A Wonder

Ps 71:7

7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

KJV

Though believers may face very open and conspicuous (fortuitous and unfortuitous) happenings as they pursue God’s purposes for their lives, we should not quickly dismiss such happenings as signs of uncertainty and God’s displeasure with them, for more often than not these men and women are being made “a wonder unto many.”

Such was the case with Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Peter, Paul (and even the Lord) who were all subject to circumstances that did not always conform to what their contemporaries believed to be God’s will for their lives. Yet the author of this psalm–King David–was perhaps the most notable wonder of all. Here was a man who having been anointed king while yet a teenager—in addition to his later slaying of the giant Goliath—experienced many contradictions (triumphs and disappointments) throughout his life that made him a “wonder to many.”

Shortly after triumphing over Goliath, he was persecuted by the once favored King Saul; Though he stumbled in committing adultery with Bathsheba, and lost the child of their union, they were immediately restored with Solomon. When he committed sin by numbering the people, he willingly offered himself and his household as a substitute for the sufferings; As a result, the angel of the LORD’s hand was stayed and David was allowed to sacrifice burnt offerings instead. In the end, these apparent contradictions (and many others) were not intended to demonstrate that men and women should live lives free from imperfection (or perceived imperfection in the case of the Saviour’s crucifixition, for the Savior’s death was for the salvation of men) but to demonstrate His enduring love and mercy to them that love Him:

1 Timothy 4:9 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”