The thing about King David
A Point of Light
with Rick Edwards

The most amazing thing about King David was ---God. God was extraordinary through David. We're a lot like David. We're all just regular people, living pretty regular lives, with regular gifts and abilities. But God wants to do phenomenal things through us even in our "regular-ness." Are you surprised by that?

If I surveyed a hundred people on this question: How many of us are going to die? True or false? Obviously it's true, yet most people live like it's not coming. Well, it's coming. The older you get the more you realize it's coming 2 Corinthians 4:16 says "The outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed day by day."

David had to face this very ordinary problem just like the rest of us. Different Scriptures capture his final days:

"Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm." 1 Kings 1:1-4

"David's time to die drew near, so he commanded Solomon his son, saying, "I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, show yourself a man, keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways.

1 Kings 2:1

"Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David." 1 Kings 2:10

Hey, it's coming. It really is. None of us are going to be here forever.

Did you notice David's last words? To his son Solomon, he said, Be faithful to the Lord. Walk in His ways. The older you get, the more concerned you are about what you're leaving behind you. I'm not talking about things. Nobody ever says on his deathbed, "I wish I had more stuff" or "I wish I would have spent more time at the office." Instead we think, "What have I taught my kids about living for the Lord?" David faced this, too.

Acts 13:36 says, "David, after he had served the purposes of God in his generation, fell asleep" Isn't that phenomenal? What else do you want for you life?

After Rick Edwards (put your name) had served the purposes of God in his generation, he fell asleep.

What else could you want? What else could there be in life but to live for God and serve and work for Him and then to go be with Him forever?

If there's one thing I've learned through scripture it is that David was just an ordinary guy; he wasn't proud of every chapter in his book. He didn't delight in everything on every page, but when he fell he got up again. Do you know what the major lesson is we can learn from how he died? Think back to one of David's more famous Psalms. You probably know it by heart. In Psalm 23:4 he wrote, "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Why? Because "You are with me." That's the summary of David's life right there. God was with him. At the end of the day, that's the life we have to pursue. An ordinary life lived for God in His strength equals extraordinary.

May God seal that significant message to your heart. Don't spend another moment working to show people how important or special or somehow unique you are. By faith, believe that as a regular person, if anything praiseworthy or lasting or eternal comes from your life, it will be because of what God has done in you and through you.

The best you know how, invite God to walk with you today through the ordinary problems and issues that you face. And as time marches on and the reality of eternity gets closer, purpose in your heart to number your days, that you might apply yourself to wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

Ordinary David? Yes. But wouldn't it be phenomenal to have the kind of relationship David had with God? Might we too press ahead for God in these ordinary lives, sustained and strengthened by His grace and for His glory. Peace, Pastor Rick. Rick Edwards is pastor of Murphy First Baptist Church.