Weeks 19-20: David's Words of Wisdom

Well, here I am behind on this blog again. While I’ve not been as faithful to posting as I had hoped, I’m amazed at how excited I am for the reading each and every day. It has been such a blessing to read through God’s story; I pray that you hang in there and continue this journey. I had to set aside this blog to get my new blog ready and also to prepare for my kids’ summer break. Just to let you know, I’m not trying to be an overachiever by starting another blog. It’ s a ministry that has been on my heart for a while, but I’ve just not had the courage to move forward. When our year of reading through the Bible together is completed, I will absolve this blog into my “real” blog. Now on to our reading. Over the course of the past few weeks, the reign of King David has come to an end. This week, we see his son, Solomon, take the throne. Before we say goodbye to him, I want us to look at the end of his reign. After his disgraceful act of sin with Bathsheba, David experiences multiple acts of betrayal throughout the remainder of his reign. Those closest to him seem to be the ones quickest to turn on him. There are so many beautiful truths throughout these few weeks of reading that I cannot possibly touch on them all.  If you have not, I encourage you to read 2 Samuel 22; “He rescued me because He delighted in me;” “With You I can attack a barrier, and with my God I can leap over a wall;” “As for God, His way is perfect, the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him;” “God is my strong refuge. He makes my way perfect.” Ladies, until we know God this confidently, we do not know Him at all. He goes on to speak about destroying his enemies. Although he sounds rather violent, keep in mind the big picture and you will see the truth we must learn. He is the king of God’s chosen people. His role is to establish them as a holy nation; therefore he takes serious the job of getting rid of those who seek to destroy God’s people, who seek to entice them away from Yahweh. It’s really pitiful how lazy we are as “Americanized Christians,” when we should be no less vigilant than David against our enemy. This man of God does blow it again by taking a census that God had not commanded, but again he proves to be a man of sincere repentance and a teachable heart. As we approached the end of his life, we saw a king focused entirely upon making preparations for the temple of God that he would never see built. Every single detail was covered. We see the beauty and model for giving to God; the people gave to the temple with “a whole heart,” “giving joyfully and willingly to You.” Then David leaves one instruction to his son, Solomon, the child born from his most disgraceful act, the one who God would make the next king, “As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your Father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought.” David dies and Solomon begins his reign, but before we dive into Solomon’s kingship, let’s look at the last words he spoke to his son to learn what a relationship with God (think about that-a relationship with God; the undeserved privilege should overwhelm us) should look like. David doesn’t leave him with advice on making laws or how to rule or leading the army. He tells his son how to have a relationship with God. This parallels the first commandment, which Jesus restates in the New Testament; love God wholly. If we want to have a real, intimate relationship with our Father, we must listen to the wisdom of the man after God’s own heart. David was not perfect, but he got it:
           
David’s Words of Wisdom
David left Solomon with these words, a two-part instruction on how to be king. At that time, the king was God’s anointed, the spokesperson for God’s people. As His new testament children, we are now His anointed. This truth applies just as relevantly to us today.

1.      Know the God of your father:
-know=diligently seek; discover, pursue, familiar friend

2.      Serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind:
-serve=worship, labor for, bondservant
-whole=complete, undivided, peaceful
-heart=resolve, passion, determination
-willing=to delight in, having pleasure in, want
-mind=whole person, desires, thoughts

What we learn from this one verse is that our life should center around diligently seeking God, pursuing Him until He is a familiar friend to us. This is a verb indicating an on-going process; we are constantly discovering God. The result of knowing Him is serving Him, but David describes how we serve God. This is where we’ve become lazy. A person who truly knows Him will serve God with their whole heart and with a willing mind. We worship God and labor for Him with an undivided heart; a heart that is not at war with other desires; a heart that is wholly and entirely resolved, determined. Serving God with a willing mind means there is no hesitation; it is not a burden or chore; it is not begrudgingly but is the delight of our live. It is what we want and is our absolute pleasure. With our whole person, our thoughts and desires, we take pure delight in serving Him. This is far more than some passive attempt to serve God by attending a once a week church serve. This is having an everyday existence centered around God; yes, in our work and chores and errands. David wanted his son to be a king that sought God, not power or prestige. We should be people who seek God rather than success or self-promotion or accolades or prominence or acceptance from others. The very purpose for every breath we take and step we make is to know and serve the One who made us, loves us and saved us.  

