An Unexpected Job is the Best Preparation
15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
1 Samuel 16:15–21 ESV Read More
How great is it that unknown to Saul, David is being brought right in to get training on how to be king? His anointing from Samuel would have an effect on him, but nobody predicted that it would lead to this. Even though he spends most of his time out in the wilderness with sheep, David has a reputation for
being a skillful musician,
having valor,
a man of war,
prudent in speech,
a man of good presence (that is a good guy to have around) and
the Lord is with him.
What a man!
It is no wonder that Saul would want him around for all of those reasons, including the whole play-the-lyre-when-I’m-tormented-by-a-harmful-spirit thing. This closeness would make David become King Saul’s armor bearer. This is the closest, most trusted partner in a fight. The armor bearer would help prep a warrior, keep him going in the fight, and follow along behind him making sure all of his adversaries were really all of the way dead.
When David was anointed by Samuel, we don’t know if he prayed “God, teach me how to be a great king,” but that is certainly what God gave him. David was able to observe life in the highest parts of the kingdom in the most intimate ways. We also don’t have any evidence of David judging Saul’s decisions and saying “When I take over, I’m going to do it like this…”
Sometimes God puts us in a spot very unexpectedly. We might not even realize what is going on at the time, but God is hoping that through humility and wisdom, we will notice His hand and His care. Just like Moses the Shepherd and David the lyre-player, God does things with us to prepare us for things He plans on doing later.
Don’t look down on your present circumstances. David could easily have Psalms about feeling like a pawn while the King makes him play the banjo every time he’s grumpy. It wasn’t a very glorious job for someone that’s been anointed by a prophet of God. Still, it was the perfect place and the perfect activity for young David to grow up into being a king.
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