The Peril of Prosperity

David knew by experience the truth of Psalm 119:67. When he was afflicted with King Saul’s plots to assassinate him, with barely one step between him and death 1 Samuel 20:3 says “Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”

David did not go astray. He kept close to God and would not sin against him 1 Samuel 26:10–11 “10. David said furthermore, “As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. 11. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.”

But David also experienced the flipside of the paradox. When David was the unrivaled king of Israel, and God had prospered him in every way, that’s when he strayed from God into bed with Bathsheba 2 Samuel 11:1-5 “1. It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4. Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”

Why did David’s affliction result in faithfulness and his prosperity result in sin? We all know. David was desperate for God when Saul (acting as a messenger of Satan, it would be fair to say) afflicted him. This experience even resulted in glorious psalms of worship (like Psalms 18, 54, and 57). But when David was not desperate for God, he was more vulnerable to his self-destructive depravity.

Whatever It Takes, Lord

The same is true of us. When are we most prayerful and faithful? When we keenly feel our desperation for God, like we can’t live without him.

And later we are most vulnerable to sin when we don’t feel that way.

We don’t romanticize affliction, just like we don’t romanticize death. Evils themselves are not to be loved, but resisted. God is to be loved and trusted. Only he is wise and strong enough to work for good what is meant for evil.

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Genesis 50:20 – “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

Paul plead with God for his thorn to be removed 2 Corinthians 12:8 – “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”

And so did David Psalm 7:1–2 “1. O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me, 2. Lest they tear me like a lion,

Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.”

They were good prayers. God simply had something better in store for Paul and David and we too by letting the thorns remain, and supplying his sufficient grace

2 Corinthians 12:9 – “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

“Affliction makes us feel our real desperation for God.”

What was the better thing he had in store? Desperation for God. Affliction makes us feel our real desperation for God, and we cry out for him. That’s why Paul boasted more in his weaknesses than his strengths. He knew that when he was weak, he was strong — because when he was weak, God was his strength

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 – “9. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Conclusion:

In all our proneness to wander astray from the God we love, we don’t need to ask our loving heavenly Father for affliction. Instead, let us ask him for the merciful gift of desperation, for that is what we really need.

We do not need to be afraid to ask him to make us desperate for him, because our Father loves to give good gifts to us Luke 11:13 says “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

We can trust him to do for us what we need most. Therefore, we can make this our prayer:

Prayer:

Whatever it takes, Lord, decrease my proneness to wander from you by keeping me desperate for you.