David refuses to leave our cultural imagination, not because he was perfect but because he was profoundly human. He was a warrior and a poet, a king and a failure, a man after God’s own heart who sometimes broke God’s heart. His story lives in us. When we root for the underdog, we’re channeling David facing Goliath. When power shifts hands, we see the shadows of Saul and the rise of a shepherd king. And when we fall, when our desires outpace our integrity, we remember what David did to Bathsheba and her husband. We see our triumphs in him, and our darkest moments. Maybe that’s why we keep coming back to his story. Because somehow, in understanding David, we begin to understand ourselves.