Romancing The Rock

‘David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.”’ [2 Samuel 16:11-12 NIV]

I find the way David responded when he heard Absolom was marching against him very hard to take sometimes. You would think he would take up arms and fight for his throne. You would think he would stand up for what was rightly his, God ordained even. But no, he takes his men and leaves the city — retreats.

At first thought, this seems like cowardice, defeatist, weak. But on closer inspection I think David did something that goes against our natural human tendencies. He put his future and his throne in God’s hands.

David had made mistakes, several of them. One of the worst being adultery and murder involving Bathsheba and her husband. He knew he wasn’t entirely guiltless. And he had seen what happened to Saul when that king stopped obeying God — God removed him from the throne. So, perhaps David thought his time was up, that perhaps God had drawn the line.

Instead of rising up in pride with the attitude that the throne belonged to him and that he had a right to it, he humbly stepped back and allowed God to have His way. It is reflected in this one statement he made above. ‘Maybe the Lord will restore me to His blessing.’ He didn’t presume to know God’s will, in spite of receiving several promises on the matter. He simply allowed God to be the one to restore him, instead of doing it in his own strength.

How many of us can say we have acted with such humility when something we think God has promised us seems to have been stolen from under us? Something to think about …