Don't Forget Your Gifts - 2 Samuel 15:13-27 - Part III

Don’t Forget Your Gifts – 2 Samuel 15:13-37 – Part III

As a consequence in the twenty-fifth verse, David instructs Zadok, “Take the ark back into the city.”  They physical presence of the ark will not necessarily yield divine favor.  If David is to return to Jerusalem, it will happen because it accords with the will of Almighty God.  The timely and perfect performance of a ritual offering possesses little determining significance.  The Sovereign God of the universe may elect graciously to grant David deliverance and safe return.  The king says further, “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling again.  But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you, then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.’” 

Let’s examine more closely the theology embedded within David’s pronouncement.  First, he acknowledges that his military acumen and political savvy will not enable him to succeed and return to Jerusalem.  Second, David sends the ark back into the city because he refuses to relate its physical presence with the kindness of God.  Third, David submits that God’s benevolence emerges from His holy, righteous and gracious character.  Observance of human religious rituals and obedience of commandments cannot contradict the sovereignty of God.  Hence, David recognizes whether he receives divine favor depends solely upon the unerring will and perfect providence of God.  Whether David returns to his throne or not, God remains a good and loving deity.  Fourth, David accedes to the spiritual reality that God inherently possesses the right to do whatever pleases Him regardless of whatever humankind thinks. 

David’s words and deeds vividly depict how to rely genuinely upon the will of God.  Friends of mine periodically remind me “to take an action and let go of the result.”  Notwithstanding its inherent and practical wisdom, this saying is most difficult to live.  Simply, I want what I want when I want it.  When, therefore, I take an action I do so with full expectation that I will get what I want.  Rarely, I greet denial and rejection with the calm acceptance that they too may be a part of God’s plan for my life.  Instead, I immediately bemoan yet another instance in which I was foiled in my attempts to live the life that I imagine.  In contrast, David agrees with my friends and strongly recommends that I take appropriate actions and leave the outcomes to an infinite God.

David speaks from the deep reservoir of his experience of God’s unquestionable faithfulness.  A man acquainted with trials, turbulence and myriad tests, the psalmist testifies to the goodness of the Lord in all matters of life.  There was not a single instance in which Almighty God failed to prove Himself faithful in the psalmist’s life.  Whether engaged in the blazing flames of military conflict or a natural confrontation with wild beasts, the psalmist recalls certain deliverance of God in every incident.  Possibly, he recalls Psalm 46 which contains a litany of the various dangers he experienced.  He speaks of natural catastrophes such as earthquakes, hurricanes, mudslides, volcanic eruptions, and flooding.  In the midst of these horrific possibilities, David learns to sit still and observe the salvation and handiwork of God.  In every calamity, God dependably saves the life of the psalmist and mysteriously redeems the experience.

A genuine reliance upon Almighty God means practically that you let go of all of your back-up plans.  You disregard the rolodex and Palm Pilot or Treo.  Instead, you commit or recommit to the process of prayer, fasting, meditation and practice of spiritual disciplines in order to know the will of God.  Furthermore, it requires you to let go of your expectations as to the best possible outcome.  In the words of the prophet, Isaiah 40:28-31, you need to allow the Lord to surprise you.  If you wait patiently for Him, He will design an end result that will supersede your wildest expectations.