Deference to Sovereignty

I finished reading the Psalms yesterday in my devotions, so I opened up the table of contents today to decide which book I wanted to read in the Old Testament. I settled on 2 Samuel because I wanted to continue along the timeline I had started when teaching 1 Samuel in Sunday School.

David was a man after God's own heart, who trusted God with his life.
Saul, the first king of Israel, was a man after David's own life.

In the opening chapter of 2 Samuel, David asks the man who has killed Saul,

"Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?"

Despite Saul's unjustified murderous vengeance towards David, David was able to look past self-preservation, through God's purposes, and over and above to God's will, and acknowledge that God's sovereignty truly comes before any other concern.



To pair this with the current struggles of this Christian's life, I reflect on the last few weeks where I've simultaneously struggled through and taken comfort in God's plan for parenthood.

What myriad provisions for development are wrapped up in childbirth and child rearing! With all the time that must be spent on our dependent newborn child, there is still much to be grateful for in God's design of procreation. For example, it's remarkable that everything Isaac needs for his body is in the very thing that comes from his mother's breast.

At the same time, Isaac is a constant interruption to his parents' activities. Life must revolve around him now. Personal interests are put on hold. Basic necessities are complicated and postponed.

The urge for me to quit selflessness manifests itself in parenting as it does in marriage.

At times, David gave in to the fear of man and faltered in his complete dependence on God's protection and wisdom. He knew God's ways were best, but the encroaching exploitations of mere humanity abound and often overshadow logic.


No matter how much I know God is trustworthy, steadfastly and selflessly following Jesus is a struggle. I press on, though, because God is the only one who proves Himself to guard and satisfy mind, body, and heart.

The question I would put to the non-Christian is not how do we avoid struggle, but in which struggle will we engage?


Today I heard about grade schoolers in school bathrooms engaging in inappropriate explorations into sexuality, and was thus moved to write an outline diagramming the reasons for holding to God's plan for sex and relationships.

However, though the reasons are clear and backed with statistics, the lonely mind with its logic alone can still fail when the body is overwhelmed by temptation and immediacy.

I pray that my wife and I instruct Isaac to know what is true and what is a deception in life, and finally to foster the discipline that holds to a proper resolve.

Nothing should stand in the way of what God has ordained - not inconvenience, fear, or confusion.

David strove to trust God (over man) for his protection and in the end he valued God's wisdom over justification for himself. He was a man after God's heart.

The more I hold to a selfless ethic of nurturing my wife and son, the more I will receive in these relationships the responses befitting a God-honoring humility, and the stronger the foundation of our family will be.

Deception, selfishness, and impatience are the currency of our day, in contradistinction to the eternal trustworthiness of a loving God. Our world's godless attempts at gratification are recycled for those unaccustomed to Truth, because they invite and disappoint, invite and disappoint.


I'm humbled both by what I hear and what I experience, but I remain convinced that God's unchanging nature is the only reliable point of reference, and obedience to His word will not only keep us from greatest harm, but will also give us greatest pleasure.