Crushed But Not Destroyed

 

(photo by John Towner)

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.

(Psalm 34:18, Berean Standard Bible)

This psalm of David shows us, the readers, his praise of and thanksgiving to God for rescuing him from his enemies. The story behind this psalm tells of why David has joy and thanks; God freed him from his enemies. David feigned insanity in front of Ahimelech, the king of the Philistines in Gath. Gath’s hero had been Goliath, the giant who David slew with his sling and stones. David realized the Philistines’ anger might have continued to boil because he defeated their champion. He decided his best way to escape the clutches of the Philistines in Gath was to act insane. If David seemed insane, Gath's king and people would not view him as a threat. They released David because they believed he was an insignificant threat, since he was insane. David praised and thanked God in Psalm 34 as he recalled his experience.

David often praised God in his psalms. He shared his inmost feelings with God and people who would listen his psalms. Christians and Jews often quote Psalm 34 in sermons, meditations, and songs. This psalm encourages people to hope and wait, for God's faithfulness. God is faithful and almighty.

This devotional does not walk readers through this psalm verse by verse. To help individuals focus on God, this study examines the last six verses, disregarding the problem. Circumstances do not dictate who God is; God dictates the circumstances. God uses circumstances to show Himself.

Verses seventeen through twenty-two highlight the why and who that David wrote about in the psalm. In verse seventeen, David wrote, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears; He delivers them from all their troubles.” In this verse, he reiterated God’s actions in verses four and seven. He exalted God because God hears and delivers the righteous. God answers their cries for help.

I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man called out, and the Lord heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and He delivers them. (Psalm 34:4-7, BSB)

Notice in verse seventeen, God hears and answers the righteous. These righteous are those who “look to” God and “fear” Him, the ones who follow and revere God (vs. five and seven). The righteous whom God answers follow and obey Him out of reverence. They relate to God as His children and choose to be His people. These people, the righteous about whom David wrote, are the ones from whom God hears their cries and delivers. God does this because He counts them as righteous—dedicated—unto Him.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.

(Psalm 34:18, BSB)

In verse eighteen, David further emphasized how God answered when He heard his cries for help. He wrote that God was near him when he felt brokenhearted and crushed with fear because of his enemies. The fear David expressed is the kind that comes from deep within a person. That fear makes a person depressed and despair. Depression and despair weigh heavily on a person so that he or she can barely move his or her feet and arms. The person can become immobilized with the weight of it. This can lead to a lack of desire for basic activities such as eating, bathing, and talking.

Brokenheartedness weighs a ton, like a boulder sitting on a person’s chest. It occurs when a person carries the weight of their circumstances within him or herself. It can break the spirit of the person and crush him or her, leaving no hope of which to hold. Yet even having felt this and because of it, David exclaimed and praised God. He praised God because He is mightier and delivers (vs. 17). David proclaimed about and praised God because He is near and saves people crushed by their circumstances (vs. 18).

David knew God hears the righteous because God is faithful to be near and save them. David praised God because God heard and delivered him from Ahimelech, the Philistines, and his earlier enemies. He knew from other times in his life that God provided and protected Him. David, having a history with God, knew Him to be deserving of proclamation and praise. He praised God because he himself followed and revered God.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all. (Psalm 34:19, BSB)

Again, in verse nineteen, David wrote God delivers (saves). In verse seventeen, he said God delivers from troubles. Verse eighteen expanded to include the effect within a person of those troubles—crushing weight, causing a heavy heart and downcast spirit. In verse nineteen, David said the troubles he faced caused him to have afflictions. The troubles in which David found himself caused him mental anguish. They came from persistent evil. Yet, David learned to revere the Lord more than fear the troubles. He knew, because of his relationship with God, that God is mightier than the evil that beset his physical body, heart, and mind. David recalled God’s faithful nearness to him and His might, then resolved to continue to follow and revere the Lord. God delivered David from his enemies in the past and would continue to deliver him because His God was almighty and faithful Yahweh. God dictates the circumstances; circumstances do not dictate who God is.

He (God) protects all his (the righteous person) bones; not one of them will be broken. (Psalm 34:20, BSB)

David continued in verse twenty by using a metaphor. He wrote, “He protects all his bones: not one of them will be broken.” Verse twenty does not mean the righteous will not have broken bones. David meant no part of God’s child shall be utterly destroyed—annihilated like Sodom and Gomorrah. In the end, God preserves and delivers His child. God assures him or her of his or her place in His kingdom for eternity. Evil does not defeat God and His child. God is near, protects, delivers, and saves His people. God dictates circumstances; circumstances do not dictate who God is.

