Slow God

Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 2 Samuel 2:10

Way back in treatment, in 2014, I began getting up early every day to pray for those people in my life whom I knew to be going through some trial. As the years have gone by, that list has gradually expanded. Some prayers have been answered and some haven’t. Some of those who were addicted have gotten sober, but some have died in their addiction. Some of those who were sick have gotten well but some have succumbed to their illness. Then, there are those people for whom I’ve been praying for 10 years, whose struggle hasn’t really changed at all. Based on my perspective, I’m not overly impressed with how God has answered my prayers. If, however, I look at how much my life has changed during that same time, I get a much different perspective. When I pray, I often look for a very specific result and I want to skip ahead to that result. When it takes a long time to get there, I perceive God as slow because he’s not getting to my desired goal. God though, doesn’t work on my timeline and my goals aren’t his goals. Sometimes, it seems, the point is the journey itself, and not what I perceive to be the desired destination.

This is the lesson for me in today’s passage, in which David continued to wait to become king of Israel. Way back in 1 Samuel 16, when David was a young man, God had Samuel anoint David as the future king and I imagine that David assumed he would be sitting on the throne within the year. Instead, many long years passed as Saul remained king, trying repeatedly to kill David. In today’s passage, Saul finally died and again, I imagine David assumed his ascension was at hand. Instead, one of Saul’s sons, Ish-bosheth, was coronated. In all, 15 years passed from the time David was anointed before he actually took the throne. During that time, I would think that David must have questioned God. What is taking so long? Why are you so slow? God though, wasn’t in any hurry to get there, but rather, was working out his own will, in his own timing.

This is hard for me to accept. I’m not a patient person. I see what I think should be done and so, I go to God, asking for it to be so. When it’s not immediately done, I’m vexed. What are you doing God? What is taking so long? God’s timing though isn’t my timing. And my will isn’t his will. Does this mean that prayer is useless? If you answered that question based on whether God has answered all my prayers according to my will and my timing, then you probably wouldn’t be impressed with prayer. If, however, you looked at what God has done in my life over the last 10 years as I’ve prayed for others, you may see that God is working out his will in ways that we don’t always understand.