At the End
We are
ever more closely approaching the end of David’s reign. We’ve seen his brilliant military
successes. We’ve watched his failings in
terms of family and community. We have
seen him unite the nation under him but then not manage to completely hold it
together completely united. It’s been a
great and epic story. There can be
little doubt as to why the Hebrew people love David as much as they do. He was not perfect, but he was someone with
whom all of us should be able to identify.
The Oracle
Hear at
the end we receive an oracle. It as an
oracle spoken through David; but it is an oracle spoken by God. I think this first point is a great testimony
to remember humility. This past weekend
I was listening to a pastor talking about the definition of a miracle. He said that a miracle was an event that is
unexplainable. By definition a miracle
is something that is beyond the control of any human being. After all, if a human being can control it
and reproduce it, then it doesn’t mean that it is necessarily from God. But if it is something that a human being
cannot control or reproduce on their own power, then it is from a higher power
– one we would call God.
Such is
scripture. Such is true preaching. Such is truly inspired writing. All of these things may be “done” by the
human hand or human mouth, but the power that is contained within them goes far
beyond what the human could intend or accomplish. Ever listen to a pastor preaching who seemed
to be speaking directly to your life?
That pastor may be saying the words, but it is the Holy Spirit who is speaking
them to you. Ever read a book that
touched a chord with you almost immediately?
A human may have penned those words, but it is the Holy Spirit taking
those words and speaking them directly into you.
When God
works that way, it is an awesome thing to behold. It is the power of scripture. It is what allows any of us to anything
meaningful for the kingdom of God.
So what
does the Spirit of God say through David?
Largely, the Spirit says two overarching themes. First, the Spirit talks in terms of
justice. God expects us to live just
lives with respect to ourselves and our neighbors. When we are just, things go well in
community. Notice that I didn’t say
perfectly, because even in justice the taint of sin from others can enter in
simply because human beings are involved!
If we look
back on David’s life, the times when he was walking close to God were the times
when he made just decisions in his life – when he dealt with Saul, his relationship
with Jonathon, etc. However, if we look
back to the times when David was walking away from God it was when his
decisions weren’t just – living among the Philistines, Bathsheba, dealing with
the rivalries among his children, etc.
Through David, God lifts up this idea of living a just life.
The other
topic that the Lord speaks through David is much more eternal. God tells us about the eternal covenant that
is to be made. This is not just a
message of hope as we typically hear it.
Sure, it brings us great hope to know that God has established a
covenant with us eternally. However, it
is a message of security as well. We can
be secure knowing that if God has made a covenant that it will always be
there. This is the greatness of walking
with God. Not only can we trust God’s
Word and hope in the eternal aspect; we can trust God’s Word and know that the
promise is never going anywhere.
Mighty Men
I’ve only
left a small space for us to talk about David’s 30 mighty men. I’ve done that intentionally, because I don’t
want to exalt the works of people over the glory of God. But there are a few life lessons we can pick
up here. First, these are David’s elite
corps. These are not the “lay soldiers”
who tended the farms and came out just when the call to war was issued. That isn’t meant as an insult, just recognition
of a different calling. Rather, these
are the soldiers who permanently answered the call to be in David’s army. These are the core of his army, his go-to
guys, and the ones he could trust to accomplish the task. These are the ones who heard the call and
quite literally dropped everything to pick up this new life with David. In these men and their answer to the call we
might find a rough parallel to the disciples around Jesus.
That
brings us to another lesson. These men
were loyal. They stood when everyone
else ran. They put their life on the
line to go into dangerous places because it was the will of their “head.” They accomplished things not because of the
mass of people working with them but because they were empowered by the Lord to
accomplish them. Here I think we can
really see a true parallel between these men and the disciples around
Jesus. They were not just willing to
answer the call; they were fiercely loyal to the call.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment