The Shepherd and the King

I mean, come on, who would you put your money on?

I'm going to tell you two stories from the Old Testament.  The first is about a shepherd.  Israel was at war with the Philistines (as usual) and things weren't going too hot on the battle front.  See, the Philistines had a secret weapon, a 9-foot-tall freak of nature by the name of Goliath.  He was a huge guy.  He defied the armies of Israel and basically said that if any one person could kill him, the Philistines would bow down to Israel.  Nobody took the bait.  That is, until this shepherd came to the battle to give his older brothers some corn.  He heard the challenge of Goliath, and was really surprised that nobody had taken Goliath up on his offer.  He had great faith that the Lord would deliver Goliath into their hands.  In his own words to Goliath, the young shepherd says:

"This day will the Lord ^adeliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may^bknow that there is a God in Israel." (1 Samuel 17:46)


Those are some pretty strong words.  And it happened.  The shepherd went out with his trusty sling and stones and killed Goliath.  He trusted the Lord with all his might and Goliath was delivered to him.  The story of the young shepherd is one of faith, trust, and action.   



The second story is a little bit more dark.  I know what you're thinking, "You just shared a scripture about a guy's head getting chopped off and his body being fed to the fowls and beasts, how much darker does it get?"  Trust me.  It gets darker.  This story is about a king.  His country was at war, but he was enjoying his kingly privileges and staying at home.  One night, he was on his roof and he saw a beautiful woman.  He lusted after her (ask your parents, kids).  One thing led to another, and she conceived.  This was a problem because the woman was married, not to the king though.  The king did not want the woman's husband to find out what they had done.  Fortunately for the king, the woman's husband was at war, and the king ordered him to the front lines, which led to his death.  The story of the king is one of sin, deceit, and malice.


You may be wondering what these two stories have in common, or even why I told them to you.  Well, if you haven't already figured it out, the shepherd and the king are the same person:  David.  It may not seem like it, but it's true!  King David is a far cry from the humble shepherd David that many of us know and love, so you have to ask yourself, what happened?  My answer can be summed up in one word:  Pride.  See, somewhere between slaying a giant and murdering an innocent man, something got to his head.  


The rise and fall of David is a tragic story.  He had the whole world going for him.  Once he killed Goliath, he was anointed to become king, even though he was in no way related to the king.  When he became king, he had the Lord on his side, and he was slaying all sorts of uncircumcised folk.  That is, until he decided he didn't need the Lord anymore.  All of the cheering in the streets about how King Saul had killed his thousands, and King David had killed his ten thousands went to his head.  He "inhaled" their praise and accolades.  Maybe he thought he was good enough by himself, without the aid of God, and in a moment of vulnerability, Satan got the best of him.  And then, to avoid injury to his pride, King David covered up his sins by causing the death of the innocent husband.  

President Uchtdorf

Pride is a sin that leads to even greater sins.  I think President Uchtdorf put it best:  "Pride is a deadly cancer. It is a gateway sin that leads to a host of other human weaknesses. In fact, it could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride."  If we wish to avoid falling as King David fell, we must do away with our pride.  Now, that is not an easy task.  Every person struggles with pride at some point in his or her life.  President Benson referred to it as the "universal sin".  However, as universal as it may be, it is still necessary to overcome.


So, how do we get rid of pride, and become humble?  We need to conform our will to the will of our Father. He knows what is best for us, and he knows what lessons we need to learn in this life.  Once we begin to see life the way He does, we will be filled with love for all men, and we will stop elevating ourselves in pride above others.  Humility, however, does not mean to beat oneself up.  Again, in the words of President Uchtdorf:  "We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves."


I think, ultimately, the way to get rid of pride is through Jesus Christ.  This is illustrated in the Book of Mormon:


"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27)


Through the grace of Christ, we can overcome all of our problems, with a lot of prayer and action.  We need to let our pride humble us enough that we do come to Christ to let him take our pride away.  Do it, before you end up with a story like the shepherd and the king.


Courage,


Elder Jordan Sharples


Click here for the full content of President Uchtdorf's talk (It's amazing).