Week 18; Lessons from the Life of David

I apologize for my delay in posts. Preparing for the Womens Ministry Spring Tea put me behind. I’ll quickly catch us up. Last week gave a historical overview of David’s reign and focused specifically on his early years as King. The major theme was that, “David did exactly as the Lord commanded.” Although he was King, although he was wise, although he had to consult no one, David ruled with complete dependence on God. The Psalms scattered throughout our reading show us that David held an unwavering faith. Last week was a week for us, as children of God, to look at this man’s example and realize that his relationship with God is the kind of relationship we are to seek. This week picks up in 2 Samuel 7 when David finally resides in his palace. What I love about David is that he experienced every human emotion and life experience possible. His story this week begins with a good desire; he wants to build a temple for the ark. We saw last week where David was overcome with pure joy at the return of the ark. His heart is right. He simply wants to build a home worthy of the presence of God. Thank goodness for the Nathan’s in our lives. God sends Nathan to tell David “no.” It wasn’t that David’s desire or motive was wrong. It just simply wasn’t God’s timing or plan for David. Goodness, what wisdom we as Christians could learn from just this one day of reading. So often we have such good intentions, desires and motives. Yet what we tend to do is fail to hear the Holy Spirit, or wise people in our lives like Nathan, who say “not yet.” We end up jumping headlong into this good thing for God, but God is saying “Um, no I don’t want you to do that.” Good intentions, even for God’s glory, can be out of His will. We have to stop and seek Him before we pursue anything. We cannot just assume that if something is for God, that it’s ok for us to just go ahead with it. Let’s continue on with our reading. I wish I could spend days talking about the Psalms. I am so deeply thankful that God gave us David’s pure, raw emotion. His heart is entirely abandoned to God. David is a successful, respected, powerful king; the result is victory. What an easy position to become prideful, arrogant, self-seeking and self-sufficient. David, however, returns all the glory, credit and praise to God. What a man. What an example. Sadly, though, even the most Godly can fall. You know, it’s hard for me to read this part of David’s life because I just want him to have a spotless legacy. Up until this point, David leads his army. This time, David stays and sends them out. There are many assumptions we could make. Maybe he was tired. Maybe things were really bad with his other wives (after all we saw what a nag Micah was last week). Perhaps he just simply trusted Joab or he could have just been having a flesh, lazy moment. Whatever the case, it was a bad decision. Something else is different here, as well. He acts impulsively, which is not normally in his character. He consulted God on even small things. Here he just jumps right in to the affair. No thought. No hesitation. Not only does he take another man’s wife, but he tries to cover the sin and when that doesn’t work, he has her husband killed. David stays and Uriah pays. Oh, ladies, this is such an important truth that we cannot miss. Usually, what we focus on is the fact that David should have gone to battle and none of this would have ever happened. That’s true and very important for us to see. I would take that a step further and point out that it’s clearly evident that David and God have a deep, intimate relationship. David knew to turn his head but he didn’t. There really are no excuses for him. What I want us to see, though, is that it wasn’t just David that suffered consequences for his actions. Bathsheba had no say in the matter. She was subject to the king. As a result of his sin, she was publically humiliated, lost her husband and a son. Shame and disgrace became her reality. Uriah lost his wife and his life. The household of David went into a chaotic frenzy. One man makes one decision and so many pay the prices. Ladies, our sins cause pain for others. It will never just affect us. When we take on that Christ-like characteristic of thinking of others before ourselves, many of the bad decisions we are tempted to make will be thwarted. That mindset will bring things to a screeching halt because we will stop to consider how this one decision might hurt those around me. This can apply to every type of situation. Back to David. Isn’t it just like God to bring good from such a horrible tragedy? God gives David and Bathsheba a second son, Solomon who would be the king to build the temple of God. Have you ever stopped to consider that it was Bathsheba who said Proverbs 31 to her son Solomon? What a woman, who rose above the disgrace and lived as a Godly wife and mother rather than a resentful woman. Let me end with pointing a few things about David that we usually miss, but that I deeply respect. First, when David was confronted with his sin, he immediately repented. He did not excuse himself. He didn’t play the “I’m the king card.” He called it like it was and said, “I have sinned against God.” His response was not about the embarrassment of getting caught. We read Psalms 51, his song of repentance and see the true heart of repentance. This isn’t David’s final lesson for us this week though. He goes back out to battle. Do you see the significance of that? He screwed up, I mean in the worst way. But, he entered back into a right relationship with God and he didn’t stay down. So many times, when we or someone we know blows it, we believe the lie that we are done; that God is done with us. David, however, got back to what he should have been doing to begin with; leading his army. Did you notice verse 13 in his Psalm of repentance (Psalm 51)? He said that he would “teach the rebellious Your ways.” David was not going to waste his mistake but use it to allow God to teach others. There is much to learn from this one man.