June 26, 2005 ~ Westney Heights Baptist Church
The Psalmist writes that there is place we can go where God is not:
Psalm 139:1-16 – O LORD, you have searched me and you know
me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts
from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are
familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know
it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in— behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 ¶ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from
your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I
make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings
of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there
your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If
I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become
night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to
you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light
to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together
in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full
well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the
secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me
were written in your book before one of them came to be.
I began my last message with the question “Does God care?”
and used Jehoshaphat’s battle against the combined armies
of Moab, Ammon and Edom as an example that He does. As you recall,
when Jehoshaphat received word that these armies were marching against
Jerusalem his first reaction was to pray to God. His second reaction
was to obey God. His third reaction was to praise God.
The example I used in that message is one of those “BIG”
events that are more the exception than the rule and rather than
convey the impression that God is only a help in trouble I’d
like to talk this evening on how God is a help at all times, that
there is no aspect of our lives that is removed from His concern.
We will be examining several scenes from the life of King David
to see that God is not only concerned with the major events of our
lives but with each event of our lives.
David first appears during the reign of King Saul when at God’s
command Samuel anoints him to be king after Saul. He is described
as being:
1 Samuel 16:14 – ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome
features.
But he was not chosen to be king because of his appearance. God
had spoken to Samuel earlier about David’s handsome older
brothers:
1 Samuel 16:7 – But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not
consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at
the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
From God’s point of view there was a great difference between
David and his brothers, a difference of the heart. Saul was rejected
because of his disobedience, David was accepted because of his obedience:
1 Samuel 13:13-14 – 13 And Samuel said to Saul, You have acted
foolishly that you have not kept the command of Jehovah your God
which He commanded you. For now Jehovah would have established your
kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not stand.
Jehovah has sought out for Himself a man according to His own heart,
and Jehovah has appointed him as leader over His people. For you
have not kept that which Jehovah commanded you.
So David is anointed to be king over Israel and:
1 Samuel 16:13 – from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came
upon David in power.
Because of David’s attitude toward God he is chosen to be
king over God’s chosen people and, once he is anointed king,
the Spirit of God rests upon David in power. At the same time:
1 Samuel 16:14-18 – the Spirit of the LORD had departed from
Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. 15 Saul’s
attendants said to him, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting
you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone
who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God
comes upon you, and you will feel better." 17 So Saul said
to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him
to me." 18 One of the servants answered, "I have seen
a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is
a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking
man. And the LORD is with him."
Two points are made here:
1/ David is not a child when he appears on the scene but is referred
to as a “brave man and a warrior.”
2/ Those who knew David saw something of the difference that God
saw in him and could say to Saul that “he speaks well and
is a fine looking man. And the LORD is with him.”
It is obvious from the references that others made of David that
he not only loved God but that his love for God could be seen in
how he lived his life. David lived what he believed.
One of the big events of David’s life shows this to good effect.
For years Israel had been at war with the Philistines and shortly
after David was anointed king one of the Philistine champions, a
man named Goliath, struck the armies of Israel with fear:
1 Samuel 17:1-11 – Now the Philistines gathered their forces
for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes
Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled
and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to
meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the
Israelites another, with the valley between them. 4 A champion named
Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He
was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and
wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels;
6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung
on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and
its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went
ahead of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel,
"Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine,
and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him
come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become
your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become
our subjects and serve us." 10 Then the Philistine said, "This
day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each
other." 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and
all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
What I’ve always found amazing about this event is that David
seems to be the only person who acted as though God is in control.
The armies of Israel are made cowards by one man and only David
has the sense to realize that victory does not rely on physical
strength but on God:
1 Samuel 17:34-37 – But David said to Saul, "Your servant
has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear
came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it,
struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on
me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant
has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine
will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the
living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion
and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:40-47 – Then he [David] took his staff in his
hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the
pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand,
approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his
shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He
looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome,
and he despised him. 43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that
you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David
by his gods. 44 "Come here," he said, "and I’ll
give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with
sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name
of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you
have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and
I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give
the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and
the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there
is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it
is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is
the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands."
