O before Promotion:
Nowadays people are so enamored with promotions. They are quick to jump into the position that they want, but just as quick to skip the process that it takes to get there. In 1 Samuel 16 and 17, David shows us that you cannot prosper without the process. Little David was a shepherd. This isn’t a glamorous job. Some people even dismissed or overlooked shepherds overlooking the importance of being a shepherd. Shepherds took care of the flock that they ate from, made money from, and sacrificed. David was obedient and diligent in taking care of his assignment (his sheep). He fed them, led them to safety, protected them from danger, etc. He didn’t spend his time trying to vie for attention to gain another position. He didn’t try to compete with his brothers who were serving in King Saul’s army. His only focus was the assignment given to him.
When Samuel anointed him as future king, he didn’t try to go straight for the throne to get rid of Saul and take his position. He didn’t even get lost in his immaturity/naïveté like Joseph, and go around bragging. He even HONORED Saul until the Lord Himself removed him from the throne despite Saul trying to kill David unjustifiably. David had several opportunities to take Saul’s life to save his own, but he refused every time to be obedient in honoring the king that the Lord still had in place.
Furthermore, the opportunity to fight Goliath (which David is famous for) came through obedience. His father asked him to take a break from the pasture to deliver lunch to his brothers fighting on the frontline. This wasn’t part of his shepherd job description,. He did it promptly without complaining.
Finally, David was obedient in HOW to fight the battle before him. After stepping up to fight Goliath, Saul tried to get David to fight HIS way using HIS armor. (Which is ironic to me because he didn’t step up himself in his armor to fight Goliath.) David tried on Saul’s armor and immediately knew it wouldn’t work. He denied the KING in favor of the training the LORD provided IN THE PASTURE. His obedience in all these things is how he got promoted to the palace!