Chapters

David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of hosts was with him. Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons; and they built a house for David. And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

 

2 Samuel 5:10-12

 

 

Reading the Bible can be like watching a DVD chapter by chapter, as we flip the pages years pass by for the characters in each story.

 

In this particular life of David, we could say his life's chapters went a little something like this:

 

Chapter 1 – Young shepherd boy

Chapter 2 – The conquering of Goliath

Chapter 3 – In the presence of Saul

Chapter 4 – The wilderness in a cave

Chapter 5 – Traveling of the 4 cities

Chapter 6 – Crowning at Hebron

Chapter 7 – Back to Jerusalem

 

And we could go on and on, but as David watched the story of his life, he could not read ahead. There was no skipping ahead to the next chapter or repeating a previous chapter in his life as we can so easily when reading through the Bible.

There are scenic resting places on the hiking trail of our lives where we can stop and see where God has been. Much of what happens from day to day is a consistent trek with our eyes focused on the next step in front of us. But then we round the corner and look over the edge and see all that God has been up to.

 

We're not sure exactly how many years there were from the young shepherd boy to the throne in Jerusalem, maybe 15 or 20 years. But the message is clear enough—not everything happens at once. God is steadily at work in our lives and we need to learn to detect the increase of God's blessing in our lives along the way and not get impatient when we would like to skip ahead to the next chapter of our lives.

 

Enjoy the chapter you are in and allow God to lead and grow you in all that He has for you at this time—you cannot get this chapter back. And be sure that you are resting in Him as He writes the script to your life for all to see for His glory alone.