We learn two significant things about David in his encounter with
the giant:
1/ He trusted God rather than his own strength, and recognized that
God had been the source of his victories over the beasts that threatened
his sheep just as He would be the source of his victory over the
Philistine
2/ He knew that there was no distinction between spiritual and secular
aspects of life but that God is Lord over all
Notice that we don’t see David suddenly switching into spiritual
mode. He is no different during his battle with Goliath than when
he was sent to the Israelite camp by his father.
It is held by many in our culture that spirituality can be isolated
from life, that mowing the lawn has nothing to do with prayer. Hence
the prevalent belief that each person can believe as they wish,
that all faiths are of equal value. What is being overlooked is
that there is a creator of everything and that creator is the God
revealed in the Bible. It logically follows, therefore, that since
He created everything He maintains an interest in it and an active
involvement with it. Jesus alludes to this in one confrontation
with the religious leaders of His day:
John 5:16-17 – So, because Jesus was doing these things on
the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.
17 ¶ Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work
to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18 For this reason
the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking
the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making
himself equal with God.
Jesus was not only making the point that He and The Father are equals
but that The Father continues to work within creation as though
it is a work in progress rather than standing off from it as though
it is a finished work.
Paul continued this thought in messages he preached in Asia and
in Greece:
Acts 14:15-17 – Men, why are you doing this? We too are only
men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you
to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made
heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In the past,
he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself
without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from
heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of
food and fills your hearts with joy.
Acts 17:24-28 – The God who made the world and everything
in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples
built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he
needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath
and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men,
that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the
times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
27 ' God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out
for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
The idea that both Jesus and Paul (and every other writer in the
Bible) are trying to get across is that the rest on the seventh
day was not a rest from labour but a rest from creating. Since that
time God has been active within creation for the glory of His name
and the benefit of mankind.
Unfortunately Christians often buy what their culture is selling
and so many of us have this un-Biblical idea that there are areas
of our lives with which God is not concerned, that there are areas
of our lives where we can do what we want and get away with it because
God just doesn’t care. It may not be a matter of utmost importance
whether you take a shower in the morning or in the evening and it
may not be the highest item on God’s priority list, but the
Bible never teaches that there are areas in our lives where it is
possible to ignore the will of God.
When he was running toward Goliath David may not have been following
the strategy laid out in the Israelite Wartime Manual but he was
almost without a doubt the only man on the battlefield who realized
that God cared about what was going on and would be active in the
outcome. He was offended on God’s behalf and ran to confront
the source of offence and to defend the honour of God and His people.
He knew that God was not isolated from His people for from their
problems, even though the particular problem David faced was larger
than those he would usually face.
For all of his prestige David was just a regular guy. He lived his
life, loved, laughed, fought and died. He committed adultery and
murder. He defended his God. Very rarely do we read about David
when he is not saying something about God. Even in the middle of
his sin with Bathsheba David knew that God was involved:
Psalm 51:1-19 – Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I
know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against
you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you
judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother
conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you
teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 ¶ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and
I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let
the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your
presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the
joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain
me. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will
turn back to you.
14 ¶ Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my
lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not delight
in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt
offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken
and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 In your good
pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19
Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to
delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
But what about your problems, what about your joys, what about your
tears and your laughter. Can these be taken to God? Should they?
Would you? One of the greatest poems of the Bible was written by
David and shows that he was entirely reliant on God for everything.
One thing that I would like you to notice about this psalm is that
David does not refer to the spectacular victories that God has and
would accomplish on behalf of His people. He does not refer the
magnificence of creation. He simply shows that God is in the day-to-day
events of his life, that God is the provider of food and shelter.
He applies the images of a shepherd giving his sheep the necessities
of life to that of God giving His people what they need. The conclusion
is that if God is so interested in our day-to-day affairs and His
concern for these affairs leads naturally into eternity then what
right have we to think that God cares only for the larger issues?
Psalm 23:1-6 – The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in
want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside
quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table
before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with
oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
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