To Encourage You

2 Samuel 19:11-12 “And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: ‘Say to the elders of Judah, “Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king? You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’’’”

if you were forced as a little child to go to church, chances are that your response was resistance rather than submission.  How often have you seen children raised in the church turn away from everything they’ve ever been taught the moment they have a chance to be on their own.  Isn’t it interesting that the God of the universe, the omnipotent King of kings, allows this to happen, when He could, if it was His desire, force everyone on earth to bow to him with their face on the ground right here and now?  That’s often how the kings of the world rule, although they have very little power in comparison to the omnipotent God. Think of Kim Jung Il, the leader of North Korea.  If you’ve ever seen any video clips from that country, you’ve likely seen the cult-like worship of North Korea’s citizens toward Kim. Yet, it all seems so forced. It is obviously motivated by fear rather than willing submission.  Kim rules with an iron fist. 

In the Scriptures we have a similar example in Daniel 3, which describes the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar. In his self-glorification he had a great golden image of himself made with the command that everyone in his kingdom was to bow down and worship before it when the music began to play. It was because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship anyone but the God of heaven that they found themselves in Nebuchadnezzar’s flaming furnace.  Nebuchadnezzar was a leader that ruled by absolute force. You either bowed before him or else!  

King David was a much different kind of leader than this.  In the passage above we have the account of David as he takes action to reunite Israel after his army had put down Absalom’s rebellion. Here was an entire nation that had foolishly turned against God’s anointed king to follow the usurper. But now Absalom was dead and the nation found itself in a great quandary.  Now what should they do in that David’s rule had been reestablished? And why did they even have an opportunity to decide?  Why didn’t David just kill or imprison them all, when he could have rightfully done just that. But David wasn’t like that. He wasn’t a king who ruled by force. Rather, in the passage above, we see him working to woo the people back to himself in willing submission.  He waits for them to invite him to return to them as king.  He wants them to willingly choose to follow him.  

It is in this example that we have a shadow of the Son of David, the King of kings.  Back to the thought that the God of the universe doesn’t even force a little child to come to Him – neither does He force anyone else.  If you are serving this King, you are doing so willingly, for that’s the only service He seeks.  His is a kingdom where love rules – the love of a king for every one of His subjects and the love of His subjects toward Him. Patiently, this One who could force Himself on us as no one else possibly can, waits for us to invite Him into our lives.  He doesn’t force His way in.  

One day this will all change, however. One day, “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).  Some will do so willingly. Many, however, will be forced.  The time of God’s grace has a limit. As Paul instructs us in 2 Corinthians 6:2 “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” But one day this opportunity will pass.  It is then that there will be two forms of submission. There will be those who have submitted willingly, and it is those and only those who will be ushered into the kingdom of God to serve Him forever.  Those who submit otherwise will find themselves shut out from that kingdom forever to their everlasting anguish and regret.  Yet, they will have received what they wanted. Willingly they will have rejected the God Who is Love.  And so He stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20). He patiently waits for us to willingly open the door and let Him in.  And it is those who are the only ones He will have enter His kingdom, for it’s a kingdom reserved only for the willing worshippers of God.