The Life and Times of

Lessons to be Learned from David's Delayed Kingdom

(1) We should begin by observing that the promise God made to Israel and to David (implied when David was anointed by Samuel) took a long time being fulfilled. David becomes king of Israel after a considerable delay, and with a great deal of adversity. That is what 1 Samuel 16:1--2 Samuel 5:5 is all about. This period of David's life can be summed up by two words: “time” and “trouble.”

(2) The delay in David becoming Israel's king is not unusual, but it is typical of the way God brings about His promises and purposes. Stated concisely, God is not in a hurry. God has all the time in the world. In fact, God is bigger than time and certainly not limited by time. Throughout the Bible I find God promising things men must wait to receive:

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  God promised Abram and Sarai a child, but they had to wait 25 years to get him.
  
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  God promised Noah there would be a flood, but it was a long time coming.
  
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  God made Jacob wait 14 years to get the wife he wanted.³
  
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  Joseph had to wait a considerable time to see his father and family, and he did not get back home until after his death (they carried his bones back to the promised land).
  
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  The Israelites had to wait 430 years in Egypt, before returning to the promised land.
  
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  The writer to the Hebrews tells us that all the Old Testament saints had to wait for us (Gentiles?) before they could see the promised kingdom (Hebrews 11:39-40).
  
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  For 2,000 years, saints have been waiting for the Lord's return and the coming of His Kingdom.
  

Waiting is a part of the divine design of things. Waiting is no accident, it is purposed.

(3) It is in times of waiting for God that many have failed in their faith and obedience. Waiting is a form of adversity, a test of our faith and endurance.

13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:13-16).

For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God (1 Peter 2:20).

Many of the failures we see in the Bible are failures related to waiting. I am inclined to believe this began at the very beginning, with Adam and Eve. The more I consider the story of the fall, the more I lean toward an interpretation that sees the temptation and the sin as that of taking a shortcut to a good thing. The knowledge of good and evil is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. If Adam and Eve would become “like God” in knowing good and evil, then how can knowing good and evil be bad? Is being like God bad? Is this not what God is doing in us now, conforming us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29)? Will we not be “like Him,” when we “see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2)? David is commended for “knowing good and evil” (2 Samuel 14:17). Solomon prays for wisdom to discern between “good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9). Christians, by their obedience to God's Word, “have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). I believe, therefore, that God wanted Adam and Eve to know good and evil, but not by the quick and easy way of stealing a piece of forbidden fruit. It was not wrong to know good and evil, but it was wrong to know it in a way God had forbidden. I believe God had a better, slower, way, but they chose the shortcut. They refused to wait on the Lord for such knowledge.

Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the promised son, and at least one of their failures was in the area of patience, of waiting on God to fulfill His promise. Is this not why Abram spoke of Eliezer of Damascus as his heir (Genesis 15:2)? Is this not why Abram gave in to Sarai's suggestion that they have the promised seed through Hagar, her handmaid (Genesis 16:1-2)?

The Israelites sinned in the making of the golden calf, as described in Exodus 32. Was their failure not a failure to wait 40 days for Moses to return from the top of Mt. Sinai? Was Saul's sin in 1 Samuel 13 not his failure to wait for Samuel to arrive? Were the disciples not constantly asking when the kingdom would come and trying to hurry up the plan? Did the 11 apostles and others not fail to wait when they went ahead to appoint Matthias as the replacement for Judas, when Jesus had instructed them to wait for “what the Father promised” (Acts 1:4)?

The church at Corinth had many problems. One of their problems was in the area of waiting. They could not wait for God to bring justice, and so they took one another to court (1 Corinthians 6). They could not wait for their brethren to arrive, so they went ahead with the meal, overindulging themselves with food and drink, and turning the Lord's Supper into a sham (1 Corinthians 11). They could not wait for the fulfillment of God's promises regarding full spirituality, and so they embraced teachers and teachings of triumphalism -- you can have it all now, not later.

No wonder our Lord devoted considerable time and attention to teaching His disciples how they should conduct themselves while they waited for His return:

40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.” 41 Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 “But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more (Luke 12:40-48).

(4) Satan often attacks by trying to capitalize on divine delays. Satan tries to put the unbeliever's mind at ease by pointing to divine delays as proof God either does not know, or does not care, when we sin:

1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. 3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:1-4).

Satan seeks to undermine the faith and obedience of God's children by deceiving us about God's goodness in divine delays. I believe he did this with Adam and Eve in the garden. I believe this is at the core of Satan's temptation of our Lord at the beginning of His earthly ministry. Satan was saying to our Lord, “Oh, sure. I know that you are God's King. But rather than deny yourself (by obeying God and being 40 days and nights without food), why not serve yourself? Why wait to eat? Why get to your kingdom through suffering? Why not worship me, and I will give you a kingdom now?” Isn't that the way Satan thinks and acts?

In times of waiting, Satan wants us to doubt that God's promises will ever be fulfilled. He seeks to get us to act independently of God to obtain these things on our own, rather than to wait for God to give them to us. He seeks to raise doubts about the goodness of God, as though He is withholding something good from us out of pettiness. He works at promoting distrust in God, and especially in His Word. He prompts us to disobey God and to follow our own judgment. He urges us to seize the moment, to use questionable means, to use others as means to our desired ends.

