Then David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim. And the Philistines abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away. Now the Philistines came up once again and overran the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord… (2 Samuel 5:20-23).
David was facing the same enemy on the same battlefield. Yet David did presume that God wanted him to attack the Philistines in the same way as before, or even that he was supposed to attack them at all.
“So David inquired again of God.”
The Philistines carried out yet another raid in the valley. David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the baka-shrubs.” … David did just as God had commanded him, and they defeated the army of the Philistines from Gibeon even as far as Gezer (1 Chronicles 14:13-14, 16).
It was the same situation and same enemy, but David asked God how to proceed. God gave David a new strategy for this second situation, “David did just as God had commanded him” and won another victory.
After this genealogy, we read that an angel says to Joseph, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). And then notice this commentary from Matthew—
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22-23)
Matthew says, “all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said.” All what? Everything that came before that statement: the genealogy with all its exceptional items, the 70-year exile of the Jewish people, the Immaculate Conception, the fulfillment of a 700-year-old prophecy.
I find this absolutely astounding! And so, apparently, did Joseph!
But remember that Jesus is not only “the son of David” but He is also called a “son of Abraham.” This means that Jesus came to be more than just the King of the Jews.
We have a cliché that says something like, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.” By this, we mean that sometimes in the moment we only see one large tree or obstacle in front of us and we miss seeing the majesty of the whole forest. Or maybe we only see the obstacle and not the path that would take us where we need to go.
We are living between the Advents now so you would think that we have a good “forest” perspective, but even we sometimes get bogged down in the moment, wondering what God is doing. The story of Abraham should help us to see the whole forest of God’s plan a little better.
In Genesis 12:1-3 we read God’s promise to Abraham that all people on earth would be blessed by his obedience to God’s call. Listen to the opening words of Stephen’s sermon as he looked back on this—
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. “Leave your country and your people,” God said, “and go to the land I will show you.” So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. (Acts 7:2-4)
Stephen reminds us that God spoke to Abraham while he was still living in Mesopotamia. Abraham must have shared this promise with his father because in Genesis 11:31 we read that Terah takes Abraham, Sarah, and Lot with him to make this journey, but they only traveled as far as Harran.
Why did they stop here? We’re not sure. Perhaps Terah was still grieving the death of his youngest son who had died before they left. Maybe Terah was concerned about his middle son Nahor who chose not to travel with them. Or maybe Terah was paralyzed by the magnitude of the journey still ahead of them. Whatever the reason, Terah allowed a “tree” to obscure his view of the whole “forest” of God’s plan.
Stephen then says that Abraham continued the journey to Canaan “after the death of his father.” But if we do the math, it appears that Terah was still biologically alive when Abraham left (see Genesis 11:26, 32; 16:3, 16).
Abraham had to trust God more than he respected his father, even to the point of considering his father as dead.
Later on, God gave Abraham a similar test with his own son. Abraham passed this test and God repeated His promise about blessing all people through Abraham(see Genesis 22:1-18).
In Romans 4, Paul explains that Abraham’s faith in God’s promise was rewarded, and that through our faith in Jesus we are connected to this same promise.
Just as there was an “all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said” about Jesus—including the faith-filled obedience of Abraham and David—God has an “all this” for your life too.
God saw you before you were born. He had a plan for your life. He gave you gifts and talents to be used for His glory. There is not a single part—not a single experience—of your life that is accidental (Psalm 139:16; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 8:28).
Just as He used all this for Jesus, He is using all this for your life too. Will you trust Him?
Through David, God fulfilled the promise that Jesus would be King of the Jews. Through Abraham, God fulfilled the promise that Jesus would be King of all nations. Through Jesus, God fulfilled the promise that Jesus would be our Righteousness.
