Will the Real David Please Stand Up?

1 Samuel 18-19
          You know, it's entirely possible to read too many books.  A few years ago I did a sermon series on David, and one of the books I read wanted to point out how the 'real' David wasn't such a great guy, how he was self-serving and eager for power.  I thought of that with this reading, because on the surface David sure comes across as humble.  The story of 1 Samuel 18 is plainly put:  "The Lord was with David and gave him success; David knew he was just a poor boy and that the Lord gave him victory."
          So, which is it?  Is David a conniving power-grubber who's building support systems in view of a future power grab, or is he a humble guy who always seeks the Lord first?  I think he's probably both.  I think that because I think most of us are both.  We confess our sins each week, and we often say, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves."  And true enough, we're each a mixed bag of old, self-serving, sinful motives, and the renewed motives of those who have been forgiven and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
          Honestly, it's really easy to read the stories about the young David and see a man who's making connection, doing favors, feeling people out, building his reputation.  Frankly, no one ever said David was perfect.  If you re-read the Goliath incident, you see a little greed in 1 Samuel 17:25-27:  the men were talking about the reward and then suddenly David is asking about the reward.  You can see a little, "Could you repeat that please?" in David.  You can see him enjoying his reputation-making exploits.  He might say, "Oh, I'm not worthy to be a king's son," but, when Saul asked for 100 foreskins, David delivered 200.  Don't try to tell me he wasn't at least a little concerned with his growing fame!
          On the other hand, we do have to take the Bible at its word.  David slew Goliath not because of his great skill (though David did boast about that--17:34-36).  He slew Goliath because the Lord gave the Philistine into David's hand--which David also acknowledged (17:37).
          So, look, David was a bit of a mixed bag.  So are we.  No matter how mature we might become in our faith, let's hope we never lose sight of the fact that real spiritual maturity means recognizing just how far there is yet to go!