(5) Times of waiting on the Lord are designed to be those times when our faith is stretched and our intimacy with Him is enhanced. Have you ever noticed how many of the Psalms are written during times of waiting? The question, “How long. . .?” is found fairly frequently in the psalms, as is, “wait on the Lord.” David is often the author of such “waiting” psalms. Waiting on the Lord is good for us. It helps us to develop patience and endurance. It calls upon us to exercise faith in God's promises and to act on the basis of what God has said, rather than upon what we see. Waiting enhances our appetite for the good things God has in store for us. Waiting requires us to deny fleshly lusts and to set aside our desire for immediate gratification some easier way. Waiting is one of the ways that we “take up our cross and follow Him.”

(6) Waiting on the Lord is what sexual purity is all about. There is a lot of talk about “safe sex” today and very little about abstinence. This is because waiting for the pleasures of marital sex is taboo. Virginity is disdained as a curse, not a gift which one mate gives to the other. Waiting on God for the joys and pleasures of marital sex enhances the joy and pleasure of this gift, if and when God gives it. The point I wish to make here is that sexual purity is about waiting, and waiting is a good part of what the Christian life is about. Let us not look upon this matter as something God is cruelly withholding from us, but as a good gift, for which we are willing to wait upon the Lord so that we may enjoy it fully and without guilt.

(7) Some waiting is not pious. How often we are prone to wait when we should work and to work when we should wait. Waiting to do what we know to be right, what God has commanded us to do, is not pious; it is sin (James 4:17). Waiting to accept the offer of salvation and forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ is a most dangerous thing (Hebrews 3:12-15). The waiting which pleases God is when He has made a promise, which we cannot bring about ourselves apart from unbelief and disobedience to His Word.

(8) Waiting is not necessarily a time of passivity. Have you ever watched what people do while they are waiting? Some do absolutely nothing. But I notice that some people (not just men) may crochet or do needle work while they wait. There are constructive things to do while one waits. David waited over 20 years to reign over all Israel, but that was a very busy time in his life. David did much more than merely flee for his life. David delivered the people of Keilah (1 Samuel 23:1-5), and he did good to the people of Judah (1 Samuel 30:26-31). One of the things we can do while we wait is to praise God and to pray, as David and others did in the psalms. While we may not be able to do what we would most like to do, we can do what God has given us to do, while we wait on the Lord to fulfill His promises and purposes.

(9) Waiting is a significant part of each of our lives. When I was young, I could hardly wait to get to my 16^th birthday so I could drive a car, legally. I could not wait until I grew up and had all the privileges and liberties of an adult. When I was engaged, I could not wait until the day of our wedding. Every one of us is waiting for a number of things at this very moment. Let me mention just a few.

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  Our youth are waiting to grow up and to enjoy the rights, privileges and responsibilities of adulthood. Teen-age rebellion and premarital sex are attempted short-cuts that often turn out to be a short circuit.
  
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  Some couples are waiting for children. Most every parent has to wait at least nine months for a child, and a number of parents wait much longer.
  
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  Many wait for recognition and rewards in their work, while others take short-cuts to get ahead.
  
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  Almost every Christian has some form of pain or suffering, for which they await deliverance.
  
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  All Christians have unsaved loved ones, relatives and friends, for whose salvation they wait.
  
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  We all find ourselves waiting for God to change someone near, and perhaps dear, to us.
  
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  All of us wait for the coming of our Lord and His kingdom.
  
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  Strangely enough, a number of saints wait for death. There are those who will not wait for God's time, and choose suicide as the method for relieving pain. Others cannot bear to watch loved ones suffer, and choose euthanasia. We all know of circumstances where we wish the Lord would “take them” or “us,” but God calls on us to wait.
  

(10) Finally, be assured that God always makes it worth the wait. If you want to eat in a hurry, you can drive through McDonald's and buy a “Happy Meal.” But if you want a gourmet meal, you know you will have to wait a while. That is because great meals don't happen quickly, or easily, no matter what the TV commercials tell you. I have never once seen or heard of anyone putting food into a microwave oven because they thought that it would be tastier than something which comes out of the oven, or a crock pot. We make use of the microwave oven because we want to eat, fast. We use the oven when we want to eat well. God's plans and promises are not of the microwave variety. God slow cooks His plans and His people, to bring out the very best in them. You can almost always plan on the fact that God will make you wait for what is best. He is never late, but He is also seldom quick. But of this fact I can assure you: When God's plan is for you to wait, He will make it all worth the wait.

Let us learn from David that waiting is a part of the normal Christian life. We will be tempted to short-cut this waiting, but this would be sin. Others are often willing to help us with such short-cuts. But let us resolve in our hearts to be like David, and to wait upon the Lord to fulfill His purposes and promises in His good time. Let us be assured that while we wait, God is working in us to prepare us for the good things that lie ahead. Let us not doubt that we shall see them. And let us devote ourselves to doing the good we know to do and that we are able to do, while we wait.