First we find your place in 1st Samuel chapter 17. 1st Samuel chapter 17 for the preaching of God's Word here tonight. And for the sake of time, I was contemplating to read from verse 12, but very familiar passage. But I'm going to read for the sake of time from verse 20 down to verse 31. 1st Samuel chapter 17 and verse number 20. And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, have ye seen this man that is come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come up, and it shall be that the man who killeth him The king will enrich him with great riches, and he will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and take it away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, what have I now done? Is there another cause? And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner. And the people answered him again after the former manner. And when the words were heard which David spake, he rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent for him. Let us pray. Father, we thank you so much for the comfort that we can have in knowing that we are not alone. Thank you for your presence, the comfort that you provide for us. In difficult times, dear Lord, we are thankful that you're a God who's faithful. You've proven yourself time and time again. We thank you for your faithful word and for your word which works in our hearts to accomplish your will. I pray that you would use your word once again to accomplish your will and purpose in the hearts and life of every person under the sound of my voice. Take full control of your divine way. Hide me behind the bloodstained banner of the cross and may Jesus Christ alone be seen. And we'll be careful to thank you and praise you and give you all the honor in this. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. God, in his infinite wisdom in creating humanity, chose to make us be part of families. A family. A unit where there's what we call a blood relation. He chose not to create individual disconnected beings, but he created us and gave us the ability to procreate, to reproduce, thereby creating family units. Our entrance into our various families by birth is something that you and I have absolutely no choice no control over. And so whether one likes it or not, that is your family. In being a part of your family, you have natural expectations that those family members would love you. Amen? And those family members would care for you, would protect you, would defend you, would provide for you, would support you. And when these expectations are not met, there is naturally great disappointment, hurt, and pain. As a matter of fact, one of the greatest sources of pain and hurt you can experience is when it comes from a family member. You can deal with the criticism when it comes from a boss or a stranger, someone not connected to you by that blood relation, but when it comes from a family member, it has an extra sting associated with it. Hurt feelings often come about from misunderstandings, unresolved conflicts, feelings of inadequacy, issues such as favoritism in families and low self-esteem. And all of these reasons that I'm sure you can add to this list can lead to a feeling where a person who's a family member with blood relatives and all these family members, yet there's a feeling of isolation, a feeling of aloneness within a family. I want to preach a message that I've entitled, When Your Family Doesn't Understand. When Your Family Doesn't Understand. I somewhat gave a little preview to this message this morning, and it seemed as though everybody could identify with not being understood by their family member at some point or another. Am I right? We've all been in this place. And we want to examine here tonight the life of David in this passage who experienced criticism. He was misunderstood for something that he had no control over. And by way of this topic here tonight, I want you to jot down first of all, notice with me, the Almighty's choice. the Almighty's choice. If you turn in your Bibles one page back, the first Samuel chapter 16, we're very familiar with David and his anointing as the king of Israel at a very young age. First Samuel chapter 16 and verse number 6, we'll read it here just by way of refresher. We know that by way of this context that Samuel was rejected from being, sorry, Saul rather, was rejected from being king because of his disobedience, because of his rebellion against God. And God said to Samuel, who was the prophet at that time, how long, in verse number 1, will thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? And so God prepares Samuel to anoint with oil to signify who Saul's replacement would be. That took him to the house of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. And we get down to verse number six, and the Bible says, and it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab. So all of the sons of Jesse who were present at that time at home when Samuel showed up were put in a line, so to speak. Samuel gets to the firstborn Eliab and he says surely the Lord's anointed is before him but the Lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord see it not as man see it for man look it on the outer appearance but the Lord look it on the heart so Eliab was rejected Then Jesse called Abinadab, the second born. And he made him pass before Samuel and said, neither hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. Samuel is a little bit puzzled. He's gone through all of these seven sons, and yet there is no king who has been identified by Almighty God. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And Jesse said, He said, They remaineth yet the youngest. And behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look on. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. This was David, the youngest son of the eight sons of Jesse. