BETWEEN THE PROMISE AND THE PAYOFF, THERE IS ALWAYS A PROCESS
All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’ ” When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years. - 2 Samuel 5:1-5
The story of King David is a story about waiting for the promise of God to come about in his life.
At 15 years old (approximately), the prophet Samuel announced that God had rejected Saul and instead had chosen young David to be the future king of Israel. Within a few short years, David killed Goliath, became a commander in Saul’s army, and had songs written about him.
Then, for the majority of his twenty-something years, Saul chases him from desert to wilderness to cave. He survives assassination attempts, has to fake madness, and looses nearly everything he has worked for. It must have been bewildering to receive such a promise and feel like it was never going to happen.
And then, after 15 years of waiting, King Saul dies and David is made king. It took 15 years and 20 chapters in the Bible for the promise of God to come to pass for David.
I think this 15 year waiting period is important for us to recognize. It happened to David and it happens to us.
In fact, in every Biblical story and human story, between the promise and the payoff there is always a process.
God cares about the promise He has for our life. God cares about the payoff and fulfillment of that promise. But God also cares deeply about the process to get there.
We want to jump from the promise to the payoff, but we aren’t ready. God is doing something inside of us that can only happen in the in between. That certainly was the case for David. And I suspect, it is the case for you as well.
God wanted David to reign and rule in Israel for 40 years. That required 15 years of process.
We are all tempted to want to rush the process. But we rush it at our own peril.
For the Christian, we realize that God’s timing is perfect and His will for our life is beyond compare. Although we want the promise to be fulfilled immediately, we must trust the process.
What does that look like?
I make a conscious decision to refuse to rush God’s plans for my life. Instead, I wait patiently for him to open and close the right doors in the perfect timing.
I let God get me ready and trust him to decide when I am ready. This is difficult, but critically important. The more I force my “readiness”s on God or the people around me, the more likely I am to be acting in my flesh.
I pay close attention to His timing on decisions and next steps in my life. I pray about major decisions. I ask the advice of Godly counselors. I act where I find peace and affirmation and I delay when I feel resistance or anxiousness.
David decided to let God prove his ability to keep His promise. He refused to lift a hand against Saul, take the throne by force, or rally an uprising. I am sure he wondered on many occasions whether God needed his “help” or whether he understood God’s promise in the first place.
We are all tempted to rush it. We don’t love to wait. But God is shaping us into the person that the future requires. And rushing it will only get in the way.
If you are waiting on a promise, don’t lose heart. There is a strong chance that God is using the process to get you ready for the payoff.