Abraham died without seeing the promise fulfilled. But we have seen the promise fulfilled, and that should fuel our faith to trust God to fulfill the promise He has for each of us. I pray that this assurance will be renewed in your heart as you celebrate Advent this year.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
My podcast partner Greg and I just recorded an episode of our leadership podcast about Christmas traditions. I think there more traditions associated with this time of year than with any other event on our calendars. Traditions keep us connected to our roots, but they also help us feel like we can be in control of things.
There has been a tradition in countries with monarchies that whenever a king died, the people would say something like, “The king is dead. Long live the king!” They would say this because the next king ascended to the throne immediately after his predecessor died. Except when a nation had been defeated, the traditional cry of, “The king is dead” was unanswered by, “Long live the king!”
It appears at this moment that a new tradition has to be started—one where we take leadership over our own fates.
The apostle Peter noted that people awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus would question if that event was ever going to happen. And the prophet Malachi closed the Old Testament with people saying much the same thing: “There doesn’t seem to be any advantage to following God’s laws, so maybe we should just do things our own way” (2 Peter 3:3-4; Malachi 3:13-15).
But then we turn the page to the dawn of the New Testament, and Matthew writes his Gospel about the First Advent of Jesus. He wants to show us that although the line of earthly kings in Israel may have been broken, the promised King of kings had now come to earth.
I’m intrigued by the exceptions Matthew lists in his opening genealogy to illustrate this truth. First, as you might expect, the phrase “thefather of” appears 39 times. This tells us a biological fact of life. These men didn’t know if they had fathered a son or a daughter, what their child’s contribution to the world might be, or even if their child would live faithfully to God.
Matthew opens his genealogy by saying “the son of” twice. First, Matthew lists Jesus as the son of David—the king to whom God gave a very special promise of an eternal King coming from David’s family line. Then Matthew traces the genealogy back further to say “the son of Abraham”—the one through whom God said He would bless all nations (2 Samuel 7:11-16; Genesis 12:1-3).
And what about the exceptional women Matthew records in this male-dominated genealogy? We have Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, who tricked him into fathering a child by her; Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute who put her faith in God; Ruth, a Moabitess who left her homeland because she trusted God; Bathsheba, an adulteress who became David’s wife; and then Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was called “highly favored” of God (Luke 1:28).
The phrase “son of” appears one more time when the angel calls Joseph by this title (Matthew 1:20). Jospeh is also called “thehusband of Mary” (Matthew 1:16).
Whereas Abraham and David were rewarded for their faithfulness to God and were told of future blessings, Joseph’s act was different. Joseph had a choice. He was told that the Child in Mary’s womb would be the Messiah. Now Jospeh had to decide: Would he choose to believe this? Would he choose to bear the shame and reproach to accept his role as father?
We have the a similar choice today: Will we choose to believe that God has announced His plan and that He is fulfilling His plan?
Here’s the simple truth. It appears as two statements, but it is really the same thought—
The Advent of Jesus has come. The Advent of Jesus will come.
The First Advent of Jesus should build our anticipation for the Second Advent. His First Advent should be proof that God keeps His promise.
Jesus told us that believing God’s promise would bring us into God’s family. Jesus said, “For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:40).
The apostle Paul also assures us, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26).
Let’s not blindly follow the traditions of previous generations, but let us chose for ourselves to believe in God’s promised Messiah, to trust that He alone can give us eternal life, and then let us live in both celebration of His First Advent and expectation of His Second Advent.
There are two invaluable resources for Christians to process difficult situations the right way: the prayers in the Psalms and journaling. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“…[T]here is an enabling grace from God to endure in the strength he supplies and to do what ought to be done. Call it leadership for the long haul. And since great leadership serves the people, great leadership is servanthood, so we could also call it servanthood for the long haul. Meanwhile, merely enduring falls short. There’s something better. Great servants don’t endure merely. They endure by ‘being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy’ (Colossians 1:11).” —Sam Crabtree
I love the priestly blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26. This post dives deep into this blessing, and as an added bonus also tells of an archeological discovery that marks these verses as “the earliest biblical verses” for which we have archeological evidence.
