Today’s weather report from heaven: Sunny and bright with an abundance of light, and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”- Jeremiah 29:13
Insight:As we’ve been discussing the practical life lessons we can learn and apply to our own lives through the stories of the real life Bible Heroes, today we will look again to David. David is one of my favorite heroes of the Bible, and I have learned so much from Him alone. If we are going to study anyone, I would say David should be at the top of the list as He is the only person God ever referred to in the Bible as “A man after my own heart,” in Acts 13:22. This comment in itself is amazing because we know David was amongst other things an Adulterer and a Murderer, who in fact had his best friend Uriah killed so he could have his wife Bathsheba to himself. Many non-believers will point to certain events in scripture like this and say how can this be true? How can God say that about such a flawed man? But we must always remember that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and we all fall short of the glory of God. So when we look at David’s life, we must ask ourselves why did God say that about David, despite all his flaws and sinful choices, and what did he see in David? I think the key word is authenticity. David was authentic in his pursuit of God and in his relationship with Him.
David didn’t lack alignment in his life. He clearly had God at the top of his life pyramid and everything else came after that. God was first place in his mind and his heart, and that is why he was such a successful leader and effective servant of the Lord. God can only use us to the degree to which we are willing to abandon ourselves to him. Our effectiveness for God’s Kingdom is directly proportional to our level of surrender. The more we surrender, the more God can use us. We all will face many, many different trials and tribulations in this life, but we can certainly learn valuable lessons about how to triumph in this life by reading about the Biblical Heroes such as King David. More than anything, David prayed fervently to God about all aspects of his life. His relationship with God was nothing if not authentic, and boy does this world need that type of authenticity right now. We all need to be authentic in our relationship with God, but many feel like they can’t openly share their true emotions with Him. I think that is a mindset that is very detrimental to our worship of the Creator of the Universe. David never had this problem, he let God know his feelings, both good and bad, in terms we can all relate to. Whether David was frustrated, scared, angry, confused, grateful, ecstatic, depressed, hurt, lonely, impressed, reliant, joyful or many other emotions, he always told God exactly how he felt. The authenticity of David’s relationship with God is best seen through the verse above from Jeremiah 29:13 that says ““You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” David no doubt sought God above all else and he sought Him with all his heart!
If you just look at the prayers of David in the Psalms, of which David is attributed with writing 75 out of the 150 Psalms in the Bible, you can see an authenticity that is unparalleled in scripture. David complained to God, questioned God, cried out to God, feared God, praised and worshipped God, became bewildered by God, didn’t understand God, loved God, thanked God, pleaded with God, felt accursed by God, sought God, depended on God, and considered God his friend, all in the same book of Scripture in the Psalms. That is real life and David let his raw emotions pour out to God like we would to our own best friend or loved one. One thing David never did was sugarcoat how he felt. He knew he worshipped a God who was big enough to handle anything he laid before Him. We can learn a lot about how we should approach God by studying the authentic prayers of David in the Book of Psalms.
David teaches us to keep praying and to never give up. He shows us what steadfastness looks like. “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1). David had to endure long periods of waiting on the Lord in his life. In fact, in the waiting David was utterly confused and many times cried out to the Lord- Why? What are you doing Lord? But the confusion David experienced was most likely part of God’s plan for David’s life to have him fully surrender his life to God and to wait upon the Lord and trust in his plan. Scholars estimate there was approximately 15-20 years between the time Samuel anointed David to replace Saul as the King of Israel and when he actually became King. That is a long time to wait and many things happened to David during this time that severely tested his faith and belief in God’s plan and most likely led to great confusion and despair, especially when Saul was trying to kill David. But David learned the great lessons that come from waiting on the Lord, especially during those seasons of life that made no sense to him. These times greatly improved his intimacy with and dependence upon the Lord. He learned to find great value in the waiting, which caused him to say things like “Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed” (Psalm 25:3) and “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). During this time of waiting, we are often made aware of just how sinful our life is, and we have an opportunity to repent and draw closer to God- what we refer to as “fearing the Lord,” or we can turn inward and try to hide or run from the Lord. But like David himself found out, I have found that never works out very well or for very long. We quickly realize there is no place to hide from the Lord. Nor is there anyone we need or who can help us more than the Lord. We all need to stop running from God and instead learn to be still in His presence, and let Him teach us what we need desperately to learn. When we seek him authentically, and with all of our heart, He promises we will find Him. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”- Jeremiah 29:13
Prayer: Father God, help us set aside lesser things and truly seek You first in our lives. You are the only One who can help give us what we truly desire. Let us align our lives in a way where we seek you first, above all else. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen!
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