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and pointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Here you have David, the youngest, seemingly in the eyes of his family members, the youngest one, the most insignificant one, the one least likely to be selected as the next king of the nation of Israel. Let it be known, and of course we can tell from this passage, that this was not David's choice, but this was God's choice. And in being a part of a family, there's some choices made by God for you in being a part of your family. You did not choose what gender you will be. Amen? you are a man. You are a male. That's a choice god made for you and please for heaven's sake, if god made you a male, stay a male. Be a male. It's a choice by almighty god. God made you a female. He did it for a particular reason. Stay, remain, and be a female. That's god's choice. There's some other your birth order, you had no control over that. He made you the first, that's his choice. He made you the second, that's his choice. He made you the last, that's his choice. Amen? Embrace it. Within that family, he gave you talents and abilities. That's God's choice. He gave you physical features that those were God's choice. Sometimes you look at yourself in the mirror and you're like, oh man, I favor my dad. I favor my mom. That's God's choice. You had no control over the matter. Being a part of a family. is some choices made by Almighty God. David here in this passage was anointed to be king. That was God's choice. But notice, secondly, the associated challenges. the associated challenges that come about as a result of the Almighty's choice. Now, this choice by God for David had some significant challenges associated with it. Now, you might think, wow, David, you are the lucky one, man. You got to be anointed as the next king of Israel. Man, that is awesome. But let me say, with some seeming privileges come some great challenges as well. Can you imagine the jealousy of David's brothers towards him? Can you imagine the attitudes, the criticism, the jealousy? I mean, I could imagine if David ever dared even say anything to them that's unrelated. You could imagine their response. because you think you're the chosen one. No, you think you're better than everybody else. Listen, there were people just like us and don't think that this was a easy time for for David having been anointed as the next king of Israel but the amazing thing that we should continually remember about this that David did not ask for There were some challenges that you and I experienced as part of our families that are simply associated with things we have no control over. We have to recognize that fact when we criticize and also when we are being criticized. Let me give you some examples. I'm sure that if you're here tonight and you are firstborn, there are some firstborn challenges that are associated with being firstborn. Let me see how many firstborns we have in the building here tonight. And I'm sure you could identify with some firstborn challenges. You did not ask to be the firstborn, but you were the firstborn or you are the firstborn. And there's some challenges that came along with that. So, some of the challenges were additional responsibilities. Am I right? I'm a first born by the way. So, so, so some additional responsibilities. Are you told, be an example for your other brothers and sisters. Are you like, they're treating me like this and I'm always the one who has to be an example. Why they can't be an example too. See, There's some associated challenges with something you had no control over. Even though there might also be some privileges as well. Then you got the middle child challenges. Seems as though at times when you're the middle child, you function in obscurity. Nobody seem to remember that you exist. You see, I got an amen behind here from the middle child. I tell you this thing is real. I tell you, you're walking around trying to find yourself, find your own identity because people seem to forget that you are a part of this family. Then you got the last born challenges. I mean, it seems as though nothing can be bought brand new for you. Everything is, well, your brother had one, can you give him? I mean, your sister had one from five years ago. Man, you have all the textbooks with all kind of dog ears, and all kind of writing in it, and all the workbooks that have already been done, but here you go, having to write up on top the writing. Because you can't get a new one. You are the last born. The last born challenges. I mean, my dad was the last of eight. He had six sisters and one brother. No wonder he was walking around with all kind of ladies gowns as his nightclothes. The last born challenges. Something he had no control over. I mean, they're just some challenges associated with being a part of a I mean, you heard the story about the family who had four children, and when the firstborn came along, I mean, when his pacifier fall on the floor, I mean, the parents pick that pacifier up, sterilize it, and boil the water, and make sure that that pacifier is as clean as a whistle before it's put back into that child's mouth. Such is the nature of being the firstborn. When the second born came along, I mean, the pacifier fell on the floor. I mean, they picked it up. I mean, run some water on the thing, under the pipe, and put it back in the child's mouth. When the third born came around, I mean, they picked it up off the floor and just put it back in his mouth. When the last one came along, the pacifier fall on the floor. Parents say, go get it! Such is the nature of the challenges. of being born at different times in a family. Am I not correct? I mean, there's some associated challenges that come along with things that we had no control over. But I want you to notice thirdly here tonight, the approach of consistency. I want you to notice that David, in spite of his anointing as the next king of Israel, in spite of the challenges, in spite of I'm sure the criticism, the attitudes towards him, the the unfear statements in reference to him. He kept performing his daily responsibilities with consistency and humility. You look at this. Oftentimes we read the Bible and we we we pass over these Verse number 15. The Bible says, in verse 15 of chapter 17, the Bible says, but David returned. from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. In spite of the fact that he knew he