I love shortcuts! I love getting someplace quicker, doing things faster and completing tasks with greater efficiency. Shortcuts are awesome—until they aren’t. I know this very well from lots of experiences when I tried a shortcut that turned out to be heaps longer and loads more work.
With shortcuts, we try to decrease the length of a trip or make the amount of work smaller. Sometimes we hope to avoid obstacles or setbacks when we try alternative routes or strategies. But alas, much of life doesn’t support shortcuts. I also think that we can shortchange ourselves from experiencing incredible growth and benefits when we take shortcuts.
In thinking about this, let’s consider David and his journey to becoming the king of Israel. After he was anointed by Samuel, it looked like he was maybe on the fast track to being king, or at least being involved in all things kingly. I say this because of his victory over Goliath and then Saul choosing to bring David close as his harp player and military leader. Additionally, David was the best friend of Jonathan, Saul’s son.
But very quickly, everything fell apart for David, and he spent more than fifteen years running away from Saul to save his life. There was no shortcut for David on the path to becoming king of Israel. Instead, his life took a long and very arduous route to being Israel’s king. At one point, it seems like he gave up on being the king, because he moved to Philistia (the archenemy of Israel) and served the king of Philistia very loyally. Even after Saul was killed in battle, David’s journey to Israel’s throne wasn’t particularly smooth or fast.
When we look at all the horrific things that David experienced during his flight from Saul, we could bemoan the lack of shortcuts for David. However, by going through all the various ordeals that he experienced, and not taking shortcuts, David acquired lots of benefits and upgrades.
Here are some of the good things that David received in his non-shortcut years:
- Loyal followers: In 1 Samuel, during most of his flight years, David had a very strong and loyal group of men who became his warriors and committed core.
- Resilience: Instead of being crushed and defeated from setbacks, crises, dangerous conflicts, the lack of provisions, etc., David learned and acquired resilience such that he outlasted his many hardships.
- Greater intimacy with God: We can see David’s reliance on God—as well as his heartfelt engagement and deepening connection with Him—in reading the psalms that he wrote during his non-shortcut years.
- Leadership practice and growth: When David finally became Israel’s king, he had been practicing and honing his leadership skills for almost two decades in very difficult circumstances and under great duress. By the time David became king, he had already grown in leadership to the extent that being king wasn’t such a steep learning curve.
There are many additional benefits that David acquired in his non-shortcut years, and I encourage you to take some time to read and absorb his experiences in 1 Samuel 18-30. As we ponder these chapters and events, let’s take to heart that we don’t shortchange our blessings and growth by taking shortcuts!
