tool to protect the sheep from enemies and the staff is used by the shepherd to guide the sheep. For David, walking through the valley of the shadow of death could mean that David's life is under threat, but because God is with him, he will fear no evil. He actually says, for you are with me. That's what David writes. In the Psalm, David moves God from the divine shepherd to the divine host. That's right, a host of a banquet.
The experience of the past and the rejoicing of the present would give rise to the magnificent expression of confidence of what's coming in the future, and here's the reason why. Because David was confident in God's Word, which shares of his character and nature, David is confident that God is gracious and kind and merciful, and for that reason, kindness and mercy will follow King David all the days of his life. David was confident in God in this life and the next. David's psalms were an outlet for his life in worship to God. You see it everywhere. David was confident that God would protect Israel from Goliath and the Philistines. David was confident in God's timing waiting on the Lord as Saul threatened his life, David was confident that God would forgive him after the despicable sin he committed against God, Bathsheba and Uriah. David was confident God would be with him even as he walks through the valley of complete darkness, as the Hebrew says, because he was confident God was with him.
David's Psalm, Psalm 23 is a Psalm of confidence, not just for him but for us. If you've placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, like I said, you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit so that even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you can fear no evil because God is with you. God used David's Psalms to not only impact his own life, but to also impact the lives of those who yield to the Good shepherd, Jesus Christ.
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