May 11, 2007
Displaced
READ: 2 Samuel 15:13-26
My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. —Psalm 73:26
David fled Jerusalem, driven from his home by his son Absalom, who had gathered an army of supporters. As he escaped, he instructed Zadok, his priest, to take the ark of God back to Jerusalem and to lead his people in worship there. “If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord,” he mused, “He will bring me back and show me both it and His dwelling place.” But if not, “Here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him” (2 Sam. 15:25-26).
Perhaps, like David, you’ve lost the power of self-determination. Someone has seized control of your life, or so it seems.
You may fear that circumstance and human caprice have overturned your plans. But nothing can frustrate God’s loving intention. Tertullian (150–220 AD) wrote, “[Do not regret] a thing which has been taken away . . . by the Lord God, without whose will neither does a leaf glide down from a tree, nor a sparrow of one farthing’s worth fall to the earth.”
Our heavenly Father knows how to care for His children and will allow only what He deems best. We can rest in His infinite wisdom and goodness.
Thus we can echo David’s words: “Here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him.”
If you are helpless in life’s fray,
God’s mighty power will be your stay;
Your failing strength He can renew,
For He’s a God who cares for you. —D. De Haan