Satan cannot destroy righteous people—those who follow and revere God. Paul taught people this basic tenet in 2 Corinthians 4:17. He wrote, “For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all comparison” (BSB). Peter contributed his thoughts about this in 1 Peter.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you. But rejoice, you share the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed (rejoice) at the revelation of His glory. (1 Peter 4:12-13, BSB).

Expect to suffer evil in this world; it is not abnormal. As a person is afflicted, brokenhearted, downcast, and suffering, remembering who God is, what He has done, and what He promised will help that person stand strong in his or her faith. That will help him or her to endure whatever physical, mental, and emotional pain he or she experiences. God protects the person whom Jesus saved by belief in Him as Lord and Savior. This person made righteous by Jesus follows and reveres God. God calls them His own children and protects them.

Evil will slay the wicked and the haters of the righteous will be condemned. (Psalm 34:21, BSB)

Satan cannot grasp and utterly destroy the child of God. God allows the evil to slay the wicked. The wickedness they do catches them in their own web from which they cannot extricate themselves. Only Jesus can remove them by their belief in Him. The time a person has on earth is their chance to believe in Jesus. Later, he or she will be judged for their wicked actions. That judgment will be punishment, a condemning to hell. Hell is a place of perpetual and inescapable torment. The wicked will slay themselves, wrote David. He meant they will cause their own eternal death because of the evil they did in life.

The Lord redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22, BSB)

With verse twenty-two, David emphasized God’s protection but used a stronger word than in verses seventeen and eighteen, a word not used yet in this psalm. He wrote “God redeems” His righteous child. The connotation of this word goes beyond the words he used earlier in the psalm—delivers, saves, and protects. “Redeems” would have led the Jews to recall the Old Testament understanding of redemption by offering the sacrificial lamb for sins they committed. The lamb paid, with its lifeblood, the judgment for that person’s sins. “Redeems” also reminded the Jews of the redeemer-protector of the family who safeguarded a family’s or person’s future. That redeemer-kinsman redeemed a person by paying the ransom to buy back the family land/home or to pay the debt of the person who sold him or herself into servitude. The redeemer-kinsman is the one who paid the ransom—the cost—for his kinsman to be free from bondage or to have his land/home returned to its God-given owner. The Jews sacrificed the lamb to pay the cost for their sins. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection expanded the Jewish understanding of redemption to include eternal freedom from death and evil. The redemption Jesus gave goes beyond a debt incurred because of financial hardship or to cover sins. Peter and John spoke of the sin-ransom Jesus provided in 1 Peter 1:18-19 and Revelation 5:9.

For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:18-19, BSB)

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased (ransomed) for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9, BSB)

David wrote a psalm to praise God and proclaim about His goodness and rescue of him. He wrote to lead others to know how near God is to His children. His psalm told of God’s faithfulness and might. It declared God hears his children. Through this psalm, David rejoiced in God. He recalled how God had rescued him. David gave metaphors by which to live faithfully following God. He concluded the psalm by giving a final admonition to praise God.

David wrote Psalm 34 to lead readers and hearers to revere God and grow in their faithfulness to Him. He reminded righteous people that they need not fear the wicked. In Psalm 34:21, David stated the wicked will fall by their own evil. The traps of the wicked will catch them. Unrighteous individuals face destruction due to their choices. So, God’s children need not worry about their actions towards you. Instead, faithfully continue to follow and revere God. Verse twenty-one reminds people of what Paul taught in Romans 8:31-39, too.

What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39, BSB)

Fear not the wicked and their deeds. Instead, revere God and what He can do. Who should we praise? We praise God. Why should we praise God? We praise God because He is almighty and omniscient. We should keep our focus on God and not on our circumstances. Why? Circumstances do not dictate who God is; God dictates circumstances.

Be a righteous person by believing in Jesus and He will redeem you from your sins, then follow and worship God. Praise and proclaim about Him. Remember, the “momentary afflictions” you face are nothing compared to the glorious riches God has in store for you in heaven. Be like David and praise God during your troubles. He is still in control.

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. (Psalm 34:1, BSB)

Stagger Them with Your Power

“Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons; stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees, O Lord our shield.” (Psalms 59:11 [NLT])

Who is “them” to David? Saul’s men, who he sent to keep an eye on him.

Who is “them” to you? People, difficulties, anticipated trouble, fear?

