Psalm 40:10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;  I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.

    A growing number of people have a goal in life that was unknown just a few years ago. They want to be influencers. It’s not just kids that have this goal, but people of all ages desire a following. They portray and parade a persona on social media with the hope that people, (lots of people) will click ‘like.’ It seems that for many, they don’t care as much what they are influencing people toward, as long as they are an ‘influencer.’    

    David was a king. He had real influence. He could always count on people watching him. He also had a close personal relationship to God. He had had for some time. From a young man he knew what it was to spend time alone with God. He would have had many days, even weeks, where God was his only companion while he watched the sheep. 

    As a young man it was natural for him to need God. It was understandable. He didn’t have anything else. He was alone in the wilderness facing real dangers. Of course he prayed. But as a grown man, even a king, he had resources! If he had a problem, he had an army now. He had no material needs because he had a kingdom. He could have relied on those things to take the place of any need he might have felt for God. Besides, it wouldn’t really be good politics to appear needy, or weak. That’s the approach that many take today. 

    But David took a different route. He was the king, though he had not sought that position. And he was good at it, though being the king didn’t seem to be his highest goal. He was a follower of God. He took what is a very private thing for many, and made it very public. He saw no need to keep that part of his life to himself. 

    Many people want to make the claim that ‘my relationship with God is a very personal thing.’ By which they mean it’s something they don’t talk about. But that wasn’t David’s way. In fact, no hero of the faith has taken that view. Jesus certainly didn’t and had some pretty strong words regarding that in Luke 9:26

     Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

    David really was an influencer. He chose his relationship with God to be the focus of his influence over many other options. He knew that, though our relationship with God is personal, it should never be private!

    

Blessings, 

Pastor Russ