was tagged to be the next king of Israel, he remained a humble servant. He fed the sheep. He was to be the next king but he didn't think it beneath him to continue feeding his father's sheep. He was humble. James chapter 4 verse number 10 says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. He had an approach of consistency. He was humble. But notice with me, David was also obedient. Obedient. Look at verse number 17. And Jesse said to David his son, take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves and run to the camp to thy brethren and carry these ten cheeses under the captain of the thousand and look on how thy brethren fare and take their pledge. Saul and all there that all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistine. Look at David's obedience in verse number 20. And David rose up early in the morning. and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse commanded him. David was obedient to his father. He rose early in the morning in spite of the fact that he knew one day he would be the king over all Israel, all of his family members. He would be the king. He still remained obedient to his father. What a great characteristic. I want to say to our young people, As you grow up and as you even excel in your education in various areas of life, still remain obedient and respectful to your parents. As you acquire your education and you get subjects, don't look back and think, oh, I have subjects now. And you're elevated to a status where you think you can dishonor and be disobedient to your parents. David was obedient, he was humble, but notice he was also responsible. The same verse number 20, David rose early in the morning and look at this, he left his sheep with a keeper. He was a responsible person. Look even at verse number 22, The carriage, which was the package that he took for his brethren, that his dad instructed him to. Bible says, look at his responsible nature. He left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage. David was responsible. He approached his task with consistency. He was humbly, he was obedient, he was responsible. And I love this about David. He was supportive. Look at verse number 20. I hope this didn't pass you. or he slipped past you but look, look at what it says. He left the sheep with the keeper took and went as Jesse had commanded and came to the trench as the horse was going forward to fight and look at this. He shouted for the battle. What that says to me is that David was a team player. He was like, let's go guys. Now, we can And he had this level of support even though he was not in charge. Remember he was not yet the king. David was supportive. And notice his respectful nature as well. Verse number 22. He ran into the army and came and look, saluted his brethren. I'm sure some of the same brethren who were unkind to him. Some of the same brethren who criticized him because of jealousy. And David demonstrated this level of consistency in his responsibilities even though he knew he would be the next king, but he was not yet installed as the king. No wonder God elevated him. God knew that he was a man after God's own heart. And I said to us here tonight, by way of application, or whatever family you are part of, listen, be a team player in your family. you. Everyone will not have the same role. God will bless you and exalt you in due time. Listen, that's the thing about being elevated. God is the one who does it. When we appeal to him, when we do what is right, listen, irrespective of how people treat you, when God lifts you up, listen, nobody can put you down. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. David had an approach of consistency. But notice with me the articulated concern. Now we understand that the context of this familiar story in the Bible is that the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle and to attack the people of God. And look with me in verse number 26, when David gets to the camp of the Israelites. Verse number 26, the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? Speaking of Goliath, this giant of a man who was intimidating and seeking to defy the armies of the living God. Rabbi says, Surely to defy Israel is he come up, and it shall be that the man who killeth him The king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. In verse number 25, verse 26, David spake to the man that stood by him saying, what shall be done to the man? that killeth this Philistine and take it away the report from Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. Here it is that David comes into this camp and he hears the disrespect and the defiance of Goliath and David asks and poses a question because of his grave concern for the fact that the armies of God were being trampled on. A problem was brewing and it arose David's indignation. Indignation is righteous anger. Righteous anger is being angry for things that are trampling on things that are right. By the way, we ought to be angry about the right things. David expressed his concern because this is a concern that David thought that the entire nation of Israel ought to be concerned about. You see my friends, the Israelites in large part were concerned about their well-being. They were concerned about being destroyed. They were concerned that Goliath along with the armies of the Philistines were going to wipe them out. But David's concern was rooted in the fact that he was upset that God himself was being disrespected by Goliath. David said, listen, there's something wrong here. And David, as I continue to read about David, I'm understanding more and more why God calls him, God himself calls him a man after God's own heart. And here's the reason, one of the reasons why. That oftentimes we are more concerned with our feelings than we are with God's feelings. What does God think about this matter? How is God, what is God's thoughts? How does God, how does this make God feel? Is he angry? Is he pleased? Is he upset? Is he annoyed? We are to be concerned with how God feels. What affected God affected David. What hurt God, hurt David. What pleased God, pleased David. No wonder he was called a man