I Just Can't Wait to be King

I've been reading through 1 and 2 Samuel lately, and I'm learning things about King David that I never knew or even thought of. Of course, everyone knows of his showdown and defeat of Goliath, and I would say that most know he was anointed as king when he was only a young boy. One thing I never gave much thought to the amount of time that David had to wait between being anointed as the next king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16) and when he actually began his reign as king. While we don't know exactly how old David was when he was anointed by Samuel, most commentaries suggest he was a teenager. We do know that "David was thirty years old when he began to reign" (2 Samuel 5:4) over Judah, and seven years later began to reign over all of Israel.

The point is that David had to wait for a number of years on God to fulfill His promise. Not only did he have to wait, he had to endure times when he thought his life would come to an end. Jealousy caused King Saul to hurl a spear at David, "intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice." (1 Samuel 18:11) In fact, the last 13 chapters of 1 Samuel recount David constantly fleeing and escaping from Saul, living a life of a fugitive. But surely David, a man after God's own heart, would never doubt that God would fulfill His promise of David becoming king, would he? 1 Samuel 27:1 says, "But David kept thinking to himself, 'Someday Saul is going to get me.'" David was human, and when you have spears being thrown at you by the current king, and you are forced to live in caves to escape his desire to kill you, doubts can tend to creep in about God keeping his promise.

Despite any doubts and fears David may have had, he waited on God's timing. Scripture gives numerous examples of this. David actually had Saul's life in his hands on two different occasions (1 Samuel 24 & 26), but both times he refused to kill Saul since Saul was God's anointed king for that time, no matter how sinful his actions were. When Saul was killed in battle, David sincerely mourned his death and killed the man who took credit for ending Saul's life (2 Samuel 1).

We live in a society of instant gratification. The idea of waiting on anything is so far removed from my generation. We get fidgety waiting a few minutes in the fast food line, or we complain that our high-speed internet is too slow, and heaven forbid we wait a few days to buy the newest iPad or video game...people spend the night in front of the store so they can be the first one to buy it OMG RIGHT NOW!!! This is what God tells us through David in Psalm 27:14, "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord." It is not always easy to wait patiently on God. It takes bravery, and it takes courage. Maybe we're not promised an earthly kingdom as David was, but one day we will be with the King of Kings in His eternal kingdom. On a side note, what can we do to help us as we wait on God? David gives us a practical answer in that same Psalm. "My heart has heard you say, 'Come and talk with me.' And my heart responds, 'Lord, I am coming.'" (Psalm 27:8)