Video Transcript: Case Study of David

Welcome back to mental health integration. In the last section, we talked about Saul, and we talked about his insecurity and his anxiety and how it drove him mad in some ways, all the way to his own death. Well, the next story, the next king of Israel, and their stories are wound together, is David, and their stories couldn't be more different. So we are going to jump into David's story, going back, because before Saul dies, David has already had so much happen. So we're going to jump all the way back to David's anointing in I Samuel and I Samuel 16, says the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected Him as King over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king. But Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me. The Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me, the one I indicate. Samuel did what the Lord said when he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, Do you come in peace? Samuel replied, Yes, I come in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord, consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord. This is a reprise of exactly what happened before, isn't it, Samuel is called to anoint the king of Israel. He is called into the middle of something that he didn't expect. He's not anointing Jonathan. He's not anointing one of the people that's already in power. Instead, he's called over to this random family, and now this is going to be the new King. And Samuel follows. He does exactly what God says, And he sees David's brother and says, Oh, that's got to be the guy that looks just like the guy that's him. But this is where the story starts changing instead of staying the same. Everything from this point on seems like it's taken a complete 180 But the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected Him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, The Lord has not chosen this one either. Jesse had Shammah passed by, but Samuel said, nor has the Lord chosen this one? Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Him, the Lord has not chosen these. So he asked Jesse, are these all the sons you have? There is still the youngest. Jesse answered. He is tending the sheep. Samuel said, Send for him. We will not sit down until he arrives. So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said to him, rise and anoint Him, for He is the one. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. From that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David Samuel then went to Ramah. David is a nobody. At this point. He is just a shepherd, and now, all of a sudden, he is anointed king as the least among his brothers, and that throws us straight into the most famous conflict of David's life in even the next chapter. Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another in the valley in between them, a champion named Goliath, who is from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing 5000 shekels on his legs. He wore bronze Greaves and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed 600 shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us. Then the Philistine said, this day, I defy the armies of Israel. Give me a man and let us fight each other. On hearing the Philistines words Saul and the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. Now, David was the son of an ephathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judea. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul's time, he was very old. Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war. The firstborn was Eliab, the second Abinadab, and the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem. From here on out, we know the rest of the story because it's one of the most famous stories in the Bible. David charges. He says, Hey, I need to bring my brothers some supplies. Brings his brother's supplies. He says, who is going to fight that Philistine warrior all Israel says, well, the king's daughter is going to be given to the man who does it. And David says, Who is he to come against the God of Israel. Saul says, Wow, this guy is courageous. I think, I think I should put my armor on him. Saul tries to put his armor on him like David would be. Saul, like David would look like Saul, almost as if Saul would be going out to fight the giant himself. And David says, No, this armor doesn't fit me. This is not mine. And he goes out to fight Goliath with a sling and some smooth stones. Goliath, we know, is huge, like nine feet tall, and David is not nine feet tall, but David charges. Saul slings a stone. It sinks into the giant's forehead, and then David cuts off his head. From the beginning, we see these two incredibly different responses from the two kings of Israel. Saul, who is the king at this point, is in his tent with his armor, waiting for somebody to save him. David is a boy with nothing who has just been anointed king in the previous chapter. And he says, Who is this man? He should come against the God of Israel. He takes his own sling. He runs against Goliath, and he slays him. And he does it as himself. He doesn't do it as Saul. He doesn't do as a traditional word. He does it as himself. And this is where we see a breaking between David and Saul, because Saul has all of these feelings of inadequacy and all of these feelings of anxiety and this brokenness inside of him. He is so afraid to step out, and David just doesn't have it. David does go through depressive episodes. He goes through really hard things, but when he does how he listens and how he steps in is so different because it's not riddled by anxiety. It's not forced by his own perceptions of himself. It is forced by listening to God and obeying immediately, which is such a different paradigm. It's almost like a whole different world view between the two of them, that they can both go through hard things, but one of them is afraid of what happens if he doesn't hear correctly, and one of them believes that it will be okay if he just listens and does and we see this play out as they get a little bit older. So here we pick up a little bit later in I Samuel 22 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to get him there. All of those were in distress or in debt or discontented, gathered around him, and he became their commander. About 400 men were with him. From there, David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me? So he left them with the king of Moab and  they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold. But the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah. So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. This is the thing that we see from David over and over and over again. He goes through hard things. In this case, he's been completely ostracized from the kingdom. He is running for his life. That's why he's hiding in a cave at Adullam, and all of these people come around him. He's surrounded by community. He's surrounded by people who care. And he hears the God of the universe's voice clearly, and God says, you need to run. So instead of saying, I think I need a second opinion, I really need to hash this out, David just goes straight to obedience and runs. There's little doubt, and because of that, there's little anxiety. Instead of anxiety, that anxiety is the worry about the future, and David seems to not have it too badly, because he seems to believe that if God is with him, everything is going to be okay, because God said so, even when Saul, when facing the same things, said, I don't I have to do it Right? I'm not sure. So we see this. David has a belief in God. Saul has a belief in himself, as long as he does it. All right,   When David was told, Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors, he inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go attack these Philistines? The Lord answered to him, go attack the Philistines and save Keilah. But David's men said to him, here in Judah, we are afraid. How much more than if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces. Once again, David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, go down to Keilah, for I'm going to give the Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. (Now Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.) We see the same thing play out. God, there's people who are in danger. What do I do? God says, go down to them. So David just goes down, even though he might suffer later. This incredible. It happens, David hears, David