Wednesday, February 9

The waiting

A couple days ago, I mentioned that I was listening to Sara Groves. On my way home, another of her songs struck me afresh: Cave of Adullam.

The cave of Adullam is where David hid with his men when being chased by King Saul, who was out to kill David. You see, King Saul made a huge mistake so God decided that He would choose another man to be king, hence how David comes into the picture.

Jealous over David's popularity and threatened by David's anointing, King Saul starts this long period of threatening and chasing David all around the Israelis countryside.

The premise of the song is what David might have been thinking while on the run. Here he has been anointed, chosen by God, to be king. This happened when David was still a youth. (Okay, to be fair, in Biblical times, youth could mean anywhere from 13-30 years old...but let's assume that he was 15-18, since he wasn't off fighting in the Philistine wars, like his brothers and we know that he was on the run for a couple years at least). According to II Samuel 5, David was 30 when he finally became king.

So David was called and chosen to be king at a young age...and saw the realization of that anointing/calling at 30. What this means is that David had to wait 7-15 years for God to bring about the calling that He had given to David. David probably questioned a time or two if he heard right, if he understood God correctly, if his kingship would ever come to pass. We know his faith in God prevailed through it all however this wasn't the life he imagined. It wasn't the process he predicted. Here he was...hiding in a cave, running around the countryside trying to avoid being killed by the maniac king, separated from his family and his closest friend, and at times, even begging for food.

And yet through this, God turned a shepherd boy into a King.
The calling never changed. God hadn't made a mistake or hadn't forgotten His promises.
God uses the waiting periods to shape, mold, use, and teach us in ways we can't understand until the promise has been fulfilled. That doesn't mean the calling was wrong or misunderstood...it just means that God is still at work.

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
I Thessalonians 5:24

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