S122P7 – The man David: recognition of power

Psa. 144:1‭-‬2

Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle—my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.

No one would have guessed that he would rise to the level of governor.  The man who once could barely run his own home somehow would be entrusted to run the state.  The cards were stacked against him from the beginning, and the political firestorm he endured during his campaign would have crushed most.  When the dust settled and he finally took office, he realized that God had taken him along that road.  Yet, instead of thinking “God delivered me,” he thought “God delivered me.”  With that thought, his focus became misdirected.  He should have praised God for being so gracious to him, but he praised himself for being great enough to receive that grace.

David had his ups and downs, and there is no arguing that.  His victories were not unaccompanied by sufferings and failures.  There were times when he was completely unaware of God’s miraculous hand saving him, and there were times when it was totally obvious to him.  As he fled for his life from King Saul, his writings show us how he grew in dependence on the Lord.  Once he became king, he was by no means perfect, but he understood how he arrived in that position, and we see that here.  David recognized that he had not made it there by his own power or wisdom.  It was God who placed him there and kept him there.  It was God who made sure that there was order under David’s reign.

This is the magnitude of God’s grace, that He would bless us even when He knows that we will twist things around and not act with the humility we should.  There certainly were times in David’s reign when he behaved like a proud, entitled, self-serving autocrat, but God could see the whole picture.  David would not become that man and remain that man.  David would come back to God in humility and serve the Lord proudly and publicly.  He would lead his people in the worship of the one true God as he was meant to do.  Father, teach us to properly appreciate what You do for us and where You take us, that we would praise You and not ourselves as we walk in our destiny.