Success brings with it its own set of problems. If you get used to being successful, you soon expect it, and then if it eludes you, that can be very hard to take.
I know that I am speaking this morning to reasonably successful people, by and large. Most of you, when you face a challenge, are able to meet it. I see lots of people in front of me who were told, "You need to go to school and you need to do it well." And a good many of you did. I see folks with college degrees and graduate degrees and academic honors. I see folks with PhD’s and MD’s and EdD’s and Fiddle Dee Dee’s and all the rest. For the most part, you have succeeded.
I see people who have achieved something in their careers. I see some in supervisory and executive positions; I see some who can command respect and influence in their fields. You have succeeded professionally, many of you; and others are clearly on the way. We are justifiably proud of our young people; you show tremendous promise, and we all know that you will succeed. I see a group of people who have enjoyed a fair degree of success, at least in some realms.
But I know you well enough to know that underneath the facade of that success there is also a layer of disappointment. You don’t say much about it except in the privacy of the counseling session, but there are some failures cluttering up our hearts. There are some dreams that died a-borning, there are some expectations that never came to fruit.
For some it was a job offer that you thought was in the bag, but at the last minute it went to somebody else. Or it was a marriage that at the beginning you thought would last " ‘til death us do part," but a few years later it went sour. Or it was a child who rejected you or a friend who turned against you or a boss whose attitude you just couldn’t turn around …it was a failure. And here you are, successful you, and you thought you should have been able to make this work, but you just didn’t. That nags at you, doesn’t it?
Success brings with it its own set of problems. If you get used to being successful, you soon expect it, and if then it eludes you, that can be very hard to take. If you are angry about some such disappointment, at whom are you angry? Is it the person or the circumstance which frustrated you? Or are you angry at yourself? Or are you, in fact, angry at God?
King David had to face that kind of disappointment. David had succeeded in just about everything he had undertaken to do. His record as a man of valor was unequaled. His political savvy was widely recognized. His grand plan for creating a strong and united kingdom, centered on the capital city of Jerusalem … it was almost finished. He was close to complete success.
As we saw last week, David saw that one more element in his success would come if he could bring to his capital the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, as I told you last Sunday, was an ancient box which was presumed to hold the tablets of the Law, and which people felt was, in some mysterious way, the embodiment of the presence of God Himself. And so, you see, if David could get the ark into the city, he just knew that complete success was right around the corner.
Well, last Sunday we spoke of David’s anger when, for a time, our God frustrated those plans. I hope you remember why. We said that God frustrated those plans because David’s strategy was manipulation; David’s plan was to use God for his own selfish purposes. And that God will never allow.
But we also saw last Sunday how David, in his heart, angry at God, moved from anger to fear and from fear to withdrawal. We saw how David just pulled back from God for a while and nursed his wounds, how he shut down and covered over his feelings. But at the end we learned that there was good news, because a gracious and a merciful God, who is always, always ready to reach out to us … that gracious God reached David and assured him of His love. We saw last week that David’s angry prayer when God would not be used for selfish purposes finally led David to know the assuring presence of God’s eternal mercy.
But now, today, there is another step. There is a new disappointment in David’s dealings with that ark. In the seventh chapter of Second Samuel we discover that when David does succeed in getting the ark moved to Jerusalem … and remember, here is a man who has succeeded at nearly everything he has tried … he decides that he wants to build a temple. He wants to build a permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant. But that was not to be.
Imagine: it was going to be his crowning achievement – to build a house for the ark, to enshrine the Ark of the Covenant. Now how could God possibly be against this? This was for Him! This was to be a magnificent gift to almighty God. Surely this was the right thing to do. And God’s prophet, Nathan, had said so too. "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you."
Oh, but what a bitter word the next morning when the prophet Nathan came to the king and said, "No, the Lord says No. The Lord says this is not to be. Yes, I know, David, that you really want to do this, you think you really need to do this. But no, David, just give it up. Do not build this temple."
I
It has often been said that when God answers prayer, He says either "Yes" or "No" or "Wait." I’m sure you’ve heard that before: that God says Yes or No or Wait. Well, in this instance, He says all three. To David God says Yes and No and Wait. Yes, some day the house for the ark will be built. No, you may not build it. And wait. Just wait to see what will be done; wait to see where God’s larger purposes will lead.
The disease that affects most successful people is the disease of instant gratification. We want what we want when we want it. And usually we want it now. If you are a successful person, you are accustomed to getting what you want ASAP, yesterday! We want instant gratification. We in our ambition, in our drive, dream up projects and plans, and then decide ahead of time that they are so right and so wonderful they just must be the will of God. We want instant success; but we have not measured God’s timing. For our God so often says Yes and No and Wait.
We are like the fellow who prayed, "Lord, give me the gift of patience, and give it to me right now!" But God says Yes and No and Wait.
There’s nothing wrong with building a temple for the ark. God tells David through Nathan the prophet that ultimately that will be done. But God says that first, at the top of the priority list, there is something else; and that is attending to the security of the people. Before you build a shrine which will cover the ark and which will be a monument to your own success, David, first hear this: "I will appoint a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more."
David’s priorities are out of order, you see. He wants what he wants when he wants it, but it is not in accord with the priorities of God, who would first see to it that the people are safe and secure. And so God says Yes and No and Wait.
And you and I, needing to be successful, angry sometimes because we don’t get it, even when we are aiming for something we think is fine and noble and wonderful … you and I must learn to wait for God’s timing.
