Was David wrong?

[Lucian Hodoboc]

In most of his writings in The Old Testament, David seems to hold the belief that righteous people will be protected by God and end up victorious in this life, not in the afterlife. In the Psalms, he frequently mentions that God will punish the people who do wrong and will give prosperity and happiness to those who are righteous. However, as Jesus pointed out and as history shows us, that is not usually so. Many of the people who obeyed God's commandments have either been martyred and died in terrible ways or have lived terrible lives despite their faith and prayers.

So, my question is, was David wrong about this belief? And if he was, why didn't God ever correct him, instead of allowing him to incorporate this false sense of earthly justice into The Psalms?

 

[Christ_empowered]

could this be an example of...what's it called..."progressive revelation" ? With Jesus, humanity got a glimpse of God in the flesh, along with heavenly wisdom straight from the source. David was a great man of God, but he was also a product of his culture and his times, whereas Jesus was (and is) God made flesh, so...what He says goes, for Christians.

 

[Pegasus]

could this be an example of...what's it called..."progressive revelation" ? With Jesus, humanity got a glimpse of God in the flesh, along with heavenly wisdom straight from the source. David was a great man of God, but he was also a product of his culture and his times, whereas Jesus was (and is) God made flesh, so...what He says goes, for Christians.

I think you are on to something here. We have to remember the covenants. The Mosaic covenant was about following the Law and the reward was health, prosperity, good crops and secure borders. The offshoot to that was the covenant with kings, especially David's line. What's interesting is David looks to his covenant with God reference his line of kings as grace as well. That what God gave him was unmerited.

And that is the type or shadow of what was to come in the New Covenant which is also of Grace.

 

[for_his_glory]

Lucian it would help if you could give some scriptures in the OT of what David said, Ty.

David was not wrong, but people have taken what he has said out of context thinking our lives here on earth should be perfect without flaw and if it's not then we are not believing God. It's become a healthy, wealthy and wise type of teachings that have caused much frustration and a great falling away from truth.

For by grace, as it's only Gods favor extended to all who will receive it by faith, is a free gift as we become His workmanship created in Christ unto good works that God ordained that we should continue walking in the good works of Christ, Ephesians 2:8; Matthew 25:31-40. We can not earn our salvation by our own works nor do we even deserve Gods grace, Genesis 6:6-8. Only by a mustard seed of faith do we come to Christ and repent of our sins are we then only washed clean by the blood of Christ and become Spiritually reborn again (not saved) through the Spiritual rebirth of John 3:3-6 by that of Romans 10:9,10.

Matthew 21:13 says that those who endure until the end shall be saved. This means enduring all the trials and tribulations that this world will bring against us for the sake of our witness and testimony of Christ, Matthew 11:22; Acts 14:22, Rev 2:10. The end means the end of our days here on this present earth when those in the grave and we who are still alive at His coming will then be caught up to Christ and are saved at that time as we have endured all things and never gave up our faith in Christ.

God's word never said we would not go through trials or tribulations, but through many trials and tribulations if we endure until the end then we will see the Kingdom of God, Acts 14:22, as we are all called into discipleship as we share our witness and testimony with those who have not yet repented and turned back to God. Below are twenty reasons why God allows us to go through trials and tribulations so that we will always remain in His will.

Why God allows us to go through trials and tribulations:
1. Training as God prepares us for the future
2. Patience as we rely and trust in God's timing
3. Perseverance through trials that we remain in Gods will
4. Trust as God's ways are not our ways and He has a better plan for us
5. To learn from out mistakes
6. To humble ourselves before Him
7. To discipline us
8. Teach us to be dependent on Him alone
9. To spend quiet time with God so He can speak to us
10. To teach us of His protection
11. That we also share in the sufferings of Christ that we be not ashamed
12. Strengthen us to become more like Christ
13. To develop character
14. Build up our faith in the Lord
15. For a testimony and witness to help others
16. To show us sin in our lives that we need to own up to having
17. To remind us that God is in control
18. Helps us gain knowledge and understanding God's word
19. Teaches us to be thankful
20. To take our mind off the things of the world and and put them back on God

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

Lucian it would help if you could give some scriptures in the OT of what David said, Ty.

Read The Psalms. Many of them were written by David. He seemed very optimistic about the outcome of this life (not of the afterlife) for the people who keep God's laws.

 

[Mike]

David did profess faith in the Lord, ultimately, but he also expressed despair in many chapters of Psalms. Psalm 13 only has 6 verses, but he captures the difficulty we all experience at times. In the end, he trusts on God's mercy.

 

[Jim Parker]

In most of his writings in The Old Testament, David seems to hold the belief that righteous people will be protected by God and end up victorious in this life, not in the afterlife.

That is because David was under the Law of Moses (Old Covenant)
According to the old covenant, those who kept the Lord would be blessed in this life and those whop violated the covenant would be cursed in this life. (Deut 28)
There is no mention of or allusion to eternal life in the Old Covenant. (as found in the Torah; the Pentateuch)

iakov the fool