Friday, June 19, 2009

The Lame and The Blind


“And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David).” – 2 Samuel 5:6-7



When I was either a junior or senior in high school I went to visit my grandmother one day. She was out on her back porch breaking string beans. I sat down with her to help and we began to talk and somewhere during the conversation I told her I was going to college.

Now you have to understand that no one in my family at that time had been to college. In fact, only one had graduated high school. Her immediate response was, “You’ll never go to college. That’s just a dream.”

It cut through my heart. She’d shown me one thing – she had no confidence in my ability to succeed. I took it all in and then just as quickly replied, “Oh yes I will! You just watch me.”

I could just have easily let her ideals of my future become my own. I could have taken on the discouragement and lost focus of what I wanted in life. But praise God on high, He didn’t make me that way!

David encountered something similar at the beginning of his reign over all of Israel. After reigning in Hebron over the tribe of Judah for seven years, King Isbosheth, Saul’s son, died. David was then anointed King of all Israel. When he went to Jerusalem to reign he found the Jebusites had occupied the land.

The Jebusites cried out a taunt to David, telling him that he would not be able to come in there because if he did, it would take nothing more than their lame and their blind to kick him out. Jerusalem was on a hill, and the grounds around it rocky and rough. They thought they were safe from David.

David could have easily said to himself, “Look at this place! It’s occupied by those
who hate me, it’s rough to travel into the town, I’ve already lost several of my men in wars, and really, I could settle for Hebron. I could go back and reign there over all Israel.” He could have backed down.

Instead, I imagine David’s thoughts were on where God had taken him so far. God had allowed him to kill a bear and a lion while just a shepherd boy. He’d allowed him to kill Goliath, the Phillistine and become a hero to his people. He’d allowed him to escape the death hunt of King Saul, and twice given him opportunity to kill Saul himself. He’d protected him in war after war, allowed him to gain back a wife that was stolen from him, and made him ruler over all of Israel by not only his being Jewish and being chosen by God, but by the love of his own people. David knew one thing that brought him success. He knew from who’s hand he had received it.

God’s faithfulness to us should never be forgotten. The greatest encouragement we can know is to understand that without God, we would be nothing, and as Christians we will never be without Him.

Not only did David take the city of Jerusalem, which was also called Zion, but he renamed it. He called it the City of David, and it is called that to this very day. He made their taunt of “the lame and the blind” a victory cry and even sang about it. When God is on your side, nothing and no one that can stand against you.
Verse 10 of this passage tells the rest of the story so simply. It says “So David went on and became great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.”

Friends, as sure as God lives in you, he desires to prosper you. Don’t accept the discouragement of the world. Accept the future God has designed for you. Accept it and know that it comes from His Hands.

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