33 Years- Long enough for a King

King David was 30 years old when he became King of Israel.  David Brainerd was 29 when he died.  Robert Murray M'Cheyne was only 29 when he died. 

No one will ever be talked about more than Jesus Christ who lived and died many years ago.  Christ, being the son of God himself, cannot die, so his death was short lived, and he rose again on the third day.  In his 33 years on the earth, more lives were changed than in all the years since and by all the people since.  Every person finds their significance through him, and yet he was here for only 33 years.

I am blessed in many ways.  I am 33 today, the same age that Jesus was when his father was pleased to bruise Him. I'll never accomplish all he did in his short time, and yet,  I would be honored to be used in any way by Him.  In death, or in my 34th year, He keeps me here to use me for something.

Why the God of heaven would allow me to live as long as his own son is a question I'll ponder for quite some time. 

Yahweh and his mighty men

In Kings and Chronicles, God is working just as he is in 2012.  God removes Saul from being king, and replaces him with David.  Significant, I think, is one of the ways Yahweh did this.

In 1 Chronicles chapter 12, God tells us of the mighty men that fought with and for King David.  In gaining him the kingdom, these men were helpful.  Let's see what the Bible says first.

Starting in verse 1: " Now these are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he could not move about freely because of Saul the son of Kish.  And they were among the mighty men who helped him in war.  They were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjaminites, Saul's kinsmen."

After verse 2, their specific names are listed.  Picking up in verse 8:  "From the Gadites there went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were swift as gazelles upon the mountains:  Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab third, Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, Johonan eighth, Elzabad ninth, Jeremiah tenth, Machbannai eleventh.  These Gadites were officers of the army; the least was a match for a hundred men and the greatest for a thousand."

David meets them and says, (paraphrase)  "You can help me if you'd like, and be my friends, but if you don't, God will judge you."  Verse 18:  "Then the Spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said, "We are yours, O David, and with you, O son of Jesse!  Peace, Peace to you, and peace to your helpers!  For your God helps you."  Verse 22:  "For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like an army of God."

Let me list their resume:
1) Skillful Archer
2) Excellent with a sling
3) Ambidextrous
4) Spear and Shield connoisseur
5) Face like a Lion
6) Fast as a gazelle
7) Can kill between 100-1,000 men without a break
8) When combined with others, I feel like an army of God

A couple thoughts.  From least important to most:  Whenever you watch a movie and there are 1,000 bad guys, and one good guy, and that one good guy beats up all the bad guys, and you really question how real any movie really is, think about this.  These men were unequally skillful in combat.  They were mighty men.  The least of them could take out 100, and the best could clean up 1,000.  There really were people like that.  This is amazing.

The most important thing to take away has to do with God.  I would argue that the only reason these men were mighty is because God raised them up for this very purpose.  God planned on making David the King, and in order to do so, he raised up mighty skillful warriors who would swear allegiance to David, and had the capability to destroy his enemies by the handful.  God provided skills to these men and enabled them to kill thousands of God's enemies.  An enemy of David's was an enemy of God's.

Don't let verses 18 and 22 get past you.  18:  "Then the Spirit clothed Amasai.."  God worked through this leader of the men to proclaim allegiance to David.  22:  "there was a great army, like an army of God."  Breathtaking....

Implications?  If you aren't God's anointed for some grand purpose like David, it doesn't mean God doesn't plan to use you for his glory.

These men were unstoppable because they were squarely in the service of the King, and I don't mean David.

Yahweh and the Kings Part 3

Yahweh demands exclusive worship.  As the only God there is, the Lord demands exclusive worship.  He will not take his place alongside the gods, nor is he willing to be displaced by them.  He refuses to be confused with any part of the created order.  He alone will be worshiped, by Israelite and the foreigner alike (1 Kings 8:41-43, 60; 2 Kings 5:15-18; 17:24-41).

