Good Morning Friends...I've had my coffee and I've been in the word. A perfect way to start my day.
And as I was reading 2 Samuel 8-9 this morning, I found myself thinking about how differently David handled success than most people do.
When we've been hurt, rejected, criticized, misunderstood, or fought against, there's something in us that wants to be vindicated. We want people to see we were right. We want people to see God was with us all along. We want the people who doubted us to finally realize they were wrong.
And sometimes, if we're not careful, we can spend so much energy looking back at the people who were against us that we miss what God is trying to do right in front of us.
David had every reason to look backward. Saul had spent years trying to kill him. He chased him through the wilderness. His life had literally been turned upside down. But now David finally had the throne and the Kingdom was his. And nobody would have blamed him if he had started settling scores. Actually they encouraged it.
Instead, he asked a question that wrecked me this morning. David said "Is there anyone left to whom I can show kindness?"
Not, "Who owes me an apology?"
Not, "Who needs to know I was right?"
Not, "Who can I prove wrong?"
But, "Who can I bless?"
Ouch. Right. All of a sudden it's wasnt just reading scripture and David's story but it got personal real quick. Because sometimes I think we're so tempted to believe that our victory is proving something to the people who rejected us. And we find ourselves hoping they see it, hoping they get it, hoping they know they were wrong. We want that Haha look at me I won moment.
But David understood that God's favor doesn't need our defense. God was perfectly capable of establishing David without David destroying anyone else.
I needed that reminder today.
And maybe you needed it too. You don't have to silence everyone who disagrees with you. You don't have to answer every critic. You don't have to spend your life defending what God has called you to do. You don't have to make the people who hurt you pay.
God knows how to establish what He has called.
The older I get, the less interested I am in winning arguments and the more interested I am in building tables. The world is full of people trying to build bigger platforms. But Jesus built tables. And David built a table too.
And when he found Mephibosheth,broken, forgotten, hiding in Lo-Debar, he didn't remind him who his grandfather was. He didn't make him earn his place. He simply pulled out a chair and said, "You eat here now."
I want a heart like that.
A heart that isn't consumed with who hurt me. A heart that isn't keeping score. A heart that isn't trying to prove anything. Just a heart that makes room for people. A heart like David's. The heart of God.
Because at the end of the day, the greatest proof that God is working in our lives isn't that we finally got the throne. It's that after everything we've been through, we still know how to set a table.
Love Pastor Mandy
Ark of Hope Ministry
Daily reading 2 Samuel 8-9
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