Do you need to remember God staggers our enemies with His power? He still staggers Satan with His power. Can you hear God saying to Satan, “You think you know Me? You don’t know just how great and powerful I am. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Are you still in awe of God or have you forgotten the depth of His love for you? Don’t forget about God. Don’t forget His great power that He’ll use for you. God still loves you. He has a plan. If you wonder how God is going to “fix” this problem, hear Him tell Satan, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” That’s our God. 

Whether we remember Him in our daily lives and crises or not, God is still powerful. He is still majestic. God still knows all things and knows what you are facing.

Worship this God, our God, who David praised before He intervened for him. David was saying through his praises, “Saul, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. My God is almighty!”

What trouble do you need to give to God in praise, knowing God is almighty? He has already taken care of it. There isn’t anything He has not seen. Let God stagger you with His power.

Desire and Salvation

“Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and secured; for all my salvation and all my desire, will He not indeed make it grow?” (2 Samuel 23:5 [NASB])

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” (Colossians 2:6 [NASB])

After reading these two passages, you might wonder what God teaches from both that is a commonality weaving them together. Remember, every book and passage in the Bible has one commonality.  The thing in common is God - who He is, and what He has done, is doing, and will do.

Consider 2 Samuel 23, David’s last words before his death. He began by declaring an oracle, like a prophet, that these are his last words, then emphatically made his point with four descriptors of himself in relationship to God that could not have been if he had not made God his LORD. David said he is the son of Jesse. His Hebrew ancestry traces back to Abraham through Judah, and to Ruth, the Moabitess God considered righteous because she followed the God of Naomi, her Hebrew mother-in-law, into Canaan. He had covenant ancestry, meaning he is part of the tribe God has chosen, and he made God His LORD by His choice. David continued by saying he was “raised on high” and was “the anointed of the God of Jacob.” Literally, God raised David from the status of being a common man, a shepherd, and made him the king of His people, Israel. As king of Israel, God anointed David to be the one who would lead His people to act righteous, as God is righteous, representing Him on earth. David concluded by saying he was the psalmist of Israel, the one who would lead His chosen people to testify about God and praise Him in word and action by testifying and praising Him himself. David recognized his covenant connection with Yahweh through his ancestry. He confirmed his God-chosen connection with Yahweh through His anointing of him and raising him to the throne over His covenant people. Finally, David reminisced of his intimate relationship with God through his psalms. His relationship with God spoke of how each believer can relate to God.

David continued by proclaiming his “last words,” this oracle, came from God in 2 Samuel 23:2. He said, by His Spirit, Yahweh’s words were on his tongue. Next, David emphasized who Yahweh is, the God of Israel (the Covenant-maker) and the One who is the Rock of Israel (faithful, steady, and strong). This Covenant-maker, faithful, and strong God is the One who chose the Hebrews, anointed for them a king, and provided for them a psalmist to lead them to remember, revere, and worship Him alone.

God’s oracle through David told about the people who God chose; they are faithful to Him and revere Him. They are like David. The chosen of God are righteous and fear God with awe and reverence (vs. 3b). They show God’s righteousness by living righteous lives empowered by God. These children of God are like the light of morning when the sun rises with no clouds in the sky after a rain and the grass rises from the ground (vs. 4). They radiate their faith and trust in God. The people of God radiate Him with their lives like the God-chosen and God-anointed psalmist and righteous king of Israel. They shine God’s radiant glory through their spirit and lives. Visible in the Israelites lives is King David’s relationship with God.

David explained how God worked in his life as His righteous man and king. God made an unending covenant with him. He promised David’s kingdom would never end. Jesus the eternal King, the descendent of David and the Son of God who reigns forever, shows God faithfulness to His covenant with David. David confirmed his faith in God’s fulfilling His covenant with him when he said, “He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and secured” (2 Samuel 23:5 [NASB]) God set forth and made a legally binding covenant with David, unlike the old covenant with Moses, and kept and secured it (vs. 5). He is always faithful to His promises. God kept this covenant with him through His coming Messiah, Jesus. At the end, this righteous psalmist and anointed king of Yahweh declared God would provide for his salvation and his desires (vs. 5b). God would do it because of His faithfulness and would make it grow. He, through David, emphasized this by asking a rhetorical question with his last words in verse five. God would make David complete and perfect with the full salvation He can offer. He provided for David’s soul to be with Him eternally, just as He provided for his natural body during his life. David trusted God completely and explicitly. His final words prophesied of the Messiah to come and he trusted in God to keep this covenant promise. David’s life presaged the life of the Messiah, who fulfilled the old covenant and brought in the new covenant with God, who God raised on high and anointed to be the righteous King for eternity, and who led the people of God to testify in action and praise about who God is. David looked forward to the Messiah and King. David had been the admired king of the Israelites. God’s people would look to the King from David’s line, Jesus Christ, fulfilled prophecy from God as the epitome of how to be in relationship with God.

