David Received Plenty of God's Trials During His Times of Popularity

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There was no doubt David was becoming popular to the eyes of the people of Israel. Not only did he put an end to the Philistine champion Goliath but now, he was more popular than the ungodly Saul.
1 Samuel 18:7-8 
And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. [8] And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

It can be observed that David's popularity also brought him God's trials. God could have chosen to let David enjoy his newfound popularity. Instead, he allowed the wickedness of Saul to harass David in many instances. We can read that Saul was frequently after the life of David. We can read that Saul attempted to murder David with a javelin from a distance (1 Samuel 18:11). Later, he set David to slay a hundred Philistines out with murderous intent. Instead, David succeeded and brought not a hundred but two hundred Philistine foreskins.

The remaining chapter of 1 Samuel really tells the story of David's trials. He was in hiding from a jealous and mad Saul. Saul knew the kingdom was out of his hand. God provided a friend in Jonathan. Jonathan cared about God's will more than his future succession to a throne that wouldn't be his. Why God allowed all these trials isn't exactly clear but it's highly possible that God wanted to keep David humble so he could become a good king.

There is also the contrast we need to see. God simply handed Saul to become the first king of Israel because of the population's hardened heart. God ordained David to be a much better successor than Saul who he used as an instrument of judgment. There was no sign of Saul being a regenerate man while David is called a man after God's own heart. It's almost like the situation where God was severely chastising Jacob while it doesn't seem like he was directly chastising Esau.

It would have been bad if David weren't allowed to face all the adversities and gain the kingdom on a silver platter. The reason would be that David was going to be king and the only way he could be a good king is if he were allowed to face adversities before the throne is taken. Also, we can see how much God loves David by chastising him away from worldly glory before letting him have the throne. We can see how God treated David as a son and Saul was treated as a bastard (Hebrews 12:5-7).

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