Receive People According to their God-given Graces
2 Samuel 5:1-5
[1] All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.
[2] In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’ ”
[3] When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
[4] David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
[5] In Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
We can see that the Lord is the One who appoints people to do things. He said, “He will shepherd my people, Israel, and become their ruler .”
“Shepherd” and “rule.” Shepherds have the job of ruling.
Probaton/Poimen [verb] – the act of ruling and shepherding.
Poimen [noun] – to be a shepherd.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord?
The Lord raises people to do different jobs, is always rooted in His word. It was the Israelites who said to David, “We welcome you to come and do what God said to you.” That is what it means to say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Receive people for what God has given them grace to do. This is basic wisdom.
The Lord Jesus said in Luke 13:25, “You will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” Many people don’t experience the favour, grace, and benefits from God as they should because they do not receive people for what they are, for what God has made them. In fact, this is the root of most people’s trouble in this world!
John 1:11-12
[11] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. [12] Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Receiving the ones whom the Lord has sent to us is absolutely vital to becoming what God wants us to be. If we do not receive them, we do not become. This applies in any capacity. For instance, picture a husband and a wife. If the husband does not receive his wife as the one who can carry a baby, the thinking is unreasonable.
Imagine he says, “Don’t worry, I don’t need you. I won’t have anything to do with you.” Unthinkable, not so? Or, the wife who wants a baby but refuses to receive her husband as the one who provides the seed? She will simply not have a baby!
[To be continued…]
