20240511

enduring ‘almost’

2 Samuel 5:1-16 (JDV)

2 Samuel 5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
2 Samuel 5:2 Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. Yahveh also said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.'”
2 Samuel 5:3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in Yahveh’s presence, and they anointed David king over Israel.
2 Samuel 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began his reign; he reigned forty years.
2 Samuel 5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
2 Samuel 5:6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you” thinking, “David can’t get in here.”
2 Samuel 5:7 Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.
2 Samuel 5:8 He said that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind who are despised by David.” For this reason, it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the house.”
2 Samuel 5:9 David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward.
2 Samuel 5:10 David became more and more powerful, and Yahveh God of Armies was with him.
2 Samuel 5:11 King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David; he also sent cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.
2 Samuel 5:12 Then David knew that Yahveh had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
2 Samuel 5:13 After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
2 Samuel 5:14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
2 Samuel 5:15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
2 Samuel 5:16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

enduring ‘almost’

David reigned in Hebron over Judah for 7 1/2 years before he was finally accepted as king of all Israel. It took time for the people to accept David as king because they had been loyal to Saul, and both they and the Philistines had been convinced that David had attached himself to them. Only after David took Jerusalem did the Philistines finally realize that he had been loyal to Israel all along. David had the patience to put up with “almost” for a long time.

LORD, give us patience to endure a life of “almost” right until you can work out your perfect will.