Promotion By Degrees

Promotion By Degrees
A song of degrees (maalah—advancements) of David. (Psalm 131)

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TIME IS REALLY ON YOUR SIDE

When seeking advancement, you may consider time as your enemy. God gave you time and it is your friend and helper. Rapid growth brings more disillusionment than fulfillment. Time allows your character to develop with your promotions. If your goal is promotion and prosperity, you will lose what you gain.

Proverbs 23:4-5:

Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

Matthew 6:33:

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

If we seek wisdom and strength of character, promotion and prosperity will come. If the advancement takes a little longer, thank the Lord for the extra time. It means when the promotion arrives, you will be more patient, wiser and more capable of keeping what you have attained.

You do not have to be evil or an unbeliever to fall into the trap of self-promotion. Many Christians try it every day by attempting to help God in His plan for their life. “God’s plan is too slow, I’ll help Him.” This has to be the height of arrogance. This plan assumes you know more than God. This is not only arrogance, it’s blasphemy.

Years ago, while taxiing in a 727 on the Dallas/Fort Worth runway, I saw a Concorde jet that was also waiting for takeoff. The jet I was traveling on was waiting to depart for Detroit and the supersonic jet was waiting for clearance to Paris. In approximately the same amount of time it would take to travel to Detroit, the Concorde would travel across the ocean to France. Suddenly, I became frustrated and thought, “Why doesn’t our government allow our aircraft companies to produce a supersonic jet? Why should the Europeans have one up on us? We invented the airplane anyway. I bet we could build an even better jet.” While flying to Detroit, I couldn’t get the Concorde out of my mind. It was flying three times faster than we were and I didn’t like that fact a bit. I wanted this plane to fly as fast as the Concorde. Then the Lord spoke to me, “What are you going to do about it, get out and push?” I had to laugh at myself. I might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.

Trying to help the plan of God is like getting out and trying to push a flying jet. You cannot help. Instead, you will just end up being hurt. How many Christians have hurt themselves by getting out and pushing? They have tried to speed up the will of God by putting their own ideas and efforts into God’s existing plan.

David told us in the introduction to his psalm, promotion comes by degrees. Psalm 131 begins with this phrase highlighting the fact that any rank in life comes over a period of time. God is smart by allowing promotion to come slowly. Those who advance quickly because of their own efforts or talents have found the descent to be more rapid than the ascent. Slow growth allows us to learn valuable lessons on the way up. Once we reach the top, we can stay there and truly enjoy all the benefits.

DAVID HAD FAILURES

David saw the importance of promotion by “degrees.” His life was not without the sins of impatience, arrogance, and self-promotion. Not only was David impatient at times, his own followers became weary of waiting on Samuel’s prophecy to come to pass for David to ascend the throne of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13). But David’s army, like David, forgot that God had anointed David to be king and God alone would bring it to pass. The Lord is the author and finisher, the beginning and the ending, the Alpha and Omega. “He who began a good work in you will perfect (complete) it…” (Philippians 1:6).

While running from Saul, David must have thought he experienced a setback instead of advancement. The desert was worse than being at home with the sheep. He probably would have given anything to go home and sleep in his old bed. But if he had done this, Saul would have found David and killed him. David had gone from a shepherd boy to a hero in Israel after killing Goliath. He then became the king’s armor bearer and married Saul’s daughter. Then because of Saul’s jealously, he became an enemy of the state. The armies who had rejoiced at David’s defeat over Goliath were now chasing him through the deserts of Judea. What looked like a setback was a chance to watch God’s delivering power. It is difficult to be patient and not try to help God during a time like this.

YOUR SINS HURT OTHERS

In one situation, David tried to hide from Saul with the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 21). David was alone and without a weapon, and remembered Goliath’s sword was wrapped in the priest’s ephod in Nob. When David came to Nob, he lied to the priests to gain possession of Goliaths’ sword. David should have remembered, this sword did not help Goliath. When a believer is carnal and tries to add his own strength to the hand of the Lord, he loses his spiritual perception. David could not think. Before he left Nob, he was spotted by Doeg, one of the king’s spies. After David left, the king’s army rode into Nob and killed the priests and their families. Only one was left to bring the news to David. David’s sin of impatience led to the slaying of many innocent priests of the Lord.

When David left Nob, he still was not thinking. He walked into Gath, the hometown of Goliath. David went into enemy territory with Goliath’s sword. He was surrounded by the enemy and about to be slain when he finally came to himself and gave the situation over to the Lord. His life was spared when he acted like a madman, scratched on the door and slobbered into his beard. The Philistines thought he was insane and released him.

David ended up in the cave of Adullam with his career almost ended (1 Samuel 22). His mistakes had killed innocent priests and brought him very near death. He had no one to blame but himself. David repented and became patient with God’s plan.

DAVID HAD SUCCESSES

From his failures, David learned to wait on the Lord. It was still a long time before David took the throne of Israel and became the king, but He let the Lord bring this about in His divine time. Before he became king, David had other opportunities to act in his own strength, but he let the Lord handle them.

While Saul and his army slept, David came into the camp, took the king’s spear and a cruise of water and left (1 Samuel 26). He shouted to Saul from a nearby hill and told him what he had done. Saul realized that David could have easily killed him with his own spear but did not. Saul acted toward David with evil, yet David returned that evil with kindness.

At another time, David’s men had an opportunity to kill Saul while he was in a cave, yet David restrained them from doing so. David would not be responsible for killing the king of Israel. He learned to wait on the Lord. He would take the throne in God’s time.

Promotion, prosperity, and favor come one step or degree at a time.

III John 2:

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Our soul does not prosper overnight, but a little at a time,“precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” Mark tells us that the seed (Word of God) that falls into good ground (our open heart) produces “thirty, sixty and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20). Later in the same chapter we learn the seed produces “first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear” (Mark 4:28). Spiritual growth comes by degrees and natural promotion and prosperity increases with it. At David’s death he was a wiser and more popular king than at the beginning. Advancing in God’s time brings long lasting rewards.

Precepts

This month our CD offer is Promotion Comes by Degrees (VL0702). To order, call 1-800-284-0595. We hope you will take advantage of this inspiring message. As you learn to rely on God more each day, you will see promotion in your life. Thank you for your continued faithfulness to give into Bob Yandian Ministries. You will never know until we are all in heaven, how many people came to know Jesus or were encouraged by the Word of God because of the finances you have so generously given.

Thank you for your faithful support,

Bob Yandian

PS–This month we are offering a powerful CD series entitled The Cave of Adullam (CDVL25) (also available on MP3), centering on David and his time with God in the Cave of Adullam and the dramatic results (also available on MP3). To find this inspiring message, go to www.bobyandian.com.