Messianic Rabbi: Which King David Will You Be Today?

It is amazing how a change of circumstances can reveal what is in our hearts. If people all over the world only had to adjust to living with social distancing and having their interactions with friends and family members largely through digital means, it would have been a huge change.

But on top of social changes and the feeling of being somewhat disconnected, we are also dealing with many other changes. Our economy is being drastically affected. Many of us are working from home instead of in our offices. Restaurants and coffee houses are either closed or only serving drive-up or delivery. Even our politicians seem to be working together.

It remains to be seen if what they are doing is good for us or not, but they are working together. And if you are like me, your email mailbox is full of emails from every company you have ever emailed or done business with telling you all of the efforts they are making to keep you safe.

These changes would be overwhelming if they happened one at a time, but this time they have happened all at once. Even for people of faith, so many things shifting can even, if for only a moment, allow the ground to shift under our feet.

All of this made me think about King David. King David was, according to the Scriptures in 1 Samuel 13:14 (TLV), “a man after [G-D’s] own heart.”

Acts 13:22 says: “After removing him, He raised up David to be their king. He also testified about him and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do My will.'”

When we think about King David, many of us think first about his battle with Goliath and how with a sling and stone David fought and killed that giant of a man. Yet when King David was confronted with a spiritual enemy—lust—instead of a physical enemy, it was David who fell in defeat.

We read about David’s fall in 2 Samuel 11. In this passage, David lusts after and then uses his power as king to rape Bathsheba, and then goes on to murder her husband Uriah.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that, while David committed rape and murder, he was acting as a man after G-D’s own heart. Yes, David later repents of his sin and is restored through G-D’s amazing grace. But David, even if only for a short time, fell to sin as dramatically as Goliath fell when David’s stone hit his head.

You see, we believers in Yeshua are just like David. Sometimes we are filled with the power of the Ruach (Spirit) and power of G-D like David was in 1 Samuel 17:45: “You are coming to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I am coming to you in the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

While other times, we, like David, allow our situations and circumstances to get the best of us and, as David did, we fall into sin.

As we all navigate the next few weeks, months and years, struggling to stand upright on the shifting sands caused by all of the things we once believed were stable, it is important that we all remember that every day we have to make the choice.

Will we be like David when he killed Goliath, or will we be like David when he raped Bathsheba and killed Uriah? {eoa}

Eric Tokajer is author of With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer, Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians and Galatians in Context.