How Long Is Too Long? Part Two: A Study of David

[Today's devotional is taken from the small-group study "Arrayed In Hope", which I wrote about a year ago.]

When David was initially anointed as king by the prophet Samuel, he was still young. In fact, First Samuel 16:12 describes David as “ruddy.” He had not yet grown facial hair. And he was not yet old enough to be enlisted in King Saul’s army, which had a minimum age requirement of twenty years old (see Numbers 1:3).

If we assume that David had just missed the age requirement for enlisting in the army, and was nineteen years old when he was anointed by Samuel, then we are contemplating a minimum waiting time of eleven years before David was able to take his place as king. But the wait might have been much longer than that, given the description in First Samuel 17:42: “When the Philistine looked carefully at David, he despised him, for he was only a ruddy and handsome boy.” From this description, it appears that David was so young that he could not even pass for a twenty-year-old.

The Scripture passages do not specifically tell us how David felt about the time gap between the anointing done by Samuel and the confirmation of David’s kingship by the elders of Israel. But we do have several psalms, written by David, in which we can read his affirmation of hope in God. Let’s read part of a psalm of David, aloud:

Psalm 25:1-5

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.

I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame,

nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame,

but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.