Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 22:19; Psalms 18:22
From the day that we were born we are supported by many individuals in our life: our mother, our father, our family, our friends, our spouses, our children, our teachers, and our community. We learn how to interact with each other and how to support each other from these relationships. There is a complexity that surrounds these simple relationships. The very nature of our relationships have us to depend on someone else with blind trust that can be either enhanced or destroyed. There are many times in our lives that our main support systems sometimes do not have 100% support for us.
For instance, when we are babies, our parents be able to provide the proper nourishment for us through breast milk or inability to produce or lack of funds to purchase formula. But God provides us and them with required amount of nourishment.
Another example is when we are having our friend support us and our friends cannot understand the true complexity of what we are asking them to do. They may not be able to fully support us and that leaves us wanting more.
Another example is in marriage, your spouse may support you in 99% of the things that you want them to support you but there is a one percent chance that they will not completely support you in every aspect that you are needing.
Another example is with children, we will support them in their development and sometimes they support us later in life and they may not be able to for fill those needs 100%.
In all of the these examples we see that in these important and meaningful relationships we are supported and are cared, but these relationships will not provide 100% of the needed support. That is where we have a benevolent father who is able to provide support for us 100% of the time. He is unlike our human counterparts which we love and cherish, God is able to give us 100% support 100% of the time throughout eternity.
We may not be able to see his full support but he is there to support us through the good times, the bad times ,the hard times, the challenging times, the difficult times, the crying times, and the laughing times we go through in this life.
In these two passages, these are the exact same words verse by verse. This is one of the first semi-autobiographical accounts of the Bible. The words that are used in the psalms that David wrote in Psalm 18 is echoed from 2 Samuel. This is the last testament, declaration and prayer of David. This is at the end of his life. He has gone from being the youngest and smallest son of Jesse, living the life of a shepherd to being the King over all of Israel and Judah. The life of David live was one from our human perspective was full of complexities and strife and joys. From a human perspective David’s life could be seen as one where he has risen to glory and “fallen out grace”. From God’s perspective, God in his infinite mercy and grace has given him resolution and absolution from his sins.
Throughout David’s life he had many supports: his father, Saul, Jonathan, his wives, his children. But at the end of his life he acknowledges that throughout his entire life the only main support that he had throughout endless times and that saved him many times was God. The entire life and story of David is one that cannot be retold here in a few words. David’s life is one that is truly defines how an open and trusting relationship with God can be transformational. Take an opportunity to review David’s life in I & II Samuel. If you take the opportunity to read through I & II Samuel and the Psalms, you will see how many areas of his life were broken; how many areas of his life that were fallen; how many areas his life were tragic; but in the mist of everything he was supported by God because he loved God, he knew God’s heart, and he knew that he was a true child of God. And he knew that God’s promises to him were 100% accurate and 100% truthful.
To many times in our lives we try to get support from our loved ones, but sometimes the support that we get and the support that we can give may not be 100% percent of what that person needs and so they feel something lacking. This is the area where we need to know that God has our support God is our support and he gives it freely.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, please allow us to look to you in the mist of our lives, in the mist of our days, in the mist of our troubles, and find you are there as our eternal support. Heavenly Father thank you for being our eternal support. Thank you for allowing us to ask you for whatever needs we have and you will be our support. Amen