To Encourage You

2 Samuel 18:4 “The king said to them, ‘Whatever seems best to you I will do.’”

I was struck by the verse above as I read God’s Word this morning.  It’s the account of David’s preparation for battle against his son Absalom and the men of Israel who had followed him.  As David prepares to go to war, he organizes his army for the battle and says to them, “I myself will also go out with you.” But his men strongly oppose his plans and say to him, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.”  So David agrees.  And the result? David and his men are saved, while his son Absalom and 20,000 of his son’s soldiers are slain.  It was a bittersweet victory, for those who died were of David’s own family and nation.   

This reminds me of another great rebellion against a king, i.e., the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.  As Jesus prepared to face his greatest battle, he too was rebuked by his own followers, as we see in the following words from Matthew 16: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’”  Which begs the question, what if Jesus, like David, had said to Peter, “Whatever seems best to you I will do”?  The answer is that although Jesus’ life may have been saved, Peter, the rest of Jesus’ disciples, all the enemies of Jesus in Jerusalem, and the rest of mankind that had ever and would ever live on the face of the earth would have been forever lost.  And so we have Jesus’ rebuke to Peter:  “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  Then Jesus went into the battle that was prophesied since the very beginning of time in which the heel of the woman’s offspring would be bruised, but in that act, i.e., the crucifixion, the head of the serpent would be crushed (Genesis 3:14-15). As a result, all those who would put their faith in Christ would be saved for all eternity.  

Aren’t you glad we have a king that doesn’t say “whatever seems best to YOU I will do”?  But isn’t that how so many view their approach to this King as they come to Him in prayer?  It is true that Jesus has promised that “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). The key to this promise, however, is the three-word phrase, “in my name.” What He means here is that our prayers should be consistent with the character and purposes of God.  Thankfully, we have a king that, unlike David, doesn’t just do whatever seems best to US. Rather, He is much wiser than us, and He will always do what is best FOR us instead.  That may not look so good at the outset. That may seem the opposite to what seems best at first blush. Like Peter, we might have the attitude that whatever WE think is best IS best, when we really have no idea if it really is.  

Aren’t you thankful for a King that knows what is best for us? He’s not like a genie that is there to answer our every whim.  Unfortunately, that’s how some see Him as they think that following Jesus is no more than a way to fulfill their own dreams and acquire everything that their unredeemed heart desires. May we give thanks for a King that has done what is best for us, even when it meant that He must suffer and die for us on a cross.