In our world today, we often hear of ordinary young people who suddenly become famous. I remember a young girl from Rothesay by the name of Lena Zavaroni. She was a Scottish singer and a television show host. At ten years of age, with her album - Ma! He's making eyes at me, she was the youngest person in history to have an album in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart. Later she starred in her own television series, made numerous TV guest star appearances and appeared on stage. Sadly, from the age of 13, this young girl suffered from anorexia nervosa and also developed clinical depression when she was 15. Following an operation to cure her depression, Lena Zavaroni died at age 35 from pneumonia in 1999. [Source - Wikipedia] This is a tragic story and is an extreme example of the effects of sudden elevation to stardom.
Like Zena, David was catapulted to fame (if you pardon the pun). One day, he was the youngest in a very ordinary family and it was his responsibility to look after the sheep and to take food to his older brothers. He had been anointed by Samuel as the next king and he had served King Saul as a court musician for a short time. But he was unknown - a nonentity. And then the great victory over Goliath hit the headlines and suddenly David's name is on everyone's lips. David is even the subject of a pop song which was sung by women in the streets. The chorus went like this, "Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his ten thousands." [1 Samuel 18:7 ESV]
As they returned home, after David had killed the Philistine, the women poured out of all the villages of Israel singing and dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and lutes. In playful frolic the women sang, Saul kills by the thousand, David by the ten thousand! This made Saul angry—very angry. He took it as a personal insult. He said, “They credit David with ‘ten thousands’ and me with only ‘thousands.’ Before you know it they’ll be giving him the kingdom!” From that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David.
1 Samuel 18:6-9 MSG
This was a BIG challenge for young David as much as facing the well-armed three-metre tall Philistine. It is so easy to let praise go to your head. It is hard to keep humble when people are singing songs about you. Remember that David is perhaps only a teenager, I reckon. During my spell in secondary schools, I came across many lads about the same age as David with inflated egos because they thought they were going to make it big in football. They had been signed up for a football team - an S Form. We had to widen the classroom doors to let them access the school - their heads were puffed up with pride and arrogance! Not so with David. 'He kept the heid' - as we say in Ayrshire. Flattery is very harmful to us - but we secretly love it and relish it. A. W. Pink provides a personal insight into his 12 years as a pastor when he retreated to the vestry as soon as the service was over to avoid people congratulating him on a powerful sermon.
Pink is very critical of the age of hero worship in Christian circles - this quotation is relevant to the 21st century as it was when he wrote this:
"We are living in an age of hero worship, and Christendom itself is infected by this evil spirit. Man is eulogised (praised) and magnified on every hand, not only out in the world, but even in the so-called churches, Bible conferences, and religious periodicals - seen in the advertising of the speakers, the printing of their photos, and the toadying to them. O how little hiding behind the Cross, how little self-effacement there is today. "Cease ye from man (Isaiah 2:22) needs to be placed in large letters over the platforms of all the big religious gatherings in this man-deifying age. " [A.W. Pink: Life of David]
The women were wrong to give David the credit for this victory. It was really the Lord who had won the battle of Elah. He had used this unknown shepherd boy to defeat Goliath so that the glory would go to God and not to men. After the nation of Israel crossed the Red Sea, Moses sister, Miriam, recognised that it was God who had made it possible for them to cross the Red Sea.
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. [Exodus 15:2 ESV]
However, after the defeat of the Philistines, the Israelite women are claiming the victory for Saul and David - but they are saying that it was more due to David than Saul. We will spend another Day Share looking at Saul's jealous reaction to this. For today, we take David as an example to follow in his humility and wise conduct when he was the object of flattery and adulation. This is particularly relevant to anyone who has a public role in the church - we must make sure that Jesus is given the first place in our worship and our service. As a young boy in Sunday School, I sang the chorus which spelled out the secret of JOY
Jesus First
Yourself Last and
Others in between.
Our egos often impede our spiritual progress. The greatest example of all was Jesus Christ who demonstrated unique humility in his incarnation - taking a human body in which he would suffer the most degrading, excruciatingly painful form of execution.
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
[Philippians 2: 6-8 NIV]
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