Three Little Kings

Recently I happened to reread the Biblical story of David, not from a spiritual religious perspective but as a scholar of the earth on principles of greatness. It was an eye-opener in many aspects, especially on the trials and triumphs of a leader at the peak of his powers, at the top of his game. David is quite a controversial character who elicits diverse opinions across the board. It also means this can never be an exhaustive synopsis, but allow me to share 3 powerful facets I garnered:

ALTITUDE

You can climb too high for your own good. It’s possible to ascend too far, stand too tall, and elevate too much. Linger too long at high altitudes, and two of your senses suffer. Your hearing dulls. It’s hard to hear people when you are higher than they. Voices grow distant. Sentences seem muffled. And when you are up there, your eyesight dims. It’s hard to focus on people when you are so far above them. They appear so small. Little figures with no faces. You can hardly distinguish one from the other. They all look alike. You don’t hear them. You don’t see them. You are above them, on top of them. You are in the struggle of HILL under the cloud of altitude sickness

ATTITUDE

David ‘sends’ many times in the Bathsheba story. He sends Joab to battle. He sends the servant to inquire about Bathsheba. He sends for Bathsheba to have her come to him. When David learns of her pregnancy, he sends word to Joab to send Uriah back to Jerusalem. David sends him to Bathsheba to rest, but Uriah is too noble. David opts to send Uriah back to a place in the battle where he is sure to be killed. Thinking his cover-up is complete, David sends for Bathsheba and marries her. We don’t like this sending, demanding David… What has happened to him? Simple. Attitude syndrome can lie fallow for long, but with time it seeps through into daily life to manifest our true selves. In the haughty high David can no longer reason like he used to, can no longer hear as he used to, meaning the warnings of the servant or the voice of his conscience are inaudible. Just like his Lord is inaudible. David has no desire to hear; no WILL to do right. This is an almost impossible flaw.

APTITUDE

It was never in David to have the ability to execute murder. Shepherd boy yes; Warrior son absolutely. Purveyor of deft slingshots, conqueror of Goliath and liberator of an oppressed people, by God. Worshipper and player of musical instruments by all means. Absolutely exceptional writer and poet; even strategist of war. Thespian too, where he fled Saul’s wrath to Philistine and lived among his enemies while pretending to be loco so that they would regard him as harmless. Humane, real and unassuming. These were strong competencies that he reveled in and the exercise of which lifted him above the common man, to that lofty place where only legends operated; a zone that brought his strengths to the fore. Premeditated murder? Scheming for selfish gain? These were attributes foreign to the original David. In the irony of being humble but self-obsessed, David apportioned to himself nefarious competencies that he did not possess; major SKILL gap.

Thankfully the pains and tragedies that he brings upon himself help David to raise his game and extract his true being from that dark lofty place, to ultimately triumph in this great leadership challenge, to be remembered as a man after God’s own heart and one of the greatest Kings that ever lived. There are not many places to hide when at the top of the mountain. He took personal responsibility. He could not change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but he could change himself and his view of every situation; that was something he had charge of. David delivers a myriad of ‘making it’ lessons; as victors and conquerors we easily become our own greatest saboteurs, allowing the afflictions of attitude, altitude and aptitude creep up on us. A man wrapped up in himself really does make a very small bundle. 

It is still quite early in the year; may the wind blow for you with the raised sails.