This is a daily pursuit and a lifelong pursuit.  We should ask God to give us the desire to pursue Him even after we fail Him each day.  He can make Himself an insatiable desire in your heart and mine, and we ought to long for that as that is what exclusive worship means.

Yahweh and the Kings Part 2

The second theme of the books of the Kings is that Yahweh controls history.  The Lord, and neither an idol god, nor king, nor prophet, controls history  (1 Kings 11:14, 23; 14:1-18; 22:1-38; 2 Kings 5:1-18, 10:32-33; 18:17-19:37).  This is perhaps illustrated most clearing in the way in which prophets function within 1-2 Kings, describing the future before God brings it about (1 Kings 11:29-39, 13:1-32; 16:1-4; 20:13-34; 2 Kings 19:6-7, 20-34).  Nothing can hinder the fulfillment of this prophetic word, although God himself, in his freedom, can override its fulfillment for his own purposes (1 Kings 21:17-29; 2 Kings 3:15-27, where the ending to the story is somewhat unexpected).

This should be an encouragement on two fronts: 

 

1) When people rule over us, and do things that we would never do, or demand things from us that we don’t think are right or fair, we can know that God has planned this “history” we are living in, and we shouldn't fear, or wonder what might happen

 

2) Anger and frustration should begin to cease as we trust Yahweh for his control and plan of history.  When I know that my God plans all things, I know that He is doing something.  It may be “good” or “bad” for me from my perspective, but since He is the one doing it, I only have faith and trust in Him- no need for anger or doubt.

Yahweh and the Kings

In reading through 1^st and 2^nd Samuel, God’s planning of the history is clearly seen.  Completely those two books, I came across some notes introducing some key themes of the books of the Kings that struck me, and are worth sharing. 

Most of this is not my words, but the authors.

The first theme is that Yahweh is the only true God.  There is only one living God, and he is the Lord (1 Kings 18:15, 2 Kings 5:15).  This Lord is not to be confused with the various so-called gods worshiped in Israel and other nations, for these are simply human creations (1 Kings 12:25-30; 2 Kings 17:16, 19:14-19).  They are part of the created order, like the people who worship them; and they are powerless, futile entities (1 Kings 16:13; 18:22-40; 2 Kings 17:15, 18:33-35).  The Lord, by contrast is the incomparable Creator of heaven and earth (1 Kings 8:23, 2 Kings 19:15).  He is utterly distinct from the world that he has created (1 Kings 8:9, 14-21, 27-30).  At the same time, the Lord is powerfully active within his world.  It is he, and no one else, who controls nature (1 Kings 17-19, 2 Kings 1:2-17, 4:8-37, 5:1-18; 6:1-7, 27).

If we don’t have this view of Yahweh, we give ourselves a foothold of pride, and will have the wrong view of ourselves in every event and situation.  The conclusions you make will be wrong if your view of God is wrong.

King David and his God Part 3

Continuing with David:

After David calls upon Yahweh, Yahweh responds in a grand display, and then what does He do when his anointed one is troubled?

Verse 15-20, 28

And he sent out arrows and scattered them;

Lightning, and routed them.

Then the channels of the sea were seen;

The foundations of the world were laid bare,

At the rebuke of the LORD,

At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

He sent from on high, he took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

He rescued me from my strong enemy,

From those who hated me,

For they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a broad place;

He rescued me, because he delighted in me.

 

You save a humble people,

But your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.

 

What did God do?  He destroyed his enemies, and he always has, and always will.  No one can thwart God’s plan, God’s anointed, or God himself.  Arrows, lightning, and whatever uses he deems fit, he will use to defend His honor and His own glory.

This God didn’t protect David from any inconvenience or enemies that were “too mighty for him”  or even from fear of what might happen to him, but Yahweh did deliver Him at the appointed time.  Why? 

Why would God allow all of these ills to befall David when He planned on delivering Him?  I submit this thought:  Would David have written these things down about God if God didn’t do them for him?  How would we then read about God today if God didn’t demonstrated himself in this way to David?

