2nd Samuel – God’s shepherd: King and mercy-bearer, David
An introduction to 2nd Samuel 1 Samuel 2:1-10, 2 Samuel 22:26-28

1st Samuel tells how God worked through circumstance and prepared David to serve as Israel's king. 2nd Samuel tells how God used David as Israel's king, including David's stunning successes as well as his abject moral failures. In 1 Samuel we find three aspects of David's preparation: as shepherd, as man of Saul’s court, and as fugitive from that court. In 2 Samuel we see how God providentially deploys those aspects of his preparation put to work. He became the shepherd of his people, the center of his court, and the strong ruler of his nation. He was well prepared to fulfill the office of Yahweh's vice-regent successfully as he followed God's leadership. In this sense, David acts as a prototype for another man, his descendent and the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, namely the Son of David, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, who will one day sit in perfect righteousness on David’s throne in Jerusalem!
May we be sensitive to God’s providential interactions with our own lives, to instruction in His Word, to produce in us a heart and attitude and competence to be of service to Him as our great High King!
The message of 2 Samuel is that a person's orientation & attitude toward God creates opportunity for God, and God's orientation & attitude toward that person creates opportunity for him or her. This is a vital insight into what it means to have a relationship with God.