Psalm 51: 10-13
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your Salvation,
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
And the result will be:
Then I will (be qualified to) teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
This is the song David wrote, When Nathan the Prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba (Psalm 51: Title).
David had seen God take His presence and His Spirit away from King Saul, who had such a good beginning. But Saul didn't continue to trust God, and ended up with a demon spirit, driving him insane.
David instead humbled himself before God, confessed his sin, and sought God's forgiveness and favor.
And the result of this was that David would be able to testify of God's great mercy and grace to others who also need His forgiveness.
This is the attitude we all should have, who have experienced God's forgiveness. We also need to testify of God's amazing love and grace, which He offers to every member of this race we call Mankind.
Dear Father, thank you for all You have planned, all You have accomplished so far, and for all you will complete of Your purposes for everything You have created. You do nothing without purpose, and Your purpose for us is to know You. You have revealed Yourself to us in so many ways: In Your Word, in Your Living Word Jesus, in the natural world You placed on this Earth, in the heavenly array of the cosmos around us, and, not least, in our human spirits where You have placed Your own Holy Spirit.
O Father, please continue to draw me ever closer to You, ever searching Your Word and Your Words in all You have made. Help me to want You more than just Your gifts. Help me to want Your Son more than the Salvation He provides. Help me to want Your Spirit more than the knowledge He teaches me.
You have been so good to me, Father, so merciful and gracious. You sent Your Son to be with us as one of us, and He prayed that we could be with Him where He is (John 17:24). So You provided for Him to be sin in our place, so that we could be Your righteousness in His place, on His Throne with Him (II Corinthians 5:21). This is incredible!
I know that You are God, there is no other. You do the impossible that we cannot. You do everything You have decided to do, all Your will. And You will accomplish everything You have planned, to fulfill all the purposes for which You made everything.
Help me, Father, to testify to others of how good and gracious and merciful You are; to show them how You have already met all their needs, as You have mine, and You want them to also know You in the way that You will show Yourself to each and every one that You call to Yourself.
You have chosen to glorify Yourself in us, and I am Your bondslave; sustain me with Your willing Spirit to obey You, doing Your will for me, to promote Your Kingdom and Your rule over all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
David's Sin
II Samuel 11 and 12
Chapter 11 records David's sin.
Chapter 12 tells us of Nathan's confrontation of David and David's response.
12: 13 says, Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die."
When David came to his senses, he immediately confessed his sin, and Nathan let him know that he was immediately forgiven. But he still had to face the consequences of his actions:
Because "you struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own" (12: 9-10)--he always had serious trouble in his own dysfunctional family;
And, Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel (12: 11-12)--His own beloved son Absalom would challenge his throne and humiliate him with his wives (16:21-22);
And, Because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die (12: 14)--he had to forfeit the child conceived in adultery.
God's plan was to have David's immediate heir to his throne be born of Bathsheba: her son Solomon, who God called Jedidiah, "loved by the Lord" (12:25).
God uses even our foolish, poor, sinful choices to further His Program, then, like David, we need to suffer through negative consequences. How much better, though, to wait on God for His way, and reap positive results from good, godly choices, and enjoy His benefits while giving Him the glory.
O my Father, You are so good! You are so generous with us! If we only will come to You, learn Your ways, and live our lives according to Your will for us; then You will give us all the bounty of this Earth, harmony in our family life, peace in our hearts and in our Nations.
But even when we rebel against You and despise Your rules thinking we know better or can hide from You, then we will have to suffer through the painful consequences of our decisions--but Your Plan will continue to unfold, regardless of our choices. So it's our prerogative to decide how we will live our lives.
Please help me to always and continually seek Your face, Your ways, Your good will for me, to bless me with prosperity in every way, and You will receive the credit, all the glory, for what You are doing in my life and in this World.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Chapter 11 records David's sin.
Chapter 12 tells us of Nathan's confrontation of David and David's response.
12: 13 says, Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die."
When David came to his senses, he immediately confessed his sin, and Nathan let him know that he was immediately forgiven. But he still had to face the consequences of his actions:
Because "you struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own" (12: 9-10)--he always had serious trouble in his own dysfunctional family;
And, Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel (12: 11-12)--His own beloved son Absalom would challenge his throne and humiliate him with his wives (16:21-22);
And, Because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die (12: 14)--he had to forfeit the child conceived in adultery.
God's plan was to have David's immediate heir to his throne be born of Bathsheba: her son Solomon, who God called Jedidiah, "loved by the Lord" (12:25).
God uses even our foolish, poor, sinful choices to further His Program, then, like David, we need to suffer through negative consequences. How much better, though, to wait on God for His way, and reap positive results from good, godly choices, and enjoy His benefits while giving Him the glory.
