We find some profound insights in these particular texts about the timing of destiny and also church leadership.
With destiny, when the will of God is revealed, our next question should be, "How God would you have me walk this out and when, the timing that is, what will that look like?"
For David, it came in these: The Bethlehem Step, The Adellum Step, The Judah Step, and The Jerusalem Step. All of these steps, as best we can estimate, occurred over a period of just over 30 years.
The Bethlehem Step was his being anointed as the next king of Israel in his home town of Bethlehem by the prophet Samuel. This is approximately 1025 BC. This was the "what is God saying" moment, the revelation of His will, the destiny epiphany. The step that David took was to "step" into God's call by faith, accepting His call and believing that God would in time reveal a path there.
The Adellum Step, approximately 1005 BC, is not what we expect to follow the Bethlehem Step but as we can probably all witness to personally, it is often the step that follows...the step that seems to move in the complete opposite direction one would assume given the revelation of His will for our lives. Instead of David being on the precipice of receiving the throne, he is running for his life and hiding in the caves that give us the name of this step. The "step" David took here was to trust that God was still in control and that because his adversity was not the result of any wrong doing by David, his adversity found him in innocence, that he had to embrace the journey that was unavoidable, deferring to the sovereignty of God.
The Judah Step was to be willing to accept progress towards the fulfillment of the ultimate destiny, 1000 BC, but not be greedy in demanding it all immediately. Sometimes, after coming out of the season of our Adellum Step, we develop a sense of entitlement, that we deserve it all now because we endured "the caves." Not David, nor should we make that mistep. He accepted the step towards the throne, again trusting in God. He accepted being king over Judah, he "stepped" into progress God had provided, was content, patient, but also remained expectant.
Finally, we see The Jerusalem Step, 993 BC. It is beautiful isn't it! Finally, he "stepped" into his destiny, over 30 years in the making and then ruled as king for 40 years.
Then we see some wonderful lessons about leadership. One, that David did not come as a dictator; he recognized that he needed the support and cooperation of the elders of both Judah and Israel. This is a beautiful lesson for churches today. Lead Pastors need to esteem and value the role of Elders and Elders need to esteem and value the role of the Lead Pastor. In the text, the elders did not expect to rival the kings’ authority but too, the king showed deference to the elders in understanding that without their support, no kingdom initiative he pursued would be ultimately successful without their influence. How different would churches be today if they followed the wisdom of this text.
We also read, in verses 22-28 of 1 Chronicles 12 that great leaders are always able to bring a great diversity of leaders together under the banner of one common vision.
May we let these Sacred Texts, Holy Scripture be our mandate for life, even the life of the governance of The Church!
Pastor Fred
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