Contrasted to this righteous, faithful, trusting, radiant servant and child of God are those who are not such in verses six and seven. God, through David, said unrighteous, unfaithful, untrusting, self-serving people are “worthless.” He instructed His people to “thrust them away like thorns, because they cannot be taken in hand” (vs. 6-7). God’s people must keep these wicked people from influencing their lives on earth. God will keep them from His kingdom because of their lack of faith in the Messiah and the surety of His covenant to David. He, through David, compared them to thorns which only draw blood but have no fruit. These, God said, will burn as rubbish because their wickedness proves they are not God’s people and because they bear no good fruit. When living among and working with wicked people, God’s people must not touch them, but keep them the distance of a rake or spear shaft’s length away so they will not prick and trick them to heed and follow them. Paul said in Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” Wicked people try to trick people into following them instead of God. They declare human deceitful philosophies and false teachings. Thorns are not part of God’s plan of salvation and have no place in God’s kingdom.

This oracle from God through him was David’s personal testimony of his life with God. For David, God’s presence and activity in and around his life led to testifying about Him. Testimony serves two primary purposes – to tell people about God, His works, and His promises (covenant) and to praise Him. Testimony can lead people to know Him personally. Like David’s psalms, this oracle from God serves to testify to people about who God is, what He has done, and what He promises, and to lead them to want to know Him personally. This, David’s last testimony, is a prophecy of the Messiah God will send. It foretells, just as the prophets did, of God’s fulfilling His covenant to and through David to the Israelites and to all people as their God. David was a shepherd and psalmist whom God raised to lead people to Him with his life and testimony. God’s people today, Christians, are ones whom God raised to lead people to Him with their lives and testimonies. David’s testimony about God was that He is faithful to His covenants and His promises. He testified God is his strength, protector, and provider. David believed He would provide for his daily needs, his desires, and, through the revelation of the Messiah, his eternal need, salvation (2 Samuel 23:5). He tuned his heart to God’s. David’s ultimate desires were that God give him salvation and his life give glory to Him. Though David’s flesh led him into sin (thorns), he desired God more than anything. David repented of his sins and sought the God of His heart, mind, and soul. He chose God over the thorns and turned to Him repeatedly. David’s life and last words declared God and his eternal trust and faith in Him.

Like David, Christians can live testifying about God and praising Him. God’s covenant promises are for each person. He wants and provides for him or her to become part of His chosen people. God does not want anyone to die eternally separated from Him. Anyone can be righteous because God sent Jesus the Messiah to make him or her clean, holy, and right with Him when they believe in Jesus as the Son of God. As a follower of Jesus, a believer can live a life in reverence and awe of God. He or she can be like the morning sun rising upon cloudless skies. The Light (Jesus) in a person can lead the new grass to spring up toward Him. Each Christian can lead people to know Him through His light in him or her so people can arise and praise Him, too. God kept His promise to David. David believed in God. God counted it to him as righteousness.

Each person who knows Jesus as Savior can identify with David’s ways of relating to God. Believers can know God as David knew Him. He or she has a covenant ancestry with Yahweh through Jesus by choosing to believe in Jesus as God’s Son, the Savior. God changes and raises on high each person from his or her fleshly self to a child of God, a child of the King, part of His people. He lifts each believer up out of the morass of his or her sins and away from Satan to lead him or her to Him and strengthen him or her with His truths. Like God anointed David from Jacob’s line to lead His people righteously, He anoints each of His children, by salvation through Jesus Christ, to act righteously on earth, representing Him. God calls each Christian to be the psalmist for his or her people. The psalmist testifies in word, action, and song about Jesus Christ and of his or her intimate relationship with the God through Christ. He or she tells of who God is, what He has done, and that God wants to be in a loving relationship with the person and how He has provided a way for that relationship. Like King David of the Old Testament, God’s people have at least four roles and as they live these out, an intimacy grows between that Christian and God. No one is like Christ, but we can be like David, in a righteous and intimate relationship with God. The words of Paul in Colossians 2:6-7 aptly describe this relationship and its growth, from being firmly rooted in Christ to overflowing with gratitude.

