Putting God In His Rightful Place

In our passage, we'll see three episodes from the start of King David's rule.

And these three episodes show us three important things about the place of God in our lives.

And so the first important thing, our place, our place in life is given by God.

This episode picks up where we left off last week.

After the death of King Saul back in chapter 1, David was made king of his own tribe Judah in chapter 2.

Then in chapters 3 and 4, the last of Saul's sons had died.

So at the start of chapter 5, all the tribes of Israel came to David and made him king over them, over all of their tribes as well.

And so at the start of our passage, David is now the king over Judah, his tribe, as well as Israel, all the rest.

He's the shepherd and ruler over the whole nation.

And in this role, with this new rule, David chooses where his kingship is going to be based, which city he will rule his kingdom from.

And David chooses Jerusalem.

I mean, you can see it there just in the middle with a red line under it.

Choosing Jerusalem is a bit like choosing Canberra.

Jerusalem is between Judah and Israel, Judah in the south, Israel in the north.

And it's a bit like Canberra being between Sydney and Melbourne.

When David's rule began, Jerusalem was still under the control of Jebusites.

Why was it under control of them? Because Jerusalem was built on a mountain fortress.

which meant it had gone undefeated against all invaders, even the tribes of Judah and Benjamin who'd attacked it previously.

It had been undefeated for hundreds of years.

And so when David and his army arrive on the scene, arrive at Jerusalem, the Jebusites who live there are confident that They're completely certain that David will fail like all those before him.

They're so confident that they mock him.

And that's how our passage begins.

Look with me at chapter 5, verse 6.

The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there.

The Jebusites said to David, you will not get in here.