The Life of David

It's been about two months since my last blog post about Caleb and Joshua. I've covered a lot of ground in those two months. I am currently reading First Kings. I've been studying the man David, the man after God's own heart, and it is truly amazing how much information we have about David in scripture. This great worshiper, warrior, King- literally covers hundreds of pages in scripture.

I've been listening to a thirty part series on the life of David and it is really just too much to even summarize in a blog post, so I thought I would just do a little commercial, a plug to encourage others to study this man.

For me it begins in the book of Ruth. A beautiful story about loyalty and redemption. The book of Ruth culminates with the birth of David's grandfather, Obed. Scholars don't really know who actually wrote the book of Ruth, but my humble opinion is that it was David. My only reason for saying that is because I use to love listening to my grandpa tell stories about his parents and grandparents. Who is more inspired to write down grandpa's stories than one of his own grandkids? Who else even sees the value in the day grandpa was born? I imagine Obed being told the story of Ruth over and over again by his own grandma Naomi. Obed retells it to Jesse and the grandkids, and when one of those grandkids of his becomes King of all Israel the story becomes part of her story to tell as well.

Most of us know the stories of David's young life; Samuel anointing him as king, Goliath, his friendship with Jonathan....

We even know the stories of his son Solomon who becomes a wise and wealthy king.

And then the kingdom is taken from the hands of his grandsons as God brings judgment on a nation for turning to other gods, again.

So from great-great grandmother Naomi to David's grandchildren we have a lot of information about his life, but what fascinates me is the depth of his heart that we find in the book of psalms, and the depth of the wisdom of his son, Solomon that we find in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Literally hundreds of pages of music, poetry and emotion.

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE music, poetry and emotion. I can't get enough of it.

There is so much to learn from David's heart. The way he loved God is in my opinion unmatched in scripture, except by perhaps the apostle John. If you want to learn what it looks like to love God, study these two guys together- David and John. They weren't perfect men, but they were confident in the love of God and they knew what they looked like through his eyes.

Through David we get this huge window into God's heart and what He is like. Loads and loads and loads of insight that isn't found in scripture prior to David's life.

I could write a book about this stuff, but this is just a commercial.

If you haven't read this stuff in a while I encourage you- read it. Read the stories with the Psalms- realizing it is the same guy. A little boy taken from the back hills of Bethlehem, playing his guitar (harp) out with the sheep alone, day after day after day, growing in the knowledge of God and then elevated to the place of King by the age of 30 by the hand of God. Follow his life and see how that heart and life before God that he cultivated as a child never left him. He never held on to his position, it was never his greatest identity- his identity was always rooted in being a lover of God.

When he sinned, he owned it before the God he loved and was truly broken. He knows things about the personality and nature of God that few others know and through the Living Word of God he is eager to reveal them to us through his life.

Fascinating stuff- time consuming, yes, but well worth the journey.

Maintaining a right view of God

(In case you are reading along: Numbers chapters 13 and 14; Deuteronomy chapters 1 and 2)

Have you ever thought about Caleb son of Jephunneh or Joshua son of Nun? I mean really thought about them?

You probably remember they were 2 of the 12 men that went up as spies into the promised land. They saw how good the land was that God wanted to give them and they came back ready to lead the armies of Israel  to victory and into the destiny God had for their generation. The other 10 men however convinced all of Israel that it couldn't be done. The men were too big, the cities too fortified- it couldn't be done.

All of Israel became discouraged and afraid, and began grumbling against God saying, "The LORD hates us....He brought us out of Egypt to destroy us" (Deut 1:27 paraphrased).

This angered God and he 'solemnly swore' that none of that generation would see the promised land. They would die in the desert and their 'little ones' would be the ones to possess the land.....40 years later. Caleb and Joshua would be the only ones from that generation to be a part of possessing the land, but as old men no longer in their prime.

Can you picture these two men, warriors in their prime, brave, strong, energetic, willing, capable, eager, motivated, inspired. They knew their own history. They knew that this land had been promised to their ancestor, Abraham, nearly 600 years prior. They knew of the 400 years that their people had spent as slaves in Egypt. They had experienced as young boys the miracles in the desert, seen the tabernacle be built, saw the fire of God come down and consume the sacrifices. They had spent their entire childhood following a pillar of fire at night and the cloud of God's presence by day resting over the tabernacle. They had seen the radiant glowing face of Moses after he had spoken face to face with God.

And here they were at the edge of the desert; it was their generation that was to see the promise of God fulfilled. Their generation would be the ones to fight the battles, to tell the stories of how God scattered their enemies and gave them the very land that had been promised to Abraham. The land that Isaac had worked. The land were Jacob had wrestled with God and seen the angels ascending and descending into heaven. They were standing at the edge of their destiny in the heart of God. But the other men, the rest of their generation refused to believe God....and as a result their generation missed it. Instead of going down in history as the greatest generation in Israel's history they went into the books as the ones that missed it....and died in the desert instead.

In Numbers it says that Caleb and Joshua tore their clothes.

Caleb and Joshua were wholehearted followers of God, living in a generation that had a wrong view of God and it cost them their destiny and 40 more years in the brutal desert.

