II Samuel 5:3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.
I first hiked the Grand Canyon when I was fifteen, and I have been privileged to hike rim to rim and top to bottom at a couple of different locations on several different occasions. The first time I hiked the Grand Canyon I had a Vivitar pocket film camera, if you can remember those days with film. After hiking to the bottom and hiking out, I opened the back of the camera to develop the film and realized to my dismay that I did not have any film in the camera.
In my house I have a disposable camera with undeveloped film inside that has been in my junk drawer for many years. Just yesterday I saw an app where you can develop undeveloped film on your smart phone and turn them into pictures. You simply scan the negatives to see what you are developing. Now, let me say with a dated analogy, the same is true of your life. If you want to know where you are going, scan the negatives to see what you are developing.
There are a lot of assumptions that only take time to develop. There are a lot of ethics we can subscribe to that only take time to develop. There are certain habits, good or bad, that only take time to develop. If I do thirty pushups every day, as small as that is, there will be some kind of change over time. If I eat a Twinkie before bed every night, there will be a change with time because I am developing something in my life.
Now, the same is true about more important things. In David’s case in II Samuel 5, David had become the king of Israel. Verse 3 says, “So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.” Now, what follows are things that you may not think about but are indicative of where he would go, his successes and failures. Let me give you an example of each. Both of these are ways of thinking or habits that were at the time undeveloped but did develop with time either for the good or for the bad.
Let us look first at success. In II Samuel 5:19 and 23 the Bible tells us that David inquired of the Lord. When David had a decision to make, he didn’t just rush into something; he asked God. He wanted to know God’s wisdom. Indeed, this is something that became very important to David. We know that he wanted wisdom and wisdom for his son. King Solomon asked for wisdom when he later became king, and I think it is indicative of what Solomon had seen as important in the life of his own father.
So, David asked of God. He had a different situation, and he didn’t take an answer for granted. He asked a second time. David was far from perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart. He wanted to know God’s mind on the issues of his life. That revealed itself in the priority of his son Solomon who wanted wisdom for the kingdom. So, that was a success for David that was at the moment rather undeveloped, but with time became a great blessing.
Now let’s look at a failure. Verse 13 says, “And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.” Solomon, David’s heir, famously had so many wives and they turned his heart from God. Having many wives was accepted in that day. A king made treaties with other kings by marrying into the king’s family. A father-in-law was not going to attack his son-in-law. Solomon exaggerated what he learned from David when he became king. While this was accepted politically, it was not God’s plan.
Deuteronomy 17:17 explicitly says that kings were not to have a multitude of wives. So, seeds were planted that were developed over time. The kingdom as David knew it came to an end politically because the personal life of the man leading the kingdom was not what it should have been.
Both the good and bad, the success and failure, of David’s life was developed with age. Just like an undeveloped piece of film needs to be developed with time and process, so when David was tested throughout life, what was in his heart as a habit, ethic, or assumption came to develop with time.
May God help us to think about what we think about, what we assume, what we hold to as our ethic, and the habits we employ every day because such things will come to maturity. They will matter in our life everyday.