David

Reading about King Jehoshaphat this morning, I noticed something I had not seen before.

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father David’s earlier days (2 Chron 17:3).

God was with him, when he lived the way that David lived in his early days.

Many Christians have made a hero of David, but we need to be careful. David started really well. He loved and served God wisely as a young man.

However, at the end of his life, he made some serious mistakes. He committed adultery, and murder to cover it up. He had troubles with his children that he did not resolve. He organised a census that God did not want.

There are two lessons here.

• We must not gold-plate David. Jesus is the only one who lived a perfect life. We should model our lives on him, not on David.

• It is not enough to start well. We must all endeavour to finish with the same zeal and love for God that we had when we began. That is a serious challenge for every follower of Jesus.