Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of the God who gives … and gives … and gives. David said, “My cup runneth over.” Both David’s writings and his experiences are filled with descriptions of God’s abundant blessings to him. David had sufficient so that he was well satisfied. “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips” (Ps. 63:5). He was so filled by his life with God that he felt abundance that exceeded even pleasant circumstances. “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and wine increased” (Ps. 4:7).
David recognized the abundance of God’s general provision. “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness” (Ps. 65:9,11).
David was blessed with a stellar reputation. Even as a young man, he was viewed as “cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him” (I Sam. 16:18). “His name was much set by” (I Sam. 18:30). The public at large loved him. His advancement “was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants,” the women sang about him, and “all Israel and Judah loved David” (I Sam. 18:5,7,16).
At first David had great favor with the king. Saul “loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight’” (I Sam. 16:21-22). Saul praised David: “Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail” (I Sam. 26:25), and Saul twice offered his daughters as wives for David (I Sam. 18:17,23).
David was admired and given favors by other great men. Ahimelech the priest recognized and reinforced David’s high reputation. “And who is as faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?” (I Sam. 22:14). The king of Moab respected David enough to provide long-term housing and protection for David’s family (I Sam. 22:3-4). The king of Gath gave David one of his cities as a home and base of operations (I Sam. 27:6). After David became king, the king of Tyre supplied the materials and manpower to build David a palace (II Sam. 5:11).
David experienced abundance in his family. Although the plethora of wives and sons led to some challenges for David, there is no question that his cup was overflowing when it came to family. He had at least nineteen sons and one daughter that were born to his wives, and there were additional children born to his concubines (II Sam. 3:2-5; II Sam. 5:14-16; II Sam. 12:24; I Chr. 3:1-9; I Chr. 14:3-7). He had at least eight wives: Michal (estranged for a time – I Sam. 18:27); Abigail and Ahinoam (I Sam. 25:42-43); Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah (II Sam. 3:2-5; I Chr. 3:1-3); more wives (II Sam. 5:13; I Chr. 14:3); Bathsheba (II Sam. 11:27).
David was abundantly blessed by God by being made king. God gave David the amazing position of rule over “the house of Israel and Judah” (II Sam. 12:8). God gave David the Davidic covenant, promising his line would always reign and that David would be greatly blessed by God (II Sam. 7:8-21; I Chr. 17:3-27). David acknowledged his wonder at God’s blessing, as God “promised this goodness unto thy servant: now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever” (I Chr. 17:26-27). David saw the next step of that covenant when he watched Solomon take over through a peaceful transition. “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it” (I Kings 1:48). David’s testimony continues: “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Ps. 16:5-6).
David experienced great abundance, not just because he was king, but in how his reign was blessed by God. David acknowledged “the honor of thy servant” by God and that He had “done all this greatness” (I Chr. 17:18,19). As king, “David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him” (II Sam. 5:10; I Chr. 11:9). His approval rating was astronomical: “whatsoever the king did pleased all the people” (II Sam. 3:36). Eventually, “the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies” (II Sam. 7:1,11). “David gat him a name” as he expanded his kingdom by conquering the Philistines, Moab, Zobah, the Arameans, Ammon, and Edom (II Sam. 8:1,2,3,5,7,10,13; II Sam. 10:18-19; II Sam 12:30; I Chr. 18:1-13). David gained territory, cities, and strongholds.
David’s success as king extended beyond military advancement to the accrual of great wealth. In the midst of his advances, he gained servants, tribute, chariots, horses, shields of gold, and large amounts of bronze, silver, and gold (II Sam. 8:1,2,3,5,7,10; II Sam 12:30). After one victory before he was even king, David recovered enough spoils that he was able to share them with at least fifteen cities (I Sam. 30:26-31). He acquired enough riches that he was able to provide the gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, onyx, precious stones, and alabaster for the temple. In addition to the provisions specifically for the temple, he also gave 3,000 talents of gold and 7,000 talents of silver (I Chr. 29:2-5). Although David was probably not referring exclusively to material wealth, he could truly say, “I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me” (Ps. 13:6). “Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness” (Ps. 21:2-3a),
David experienced abundance in his relationships. Perhaps foremost was the deep and fervent friendship of a loyal friend. “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (I Sam. 18:1). David had his mighty men to serve him – three exceptional men, among thirty chief men, and a total of thirty-seven superb individuals (II Sam. 23:8-39; I Chr. 11:10-12,26-47). Additionally, David had warriors, “mighty men of valour” who came to him and fought with him. I count over 340,000 soldiers, with some from every tribe, who supported David as he came to be king (I Chr. 12:1-38). “For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God” (v. 22). David had the blessing of some very faithful advisors: Zadok the priest, Benaiah, and Nathan the prophet. These men, along with the mighty men, stood by David at key moments and through the worst of times (I Kings 1:8).
Finally, David’s cup overflowed in his long and rich life. David foresaw, “Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations” (Ps. 61:6). And so it happened. “And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour” (I Chr. 29:28).
David had the right response to such abundance. He both anticipated and rendered praise to God for His rich blessings. “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me” (Ps. 142:7). “I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude” (Ps. 109:30). David summed up his entire life of abundance with this great challenge to himself: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps. 103:2). It is interesting that Psalm 103 focuses not primarily on the physical blessings explored by most of this study, but on the rich spiritual blessings that are even more incredible. David speaks of God’s forgiveness, healing, preservation of life, lovingkindness, tender mercies, strength, righteous judgments, knowledge of Himself, mercy, grace, longsuffering, compassion, righteousness, and sovereignty. If none of the material blessings had ever happened, David’s cup would have been overflowing just with these spiritual blessings.
David was not alone. God shows such blessings to all His people. “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD” (Ps. 144:15). “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Ps. 34:8).
With all David’s trials, I would probably not think to categorize his life as one of abundant blessing, but the great list in this study proves it to be so. Likewise, in my own life, it can be easy to focus on the trials, the suffering, and the negatives – to think about what God has NOT given. But, like David, when I stop to list out and consider all the good things He HAS done and HAS given, my list is long indeed. My cup is overflowing, and all I need to do is take time to count my blessings, name them one by one. And it will surprise me what the Lord has done!
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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