Tag David

When All You Have is God

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Photo by Greg Willson on Unsplash

Near the end of Book 3 in the Psalms (43-89), several Psalms read like cries for help by writers at the end of their rope.  In Psalm 86:14, for example, David writes: “O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.”  While the exact circumstance is unclear, David knows there is a wide conspiracy against him, and his only hope is to turn to God.  The Psalm opens with “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.”

Likewise, when we feel desperate and don’t know where to turn, these Psalms remind us that God will never turn us away.  On Psalm 86 John Calvin comments that “the more severely any one is oppressed, and the more destitute he is of the resources of human aid, the more inclined is God graciously to help him. That despair therefore may not overwhelm our minds under our greatest afflictions, let us support ourselves from the consideration that the Holy Spirit has dictated this prayer for the poor and the afflicted.”  In other words, because these Psalms are in the Bible, we can be sure that, no matter the mess our own choices or the actions of others have put us in, God in His steadfast love will listen.

Throughout the Psalm, David writes reminders of the character and works of God as a contrast to both his circumstances and his feelings of futility.  Like him we must always remember that our character is never so bad that God loving us is inconsistent with His character, and that our circumstances are never so bad that loving us is beyond His power to achieve.

When all you have is God, He is enough.

Even for the most desperate, there is always a way out, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” In Psalm 86, David does not just pray for a miraculous deliverance, but in verse 11, David looks for the way of escape: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”  A united heart is one that feels no anxiety because it knows it is seeking God’s will and willing to act on it based on reverence for Him.  God may urge us to merely wait for His deliverance, or prod us to actions we may not expect, but in all cases, He knows the way, because He is the Way. Only He can unite our hearts.

Bring your desperate anxiety to Him and let Him show you the way forward.  When all you have is God, He is enough.  When you feel your faith is weak because you can’t see or feel God in your life or the world around you, begin with “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy,” and He will listen.

Peacemaking Stones

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In the Old Testament, King David wanted to build a temple for God, reasoning that people lived in houses, but God has only ever lived in a tabernacle (tent).  Why should people live in a nicer place than God?  However, David was not allowed to build the temple, but God said his son Solomon would build it.  David gives the reason in a speech to Israel from 1 Chronicles 28:2-3:

“I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.  But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’” (emphasis mine)

Since becoming king, David had to fight many of Israel’s neighbors in order to establish peace, which was accomplished by Solomon’s time as king.  But David was not idle regarding the temple; he made many preparations to make Solomon’s job easier when the time came.  After David’s death, Solomon, preparing for construction, worked with Hiram king of Tyre to secure lumber.  In his letter to Hiram, Solomon wrote:

“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.  But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.” – 1 Kings 5:3-4

God wanted His temple – His dwelling place – built under peaceful conditions, by a peaceful leader, not by a warrior.  Under Solomon’s leadership, God’s temple was completed.

Solomon’s temple is no more, but God is now building another temple – another dwelling place – His church.  How do we know this?  Peter wrote that Christians as “living stones are being built up as a spiritual house”[1] and Paul that Christians “also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”[2]  God now spiritually lives in and among His people, not in a physical building.

What does David and Solomon’s experience teach us about the temple God is now building?  We know that Solomon’s temple had to be built by peaceful people, and Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:9, that:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

In the Greek language used in the New Testament, the word for peace comes from the verb “to join,” so peacemaking has to do with joining people together.  Between believers, this means that the more we live like Christ, the more we are able to join together in unity.  From believers to unbelievers, this “joining” means we offer them the love Christ gave us and hope and pray they will join with Him.  When discussing all issues non-essential to salvation, this means we seek to join and not separate, to promote peace instead of discord.

So, with God now building a temple of peacemakers, Paul urges us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[3]  Pray that this Spirit can grow in each of us and in His people worldwide!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

[1] 1 Peter 2:5
[2] Ephesians 2:22
[3] Ephesians 4:3

“Let Not the Flood Sweep Over Me”

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A recent post was about Jeremiah’s comparison of false religion to a broken cistern, with God alternatively being “the fountain of living waters.”[1]  Jeremiah lived when most of God’s people – including most of the priests and prophets – had turned from Him to follow other gods.  As Jeremiah remained faithful, correctly predicting that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon, he was persecuted, including this instance in Jeremiah 38:6, where King Zedekiah’s officials “took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.”

Since God is “the fountain of living waters,” the only path to eternal blessing, it’s incredibly ironic that Jeremiah, one of the few remaining faithful prophets and therefore a rare source of God’s “living waters,” should be cast into a cistern with no water.  Perhaps it was broken.  King Zedekiah thought he could silence the “living waters” Jeremiah represented by casting them into a cistern, trading truth for falsehood.

Photo by Mishal Ibrahim on Unsplash

Later, Jeremiah seems to recall the cistern experience in Lamentations 3:52-57, where he said:

“I have been hunted like a bird
            by those who were my enemies without cause;
they flung me alive into the pit
            and cast stones on me;
water closed over my head;
            I said, ‘I am lost.’
‘I called on your name, O LORD,
            from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
            your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
            you said, ‘Do not fear!’”

Returning to the book of Jeremiah, we read that Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, heard of Jeremiah’s situation and pleaded his case: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”[2]  This unlikely source – a foreigner – was Jeremiah’s deliverance from God to rescue Jeremiah from the well.  Ebed-melech gathered 30 men, “Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.”

