....Step back: David was going to be a king. But he started out serving our God as a shepherd. That speaks to his humility. The lowliest job in the land was the shepherd. What made David great as a king was that he was first faithful as a shepherd. Are you humble? I went to the bank yesterday and deposited my check from the cemetery that I do a little work for. The lady asked, “Are you a gravedigger?” I said, “No…I’m a pastor.” She said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Offend me? Am I better then a gravedigger? I was a gravedigger. I studied just as hard as a gravedigger then I do today. I witnessed just as much as a gravedigger then I do today. I ministered just as much as a gravedigger then I do today. I’m a pastor today because I was a gravedigger yesterday. If God calls me to be a gravedigger tomorrow, then I will serve Him as a gravedigger…regardless of what people think. We have to be willing to serve wherever he calls us.

I believe that if you wont serve Him in the mud, you cant serve Him on some man made perch. One thing I love about the military is that, for the most part, those that lead started out in the mud. That’s where you learn, grow, and develop. God uses the same training ground.

Think of David as the shepherd: Out there in the wilderness, in the rain, in solitude, obscurity, wind beating down on him, sun baking him, no one but him and some sheep. Talk about monotonous work. Sound’s boring doesn’t it? Not always.
David said, "….When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.

That’s amazing and let me tell you why: If David came back to his master and he was missing one sheep, no one would fault him from loosing one to a lion or a bear. Even if they did, David could’ve lied. Sheep died of natural causes. Could’ve justified that lie. Sheep died of natural causes is partially true: Lion ate the sheep, sheep died, naturally. So why in the world would David risk his life to save a sheep?

Simple, cause David was responsible for them. The sheep and his promise mattered to him. He does what is right, what ought to be done, even if no one is looking. We have a word for that: Integrity. And that is what was at the core of David.

Psalm 78 continues, “From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him, To Shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skilful hands.”

Before David was a king he had a spiritual heart, a servant’s heart, and a integrity in his heart. You don’t start with that…success is garbage; failure will ravish you, and you, like Saul, will fall. On the flip side, regardless of where your at now, you focus on developing a moldable heart, in solitude, the mud, monotony, obscurity, God will develop you for the battle tomorrow.
David learned to fight giants in the public because he fought bears when he was alone and it didn’t matter. And that, my brothers and sisters, is where we will start next week..