2 Boys Destined for Kingship

With the birth of George Alexander Louis on Monday last, we now have 3 direct living heirs to the throne for the first time since the late 19th century.  George is destined for a different life from you and me.  I doubt if he will have to queue for diesel at Tesco or wait endlessly listening to dreary music while his service provider tells him “your call is important to us – please hold the line” No, if the monarchy remains, he will probably inherit the throne one day.

How different the early circumstances of another one destined for kingship - the great King David. He moved from Shepherd to Sovereign.  Having just started preaching on his life, I've been thinking about this other young man destined for greatness.  The youngest of 8 (how unusual, isn't it normally the firstborn who ascends to the throne?) he was deemed so insignificant by his father Jesse, that when the boys were made to pass in front of Samuel, the national prophet, for examination, he was left out.  Probably not even deemed worthy of being in the parade.  But here was the man after God’s own heart that was promised; for man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart.

What was it that God saw in his early life that destined him for kingship?

• Spirituality – for to be after God’s own heart requires deep commitment to spiritual things. If you are after God’s own heart, you want what God wants, care for what God cares for, get grieved by what grieves him, long for the same things and desire the same things. 
• Integrity - Psalm 78 v21 says he was a shepherd of integrity. Thats a key quality God looks for. I love this quote………..

“A person with integrity is not divided (that’s duplicity) or pretending (that’s hypocrisy). He or she is “whole”; life is “put together and things are working harmoniously. People with integrity have NOTHING TO HIDE AND NOTHING TO FEAR. Their lives are OPEN BOOKS”

• Humility – he was tending the sheep and made no attempt to muscle in on the show before Samuel until he was summoned. 
• Obscurity – he was quite happy to see character formed in the fields away from the limelight. 
• Dependability - for when he stood before Saul and offered to take on Goliath, he admitted that he had fought lions and bears, who might want to steal his sheep. Having fought wild creatures in obscurity, the 9’6” tall Philistine was no problem. Imagine George having to prove himself by taking on the odd lion or two!!

Who knows what life will throw up at you in coming months.  Wouldn't it be good to face it as a person after God’s own heart?