…and an extensive study of a species of octopi also demonstrates the genius of our Creator. “For an animal to adapt to its environment, evolution requires that animal’s DNA to mutate, giving the animal some new ability that helps them survive better. Mutations are permanent. According to evolutionary theory, over long periods of time and after several DNA mutations, a new animal arises that’s better adapted to its environment. But that is not how the octopus adapts to its environment. The changes in the created proteins are made by RNA, not DNA. These changes are not permanent and the DNA remains the same….” Check out the rest of this post.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The main point in Hebrew literature is usually found in the middle. In Psalm 122 that would be verse 5 where we seethe keyword in this verse is thrones—“thrones for judgment” and “thrones of the house of David.” Before this, we have the call to go up to Jerusalem (the City of Peace) in the first four verses, and after this, we have overwhelming, saturating peace in the last four verses.
But I wonder: How do thrones—especially a throne of judgment—bring about peace?
Remember that these are songs of ascent: we are called upward. I think “up” implicitly appears in verse 1—“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go UP to the house of the Lord,’—and “up” explicitly appears in verse 4—“That is where the tribes go UP, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord.”
There is clearly a longing to go up to meet with God, but I also detect a note of uncertainty. Let me show you what I see. First of all, verse 3 in the New Living Translation says about Jerusalem that “its seamless walls cannot be breached.” And yet the walls were breached in 586 BC when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. So anyone singing this song of ascent after the time of exile would have known that the walls weren’t as secure as David hoped they would be.
Second, verse 4 in the Contemporary English Version says that “every tribe of the Lord obeys Him.” And yet it was the disobedience of every tribe of the Lord that led to their defeat and then their 70-year exile. So, again, anyone singing this song of ascent after the time of exile would know about the punishment for disobedience.
In an earlier Psalm, David asked God who could go up to the Holy City, and then he answered his own question like this—
The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. (Psalm 15:1-5)
That description also sounds a bit unachievable to me, because who has ever fulfilled all of the items on that list perfectly?
So we get to verse 5 and read about the thrones. The word “throne” means the seat of honor, authority, and power. It represents the place where the final and unchallengeable word is spoken. There is a final day of judgment before God’s throne, which John records in Revelation 20:11-15.
And yet, that day of judgment is not here yet. Jesus quoted the prophecy from Isaiah about Himself in His first sermon, but He purposely left off the last phrase about the day of judgment. He, instead, ended with the phrase where He had come to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:17-21). We see this thought again in John’s Gospel—
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:16-17)
If we try to earn our own way into the Eternal Jerusalem, we will find that the walls can be breached, our obedience is not consistent, and that we are unable to keep that full list in Psalm 15. As a result, we face a throne of judgment.
But when we place our faith in what Jesus did for us on the Cross, where He paid the price for our sin, took away our unrighteousness, and gave us His righteousness in its place, then we will stand before the throne of shalom.
In the second half of Psalm 122, the words we read are peace, secure, peace, security, brothers and friends, peace, prosperity. That word “peace” is the Hebrew word shalom, which means nothing lost, nothing missing. Jesus wants us to be in the Eternal Jerusalem with Him for ever and ever.
Christ’s desire is that none should be separated from Him (see 2 Peter 3:9-14), so we could also say that shalom means no one lost, no one missing. We should want everyone—every tribe, nation, and people—to be with us in the Eternal Jerusalem forever!
I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go UP to the house of Lord.” Let’s not go alone. Let’s bring as many people with us as we can to enjoy the eternal shalom of God’s Holy City!
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our look at the Psalms of Ascent, you can find them all here.
Every Monday I share a 1-minute thought to get your week started. It’s my weekly Monday Motivation series of videos. Check out this week’s video that I posted the day after Christmas, and please subscribe on YouTube.