Isn’t that the same as saying that Yahweh did it this way so that you would know Him?  The God of the universe wants you to know that he can protect you, has been protecting his own in a great display of his power for thousands of years.  He will accomplish his purpose.

And lest you think David gets a high opinion of himself after God’s delighting in Him (for more thoughts on this, read John Piper’s book “The Pleasure of God”), he says in verse 28, that God is saving humble people. 

In other words, He saves people that know they don’t deserve it.  That’s you and me.

What a mighty God this is, and how he demands our whole heart in worship!

King David and his God Part 2

Continuing from yesterday:

David calls upon the LORD as his rock, fortress, deliverer, one worthy of praise, and the LORD hears him from his temple.

2 Samuel 22 starting in verse 8

Then the earth reeled and rocked;

The foundations of the heavens trembled

And quaked, because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils,

And devouring fire from his mouth;

Glowing coals flamed forth from him.

He bowed the heavens and came down;

Thick darkness was under his feet.

He rode on a cherub and flew;

He was seen on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness around him his canopy,

Thick clouds, a gathering of water.

Out of the brightness before him

Coals of fire flamed forth.

The LORD thundered from heaven,

And the Most High uttered his voice.

David is the LORD’s anointed servant and King.  David calls upon Yahweh, and Yahweh doesn’t just hear, but he responds in a violent way.  He shakes the planet, and smoke, fire, coals, clouds, darkness accompany him as they are his servants for whatever display He seeks to show his anointed one and His and David’s enemies.  Yahweh thunders from heaven.  Thunders!?  And then speaks. 

We ought to be afraid and very afraid.  We should worship, and seek to worship more.  We should trust Him, and rely on Him for He is the same God today that he showed himself to be to David.  David was his chosen man, and if you are a Christian, you are also chosen.  You have this all-powerful, personal, holy God guiding you, protecting you, and watching you.  What else could you possibly fear other than Him?

King David and his God Part 1

Continuing my trek through the old testament, I have stumbled across David.

In 2 Samuel 22, David has been delivered from his enemies.  He had several might men who pledged their allegiance to him, and lots of protection, but on this great day when all enemies have been suppressed, he doesn’t praise the mighty men who aided him, or his own skillful hand, but Yahweh.  This is what he says:

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold and my refuge,

my savior; you save me from violence.

I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

And I am saved from my enemies.

For the waves of death encompassed me,

The torrents of destruction assailed me,

The cords of Sheol entangled me;

The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the LORD

To my God I called.

From his temple he heard my voice,

And my cry came to his ears.

 

STOP!!!!

Hold it!

David, the 7^th son of Jesse, the one who it seems no one paid attention to, and was tasked with taking care of dumb animals (sheep), says the the God of the Universe is his rock, his fortress, and his deliverer?  This is very personal.  You can read of several people in the books of Samuel and Kings refer to God as “your God” in talking to David and others, but David doesn’t refer to him this way.

David says that God “saves him from violence.”  He says that he “calls upon the LORD, and is saved from his enemies.”  That is very interesting.  Perhaps we should do this first?  I try to figure things out first, and come up with a plan, and maybe that’s just me, but I think I should do what David did.  Ask God.

David isn’t just dealing with a bad stock investment, or a messed up day, or a Monday when he doesn’t want to put in the time to work, he says, “the waves of death, the torrents of destruction, the cords of Sheol are around him”?  The cords of Hell?  Entangle him?  The snares of death confronted him?  What did David do?  Called on the LORD. 

I think the answer is in the last verse (7).  In David’s distress he called on the God whose face can’t be seen, who destroyed the Egyptians, and saved his people, who created the world by his mere breath, who plans all events, and controls the hearts of Kings, and the next sentence is stunning.  “From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.” 

 I am amazed at this.  God heard David.  God can hear me, and he can hear you.  From his high and lofty place,  he hears you.

How God responds is next, and deserves its own day.