By: Steve Wilmot
Rowing is a sport in which a team of rowers use long oars to race other boats to cross the finish line first. The winning team is usually the crew who pulled their oars in consistent synchronized movements and avoided veering off course. The trick is rowing while they have their backs to the finish line.
That’s why each team has a coxswain. He sits in the back of the boat, facing the crew and the finish line.
As the only one who can see the finish line, his job is to shout commands through his megaphone to coordinate the rhythm of the rowers and steer them on a straight course.
It takes years of practice, training, and discipline to become a world-class rower. They don’t show up from out of nowhere the day of the race and announce they’re part of the crew.
Hours and hours of preparation under the watchful eye of the coxswain are required to turn them into champions.
David didn’t know it, but God was his coxswain. He wasn’t ready to step into the role of king on the day Samuel anointed him. Like a rowing crew, David needed time to acquire the life skills and character qualities he’d need when he became king.
God didn’t push Saul aside and seat David on the throne. He led David back into the fields to shepherd his father’s flock of sheep, and later guided him through nearly two decades of hellish agony and suffering. All because David needed additional lessons he couldn’t learn any other way.
Maybe he needed more quiet nights to draw near to God and compose additional worship songs. Perhaps he needed more attacks from dangerous animals to hone his battle skills and grow a greater faith. Possibly, he needed more boring days in the hot sun chasing wandering sheep to polish his patience.
Then an evil spirit began to torment Saul, and God moved David into the palace for the next phase of his training.
Saul’s servants recommended music therapy to him. So, Saul ordered them to search for “someone who plays well and bring him to me” (vs. 17).
One of Saul’s servants suddenly remembered he once heard a son of Jesse play the guitar and sing when he passed through Bethlehem.
Saul took the recommendation and recruited David to play and sing whenever the tormenting spirit came upon him.
Notice, how masterfully God set this up. What are the odds Saul’s servant would be in Bethlehem on that specific day and stumble upon David by chance just as he was playing and singing?
What is the probability David had a day off from tending the sheep that precise day and happened to be playing his guitar and singing at the exact moment the servant walked by?
The only explanation is God fit every details together with perfect timing. Just like he’s doing in your life.
God is actively moving puzzle pieces into place to connect you with the people and situations vital to furthering his work of preparation in you.
While God has you in a season of preparation, you need to do three things: Keep doing what you’re doing.
David went back to his work as a shepherd and did what he was doing before his anointing. In the same way, you need to keep doing what you do.
Stay in the Word of God. Continue to worship God. Pay attention to your heart and keep it bent toward him. Cooperate with what he’s doing in your life. Rely on the presence and the leading of the Holy Spirit in you. Let God be God.
Don’t try to cut short your preparation time. Don’t rush it. Don’t manipulate things. Let God be God. Let him call the shots and set the timetable.
He knows what’s needed to prepare you for what’s ahead, and the best way to do it. Let him be in charge. Wait on the Lord.
Most people hate to wait. It seems like a colossal waste of time. We want to roll up our sleeves and get at what God called us to do right now. If we need some preparation first, then let God give us a crash course. Just don’t make us wait too long.
We hate to wait because we don’t understand God must make changes and refinements in us before he can fully use us. As someone said, “The work God does within us while we wait is just as important as whatever it is we’re waiting for.”
In a similar vein, John Ortberg wrote: “Waiting isn’t just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God’s wants us to be.”
It’s not unusual to go through periods of waiting. Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son. Joseph waited 15 tough years before God positioned him where he needed to be.
Moses waited 40 years on the backside of the wilderness until God sent him back to Egypt to deliver his people from slavery. David waited at least 22 years before he was crowned king.
Waiting is the rule rather than the exception. God is not in a hurry like we are. Believe him when he says, “When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen” (Isaiah 60.22, NLT). Until then, wait on the Lord.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.