May the mumbling commence!
David had the skill of waiting on
the Lord even in the hardest of circumstances.
For example, not long after David became king over all of Israel, the
Philistines gathered to attack him. Read
from Second Samuel chapter five:
When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel,
they mobilized all their forces to
capture him. But David was told they were coming and went into the stronghold. The Philistines
arrived and spread out across the valley of Rephaim. So David asked the Lord,
"Should I go out to fight the
Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?"
The Lord replied, "Yes, go ahead. I
will certainly give you the victory."
So David went to Baal-perazim
and defeated the Philistines there. "The Lord
has done it!" David exclaimed. "He burst through my enemies like a
raging flood!" So David named that place Baal-perazim (which means
"the Lord who bursts through").
The Philistines had abandoned their idols there, so David and his troops
confiscated them.
But after a while the Philistines returned
and again spread out across the valley of Rephaim. And once
again David asked the Lord
what to do. "Do not attack them straight on," the Lord replied. "Instead, circle around behind them and
attack them near the balsam trees. When
you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the balsam trees, attack!
That will be the signal that the Lord
is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistines." So David did
what the Lord commanded, and he
struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
(Verses 17-25)
Both times the Philistines
surrounded David’s stronghold, David took time to call upon the Lord. And he listened and obeyed the command of the
Lord. Would that we would do the same in
the times of our distress!
Too often, we live lives more in
parallel with our many and fallen spiritual ancestors. Read from Stephen’s address to the spiritual
leaders of his day – as recorded in Acts chapter seven:
"Moses himself told the people of Israel, 'God will raise up a Prophet
like me from among your own people.' Moses was with the assembly of God's people in
the wilderness. He was the mediator between the people of Israel and the angel
who gave him life-giving words on Mount Sinai to pass on to us.
But our ancestors rejected Moses and wanted
to return to Egypt. They told Aaron,
'Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don't know what has become of this
Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.' So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and
they sacrificed to it and rejoiced in this thing they had made. Then God turned
away from them and gave them up to serve the sun, moon, and stars as their
gods! In the book of the prophets it is written,
'Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices
during those forty years in the
wilderness, Israel?
No, your real interest was in your pagan gods –
the shrine of Molech, the
star god Rephan,
and the images you made to worship them.
So I will send
you into captivity far away in Babylon.'
Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle with them through the wilderness. It
was constructed in exact accordance with the plan shown to Moses by God. Years later, when Joshua led the battles
against the Gentile nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was
taken with them into their new territory. And it was used there until the time
of King David.
David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a
permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. But
it was Solomon who actually built it. However,
the Most High doesn't live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet
says,
'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Could you ever build me a temple as good as that?'
asks the Lord. '
Could you build a dwelling place for me?
Didn't I make everything in heaven and earth?'
You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?
But your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn't
persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous
One – the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You
deliberately disobeyed God's law, though you received it from the hands of
angels.” (Verses
27-53)
Let’s never reject the prophets
that the Lord sends to us – past, present, and future prophets. May we judge our prophets in how they relate
to the Righteous One, the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus the Christ – especially in
our times of great duress.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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