2 Samuel 3:36  “All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them.”

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A notice flashed on the computer screen just now: “Many Christian leaders will fall in 2022. Find out why.” That’s what you call clickbait, a headline so enticing you almost cannot resist the urge to find out more. 

Maybe later. 

If you know David’s story from 1 and 2 Samuel, you know he had a great fall. Today was not that day, however. We see a glimpse of something good here in this verse. Everyone was pleased with how David responded to what was going on around him as the kingdom was transferred to him from King Saul and his surviving son. 

Everyone was pleased. 

Everything the king did pleased the people. 

David was sitting on top of the world. 

With what you know about human nature, what would you expect to happen soon? You are probably right. Let’s let the king have his day. Let’s let him enjoy this moment. He has behaved wisely and justly for the last few years. He could have acted like someone on a television show or like Macbeth. Instead, he honored God and did what benefited everyone. 

Soon enough we will see how David dishonors God and harms his whole kingdom. Today, however, we have a shining moment revealing his character. It was this character that made him the leader he was. It was this character that would lead him to repentance as famous as his sin in years to come. 

No one passes every test. Not even the best. 

Let David enjoy this moment. After all he had been through, after all he had overcome, he deserved this moment. 

What David do you have in your life? 

• How can you celebrate with him? 
• How can you help him secure his position? 
• How can you assist him in starting well?

And later, how can you advise him to protect him from others and even from himself?

• How can you help him get up again after he falls?
• How can you restore him?
• How can you help him begin again more intelligently?

Maybe the best answers to these questions lie in what someone has done for you, or in what you wish someone had done for you. 

Enjoy life’s best moments. Learn from life’s hard times. Learn how to begin again more intelligently when you fail. Fail forward.

Aren’t you glad God tells us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about Bible characters? Aren’t you glad he is not telling everything he knows about you right now? 

Are you sitting on top of the world today? Are you down in the dumps you fell into through your own misadventures? Wherever you find yourself today, love it or learn from it. You might even write your own story as honestly as you know how. Someone needs the benefit of your hard-earned wisdom.

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I will celebrate the mountaintops and learn my lessons in the dark valleys.

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Our Father, thank you for telling us the truth. Thank you for giving us real-life examples of what to do and what not to do. Thank you for giving us opportunities to begin again more intelligently. Take us where we are today and lead us where we need to go Amen.