David: Directed While He Waited for the Throne

 


"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry." — Psalm 40:1

David was anointed long before he was crowned. Between the horn of oil and the throne lay caves, betrayals, and opportunities to seize what God had promised by the wrong means. The most important education of his life was not how to be king. It was how not to take the kingdom.

Twice he could have killed Saul. In the cave at Engedi his men whispered that the Lord had delivered the enemy into his hand. The circumstances looked like providence. David cut the skirt, and then his heart smote him. “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed” (1 Samuel 24:6). Not every open door in a cave is from God. Some are tests to see whether you love the promise more than the Promiser.

David inquired of the Lord again and again — at Keilah, after Ziklag burned. He did not treat yesterday’s instruction as today’s automatic answer. First Samuel 30:6–8 is worth hanging in every study: David was greatly distressed, the people spake of stoning him, he encouraged himself in the Lord, and then he inquired. Distress first. Courage in God second. Inquiry third. Action fourth. Many of us reverse the order and wonder why the road collapses.

He also sinned grievously. Bathsheba and Uriah warn us that a man after God’s own heart can still despise the commandment in a moment of lust and pride. Guidance is not a trophy from an early victory over Goliath. It is daily dependence. When Nathan said, “Thou art the man,” David did not blame the rooftop. He said, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Psalm 51 is what a guided man does after he has refused to be guided.

Waiting is not inactivity. David fought when he was sent. He shepherded. He wrote psalms. He refused Saul’s timetable. “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him… Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil” (Psalm 37). Many destroy themselves not by denying the promise, but by rushing the date. Saul’s spear looks efficient. It is still Saul’s spear.

Early usefulness is a particular temptation. David had already killed the giant and still would not take the throne. Your last victory does not entitle you to the next one by force.

Today: Read 1 Samuel 24 and Psalm 40. Ask where you are tempted to take by force what God has said He will give in time. If your hand is already on Saul’s robe, put the knife down.

DMMC 

9-19-26

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