(David) 
(bath mat)
I was reading 1 Samuel 22 earlier this week thanks to a little Bible study that makes reading a little less daunting. 1 Samuel has been pretty interesting. To begin, you have a man who is clearly set out to be God’s prophet since his birth from an infertile woman, Samuel. God moves in the characters in a very obvious way. Later, God will answer the Israelite’s pleas by giving them a king who will blatantly go against explicit commands in war. And He will still answer.
But one of the things I found pretty interesting as of late is the character of David before he takes the throne. Saul has already proven himself ineffective, and Samuel has anointed David as God’s next chosen king. Before David can have this right, he has to wait for Saul’s death. Saul, the guy who David would play music for to calm his headaches. Saul, the guy who has thrown spears at David in broad daylight to kill him. He’s the same guy who allowed David to fight a giant after seeing God’s heart in the boy. No wonder we see such a conflicted David in the Psalms – content in one scene, then angry and confused at God in another. He’s had poor emotional leadership to follow.
Anyway, God allowed David to spend time waiting for his promise as king. He had to run away, even hide his family while waiting for Saul’s anger to calm down and the time when he would finally take the throne. Like Moses, Abraham, Noah, all the patriarchs of the Bible, David had some serious waiting to do. What did he do in the meantime?
He fought. The man who protected his sheep from lions and decapitated a giant was fighting to protect his people while waiting for God’s promise to come to fruition. He physically fought against tribes: the Geshurites, Gezrites, Amalekites (1 Samuel 27:8). He didn’t slow down or back away. He literally fought the good fight. He sought God’s wisdom, and David waited for his answers actively.
Application? If we want to live according to God’s plan, we’ve got to wait. And, we’ve got to be active. Actually moving around and seeing this life as a blessing from God requires me to fight against everything that says it’s not.
Turn the page. So what have I been actively doing? Watching HGTV. Yeah, home decorating, home buying, home selling, home renovating, houses, houses, and more houses. I watched how you can completely change the style of your living room with just a few dollars by sewing bath mats together to make a floor rug. Do you know what it looked like? Like bath mats sewn together to make a floor rug…
What are we actively doing with our lives? Two completely different cultures - one of kings and prophets, one of a Do-It-Yourself economy – yet we have the same promise: God is with us and shows himself in amazing ways for those who will wait on Him. Actively fight the good fight. I got rid of my remote control (not because I had the brilliant idea), but I’ve gotten off of my bed and I’m not just getting up to change stations. We are expected to be deliberate in our decisions, in our actions, in what we say and don’t say, what we do and don’t do. I’m getting up and seeing how God looks when I wait on Him and commit to fighting those concepts that sneak in and tell me that waiting isn’t worthwhile.
