GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT

PROCLAMATION

“When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before The Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.  David was thirty years old when he became king and he reigned forty years.”  2 Samuel 5:3-4 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

The Lord God told the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the king of Israel. (1 Samuel 16:12-13)  Most Bible scholars believe that David was about sixteen to twenty years old at the time, and possibly even younger than that.  However, even though he had been chosen and anointed, David had to wait for some time before he was anointed king over the tribe of Judah. (2 Samuel 2:4)  Then David reigned for seven years and six months over Judah and the southern kingdom before he was anointed as king over all of Israel. (2 Samuel 5:3)  David waited patiently and let The Lord work things out for him to reign as king of Israel.  David went through a lot during the ten years or so between his first anointing and his third anointing, all of which worked out for his good. (Romans 8:28)

APPLICATION

“Good things come to those who wait.”  This proverbial saying is the modern day version of the quote by the English poet Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie (1845-1905) in a poem which she wrote under her pen name of Violet Fane, “All things come to those who wait.”  It was her way of advocating patience.  As believers we are told to wait patiently on The Lord God.  We are told to wait on The Lord and to be of good courage, and He will strengthen us; (Psalm 27:14) to wait on Him and keep His word, and He will exalt us; (Psalm 37:34) and to wait on Him and He will save us. (Proverbs 20:22)  The Lord God will bless us as He sees fit, and it will be done on His timetable, in due season. (Galatians 6:9)  We are encouraged to be patient. (Psalm 37:7)  “Good things come to those who wait.”  We cannot begin to imagine all that which The Lord God has prepared for us. (1 Corinthians 2:9)  So, in the words of the psalmist, “Wait on The Lord … wait, I say, on The Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)