O my Father, You are so good! You are so generous with us! If we only will come to You, learn Your ways, and live our lives according to Your will for us; then You will give us all the bounty of this Earth, harmony in our family life, peace in our hearts and in our Nations.
But even when we rebel against You and despise Your rules thinking we know better or can hide from You, then we will have to suffer through the painful consequences of our decisions--but Your Plan will continue to unfold, regardless of our choices. So it's our prerogative to decide how we will live our lives.
Please help me to always and continually seek Your face, Your ways, Your good will for me, to bless me with prosperity in every way, and You will receive the credit, all the glory, for what You are doing in my life and in this World.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, February 26, 2018
God's Kindness
Psalm 18: 35c
... And Thy gentleness makes me great.
This is a long Psalm, commemorating that God had given him victory over all his enemies and established his position as king over all Israel. All the mighty and violent battles and all the dangers he experienced; all the hard and sharp things of the battles; yet he claims that God's gentleness is what has made him strong. Not His might and strength and vengeance.
I think that David perceived God's dealings with him personally as very gentle and kind. As I have.
No matter how hard the times are, how prickly the issues, how sharp and piercing the pain; God's rescues reveal His gentleness in His strength, and His kindness in His vengeance.
David wanted to show God's kindness to himself by extending kindness to the grandson of his enemy:
II Samuel 9
This chapter records David's kindness to Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson, who was lame in both feet. And Ziba, Saul's servant, became Mephibosheth's servant, along with his 15 sons and his own 20 servants, working Mephibosheth's land that had been Saul's.
And Mephibosheth eats at King David's table with David's own sons regularly.
I am also "lame in both feet," so to say, and I will also sit at my King's table regularly in His Kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
... And Thy gentleness makes me great.
This is a long Psalm, commemorating that God had given him victory over all his enemies and established his position as king over all Israel. All the mighty and violent battles and all the dangers he experienced; all the hard and sharp things of the battles; yet he claims that God's gentleness is what has made him strong. Not His might and strength and vengeance.
I think that David perceived God's dealings with him personally as very gentle and kind. As I have.
No matter how hard the times are, how prickly the issues, how sharp and piercing the pain; God's rescues reveal His gentleness in His strength, and His kindness in His vengeance.
David wanted to show God's kindness to himself by extending kindness to the grandson of his enemy:
II Samuel 9
This chapter records David's kindness to Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson, who was lame in both feet. And Ziba, Saul's servant, became Mephibosheth's servant, along with his 15 sons and his own 20 servants, working Mephibosheth's land that had been Saul's.
And Mephibosheth eats at King David's table with David's own sons regularly.
I am also "lame in both feet," so to say, and I will also sit at my King's table regularly in His Kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, February 25, 2018
God's Plans
II Samuel 7: 2, 11, 16
The king said to Nathan the Prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells within tent curtains."
... The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.
And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.
David wanted to build a house for the Lord to dwell in, a Temple, instead of the tent of the Tabernacle that was carried through the desert for 40 years.
God was pleased that David had concern for the Lord's dwelling place, that he considered that the Lord's house should be grander than his own.
But God told him that He would build a house for him, a dynasty that will last forever. And that his son would build the Temple.
His son Solomon did build the Temple, a magnificent edifice. And David's dynasty had an interruption, but God kept track of it, so that Jesus was born with the genetic and legal right to rule; and He will rule as King forever.
O my Father, thank You so much for Your faithfulness to Your Word! You know what You have planned for this World of people on this Earth, and since You see the end from the beginning, You are able to confidently tell us what You will accomplish, before it comes to pass. You will see to it that it works out just as You have planned.
You have Your Grand Plan of the Universe, and You have also planned out each of our lives, as parts of that Grand Plan. Your Plans are our future, but You see them as our past, already accomplished.
O Father, I am still waiting to see how You will work out my life from this point on. I thought I could see what is coming, a part of it, but even that keeps getting postponed. And I am still stuck here.
Please help me to not be discouraged, but grow my patience as I learn to depend harder on You. I know You love me more than I can imagine, and what You have for me is better than I could want, or even think of.
Help me to think Your thoughts, Father, not my thoughts, so that my ways will conform to Your ways. Give me Your attitudes on all the controversial issues of this day, so that I can work for the benefit of Your Kingdom, not my own little world. Enlarge my boundaries so that I will see with Your eyes and my influence for Your ways will extend to the uttermost part of the Earth.
Then send me, Father, to those far corners to give credence to what I write, to rejoice with those who You have called to Yourself through my meager efforts, anointed with the oil of Your Spirit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The king said to Nathan the Prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells within tent curtains."
... The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.
And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.
David wanted to build a house for the Lord to dwell in, a Temple, instead of the tent of the Tabernacle that was carried through the desert for 40 years.
