On Brigands, toughs, and a band of thieves

I was reading today in 1 Samuel--you know, that book in the Bible. Anyway, I happened to be reading about David. He gets a lot of press, what with killing the giant and all. He also gets a lot of press for watching Bathsheeba take a bath. But the story between the whole "save people from goliath" episode, and the coronation is intriguing. So in the story he's on the run from Saul, the king. He's hanging out in the desert with his band of merry men, doing whatever it is guys with swords and no jobs do--namely kill threaten, steal and the like. He ends up a a hired gun(or sword) for the enemy of the Israelites (his peeps) and eventually volunteers to fight against his own people, the men he once commanded in the army. In between there's the incident with Nabal and Abigail. David sends messengers to Nabal asking for food and supplies. Nabal says, why should I give you help, you're just a brigand. So David decides he is going to kill Nabal and every male in his household. That is until in fear, Abigail sends out the supplies David asked for because she knows he's really a ruthless thief who will kill her husband to get some food. So then David decides not to kill Nabal, but Nabal dies anyway, then DAvid marries Abigail and carries her off to the desert with him.

So anyway, what's the point. As I was reading I was thinking, this is the same story you hear over and over again in history. Some upstart general gets too big for his britches and take his followers off on a wave of pillage and destruction, then tries to take over the throne. It happens anytime there are too many soldiers and not enough jobs.

So I guess the point I'm trying to make, is I always thought that David was this great guy--you know, a man after God's own heart. He was the king, the psalm writer. But he was also a thief, an armed robber, a thug, an adulterer. So where's the rub?

I think one thing that I draw out of this isn't that it's cool to kill some dude, and take his sheep and his wife.

Instead I see God using a regular guy--who is selfish, sinful, etc--to accomplish his ends. To bring his people together, to set the stage, and to encourage his people through the Psalms. And I also see a man who though he continually did things I wouldn't dream of doing, he feared God, and he continued to seek God's will, and he maintained a life of submission to God and his prophets. And I think hey if God can use somebody whose first thought (and action) in conflict resolution is to kill, and who went through wives like sets of clothes, then maybe he can use me somehow, someway