II
But, you know, sometimes it’s not only that God’s timing doesn’t allow for instant gratification. It’s not only that God’s timing does not always scratch us when we itch. It is also that God’s timing spreads beyond what we can see right now. Sometimes our problem, as success-oriented people, is that we feel as though we have only a limited amount of time, and we have to make it go, or else. If I don’t do it, nobody will. But God’s timing may spread beyond what we can see.
The other night some of us were sitting around the table working on the next phase of our church building expansion and renovation program. Someone asked, "How long will all of this planning and construction work take? Will we be around to see it done?" I got a laugh when I said, "Well, it’s only twelve years until my retirement age!" I meant it as a joke, but was it? Something down inside me also stirs to say, "I’ve only got so much time to get this thing done. I’ve only got so much time to finish this monument. If I don’t do it, who will?"
But our God operates out of a whole different sense of timing. If for our God a thousand years are but as a day, then our little close-up perspective is very shortsighted indeed. Listen to what He tells David He intends to do; remember that He has already said, "Yes, it’s all right to think about a temple for the ark. But the security of the people comes first."
Now He says, "Yes, the temple for the ark will be built. But it will be your son and your son’s sons who will do it. What you are to do, David, is to lay the groundwork. But you will not build the temple yourself."
"When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and he shall build a house for my name …"
David is to lay the groundwork, but David’s son to build the house. David is to dream the dream, but David’s children to fulfill that dream. Our idea of success may be to achieve everything we want all by ourselves; but God’s plan for our success is that we achieve enough that those who come after us may achieve even more.
And, my friends, that is the grace of God. That is the glory of God ... that whatever little success you and I may achieve is magnified and made even greater if it is something that empowers the next generation. And whatever little disappointment you and I may feel, whatever failure you and I may experience – it’s bearable if we know that at least we have prepared the way for those who come behind us.
David, your dream is to build the temple for the Ark of the Covenant. You’re not going to get to do that. But you will prepare the people, you will assemble the materials, you will keep the dream alive, and most of all, you will raise up children who cherish that dream in their hearts, and they will do far more than ever you could have done. That is the measure of authentic success. Unfortunately, as someone has said, "The world has too many people who won’t plant trees unless they are going to be around to eat the apples." But God says real success means you do your part, but prepare others who can finish it.
A young man was growing up in northern Indiana in the 1920’s. He became a Christian at the age of eighteen and a short while later felt the call of God to enter the ministry. But that young man’s father put down the idea and said, "We’ll have no sissy preachers in this family!" And so that dream went dormant and a little touch of failure and disappointment lodged itself in that young man’s heart.
A few years later that same young man had discovered a fine musical talent. He took voice lessons, and, although it wasn’t easy in the Depression and Post-depression years to earn a living as a musician, he got a job offer. A radio station in Cincinnati wanted him to move there and do musical programs for them. But the young man, by now married, this time heard his father-in-law say,"You’re not taking my daughter off to some other city for some nothing job." And so in his heart another touch of failure, another measure of disappointment.
He spent his working years carrying the mail. A perfectly honorable profession, but not what he had felt called to do, neither ministry nor music.
But you must know that, in the economy of God, that man’s younger son is a fine pianist and a professor of music, and his older son is preaching to you today. In the timing and the economy of our God, no worthy dream is ever lost. It’s simply prepared for the next generation to carry it forward.
Success is deeper than the dream of the moment; success is broader than the span of my life or yours.
III
Now what is the response of David to all of this? How does the king handle his disappointment? What can he do to absorb his growing fear of failure? We learn that he can pray. And what a revelation is his prayer!
David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?" David handled all of this with a prayer of courageous acceptance. He accepted God’s will by waiting and praying and discerning in all of this the grace of God.
I do not think it was easy for David to get to this point. I am confident there is a lot the text does not tell us. You see, we know what the cycle of human grief is like. We know that he must have reacted with shock and doubt and disbelief, and most likely with anger. I cannot fathom that David would not have felt the hot breath of anger for a while, maybe even to some degree all of his life. But David prayed it through, and finally because of his prayer, he was able to accept the will of God.
Just as my father carried around the memory of how both his father and his father-in-law had crushed his dreams, yet did not let that embitter him, so David came in his prayer to accept what must be.
And as I overhear the King of Israel pray his prayer of acceptance, I hear him accepting more than the inevitable will of God. I hear him accepting far more than "que sera, sera." No, I hear the Gospel. I hear David accepting, above all things, his own acceptance by God! I hear David accepting his acceptance. I hear David’s prayer as one in which he can say, "Whatever disappointment I may feel; whatever failure I’ve had; still, Lord God, this one thing I know: that You love me. You care for me. And that is all I need."
"You know your servant, O Lord God. Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have wrought greatness, so that your servant may know it."
The bottom line for the King of Israel is not whether his ambitions were realized, but that the Lord God had accepted him. The crucial issue for David is not whether he can make a permanent mark on the landscape of Jerusalem, but that the Lord God has permanently accepted him. The truth that gives glory and meaning to your life and to mine is not whether we can climb every mountain and ford every stream; no, the truth that gives glory and meaning to our lives is the one that comes in the hour of prayer, be it angry prayer or disappointed prayer or frustrated prayer or whatever. That truth is this: You are accepted. You are accepted. You are received by your creator. You are accepted by your savior. Just as you are, failing, faltering, uncertain, unclear, yet you are accepted.
Now accept your acceptance. Reach out and receive what He has to give. Accept your acceptance. And whether peace, like a river, attendeth your way, or whether sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever our lot, He has taught us to say, "It is well, it is well, with my soul"
O our God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed; give us the courage to change what we cannot accept; and give us the wisdom to know the difference.