T.M. Moore wrote one of the endorsements for my book Shepherd Leadership. In an interview I then did on his Fellowship of Ailbe podcast, I shared my dismay over unbiblical ideas and practices that have crept into the church. Both T.M. and I share a passion to see our church leadership return to our secure biblical foundation.
In a recent blog post, T.M wrote, “From the days of the apostles onward, a tendency has existed among church leaders to drift from the plain teaching of the Word of God into forms of Christian life and ministry that derive from sources other than Scripture. Or that stretch the meaning of Scripture to fit the shape of certain cultural forms.” Please check out T.M.’s post “Do not go beyond.”
In a fascinating post from Rabbi Benjamin Blech, I read these thoughts about the power of a name: “The Hebrew word for soul is neshamah. Central to that word, the middle two letters, shin and mem, make the word shem, Hebrew for ‘name.’ Your name is the key to your soul. … When the Torah says, ‘God created,’ it doesn’t suggest that He worked with what He fashioned by labor, but merely that He spoke—and the very words describing the object came into being. God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light.’ The Almighty merely gave it a name, and the very letters defined its atomic structure.” Check out the full post here.
“Success” doesn’t always mean bigger numbers. King David got into trouble with God when he wanted to measure his success by how many fighting men he had under his command. Consistently throughout the Bible God’s measure of success is our trust in Him. This thought was a key part of the sub-title of my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I am so grateful for the blessings of a godly mother and a godly wife! I can relate to Abraham Lincoln who said, “All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother. … I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
Mothers—both the natural, physical, and adoptive mothers—can save the rest of us from a world of hurt. We see this in a story in the Bible of a mother that saved innumerable people from the consequences of folly. This is an amazing story in 1 Samuel 25, so please take some time to read it for yourself.
King Saul and David have finally separated from each other, with Saul returning home to Gibeah and David returning to his stronghold at En Gedi. Eventually, David moved west from En Gedi to the Desert of Moan, where the town of Carmel was nearby.
A prominent citizen of Carmel was a man named Nabal. He is described as “very wealthy,” owning 1000 goats and 3000 sheep. But he apparently gained his wealth through less-than-honorable means because he is described as “surly and mean in his dealings.” We find out later in the story that he’s also hard-hearted and hard-headed, not listening to any counsel others may offer him.
That fits him because his name means “fool.” I find it hard to believe that his parents named him this from birth. If they did, it reminds me of the opening words of C.S. Lewis’ book The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader: “There was a boy named Clarence Eustace Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” Instead, I think Nabal’s dealings were so mean, surely, and foolish that the name stuck. Perhaps he even wore that name as a badge of honor.
It came sheep-shearing time—which is really payday for shepherds—so David sends some of his servants to Nabal to ask for whatever he might find to give as a gift to “your servants and your son David.” David’s men had been a constant source of protection for Nabal’s herdsmen, so a gift of gratitude does seem appropriate.
Nabal doesn’t just say, “No,” but he insults David. As his foolish nature controlled him, he not only insulted David, but he insulted God too by implying that David wasn’t anointed by God, but was merely ruthlessly climbing a ladder of success. Probably Nabal thought this way because that’s how he himself gained his fortune.
Nabal’s response lit David’s fuse! In fact, David’s response to his men was just four words long: “Put on your swords!”
Fortunately, one of Nabal’s servants informed his wife Abigail of this.
In the same verse where Nabal is described as mean and surely, Abigail is described as “intelligent and beautiful.” Whereas Nabal’s name means fool, Abigail’s name means “my father’s joy.” She must have been born at just the right time for her father and she continues to be a just-in-time woman!
This servant brought Abigail word of Nabal’s foolish response, telling her that David’s men were indeed “a wall around us” while they were in the desert. And then he says, “Think carefully about what you should do because disaster is hanging over us!”
Abigail acts quickly, wisely, and humbly.
