Day 45: 2 Samuel 5:6–12

Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel (v. 12).

Many things must have confused David in his previous fifteen years. So many things he did not know:

• Why had God chosen him?

• Why did Saul turn on him?

• Why did Jonathan have to die?

• When would God’s promise of the kingdom ever be fulfilled?

David did not know how he would ever live to be king. But when God handed over the most fortified city in all Israel to David and placed favor in the heart of the king of Tyre toward him, David knew the Lord had established him!

You may be going through a confusing time. You may not know how God is going to use a situation in your life or why certain things have happened to you. But you can be encouraged and strengthened by recalling what you know about God in the midst of uncertainties. In confusing times, recounting what we do know refreshes us.

David still had many unanswered questions. He would never know for sure why God allowed certain things to happen, but he knew God had done exactly what He promised. You may never know why or how, but you can always know who is faithful. David knew without a doubt that God had given him the victory and subdued the people under his leadership. He still didn’t know why. He simply knew Who.

When David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David, he must have thought, “You have been to me what these walls have been to this city. No other excuse exists for my safety or my success.” He knew God was all those things we looked at yesterday in Psalm 144: “my rock, my loving God, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, my refuge.” The names David called his God fell from the lips of experience, from things he knew. Sometimes we stand to learn the most about God from the situations we understand the least.