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” (Colossians 2:6-7 [NASB])

            Each person must decide if he or she will let God be his or her Lord, if he or she will become part of the lineage of faith like David. God will anoint believers to proclaim Him with righteousness, reverence, and awe. This makes it possible for them to arise and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus to others. The Light of Jesus (the sun of a cloudless sky) that flows through believers from His Spirit living in them attracts people to Him like the “tender grass springs out of the earth” (2 Samuel 23:4).  Christians should “walk in Him,” as Paul said in Colossians 2:6-7, since they have been firmly rooted in Christ and are being built up in Him. They must be establishing their faith and overflowing with gratitude so other people will know about Jesus Christ and seek to be in a personal and saving relationship with Him. David’s life with God sets an example for a Christian relationship with Him (2 Samuel 23:1). Paul challenges each Christian to “walk with Him” because Jesus laid the foundation for their faith. Have a relationship with God like David did, one of covenant-faith, anointed and chosen, and proclaiming the Lord.

As David realized and “declared” (testified) with his last words, we must decide if we will testify about Jesus, who provides salvation and our heart’s desires. As David matured, God’s desires became his desires. He realized God provided all he truly desired – a relationship with Him. This right relationship with God is salvation, freely given by His grace through His Son, Jesus. Notice, in 2 Samuel 23:13-17, the life of David’s men and his own sacrifice to God was more important than drinking water from Bethlehem’s well. Bethlehem was the place where he began life in covenant relationship with God. David’s birth city was where he was shepherd and psalmist, and from where God raised and anointed him as His king chosen for His people, Israel. David’s deepest desire was to serve God and to show this testimony of his absolute dependence and devotion to Him. He did this by pouring out the desired earthly water from Bethlehem’s well as a sacrifice of his desires to God’s desires. By this, David’s desires were God’s desires, oneness in heart, mind, and spirit.

God calls to each person to receive His saving grace. He chooses us to receive it but are not part of God’s family until we accept His grace and forgiveness and believe in Jesus Christ.

Are you walking in Him as one who has received Christ Jesus?

Walk in Him.

Rowing Without Paddles

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1 [NASB])

In Genesis 15 and Psalm 91, both writers speak about the terror of night. What does this mean? For David, the man God appointed to lead His people, Israel, and a commander of an army, the terrors of night might have meant an army sneaking up and taking him and his army by surprise during the night. It could have meant the depression of the minds of his men as they awaited the battles of the next day. Or, in looking back on his life as King, it could have been the time David awaited his and Bathsheba’s son’s death. He feared it and understood the punishment was because of his sin with Bathsheba. David’s sin caused the death of the child. For Abram, the terrors of the dark night could have been the kings he and his allies defeated to get his nephew, Lot, out of captivity. The terrors that day showed his fear of not having an heir.

Terrors and fears begin in the hearts and minds of people. Satan puts the terrors and fears in our hearts and minds to distract us from the One who casts out darkness and brings light and truth to a situation and to life. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians that Satan “blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” In 2 Corinthians 11:14, he said, Satan must disguise himself as an angel of light to trick people, to “blind” them. Satan is not from the light of God; he is darkness and brings darkness.

This state of mind need not happen; people can avoid being tricked. How?  John said in 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.” We can choose to follow God and have His power to defeat Satan and the darkness in which he tries to envelope us. God is more powerful than Satan and that is why Satan must resort to trickery. He knows the goodness and love of God will win people’s hearts and minds. John said in John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The darkness could not break through the light, but God’s light casts out darkness. Darkness cannot exist where light is.

What does this mean for us? How do we defeat the terrors of night and live the life for which God gave us the vision? With hope. With belief in God. Abram’s biggest fear as of Genesis 15 was that he would die with no heir. That was his darkness, the “terror of his night.” As Abram rested that night, God told him He would give him an heir and descendants too great to count, just like the stars in the heavens. Abram was in God’s presence. God’s Spirit came in the form of a smoking oven and flaming torch to seal His covenantal promise to Abram (Genesis 15:17). Abram dwelled in God’s presence and slept with His peace.

David defeated the terrors of the night and the arrows that flew by day by being in God’s presence, too. He said in Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” David had learned from experience that God was his refuge and fortress. He had learned to live in the presence, in the shadow, of Almighty God. David was like any other person born; he sinned. Still, David recognized God as His Lord and repented when he sinned. He trusted God over all things.

