David is anointed king at around the age of 15.  Immediately a dream in his heart must have been born.  What would it be like to be king?  How incredible to be at the “top?”  A forgotten son of Jesse with the anointing oil dripping down his shoulders had to be thinking:

Have I arrived?

Soon after David realizes that anointing to be King brings a whole new set of rotten experiences.  Dodging Saul’s spears, evading Saul’s assassins.  Running from cave to cave, and finding more against you than are for you.  All the while he’s winning battle after battle, gaining momentum, songs are song about him, and the nation is starting to need him.  And he had to be thinking:

Have I arrived?

Judah installs him as king at age 30.  He is King of 1 tribe.  One out of 12.  The dream realized at this point has to be much smaller than the dream imagined at age 15.  And David had to be thinking:

Have I arrived?

Eventually the entire nation comes to David and installs him as King.  His childhood dream is now a reality.  22 years later the man who no one believed in is firmly established by God as King of the Nation.

Had he arrived?

1 Chronicles 14:8, “When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them.”

As soon as David “arrives” his enemies attack.

I share this because we often think that success is the final stage of life.  The final rung in our individual ladder will be a carefree adventure.  Yet how easy is it to long for success but not realize the challenges success in itself brings.

When David tended sheep his biggest enemies were bears and lions.  Now a nation has come up in full force to meet and beat him.

What do you do when you’ve “arrived?”  You do what David did.

VERSE 9: so David inquired of God: “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”The Lord answered him, “Go, I will hand them over to you.”

He kept his eyes on God.  Even though David had an undefeated record against the Philistines in his past yet he still calls upon the Lord when they come after him at the top.  What I love about David is that no matter how high he got – he kept looking up to God for help.

Because just when you think you’ve arrived, so will the challenges you never dreamed of as a kid.