Vessels of Wrath

Over the past several years, the Lord has regularly challenged me to ask Him for what I want. Mind you, He refuses to allow me to attain any of these things by my own efforts, but He insists that I ask Him for them.

That is relatively inoffensive, until the bigger and better things that I want become so much bigger and so much better that they inevitably intrude on something someone else already has. Now I'm not merely asking for something that is in the "public domain," or that doesn't currently exist; now I'm asking for something that someone else already has title to. I'm asking that the Lord give me these things, without cost to me.

That becomes a touchy subject.

King David is probably the best example I know of someone who attained something that already belonged to someone else. (Israel attaining Canaan is another interesting example.) Early on in Saul's kingship, the Lord became displeased with him, and at that point, removed the kingdom from Saul. Although He hadn't physically removed Saul from the throne at that point (because David wasn't ready to take over) He had removed His blessing, and it would have been impossible for any of Saul's sons to inherit the throne.

At first, Samuel was distressed, because Saul was God's choice, and Samuel had been involved in the process. But the Lord told him to stop mourning Saul, and to get involved in the new thing that He was doing: David. This is where the interesting stuff starts.

At that moment, God put the kingdom into David's heart. It belonged to him in spirit (and the response of the people to him over the next years indicates that). Saul, however, was still on the throne, and David refused to take him off. He wasn't allowed to give up on the kingdom, though. Once the kingdom was in his heart, he couldn't go back to merely being a shepherd boy. It didn't work. He was a warrior and a leader, and that was that. Now he merely had to wait for the Lord to give him in fact what He had already given him in spirit.

So when it came time for the kingdom to be handed over, the Lord used . a vessel of wrath . to end Saul's life. While David was a man of war, and regularly wiped out his enemies, there does not seem to be any instance-other than his planned destruction of Uriah, one of his most faithful men-in which David used his own efforts to gain something to benefit himself.

There is no problem with asking the Lord for something that already belongs to another. But we are vessels of mercy; not vessels of wrath. We are not destined to destroy those above us who are destined for destruction; we have a higher call.

Allow the Lord to use His vessels of wrath for the day of others' destruction-and the day of your promotion.

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