Waiting on a promise
Sometimes God’s promises take longer to arrive than we expected. In that waiting, the path forward is not always clear.
David knew this. He had been anointed king by Samuel. Yet he had been ruling in Hebron, only over Judah, for 7 years. The rest of Israel remained loyal to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son. Ishbosheth was installed as king by one man: Abner, Saul’s former military commander.
Then Ishbosheth accused Abner of sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines. Whether the accusation was true, we are never told. What we know is that Abner was furious. He had served Saul with steadfast loyalty, and now his son was questioning him.
So Abner sent messengers to David: “Whose is the land? Make your covenant with me, and indeed my hand shall be with you to bring all Israel to you.” (2 Sam 3:12)
The man who had spent years keeping David from his throne was now offering to hand it to him.
Abner’s motives could have been mixed. Perhaps he was sincere. But we also know that he had been strengthening his hold in the house of Saul (2 Sam 3:6), and his original political cause was weakening, for David was growing stronger (2 Sam 3:1).
Yet God used Abner anyway, rallying the elders of Israel to David’s cause and beginning the work of transferring the kingdom.
See what David could not have imagined. He would not have pictured God transforming the heart of someone so set against him, so that this same person would now help accelerate his path to kingship.
This should encourage anyone who is waiting on a promise. Maybe you are praying for a family member to come to faith. Maybe you are in a miserable job and can’t see a way out. Maybe you are praying for a weakness in yourself and wondering why God has not answered yet.
The story of Abner is a reminder that God can move through people and circumstances we would never have predicted, at a time we did not expect.
Things were not so smooth. Joab, David’s commander, had never let go of the fact that Abner killed his brother Asahel in battle for self-defence. Yet Joab’s bitterness had hardened, and he eventually killed Abner. David mourned publicly. Abner never finished what he started.
Bitterness did not stop God’s purposes, but it cut short what one man could have been part of. The grudges we hold may cost more than we realise.
Even so, God made a way. The kingdom still came. What God had promised David, God completed.
Reflection questions:
If you fully trusted that God can open a way for you in His time, what would change in how you are living right now?
Is there any bitterness in your heart today that you need to bring before God?