God was pleased that David had concern for the Lord's dwelling place, that he considered that the Lord's house should be grander than his own.
But God told him that He would build a house for him, a dynasty that will last forever. And that his son would build the Temple.
His son Solomon did build the Temple, a magnificent edifice. And David's dynasty had an interruption, but God kept track of it, so that Jesus was born with the genetic and legal right to rule; and He will rule as King forever.
O my Father, thank You so much for Your faithfulness to Your Word! You know what You have planned for this World of people on this Earth, and since You see the end from the beginning, You are able to confidently tell us what You will accomplish, before it comes to pass. You will see to it that it works out just as You have planned.
You have Your Grand Plan of the Universe, and You have also planned out each of our lives, as parts of that Grand Plan. Your Plans are our future, but You see them as our past, already accomplished.
O Father, I am still waiting to see how You will work out my life from this point on. I thought I could see what is coming, a part of it, but even that keeps getting postponed. And I am still stuck here.
Please help me to not be discouraged, but grow my patience as I learn to depend harder on You. I know You love me more than I can imagine, and what You have for me is better than I could want, or even think of.
Help me to think Your thoughts, Father, not my thoughts, so that my ways will conform to Your ways. Give me Your attitudes on all the controversial issues of this day, so that I can work for the benefit of Your Kingdom, not my own little world. Enlarge my boundaries so that I will see with Your eyes and my influence for Your ways will extend to the uttermost part of the Earth.
Then send me, Father, to those far corners to give credence to what I write, to rejoice with those who You have called to Yourself through my meager efforts, anointed with the oil of Your Spirit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Real Love
II Samuel 1: 26
"I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women."
Ungodly people take this verse and twist its meaning into saying that love means sex, and they say they must have been homosexual. Hogwash!
Jonathan loved David with a simple, pure, brotherly love, even conceding David's right to rule over him as king. Real love is an affectionate wanting the very best for the one loved, regardless of the cost.
None of David's wives really loved him, they had to submit to him as king. Even Michal.
II Samuel 6: 16, 20, 23
Then it happened as the Ark of the Lord came into the City of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart
"... How the King of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today! ..."
And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.
Michal thought she loved David, but she only loved her image of him as a great man of valor and a king. When David took off all of his fancy king's garments and wore only the sleeveless shift that the priests wore while ministering, she saw him as just a common man, as he was, which violated her idea of who she wanted him to be.
All men and women are equal before God, and David knew that. That's why, "The ground at the Foot of the Cross is level," because every person has an equal chance to accept His Sacrifice on His Altar, the Cross, as their personal Sacrifice. That's why He came. That's how much God loves us, loves you.
So, dear reader, please think about and consider that we all deserve death, and Jesus died for each of us, individually. To, "repent and believe," means to admit you deserve death for your wrongdoings, and believe that Jesus took your place on the Cross.
When you have done this, then God will put His Holy Spirit into your spirit, which has been dead, and make it alive with His own Life; then you will have both your human nature and God's, and be able to fulfill His plan for your life. Then you will be on your way to Heaven.
So if you consider your sins only a part of His sufferings, you are still under wrath: He died for all of us corporately for judgment. His death fulfilled all the sacrifices laid out in the Old Testament.
And He is coming soon. Make sure you are ready to meet Him face to face.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
"I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women."
Ungodly people take this verse and twist its meaning into saying that love means sex, and they say they must have been homosexual. Hogwash!
Jonathan loved David with a simple, pure, brotherly love, even conceding David's right to rule over him as king. Real love is an affectionate wanting the very best for the one loved, regardless of the cost.
None of David's wives really loved him, they had to submit to him as king. Even Michal.
II Samuel 6: 16, 20, 23
Then it happened as the Ark of the Lord came into the City of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart
"... How the King of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today! ..."
And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.
Michal thought she loved David, but she only loved her image of him as a great man of valor and a king. When David took off all of his fancy king's garments and wore only the sleeveless shift that the priests wore while ministering, she saw him as just a common man, as he was, which violated her idea of who she wanted him to be.
All men and women are equal before God, and David knew that. That's why, "The ground at the Foot of the Cross is level," because every person has an equal chance to accept His Sacrifice on His Altar, the Cross, as their personal Sacrifice. That's why He came. That's how much God loves us, loves you.
So, dear reader, please think about and consider that we all deserve death, and Jesus died for each of us, individually. To, "repent and believe," means to admit you deserve death for your wrongdoings, and believe that Jesus took your place on the Cross.
When you have done this, then God will put His Holy Spirit into your spirit, which has been dead, and make it alive with His own Life; then you will have both your human nature and God's, and be able to fulfill His plan for your life. Then you will be on your way to Heaven.
