Mind the Gap: Morning Devotion
2 Samuel 3:1-6
As happens so often with our heroes, we remember the big moments in David’s life, and make those moments the definition of heroism. David’s anointing by Samuel, his singular defeat of a thousand Philistines, and the incidents of Bathsheba and Uriah, to name a few, come to mind when we think about the great king David. But we forget that it took a lifetime to live that hero’s life.
Journalist Malcolm Gladwell once studied the fame of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, a famous band known for their mesmerizing guitar and banjo riffs. Gladwell discovered that it took ten years for the Flecktones to evolve into something that most people wanted to hear. That’s ten years of doing a lot of other less glorious things while building their musical skills.
David, great monarch of Israel’s golden age, spends years at sporadic episodes of war, getting married, and raising children (which is its own sporadic warfare). Years and years of slogging, unglamorous labor, waiting for the season when he would come into his own.
I invite you to call to mind something that right now you’re called to do a lot of—but which you’d rather not be doing. What must you put your back into, even though it’s not your dream work?
[pause]
After their ten years of waiting and working, the Flecktones hit it big. After many years, King Saul died and David was called to take the throne over all Israel, founding the lineage that leads to Jesus Christ. Likewise for us: If you think right now is just a period of waiting and working, do not fret: Your time is coming.
Would you pray with me?
Father God, first worker and patient gardener, give us patience for the work that seems unfruitful. Give us hearts to imagine a future bright with possibility. And give us trust that you will use it all for our betterment and your glory. We ask it all in Jesus’ name. Amen!