David is about to get another lesson! He's about to go from being public hero number one, to public villain number one! There's an APB out - kill him on sight. Shoot on sight. That's how people can be with you. Today they celebrated Jesus coming to the city; but the next day, they yelled: crucify Him! You've got to actually have something inside yourself.
Young people, this is a huge area for you to grow, because as a teenager, transitioning out of being dependent on parents, to actually becoming a young adult… what the crowd says about you is important to you; but don't make it too important! Build a crowd around you that will reinforce your walk with God. Get the right kind of group around you! Connect in with friends that are moving forward with God, because if you hang out with those other ones, they will pressure you to go somewhere else. We cannot say that there's no such thing as peer pressure, so create peers around you who will pull you in the right direction, so when you're down, you've got friends who are going to lift you up, and get you going forward!
Let’s summarize the lessons here, that we can learn…
Promotion comes from the Lord, in His right timing. Develop faithfulness, integrity, and courage, when no one is looking. Deepen your friendship with the Lord; He is the one who'll promote you.
If the job is your source, then when the job goes, you're in trouble; but if God is your source, then when the job goes… I wonder what's next, Lord?
Hold fast to your integrity and faithfulness when people start to recognise you. Don't get filled with self-importance.
When your identity is secure in the Lord, you will be stable, no matter what people are saying about you. The time that you start to rise up, and gather fame, and start to become recognized, is also the time when against you will start to arise people who are jealous of you.
That season of promotion lasted in David's life from the age of 17 to 23. He had six years where he was in unusual favor in the nation - then it all turned against him.
1 Samuel 18:5 – “David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he behaved wisely. And Saul set him over all the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all people”.
1 Samuel 18:12-14 – “Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. Therefore, Saul demoted him from his presence, and made him captain over 1000, but he still behaved wisely”.
He got a terrible public humiliation, right at the end of the season when he was doing his best. Promotion and popularity don’t last very long. It's called “15 minutes of fame”, so don't live for that 15 minutes of fame.
Live to please God! Live to walk with Him, discover His heart, and find a way that you can please Him. Develop skills in your life, and if people promote you, then thank God for the privilege, but stay a servant in the middle of it. If people rise in envy, don't be worried about it. Your promotion is always from the Lord.
He was there at the top of the army, but now he's demoted down to 1000. In the next place, we find that he's in a period of total rejection and abandonment, where there are new lessons he's got to learn in his life.
If you're under 17, you're in the same season as David, learning the lessons of devotion to the Lord - how to build intimacy with the Lord, how to be faithful, how to develop skills, how to speak right, and present yourself right.
If you've come out into the place of recognition, now there's new kinds of tests. Will you remain a servant, or will you think that you’re too important to do the little jobs now? Listen, you're never too big to do the little jobs. Keep that heart of a servant, and if you're promoted to great places, you're still a servant. If you lose it all, then it doesn't matter, because you're still a servant. Your life isn't in what the circumstances say; your life is found in you, Lord.
My life is in You. My strength is in You. My hope is in You.