1. He loved God and keep his commandments. In John 14:23, Jesus reveals that anyone who love him will keep his words (commandments), and God (the Father) will love such a person and dwell with him. If David had not kept God’s commandment, he wouldn’t have been loved by God and chosen instead of his brothers. Also, John 4:20 tells us that the person who love his brother that he has seen is the one who love God that he doesn’t see. This means he loved God by loving his neighbors.
While Romans 9:16 lets us know that it’s God that shows mercy, Deuteronomy 5:10 tells us that God keeps mercy for thousands of those that love him, and keep his commandments. So, God had mercy on David and chose him because he loved God by keeping his commands.
2. He is humble. According to James 4:6, God gives more grace to the humble but resist anyone that is proud, and in 1Peter 5:6, the Bible commands that we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand so that he can lift us up in due time. This also means that David humble himself under the hand of God, and he lifted him when the time was due to choose a King.
3. He has a broken spirit, and trembles at God’s word (commandments). In Isaiah 66:2, God says he will only look at the man who has a broken spirit, trembles and revere his commands, and according to Psalm 56:17, God’s sacrifice is a spirit that is broken, and God will never despise or rejects it.
4. He is faithful in keeping what is committed to him. David kept his father’s flock(sheep) faithfully, and he does not allow anyone to get lost, and even risk his life to save the sheep that was attacked by a lion and the one that a bear took (1Samuel 17:34-35), and as a steward or keeper, faithfulness is always required (1Corinthians 4:20).
5. He honors his Father. God commands that children should honor their father and mother by obeying them in the Lord (Ephesians 6:2), and David obey his father by faithfully keeping the flock he was given to oversee, and even when there was war and his brothers went with King Saul to fight the Philistines, his father send him to give food his brothers and he obeyed, which are proves that he honors his father always. (1Samuel 17:17-18).
6. He fears God. According to Proverbs 1:7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and fools despise wisdom and instructions. David doesn’t despise wisdom and instructions he receives but fears God and keeps them. God commands Parents to teach their children the commandments of God (Deuteronomy 6:6-7), and in Deuteronomy 4:6, the law is said to be the wisdom and understanding of God’s people. So David fear the Lord and keep his law, and that’s one of the reasons why God chose him as a king.