So if you consider your sins only a part of His sufferings, you are still under wrath: He died for all of us corporately for judgment. His death fulfilled all the sacrifices laid out in the Old Testament.
And He is coming soon. Make sure you are ready to meet Him face to face.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, February 23, 2018
After God's Own Heart
I Samuel 17: 46-47
Said David to Goliath:
"This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the Earth, that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
"And that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands."
This is David's good beginning. I don't know if he was speaking through his fear, but I can see that fear did not control him. His faith in God caused him to trust God to take control of this battle, as He had promised to do on numerous other occasions when Israel came into this Promised Land.
And David continued to trust God, and tried to always do what God would have him do, even if it was not what he wanted to do.
That's why God said that David was a man after His own heart (I Sam 13:14).
O my Father, I know that David was not perfect, but he did take counsel when what he wanted to do was not right. Help me always to humble myself before You and seek counsel to know what would be right to do before You. Help me always to seek You and Your ways in all my choices and decisions. Help me to continually seek Your ways in my days, and do what pleases You.
May I trust You implicitly, as David did here. May Your Love for me cast out all fear that would try to dissuade me from following Your ways, in not doing what You want me to do; or doing what would be contrary to Your ways and goodness.
And I will never be shaken, even when this whole Earth is shaking under Your wrath and judgment, I will stand firm on Your Word, Your Promises to me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Said David to Goliath:
"This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the Earth, that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
"And that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands."
This is David's good beginning. I don't know if he was speaking through his fear, but I can see that fear did not control him. His faith in God caused him to trust God to take control of this battle, as He had promised to do on numerous other occasions when Israel came into this Promised Land.
And David continued to trust God, and tried to always do what God would have him do, even if it was not what he wanted to do.
That's why God said that David was a man after His own heart (I Sam 13:14).
O my Father, I know that David was not perfect, but he did take counsel when what he wanted to do was not right. Help me always to humble myself before You and seek counsel to know what would be right to do before You. Help me always to seek You and Your ways in all my choices and decisions. Help me to continually seek Your ways in my days, and do what pleases You.
May I trust You implicitly, as David did here. May Your Love for me cast out all fear that would try to dissuade me from following Your ways, in not doing what You want me to do; or doing what would be contrary to Your ways and goodness.
And I will never be shaken, even when this whole Earth is shaking under Your wrath and judgment, I will stand firm on Your Word, Your Promises to me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Saul's Sorry Demise
I Samuel 28
This chapter tells how Saul violated his own edict and consults the witch at Endor. And Samuel actually appears, instead of the witch's familiar, which scares her. And Samuel predicts Saul's sorry demise.
Chapter 31
Records the battle that Israel lost to the Philistines, when Saul and all his sons died.
When Saul began to disregard what God had said and instead listened to his own fears, he started down a slippery slope that ended with his consulting a witch (who had somehow eluded Saul's own purge in 28:3). It is so sorry that Saul had to have such a dark and violent end.
I want always to pay close attention to everything God says, and not think that I ever know better, or want to do life my own way! I want always to seek His face and His ways in all my endeavors, to do what God has told me, and let the consequences fall into His hands to deal with for me.
My own thoughts are not His thoughts, and His ways are not my own ways. I want to dispense with my own thoughts and ways, and learn to think His thoughts for me, and to live my life in His way for me.
I know He loves me more than I can imagine, and His plans for me are for my good, no matter how troublesome or painful the times I may face. My God will always bring the good out of whatever assaults me, when I respond in His way to it.
And I will reap the benefits, both in this World and forever, and He will gain all the praise and honor for what He has done in my life, according to how He has planned it all out.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
This chapter tells how Saul violated his own edict and consults the witch at Endor. And Samuel actually appears, instead of the witch's familiar, which scares her. And Samuel predicts Saul's sorry demise.
Chapter 31
Records the battle that Israel lost to the Philistines, when Saul and all his sons died.
When Saul began to disregard what God had said and instead listened to his own fears, he started down a slippery slope that ended with his consulting a witch (who had somehow eluded Saul's own purge in 28:3). It is so sorry that Saul had to have such a dark and violent end.
I want always to pay close attention to everything God says, and not think that I ever know better, or want to do life my own way! I want always to seek His face and His ways in all my endeavors, to do what God has told me, and let the consequences fall into His hands to deal with for me.
My own thoughts are not His thoughts, and His ways are not my own ways. I want to dispense with my own thoughts and ways, and learn to think His thoughts for me, and to live my life in His way for me.
I know He loves me more than I can imagine, and His plans for me are for my good, no matter how troublesome or painful the times I may face. My God will always bring the good out of whatever assaults me, when I respond in His way to it.
And I will reap the benefits, both in this World and forever, and He will gain all the praise and honor for what He has done in my life, according to how He has planned it all out.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
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