In Deuteronomy 1:29 through the end of the chapter, Moses lays out some very important points on maintaining a right view of God.

#1- Remember your history in God

       Moses reminds them about the mighty things God did when he brought all 3 million of them up out of Egypt. Remembering God's power demonstrated in the resurrection of Jesus freeing us from the power of sin and death is key to maintaining a right view of God.

#2- Know Him as Father

       Moses reminds them that "God carried you as a father carries his son." The Israelites had lost sight of that and were instead saying, "He hates us and wants to destroy us." Knowing the Father Heart of God is KEY in maintaining a right view of God.

#3- Abiding in His presence

        Moses reminds them how the presence of God is with them, "He went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go." God's presence leads us and guides us. When we stop abiding in His presence we are no longer relating rightly to God.

#4- Resist the temptation to need to know all the details.

        The Israelites wanted to scout out the land, which was fine, but it left them exposed to losing their focus. They took their eyes off of God and what He was saying and doing and instead began to focus on their own inabilities, weakness, fear and doubt. At this point they have lost sight of God.

#5- If you find yourself bound up by fear, overwhelmed in the details, full of doubt- Do not proceed!!!

         Stop, turn around, start over, go back and get a right view of God before proceeding. If you proceed without a right view of God YOU WILL FAIL. Trying to obey His commands without trusting Him will get you hurt.

#6- God is looking for wholehearted followers that maintain a right view of who He is. If He does not find that kind of faith he will look to the next generation to accomplish His purposes on the Earth.

If God has purposed something in your heart, if He has given you vision for something, do not let anyone take that from you. Even if you are only one or two against the multitude don't give in. When everyone else is full of fear, worry and doubt and they try to terrify you with stories of 'giants.' Do what Caleb and Joshua did- tear your clothes, fall on your face, cry out to God and refuse to go the way of a 'wicked' generation that does not trust in God. When the situation you face seems impossible, scary and life threatening refuse to believe the lie that God hates you and wants to destroy you. As a father carries his son, so your God will carry you. Whatever the cost- maintain a right view of God. Be full of courage and believe Him to do all that He has promised to do through you.

Providing for the Poor

Leviticus is one of those books that is often skimmed or skipped by many bible readers, but I honestly must say that I actually enjoy it. I know that sounds incredibly odd but there really is so much information about the temple, the priests and sacrificial worship. The writer of Hebrews tells us that all these things were just shadows of the things above.

In my observations and research I came across the concept that the instructions that Moses receives in many ways parellels the creation story. In other words, the blueprints for the temple given to Moses by God was God once again setting up a place that he might dwell among his people. They would be His people and He would be their God as it was in the garden.

I think I could have actually written several blog posts on Leviticus but out of all the gems and treasures I encountered the one I'd like to share is found in chapter 23 verse 22, " When you reap the  harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God."

This instruction to not harvest to the edges of the field almost immediately brought to mind the phrase, "live within your means." which in its self is wisdom for many reasons and yet it is so rare in today's world to actually find people that live within theirs means. In our world of ever increasing debt, we not only reap to the very edge of our field but we often reep from fields that are not our own. We live off barrowed harvest to the point that next years harvest is already accounted for before we even plant it, so to speak.

But not only were the Israelites commanded not to reap to the edge of their fields but God gives us the reason behind it as well. So that the poor can be provided for. That is a revolutionary idea. It gives the idea of living within your means a purpose beyond self.  John and I have often talked about how we desire to always live within or below or means, and we want to be generous people. But I don't think we have ever tied them so closely together as this verse does. Let us live within our means so that we will have something to give to the poor.

When you think about the tithe in scripture many people can say they believe and live by the principle that the tithe belongs to God, but how many believe and obey this teaching that the edges of their field belong to the poor. The gleanings belong to the poor. In God's economy they do.

It is hard to imagine a community of people that would not only live within their means but would also provide the local church with a means to exist with their tithe and provide for the poor in their local community with the edges of their fields and their gleenings, their surplus, their profit. How very very unamerican. But yet an invisible God gives us a picture of His kind of economy.

What if God's people lived like this? What if God's people went against the grain in society and lived so far within their means, committed to a simple lifestyle, that they were able to give the first 10% to the local church and then after meeting their own basic needs, shared the rest with the poor?

God puts forth such an expectation for His people and follows it with, " I am the LORD your God."

In essence I hear Him say in that one sentence, " I am the LORD. I am God. Put your trust in me! Don't trust in what your hands can provide. Don't trust in wealth. Don't put your hope in the rain and the soil to provide for you. Put your hope in ME. I am the LORD your God! I will bless you and I will bless others through you. You are my people and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed."

Oh, what God does with hearts that aren't bound up in fear, that aren't imprisoned to materialism. Hearts free from greed and full of compassion toward the poor. Hearts that some how grasp the great mystery that we are in divine relationship with the Creator God, and that relationship with the divine is directly mirrored in our relationship with humanity. God has made it impossible to love Him or know Him apart from loving the poor of the earth. He always identifies with them. In the words of Christ we hear the same message, "Whatever you have done to one of the least of these, you have done to me."