2 Samuel 2:11
“And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.”
In God's mercy He doesn't promote us speedily. We have to grow in maturity. That was true of David. He was first anointed king about 10 to 15 years earlier than this. Then he defeated Goliath and became an instant hero. Saul became jealous and sought to kill him. Thus began a solid ten years as a fugitive. About four hundred men joined him as his army. They had wives and children, so it's safe to say there were about 1,000 people following him. This was his first experience leading others.
This was like his boot camp. There were times of peace as well as troubled times. Several times Saul had him trapped. Two of those times had Saul exposed to being killed. This would cool his pursuit. Another time an emergency came up and drew Saul and his army away. God faithfully protected David.
The bible warns against promoting novices to leadership. I Timothy 3:6 says, "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil." The Lord carefully gave David leadership then there were years at that stage. Today's verse has him become king for the first time. But just of Judah. This post lasted seven years.
God is merciful with us in our training. He provides opportunity, then the time to grow within that. The cool thing is that this is heaven sent and directed. We will experience pride like mentioned and the devil will condemn us. The Lord is patient. He teaches us that it's Him.
God brings us honor often. We know it's not us. He uses that to draw people to us for opportunities to share Christ. If we claim that glory or don't follow through with our witness that honor drys up. David is learning all those lessons and more.
David shares his thought processes and feelings in the Psalms. He's up and down, trusting and fearful. That is very helpful. The Lord gave that to us for comfort. David was an awesome guy who loved God. We aspire to follow God in a similar way.
Lord, thank You for growing and protecting us in those times. You carefully bring us through the stages. We would have never reached those heights without You. The respect we get is there for opportunities to share about You. Help us in all that.