The first thing she does is send hundreds of pounds of food to David and his men. She sends the gift that Nabal probably should have sent. Then Abigail herself follows the gifts on her own donkey. When she encounters David and his armed men coming down the mountain pass, she humbly falls at his feet asking David to reconsider.
Abigail doesn’t tell David he shouldn’t be angry, but she points him to something bigger and more long-lasting than his immediate thought of revenge. She reminds him that he is God’s anointed leader, and she asks, “When you become king, do you want this bloodshed on your conscience?”
Abigail’s words have an immediate effect on David, who calls off the attack, praises Abigail, and praises God for sending Abigail to him. Abigail rescued Nabal’s family and workers from imminent destruction, and she saves David from the consequences of his rash response.
The next morning, when she relates this story to Nabal, he has either a stroke or a heart attack, and then dies ten days later. Justice is served, but it’s served by God and not by David.
Later on, David takes the now-widowed Abigail as his wife.
Abigail’s name scarcely appears anywhere else in the Bible, but there is one notable appearance:
Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel; his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream the son of David’s wife Eglah. (2 Samuel 3:2-5)
Amnon, first in line for the throne, raped his half-sister Tamar and was then killed by Absalom, who was Tamar’s brother. Absalom, third in line for the throne, not only avenged his sister’s disgrace but led a coup against David, where he was killed in battle.
That leaves Kileab as the obvious heir to King David’s throne, yet this is the only place he is mentioned in the Bible. I think Abigail’s wise influence saved Kileab from the drama of aspiring to be king, a painful future, and perhaps a premature death.
From this amazing story, I would like to offer three takeaways for Moms:
Use your inner beauty to persuade foolhardy men—1 Peter 3:2-3
Use your Holy Spirit-given wisdom to dissuade foolishness—Matthew 10:19
Use your prayer life to bring a legacy of peace—Psalm 116:16
Godly mothers, please be encouraged today at how much influence you exert over others in your life. Your inner beauty, God-given wisdom, humility, and prayers are making more of an impact than you may ever know. I believe in heaven the full story will be shared, and you will be praised for being a wise and faithful servant.
May God continue to bless, empower, and use our Moms to save us from the consequences of our foolishness!
David was the gold standard for every king of Israel who followed him. Numerous times throughout the history of Israel, we will see a note that a certain king either followed God like David, or turned from God unlike David. Yet there exists a wart on David’s portrait: an adultrous affair with the wife of a man in his inner circle, and then subsequent lies and a murder to cover up the affair. “The thing David had done displeased the Lord” (see 2 Samuel 11).
But I’d like to turn your attention to when this affair occurred: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war … David remained in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). He was without his usual comrades. The men who knew David best, who could probably sense if something was amiss, weren’t around to warn him. When David tried to find out the identity of the bathing beauty on the roof next door to his palace, an unnamed attendant tried to remind him, “Isn’t that Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah?” but David dismissed him.
Elijah was arguably the most forceful and fearless prophet in Israel’s history. Not only did he stand up to the evil kings of Israel, but he spoke out against the kings of surrounding nations, too. In answer to Elijah’s prayer, God brought a drought on the land, and again in answer to Elijah’s prayer, God sent rain. Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of the god Baal and the 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah to a duel to the death, which ended up in a decisive victory for Yahweh. Yet, shortly after this massive victory, Elijah was depressed to the point that he wanted to die.
What led to Elijah’s depression? Something very similar to David’s slide into adultery: He was alone. Elijah ran away from Queen Jezebel’s death threat, left his servant behind, and proceeded all by himself into the desert. It was when he was without a comrade that he prayed to God, “I’ve had enough. Take my life” (see 2 Kings 17–19).
And what about Peter? He boldly claimed his loyalty to Jesus, even to the point of wielding a sword at the guards who came to arrest his Master. But when Peter was alone, after the other disciples fled, he denied three times that he knew Jesus (Matthew 26:33, 51, 69–75).
God designed us to be in relationship with others. His statement to Adam in some of the earliest words of the Bible—“It is not good for you to be alone”—are words for us still today.