follows. Now, a second note about this. This is not a prescription. This is not to say if you follow God immediately, you will never suffer for anxiety or depression, because that is not true. You may still have crippling anxiety, you may still have crippling depression. Oftentimes, those are chemical imbalances that happen in your brain. But it is noted that David doesn't allow his behavior to dictate an increase in his anxiety or depression. His behavior matches what would be best in the situation. Then secondly, if his brain chemistry is doing something sideways, that's his brain chemistry, but his actions aren't going to feed into it. He's not reinforcing what is going on with his own bad habits around things Saul had, and because of that, his anxiety and his depression grew bigger than they could have, whereas we see David's didn't, which is fantastic. Continuing, Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars. And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar, the priest, bring the ephod. David said, Lord God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans. To come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant? And the Lord said He will. Again David said, will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul? And the Lord said, they will so David and his men, about 600 in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there. David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the desert of Ziph. Day after day, Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. We see immediately the same thing just repeat over and over again. God, there's a problem. What's the problem? What do I do? He just solves it, and it keeps going. But that night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, go tell my servant David, this is what the Lord says, are you to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house. From the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt, to this day, I have been moving from place to place with a tent is my dwelling, wherever I have moved with all the Israelites. Did I ever say to any of the rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel? Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now then tell my servant David, this is what the Lord Almighty says. I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I've cut off your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great like the names of the greatest men on earth, and I will provide a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so that they can have a home on their own and no longer be disturbed wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning, and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people. Israel. I will also give you rest from your enemies. David, at the end of his life, says, God, I really want to build you a home. I want to build a temple. And God says, I have been with you every step of the way. I have protected you. I have kept you. But no, you don't get to build it. Your son does. David spent his whole life following and in the psalms and in some other places, we get a feeling of how hard it was. At times, we get a feeling of how broken David was and how absurd it felt. But at the end of his life, God says He did well, you will be well known. Once again, this is not prescriptive. This is not to say, if we follow God perfectly, that everything will work out okay. Oftentimes, that can actually end up shaming a person and doing severe damage because we feel like we're not measuring up when we need to. But in David's case, we do see that's how it worked. It's descriptive of the situation, not proscriptive of exactly how we should follow in the Psalms, David outlines exactly what he went through, what it felt like, and how God met him. In Psalm 42 he says, do not withhold your mercy for me, Lord, may your love and faithfulness always protect me. For troubles without numbers surround me. My sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see they are more than the hairs of my head and my heart fails within me. Be pleased to save me. Lord, come quickly. Lord, to help me. David, at this point, has spent what seems like the majority of his life from reading the narrative, running away. He runs away from Saul, then he runs away from his own son. He is chased by everyone. The Philistines are after him. Then he is joining different groups. It's just amazing. He spent his life running from problem to problem to problem. And in his own Psalms, he says, his troubles have been immense, but he keeps listening and he keeps going. And probably the most famous psalm, he says this, The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths, for his name's sake, even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil My cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David does not say when I might maybe go through some hard things. He says, When I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil. This is not a question for David. He will walk through these hard things, but God is with him, and God will continue to be with him. Juxtaposing against Saul, we saw the insecurity in Saul, and now we see this ruthless trust. On behalf of David, he not only follows all the time, but he believes that God will make things right all the time, which is why it makes following so much easier. Can you imagine, as someone with anxiety, the ability to say, actually, it's going to be just fine. You're going to get through this just fine. I know everything is okay. Would that change how we went about the problems that can sometimes spiral and deserve anxiety absolutely but even that is really hard to hold on to sometimes, and David does it so clearly and so well continuing. David even says, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil My cup overflows. He knows what his life has been. He knows what he was brought into. He says, Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, all the suffering. And if you want to look through the Psalms, David has more Psalms about people coming against him than I ever want to read right now. And David says, I will always be okay, because God says it's always going to be okay. I would love to say that I have faith like that, but the reason that Saul's story has always struck me is because I feel so much like Saul and so unlike David, most of the time. I feel my own insecurities and I feel my own doubts. I feel the doubts about what God is going to do, and I feel the pressure that I need to do things perfectly in order to actually accomplish what God wants me to do. In the story of David, we see all of those things are completely untrue, that God's promises are true because they're God's promises, not because we did everything right. We see that measuring up has less to do with how you act and more with the confidence to believe that God will do what he says. And we see that being yourself, instead of trying to be somebody else ends up being a road that is blessed. Saul is putting on the armor of a king and trying to be a King when he doesn't feel like a king, trying desperately to make the moves that a king should make and do all the right things. And David is taking off the armor and saying it doesn't fit me, I'm going to be me. And he leads out of that. And I think if there's one thing that we can look at in this story that most simply tells how David is so successful, walking through so many hard things in depression and Saul so unsuccessful, David has the confidence to be himself, and David has the confidence to trust God in the midst of everything. And Saul doesn't. He doesn't have either. Everything is ill fitting. Everything isn't quite right, and he's trying so hard. And as somebody who's tried hard most of my life, I have to say, the way of David looks so good, and it is so much harder to execute that kind of life than it is to dream about. Even if most of us think I would definitely lead like David, I don't think I would. I think I'm more like Saul, and I aspire to be more like David. Next time we're going to talk more about some of the other characters in the Bible, David and Saul are not, by any means, the only two who dealt with depression or anxiety. There's character after character after character that deals with hard problems, that deals with wanting. To die that deals with the heaviness of everything around them. And in the next section, we're going to talk about some of the other characters, not just these two first kings of Israel. Thanks.