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Seth David Gruber

Finding my name, meaning, and calling

My Name…

Middle: David

David is my Father’s first name, and my middle name.  David means “Beloved”.  This name gets me excited because of who the first David was, and all he represented in His love for the Lord.

Multi-Faceted

The David from the Bible has one of the most remarkable personalities in all of scripture.  David was a shepherd, musician, poet, soldier, statesman, prophet, and king.  He wrote about half of the Psalms, composing music for each one as well, and is the only one described as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22).

Tapping Into Grace…

Worship leader Jonathan David Helser speaks of David and the psalms, saying:

“I can read until I find breakthrough.  I just love to pick them up.  I’ve tested this.  I can start reading them out loud and I will find breakthrough.  Sometimes you have to read all of Psalm 119, but at some point in there, breakthrough hits, because David tapped into something.  He was tapping into grace even before the cross.  And I love when you read  these psalms; there’s moments where David has these encounters and God starts singing back to him songs of deliverance.”

Beloved…

Jonathan Helser beautifully describes what defines David’s life: Worship.  At another point, Helser describes David as “the first worship leader of the new covenant”.  King David had learned to live from his heart because it was after the Lord’s.  Perhaps this is why David means “beloved”.  Perhaps he is the beloved of the Lord because his heart was so in tune with the Lord’s.

Enjoying Jesus…

David knew how to and enjoyed spending time with the Lord.  One of my favorite Psalms of David is Psalm 27.  This Psalm is evidence of David’s heart for the Lord: “The one thing I ask of the Lord – the thing I seek most – is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple” (Psalm 27:4).  I don’t even know how to unpack that, but that because Jesus delights in us and is singing over us (Zephaniah 3:17), we are enabled to delight in him, enjoying him for who he is.

Living From My Heart…

For all these reasons, I desire to live like David and be the beloved of the Lord, in tune with His spirit, living from my heart as a reflection of his.  I believe that my naturally passionate nature coincides with my middle name, and has a direct impact on my first name.  In other words, my David-like passion impacts my passion for the unborn and for life in general.

One More Thought

It’s awesome how the Lord continues to reveal certain things to me about my name.  I was having a discussion with my friend Olivia recently and she was telling me about a passage in the Bible that she was teaching on to a group of camp students.  It was from 1 Samuel 16, where Samuel anoints David after the Lord had rejected the rest of Jesse’s sons.  When Samuel asks Jesse if “these are all the sons you have”, Jesse replies, “There is still the youngest” (1 Samuel 16:11).  It is of course David that the Lord chooses and has Samuel anoint.  While I may be the eldest child, I am still very young and extremely blessed to be doing the type of work that I am at this age.  After most pro-life presentations that I give, people are shocked to find out that I am only 20 years old.  Now, I just remember how young David was when he was anointed and accept that name and legacy as my own.

*To be continued in Part 3 of 3 – What’s In A Name? -[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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