In a recent episode of “The Craig And Greg Show,” Greg and I discussed one of our favorite verses in the Bible: Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses (Proverbs 27:6).
If you want to go far, don’t try to go alone. If you want an accountability partner that can keep warts away from your leadership legacy, don’t go alone. If you want to extend your leadership influence, don’t go alone. If you want to honor God’s investment in you, don’t go alone. Get those friends around you who love you enough to speak the truth!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.
The best way to be a first responder in prayer is to work on making prayer a habit. Prayer needs to come first. Remember: I can do more than pray, but I shouldn’t do anything until I have prayed.
King David showed us his nearly-identical “bookend prayer” that he prayed both at the beginning of his reign as king and again just before he died. We can pray similar bookend prayers when we begin with a petitionary prayer—“God, please help me”—and finish with a thankful prayer—“God, thank You for helping me.” We can also try to expand those bookends toward the middle, allowing us to live as the apostle Paul admonished in 1 Thessalonians 5:17:
Pray without ceasing
Pray continually
Never stop praying
Jesus gave us a model prayer at the heart—the very middle—of His Sermon on the Mount. This sermon has 107 verses of Christ’s words, making the middle verse Matthew 6:6, which starts, “When you pray….” Notice the model Jesus gave us:
Hallowing God—Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name
Bringing our petitions—Give us our daily bread, help us forgive, deliver us from evil
Worshiping God for His answers and for Who He is—Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen!
Surrounding this prayer is a Christ-centered life that is:
Blessed (the beatitudes)
God-glorifying—so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven
Perfect—be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect
Compassionate—when you give to the needy
—Model Prayer—
Disciplined—fasting, handling your treasures
Anxiety-free—do not worry
Fruitful—every good tree bears good fruit
Secure—your foundation is on the rock
You see: Prayer helps us live out a God-honoring testimony, and that God-honoring testimony is empowered by prayer. Prayer is both the bookends AND at the heart of a Christ-centered life.
The heart of a God-honoring prayer is to live out a God-honoring testimony.
David’s bookend prayer follows the same model Jesus gave us: hallowing God, making petitions, and then worshipping God.
Christians need to be BOTH first responders in prayer AND continual responders in prayer—prayer at the beginning, prayer at the heart, and prayer at the end. This way, when God does answer, there is no doubt that He was the One who answered, and it wasn’t just because of something we did.
Prayer fuels our testimony. Our testimony glorifies God. At the heart of this testimony, our answered prayers glorify our heavenly Father and point others to Him.
Let me say it again: The heart of a God-honoring prayer is to live out a God-honoring testimony.
David said, “…I had it in my heart to build a house as the place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord. … But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My name…’” (1 Chronicles 28:2-3).
David’s son Solomon would later write about how we make plans in our hearts, but God directs all our steps (Proverbs 16:9, 19:21).
David not only had the desire to build this temple for God but he said the Holy Spirit gave him the plans (1 Chronicles 28:12, 19). As a result of this, David began amassing resources and organizing personnel. All of this David could then hand over to Solomon, the man who would build the house for the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
I am sure David felt a twinge of disappointment when God said “no.” Still, David continued to work the plan the Spirit had given him. Who knows how Solomon would have begun his reign as king if David hadn’t done all of this for him. Many of the plans God gives me will not be forme but for the following generations who will benefit from my diligence in those plans.
A mark of a godly leader is one who knows that obedience to God IS success.
In one of David’s psalms, he prays for success and for his heart’s desire to be fulfilled, but he also acknowledges God’s sovereignty over these things (Psalm 20). May I always keep in mind that obedience IS success. Success isn’t limited only to what I can see and measure during my lifetime.
This is part 53 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Then David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim. And the Philistines abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away. Now the Philistines came up once again and overran the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord… (2 Samuel 5:20-23).
Craig T. Owens 