patience – Christopher L. Scott

Over the past few blog posts that we have observed David show great respect for the king by killing the Amalekite man who claimed to have killed Saul. Then we observed David follow God regarding how he should proceed in becoming king of Judah.

Today we get to see another example of how to faithfully serve and follow God and our leader when we see David Practice Patience in God’s Timeline.

In 2 Samuel 3 we observe David Practice Patience in God’s Timeline through the reaction he has when presented with opportunities and ways to become king over all of Israel. 2 Samuel 3:1 starts out by telling us that a battle between David’s men of Judah and Ishbosheth’s men of Israel “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.” David is slowly gaining strength and momentum in his rise to become king of Israel.

As we have seen from 1 Samuel and some of the Psalms that we have read, David is hurting, sad, and desperate.

When we endure following a poor leader (just as David did), we need to be mindful that we are not as tough as we might think we are. While our leadership and character is tested we might have less patience to handle circumstances and situations that come our way.

Where we left off yesterday in our study of the young years of the life of David is when he restrains himself and his men from killing Saul in the cave. Then, once Saul leaves the cave, David confronts Saul. He says that he (David) is innocent of the accusations that he is trying to harm Saul, but that Saul has tried to kill him. (You think your leader is bad, David’s leader actually threw spears at him in an attempt to kill him!)