“Gimme Now!!” – FBC Morning Light (4/11/2024)

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Today, in our Bible reading, we're reading in 2 Samuel chapters 2 and 3, and 1 Chronicles chapter 3 as well, and Psalms 25 and 26. I want to focus on the opening 11 verses of 2 Samuel 2.

God’s Timetable Versus a Give-Me-Now Culture

You know, we live in a give-me-now culture, don't we? The idea is if we see something that we want, then we want it now, and we will do everything we can to get it now. Give-it-to-me-now is the mentality that is fueled in our culture.

Some of us have grown up with everybody willing to give you credit to get something. It's just so easy to go get it now. But that's not the way God works, is it? We've noticed that in these readings in the Old Testament.

God gave a promise to Abraham that his seed would inherit the land of Canaan, and his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in heaven. But it was a long, long, long time before, hundreds of years from the time that promise was made, until the people of Israel, the Hebrew people, descendants of Abraham, actually set foot in Canaan.

And it wasn't immediately theirs. It was a long process of getting that land. We saw that with Joseph at the end of Genesis, the last several chapters of Genesis. The Lord basically promised Joseph that his brothers and his father would bow down to him, that he would be in a position of prominence, and so forth.

He had this in his dream, but it was years later before that dream was realized. We see this again in the life of David. The Lord promised David, before Saul ever left the throne, was killed, that he would be the next king of Israel.

But he spent a few years running from Saul, Saul trying to kill David, and then even after Saul died, it wasn't like, boom, now David's sitting on the throne of Israel. It didn't work that way. We see this in 1st Samuel 11.

David’s Delayed Kingship in 2 Samuel 2

Saul died, remember, it's reported in 2nd Samuel 1 and 2nd Samuel 2. It says, it came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? The Lord said, go up.

He said, where should I go? The Lord said, go to Hebron. And he went to Hebron, and took his family with him and everything, and when he got there, the citizens of Hebron, who were of the tribe of Judah, they anointed him to be king over Judah.

This is just one tribe out of the 12. And so in fact, when we get down to verse 8, it says, Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, brought him over to Mahanaim, and made him king over Gilead, and over the Asherites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, over all Israel.

Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel. He reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David. So even when Saul died, David didn't immediately get the throne of Israel.

He was serving as the king, ruler only, over Judah. And so verse 11 says, the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven and a half years. Now what I want us to get from this is that the Lord has his timetable for things, and he doesn't have to follow or honor our give-me-now mentality.

Waiting Patiently for the Lord’s Promises

The Lord will take his time. He will take his time in giving that which he promises. He always will do, though. He always will give what he promises. He's faithful to give what he promises. But it may not be on our timetable.

We'd like all those good things right now. We want all the heavenly blessings right now. We want to know all that the Lord would have for us right now. The I'm a God of slow productivity, if you will.

I take my time to give my things, my blessings, my promises fulfilled in my time. And that may be a long time in coming from our perspective. So let's be encouraged to be patient, waiting for the coming of the Lord, waiting for the blessings of the Lord.

So Father, we thank you today for the promises that you make and the certainty that they will come to pass. But give us patience in the waiting for them, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, have a good rest of your Thursday.

I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.