What God Said

04.29.13

2 Samuel 5.2 2 "In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” (ESV)

I suppose it is normal to go through moments of identity crisis: Who and I and what does it really matter? I’m sure David went through those times, when Samuel had anointed him as the next King while Saul, the current king, was still in power. That might’ve seemed a little uncomfortable – especially when it became apparent that the current king was insanely jealous and sought to murder him. David probably wondered if God had made a mistake. Other gods seemed to do so, maybe his did the same.

This morning on Facebook there was a discussion about the true self and The dichotomy of how our true-self is sometimes confused with our false-self. The true-self is the new-self created and cast into the mold of our Savior and indwelt with Spirit of our King. That sounds well and good (because it is) but the confusion comes when the false-self “escapes from its cage” and terrorizes the village. Our reaction must be couched in what our Savior and King calls us and reject the wild wallowing of our dead nature that keeps claiming it is alive. No wonder things get confusing at times.

What saved David was what God said: ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ Had he believed his own press David would have failed miserably… and for sure David went on to do some things he shouldn’a done (Bathsheba, Absalom, Amnon, Tamar, the census, etc.). But God never took back His word and David was king over God’s people until the day of his death. Despite his stumbling’s David believed God.

In my current crises of: “Who the heck am I, and what the heck am I supposed to be doing?” I have to lean on my identity in Christ, and my calling before God. Romans 11.29: God never changes His mind about the people He calls and the things He gives them. (NCV) I may be in the process of waiting for the next set of orders but I am by no means to give ground to what my old self might cough up (‘cough’ in the sense of vomiting) as an excuse that I am somehow on God’s B-list or Junior Varsity.

Whatever comes next is up to God – in the meantime there are people to love and encourage, prayers to be prayed, friendship to be shared, a family that needs cared, disciples who need prepared; a church to be served, and a course that needs swerved away from telling me there isn't anything else to do but feel sorry for myself that I’m not in the midst of more… Paul, how stinking, dang much more do you need?