Dear Parents,
This week in High Life’s Sunday school class we continued our discussion on identity, with a focus on circumstances. We studied the life of King David, focusing in particular on the many years between David’s anointing as King of Israel and the time he actually entered into that role (I Samuel 16). David’s life can show us that sometimes God does set us apart for something, but our circumstances don’t seem to align with what we thought God had for us, and so we allow those circumstances to shift the way we see ourselves and what God has for us.
We began our discussion by talking about the different types of circumstances that people often allow to affect their identity, things such as wealth, or the lack thereof, family structure, possessions we have or don’t have, successes or failures at various activities. For instance, someone might feel that because they are poor, they can’t get to the profession they feel God might have for them. Or, a person might fail to meet a requirement for something they think God wants them to do. Often circumstances try to get in the way of what God wants us to do. We know that our enemy is behind this because he wants to prevent us from accomplishing things for God’s kingdom.
In the life of King David we see this exact scenario played out. David is anointed to become King of Israel sometime around his 15th year of life. But, he doesn’t become king until he’s closer to 30. All you math whizzes know that means David had to wait 15 years to see his calling play out in his life. That’s a long time. During those years, David spent most of his time running and hiding from Israel’s current king, Saul. So the circumstances of David’s life could, if he allowed them, have derailed him from the calling that God had for him. He could easily have given up on the idea that God called him to be king. If I put myself in David’s shoes, I imagine I’d think, “Israel already has a king! Why is God asking me to be the king?!” And maybe David did have some of those feelings. But we know that he stayed the course and held onto what God had called him to and so he became one of Israel’s greatest kings. We discussed the fact that God used those years of running and hiding to prepare David. Furthermore, David composed many beautiful Psalms during that time. Those are words which still inspire us today. So David’s waiting time was not wasted.
Through the story of David, we hope that our youth are able to see that their circumstances don’t have to define them. God is bigger than any circumstance they might be facing. Like David, we must discern how to accept circumstances that may be from God without allowing them to confine or define us differently than what we know God has for us. Even though we may have to wait many years like David to see our calling played out, we know that our time of preparation is not wasted, and we should not give up just because we might have to wait.
Blessings,
Shane, Chris, and Catherine