Living As If God Exists (Because He Does)Sample

EXERCISING RESTRAINT

After God announces that Saul will no longer be Israel’s king, David is anointed as the future king of the nation (1 Sam 15:10-16; 16:1-13). However, David’s path to the throne is complicated by Saul’s desperation to hang on to something he is sure to lose.

As Saul pursues David in Engedi, Saul enters a cave where, unbeknownst to him, David and his men are hiding (24:1-3). David’s men see this moment as the fulfillment of God’s promise to deliver Saul into David’s hand. But after cutting off a corner of Saul’s robe, David has a crisis of conscience and becomes convinced that neither he nor his men should attack “the Lord’s anointed” (24:4-7).

Once Saul has left the cave, David follows Saul and shows him the corner of his robe as proof that David is not out to harm him (24:8-11). He calls upon God to judge between himself and Saul and to exact vengeance on Saul for David (24:12). Saul recognizes his error and sees that David “shall surely be king” (24:16-20). He asks David to swear that he will not punish his children when David becomes king, but will allow his lineage to continue (24:21). David agrees and the two go their separate ways (24:22; cf. 2 Sam 4:1-12).

Often, we will be tempted to exercise our God-given capacities rather than restraining ourselves and waiting on the Lord. At such times, we must remember that, like David, our job is not to fix the world, but to live faithfully as we wait for God to fix it. Our job is to make clear that God “brings low” and “raises up” (2:7).

Part of living faithfully is recognizing when our actions relegate God to the sidelines. When that occurs, we tell a story that diminishes God. Learning to exercise restraint involves learning to point others to Jesus and to proclaim the gospel not by solving the world’s problems, but by making much of Jesus because “He must increase,” but we “must decrease” (John 3:30).