David the Warrior

2nd Samuel 8

David has been doing what he was supposed to be doing as king. He has been uniting the people and being their leader. He has been seeking after God’s guidance and provision. He is being diligent and faithful. In the last chapter we read abut David being completely satisfied and grateful to God for everything he has done. David was a shepherd boy who is now king. Everything that has happened shows God’s hand in it. 

In this chapter we read about David fighting the Philistines and the Moabites. 

David is Victorious

In this section we get to see a written account of all of David’s military advances for the kingdom of Israel. He defeated the Philistines, after the time of David there will be no reference to them until the time of Hezekiah (2nd Kings 18:8). He defeated the Moabites. The Moabites were east of the Israelites. He defeated the king of Zobah. He was in Syria. In this account of the battle with the king of Zobah we see how massive they were with chariots and men. David received wealth from other nations as a form of a treaty too. He received gold and silver and bronze, all which he dedicated to the Lord.

When Things are Going Good

When things are going good it is easy to become comfortable. It is not bad to become comfortable but it becomes bad when we start compromising in different areas of life. When we start becoming lazy, when we start forsaking God’s commands. This is bad when comfortability comes. Right now we see David is doing good and as the kingdom is growing and acquiring more and more space and the people are growing, the kingdom is doing well economically, it would be easy for him to become comfortable and say, “Look what I have done.” The cool thing is that he has not done that yet and we need to take note to always trust the Lord and thank him for his blessings on us.

It is easy to think in this life that we are owed something. Someone or something is indebted to us. The truth is, we are not, we do not even deserve this life but yet God who loves us gave it to us. Look at Psalm 37:5; Psalm 55:22; Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:3; 1st Peter 5:7; and Romans 8:38-39. God is active in our well being and His love for us is great. We sometimes forget about it and turn to other things to make us happy. May our success be in the Lord and may we learn from our failures to grow in the Lord.