2 Samuel 2:1-4 ”And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal’s wife the Carmelite. And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.”
The wilderness is over and Saul is dead on Mount Gilboa. After more than a decade of running, hiding and surviving, David finally has an open door in front of him. The first thing he does is ask God a question. “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” God tells him to go to Hebron, and the men of Judah come and anoint him king (2 Samuel 2:4).
But look at what David is actually king of: Just one tribe out of twelve. Saul’s son Ish-bosheth is set up as king over the rest of Israel and reigns from Mahanaim across the Jordan (2 Samuel 2:8-10). David is the rightful king of all Israel because God anointed him as a boy in Bethlehem. God carried him through the wilderness and brought him out alive. Now God hands him a piece of the kingdom rather than the whole thing. David sits in Hebron for seven and a half years before all Israel finally comes to him and crowns him king over everyone.
You finally come out of the hard season, where something opens up. A door cracks open and a piece of the promise shows up in your life. You think the wait is over and the floodgates are about to open after a long and hard season! Then nothing else happens for a long time.
This is a consistent pattern with God. God gives you part before He gives you the whole. He will let you sit with the piece long enough to build you into who you need to become. The wilderness teaches you humbleness and the waiting now will train you to be the person you need to become. Most of us want chapter ten when God just turned the page to chapter three, and He will not skip ahead.
There are seven things to notice in this season of David’s life that line up with where most Christians find themselves once the wilderness lifts.
1. Be Willing to Start Small
David did not walk out of the cave straight onto the throne over all Israel. He came out of the cave and went to the hill country called Hebron. He was anointed king over one tribe. The other eleven were under another man’s rule.
Most Christians come out of a hard season expecting the floodgates to open, and God usually opens a window first. Some new responsibility lands on you that feels insignificant compared to what you thought God was going to do.
Don’t look down on it. That little open door is God’s first test. Jesus said, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10).
And again He said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21).
The reward for being faithful with a few things was being put in charge of many things.
2. Ask God Before You Move
The very first thing David did once the door was open was ask God what to do. He did not assume that since Saul was dead, the throne was now his to take. “And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” (2 Samuel 2:1). And then he asked again. Where do I go? God answered both questions, and David moved.
Most of us, when a door cracks open, want to run through it before we even pray about it. The opportunity feels too good to pass up. And then six months later, we are wondering why everything is falling apart. The reason is that we did not ask!
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Some open doors are traps. The only way to tell the difference between an opportunity and a trap is to slow down and ask the Lord before you move your feet.
3. The Waiting Is Still Working
Those seven and a half years David spent in Hebron were not wasted years. While he sat there ruling over one tribe, he was learning how to govern. He was building a court and was developing the relationships that would carry his kingdom for the next thirty years. Six of his sons were born in Hebron during that stretch (2 Samuel 3:2-5). He was watching the northern tribes slowly come apart on their own without him having to lift a hand. God was using every quiet day to set up the next thirty years of David’s reign behind the scenes.
God does the same with you. God is doing things you cannot see, and most of the time He does not show you what He was doing until years later when you finally look back and realize He was working the whole time. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Everything means everything. The slow seasons, the waiting seasons and the seasons where it feels like nothing is happening. He is working in all of it, and one day you will see it.
4. When It Is Time, God Will Bring It to You
After seven and a half years in Hebron, the moment came. “Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh” (2 Samuel 5:1).
David did not go to them. They came to him. When God’s timing arrived, the rest of the kingdom walked up to his door and asked him to be their king.
The thing God promised does not require you to claw and grab and manipulate to get it. When the time is right, He brings it to you. Your job is to be ready when it gets there. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).
The exalting is His job. The waiting and the humbling and the staying faithful in the small place is yours. When we try to do His job, we end up making a mess of yours.
The piece is not a punishment; it is the preparation for the whole! God knew what He was doing when He handed David Hebron before Jerusalem, and He knows what He is doing with the season He has you in right now.
Be faithful with the small things, and when it is time, He will bring the rest of it to you Himself.
David came out of the wilderness, sat in Hebron for seven and a half years, and ended up reigning over all Israel for thirty-three more after that.
