Sufficiently Humbled

How difficult it must have been for David to have his own son rebel against him and seek to steal the kingdom from him. It must be exceedingly difficult to love someone and yet see them hurt you so badly. David must have had a mixture of emotions pulsing through his being: anger, love, anxiety, indignation,....

And if this weren't enough for one man to bear, David had to endure the indignities of Shimei. He cursed David, and said that he was getting what he deserved. He declared that Absalom would be king. He threw dust and stones at David to declare his contempt.

When faced with this, David's men had a solution: take this guy out! They knew in their hearts that the king should not be treated like this. But David's response was not what they expected. He suggested that the Lord might have sent him to curse David, and if not, David thought the Lord would reward his gracious and merciful response.

One has to wonder why David responded this way. Most kings would have taken this "dead dog" out. But I believe David was sufficiently humbled. His affair with Bathsheba and his deceitful scheming that resulted in Uriah's murder, taught him not to trust his own heart. No...he would not retaliate. Instead he would receive the curses and entrust himself to the God who had been so gracious and merciful to him.

I don't know the historical context for Psalm 71, but it could well have been at this time that David penned these words. Read the following verses and see how appropriate they would have been for this moment.

71:2-3: In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me! Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress!

71;4-6: Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are He who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

71:12-14: O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.

Instead of taking things in his own hands, David chose to trust the Lord. He submitted to the difficulties of life believing that either God had ordained them for his correction, or that He would deliver him from them to the praise of God. Had he not had so great a fall it may be that David might not have reacted in this way. But he had been sufficiently humbled. He had been shown the capabilities of his own heart, and now his trust would only be in the Lord. The Lord had been good to him and he believed if he walked in His ways, God would continue to bless.

Have you been sufficiently humbled? Hopefully we all don't need to go through the kind of things David did, but how important it is to submit our lives into the care of our God. How important it is to see all things coming from the gracious hands of our God believing that He can turn them for good. That is the kind of confidence David had and that we can have as well. As David said in Psalm 71:20-21: You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.