"Time Will Tell"

Scripture Passage

2 Samuel 2-3:5; 1 Chronicles 3:1-4; 2 Samuel 23:8-17; 1 Chronicles 11:10-19;

2 Samuel 23:18-39; 1 Chronicles 11:20-47

Scripture Focus

That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David. As time passed David became stronger and stronger, while Saul’s dynasty became weaker and weaker. (2 Samuel 3:1 NLT)

Observation

I confess—I think today’s reading is good history, but a bit spotty from a devotional perspective. Still, I take encouragement—maybe in a strange way—from the simple statement of 2 Samuel 3:1—

That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David. As time passed David became stronger and stronger, while Saul’s dynasty became weaker and weaker. (2 Samuel 3:1 NLT)

I don’t like it that Israel struggled so long in civil war over who would lead Israel as king. I don’t like it that men laid down their lives to preserve a kingdom God had rejected, or that other men had to lay down their lives in order to assure the reign of the king God had chosen. But I’m encouraged—when I read that it took righteous men significant time to see David’s kingdom established—that everything God is working towards doesn’t necessarily get accomplished in an instant…that sometimes even God’s expressed will takes time to see accomplished.

The fact that the accomplishment of God’s will required wearisome, time-consuming battles encourages me when my battles consume more time and resources than I think they ought to. Though I regularly wish it were quicker and easier, the absence of immediate accomplishment does not mean I’ve missed God’s will. Indeed, it may mean I’m right in the center of God’s will, as evidenced by the intensified efforts of the enemy of my soul.

Help me, Lord, to know your will—and to persist in it, regardless of whatever time and energy it might demand.