Jeremiah was not the only Old Testament figure to suffer for his faithfulness.  Many years earlier, King David also referred to “sinking in the mire” in the Messianic Psalm 69, verses 14-15:

“Deliver me
            from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
            and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
            or the deep swallow me up,
            or the pit close its mouth over me.”

David knew this feeling of sinking came not because of his sin, but when he was faithfully serving his Lord.  David’s “sinking in the mire” happened under these circumstances from verse 9 of the same Psalm:

“For zeal for your house has consumed me,
            and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”

In Jeremiah’s case, as well as David’s and that of Jesus, whom Psalm 69 foreshadowed[3], we know we that cannot judge our faithfulness based on whether it improves our circumstances.  When we do, we might stop being faithful because it seems we are “sinking in the mire.”  Being reproached by the world and feeling down aren’t the circumstances we prefer, but “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[4]  Through these and all other circumstances, God develops in us deeper trust in Him.

Therefore, with David may we pray:

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
            At an acceptable time, O God,
            in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” – Psalm 69:13

And in His time, He will deliver us, perhaps in ways we don’t expect.

Coda

In 1995, Christian rock group Jars of Clay released their self-titled album, and the track “Flood” has similar themes to this post.  The song was also a mainstream hit, charting as high as No. 12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,[5] amazing for a song that is essentially a prayer like David’s in Psalm 69.

You can check out the song’s lyrics here: https://genius.com/Jars-of-clay-flood-lyrics

Or, if you have 3 ½ minutes, watch the music video here:

[1] Jeremiah 3:13
[2] Jeremiah 38:9
[3] John 2:17, 15:25, Acts 1:20, Romans 11:9-10, 15:3
[4] Matthew 5:10
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_(Jars_of_Clay_song)

Praying for Our Leaders

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King David was known as a man who sought God’s will in all things, even though he often failed.  The Psalms record many of his prayers for God to guide him and make him a good leader.  Psalm 26 is one of these prayers, and verses 8-10 include good objectives for any leader:

“O LORD, I love the habitation of your house
            and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
            nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
in whose hands are evil devices,
            and whose right hands are full of bribes.”

Sometimes we may not know how to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions,”[1] as Paul suggests, but in this cry to God, David gives us at least 3 things to pray about.  He lists qualities he wanted to pursue, and some he wanted to avoid, but which are good for any leader.  Therefore, on the model of Psalm 26, we can pray for the leaders of our countries and communities today.

We can pray for political leaders who:

  • worship God (who “love the habitation of your house”)
  • do not seek violence and vengeance (who are not “bloodthirsty men”), and
  • are not corrupted by money (whose hands are not “full of bribes”)

All leaders can use our prayers today!

[1] 1 Timothy 2:2

Ebenezer in the Wilderness

Todd R 2 Comments

In the ESV Bible, the phrase “but God” appears 43 times, changing the direction of the story.  An Ebenezer is a “stone of help,” or reminder of God’s benefit to His people in the past, providing strength for the present and future.  Ebenezer the squirrel, this blog’s mascot, represents these “but God” memorials the Bible records of God’s intervention in the world and in our lives.  As a squirrel can unexpectedly draw our attention, I write about these moments to draw our attention to God as a reminder that adding God to our circumstances can change everything.  One of these instances comes at a key point in David’s life.

Prior to becoming Israel’s second king, David may have spent a decade in exile, running from Saul, Israel’s first king.  Saul was extremely insecure and jealous of David and sought to kill him for years.  In 1 Samuel 23 there is a story about Keilah, a border town in Judah that was near the Philistine city of Gath.  Bands of Philistines were stealing grain from Keilah and David heard of it.  This small border town may not have interested Saul, but David prayed to God about whether to rescue it.  After getting affirmation from God, David and his men rescued the town.

Saul, with spies everywhere, heard that David was staying in Keilah and planned to besiege the town, probably to starve the people until they gave David up.  In other words, Saul hated David so much and wanted him dead that he would attack a town in his own territory.  Saul was persistent and not interested in seeking (or following) God’s guidance.

David, informed by God that the people of Keilah would give him up to Saul, fled into the wilderness again, then we get to verse 14 of the chapter:

“And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.” (emphasis added)

Saul sought David “every day, but God” was on David’s side, and “did not give him into his hand.”  It wouldn’t matter how hard Saul tried – hunting David while he should have been minding his kingdom – David would not be caught unless God allowed it.

As the story continues, Saul is informed that David is hiding in the wilderness of Maon (verse 25).  Then, “As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.’  So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.” (verses 26b-28)

While the news of this Philistine raid may seem like mere coincidence, I don’t believe it was.  First, the timing worked out just right, as David seemed cornered by Saul and his men.  Second, Saul was not concerned about raids on Keilah – why is he concerned this time?  “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will,” says Proverbs 21:1.  Perhaps this was one of God’s ways to “not give him into his hand.” While Ebenezer means “stone of help,” David found a “Rock of Escape,” and God can be our escape as well.  When we feel threatened by enemies – physical or spiritual – remember that God watches over His people.  Those enemies may seem overwhelming, “but God” will not give us into their hand unless He knows it will benefit us and our faith, for “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  God changes every story for the betterment of His people.

Amen.