Amazing that David was in such a high position and at the same time totally saw his place as powerless, weak, hopeless, failing, but for God! And he was happily confident in his pathetic state!
We should all be so aware of our place! But so often we think that success comes from ability - our own. And we end up, like the old song says, "reaching up to touch the ground, to find we're living life upside down."
David confidently knew that he rose up because God lifted him up. We read of the battles David fought, led, won - and David says, "He subdues my people under me." Little surprise that he was also the boy that said that God delivered him from the mouth of the lion and the bear, and that God would deliver him from the Philistine. (See encounter with Goliath.)
Certainly we know David wasn't perfect. (See encounter with Bathsheba.) But this is yet another great lesson we should learn from David. Our successes are not ours alone. They really are not ours at all! We belong to God, so our successes belong to God, are from God, and are because of God.
He knew that if God protected the kingdom, then the collective sons would grow tall and strong, the collective daughters would be solid and beautiful. The storehouses would be full and the flocks plentiful. When God is in control, we are prepared for battle and our enemies are defeated. The Force is with(in) us! The Lord trains our hands for battle and our fingers for warfare.
May the leaders of our congregation draw strength from the same well as did David. May we remember, as we lead in our families, our workplaces, and our schools, that our strength and our success are only in the LORD.
Then there will be "no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our public squares." Contemplate that in not just the physical realm, but also the spiritual. No breach in the walls. What threatens you?
No captivity. What holds you?
No cry of lament. What grieves you?
Draw strength from the One that defined strength.
"Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is the LORD."
- submitted by Andrea Eller
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