after God's own heart. And he articulated this concern. But notice with me number five. Because he articulated this concern, it resulted in an attack on his character. Look at verse number 28. And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left alone those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the knowledge of thy heart. For thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle. Here we have David, his eldest brother, starting and launching this attack on David for expressing what was of concern to Almighty God. But it's no accident that Eliab unleashed this attack. Remember, he was the firstborn. He was the one who was passed over as the next king of Israel for David. He was jealous. But David had done nothing to him. David, in fact, was bringing food for him. David was looking out for his interests. David was supporting him in battle. And he questions David's sincerity and responsibility regarding sheep. My friends, make no mistake about it. There will be times in your life when you are unfairly attacked, maligned, and criticized by your own family members. When all you are trying to do is to help them. But I said this this morning and it's worth repeating. Recognize that that will not be the first time and it also won't be the last. That's the nature of life. We see it so clearly evident here in the life of David. It was an attack on his character. But notice with me verse number 29. The awareness of the cause. I love the fact that David did not even address the criticism in large part levied by Eliab. Here, Eliab is asking him about what did he do with those sheep? David didn't even address the criticism about, oh, well, I got a keeper. No, David said, no, no, no. Is there not a cause? Don't I just have a justified reason to be concerned that the armies of the living God are being defied by the enemy? You see, you see what was important about David. David understood the bigger picture. David understood what was at stake. David was ultimately saying to Eliab, Eliab, this is not about me versus you. I recognize that you're upset because God has selected me, which I did not even ask for myself, but at the very least, we are on the same team. And there's a cause that's bigger than you and me. And I'm concerned about fighting this enemy. Is there not a cause? We cannot afford to be distracted in what God has for us to do. We have to be wise in our response to criticisms and attacks. If we don't make no mistake, the devil will be allowed to gain the upper hand. And here's how the devil gains the upper hand. Because if we end up fighting among ourselves, the devil says, hey, I don't even need to bother with them. They're doing a good job on their own. Let me find and put my resources and efforts elsewhere. Because there's no need to fight against them when they are fighting against themselves. David says, I have to understand there is a cause. Is there not a cause? He was aware of what was at stake. And he noticed with me his attitude to continue. Verse number 30, the Bible says, and he turned from him toward another. And he spake after the same manner. And the people answered him again after the former manner. He poses this question and Eliab attacks him. David didn't let Eliab's attack stop him from doing what God had on his heart to do. He left from Eliab and went to somebody else and asked the same question until his concern got to the ears of King Saul. And here's ultimately the message for every single person. You're part of a family. You're misunderstood. Or you might be maligned. There might be things that are happening and challenges that you had no control over. But as long as you are doing what God has called you to do, don't let attacks from family members stop you from doing what God has called you to do to fulfill your destiny. You gotta let some of these things roll off. You gotta let them roll off. There was an attitude to continue. And finally, we know the story. There was an amazing conquest. We don't have to look at all the verses because we are very familiar with what took place. Because of David's focus and David's persistence, he, through the power of God, was at the forefront of one of Israel's most famous victories in defeating Goliath. You know what I love about this story? I mean, David endures this criticism. He endures these attacks. He endures the scorn. He endures the ridicule. Uh probably for uh you think you're better than all these other people and when Goliath head is cut off, everybody run and say, yeah, we win. Yeah, we win. Yeah, we win. And David just says, yeah, we win. when you are unleashing your attacks. Do not ever let criticisms and attacks derail you from fulfilling your purpose. What to do when you're misunderstood by your family? Remember, God has a purpose and plan for your life. And if you submit and surrender to it, and you stay faithful to the cause, God will fulfill it. And we see it here so clearly in the life of David. He was chosen by God. He was doing his regular task, taking care of his sheep, writing his songs, loving God, worshiping God, and God saw something. And God says, I want you to represent me. With seeming privileges, they're going to come things that are not too nice, for want of a better word. But it's part of the task. You stay faithful to God. You be dedicated. You be focused. You put God at the forefront of what you do. You love others, even when they don't love you. You stand up for truth and holiness. And God will vindicate. And ultimately, in the end, the victories and the successes that you experience won't only affect you, but they will impact others in a positive way. Why? Because it's never about us. It's all about Him and what He wants to use us to do in our lives. So when you're misunderstood by your family, remember David. Remember his situation and remember how God used him in a great and mighty way. But as we remember these things, remember his focus. Remember his attitude. and embrace all of it and watch God do and use you in a mighty way to impact your family and to point others, including family members, to the one who we all need. His name is Jesus Christ.