Can we trust God’s promise without trying to control it? Have you ever asked God to do something, then immediately started trying to make sure He does it your way? You pray for His will but already have a timetable in mind. You trust Him with the outcome but still feel responsible for controlling the process, you believe He will keep His promises but subconsciously demand He do it in a way that makes sense to you. And when His way begins threatening the future you imagine, trust can quickly turn into management. Most of us would never say we want to control God. It usually looks much more respectable than that. We call it planning, wisdom, responsibility, or even faith. Sometimes it is. But sometimes our plans reveal that we trust God’s promises but struggle to trust God’s process. That’s what we see in Abner. He knows God’s promise. He can explain it, quote it, & persuade other people to believe it. But he still acts as though the promise needs his power, his timing, his influence, and his management. But Chapter 3 begins by showing us that God’s promise is already moving before Abner does anything. It describes a long war between David’s and Saul’s house. David’s house is growing stronger while Saul’s kingdom is declining. Yet even as David’s house expands, the list of his wives & sons in verses 1–5 reveals not everything growing in David’s kingdom is healthy.