David knew from Whom to seek shelter, comfort, provision, guidance, and protection. He recognized Who was almighty. David had learned to dwell in the shelter of the Most High. He had learned to live in the shadow of God. David didn’t worship God on the sabbath then live the rest of the week solely in his own strength and with his own wisdom and reasoning. He had learned how to live while being with God. Abraham lived while being with God, too. These men recognized God as being sovereign over the world and over their lives. What terrors could defeat them? None, not with God as their strength, hope, refuge, and fortress.

What terrors haunt you? What causes you fear for your future or for now? If you are a Christian, you know Jesus as your Savior, the One who redeemed you from Satan and the power of sin and death. You already have the victory because Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” When you are a Christian, you already have victory from the terrors of darkness and the arrows that fly by day. Remember that. Believe God will protect you and don’t allow the darkness of Satan to creep into your mind. If you aren’t a Christian, you can have this peace and hope. You can have redemption from sin and death and take refuge in God when Satan tries to force darkness upon you. Believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior who died for your sins, so you can have eternal life with Him in heaven. Give your terrors from the darkness to God and let Him be your light and refuge.

As we each live our lives and live the vision and calling God gives, we must live in His presence, under His wings. Don’t leave to do His work, instead do the work He calls you to do while you are with Him. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

You can’t row a boat without paddles. You can’t live life as God’s child without God.

God’s calling doesn’t mean we leave His presence to work.

It means working WITH Him.

Lord, I’m a mess. I say I am Your child, but then I later find I am not with You. I have walked off living my life by my own reasonings. In my busy-ness, I forgot to stay with You and live life with You as my guide, refuge, and strength. I trusted You with my life, but then I took it back. Lord, help me remember to live in Your presence, to live life as You lead and provide. You know all things and are all-powerful. I know only the small part of my life that is in front of me now. I cannot see the past or future and so I really don’t know how to live as You want me to live. Lord, forgive me for walking in my own way. Forgive me for taking control of my life. Forgive me for making my heart, mind, and body my gods instead of You. You are merciful and kind. You are faithful and continue to love me. Lord, I give my life to You. Please guide me with each breath I breathe and each beat of my heart. Amen.

Wolves, Roses, and Joy

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again-my Savior and my God! (Psalm 43:5 [NLT])

Many people believe Christians do not face hard times. They have this idea that once a person becomes Jesus’ follower, life will be a bed of roses and no wolves will batter the door of his or her life. Those of us who have been Christians for a while know the truth. We know life has hard times in store for everyone because we live in a sinful world. At times, life is harder for Christians because we believe in Jesus and follow Him. How could life be harder for Christians than non-Christians? Because Satan constantly wages war against Christians attempting to discredit them and Christ. Satan is the incessant wolf at the door. For people who are not followers of Jesus, they might question why Satan would fight more with Christians? Let’s consider a few role models of the faith and their lives.

David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 & Acts 13:22), though chosen by God to be the king over His people, the Israelites, battled against his enemies. He was a man who had blood on his hands. The Philistines, Saul and his army, Absalom’s army, and many others fought against David because of jealousy, anger, or a desire for his land, people, and resources. Even though God chose David, David still had difficult times. Some of those difficulties came because of his own decisions, like when he lay with another man’s wife. Wolves, temptations and persecutions from Satan battered his door. Yet, during his difficult times, David still praised God and looked up to Him as his strength, protection, joy, and hope. In Psalm 43, he pleaded with God to rescue him from unjust people. David wrote many lamentations and included in them stanzas expressing his hope in God who was his strength, refuge, fortress, and joy. David’s life was not a bed of roses. If anything, David lived like a shepherd, outdoors on rock and dirt much of the time, as he fought against his adversaries. As king you’d expect him to have lived a luxurious life. David’s enemies, the wolves, did not give him time to rest and live that kind of life. Yet, he still had the joy of God. David chose to seek God in the midst of his trials.

Job was a very righteous man, he revered God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). He had seven sons and three daughters. Job owned 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. People considered him the greatest man in the East. (Job 1:2-3) One day Satan entered the heavenly court and God asked him, “Where have you come from?” During their conversation, Satan said to the Lord,

Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse You to your face.

“All right, you may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” (Job 1:9-12 [NLT])

Satan threw everything at Job except for his own death. Even his three friends turned on him and told him to plead for God’s forgiveness. Surely, they thought, he had sinned against God and the horrible things happening to him were because of that sin. Job lost his ten children, servants, wife, herds, grain, produce, and buildings. Satan took everything he owned away. Yet, Job did not turn away from following and obeying the LORD (Yahweh, the eternal One). Instead, during the trials Satan threw at him, Job said, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand upon the earth at the last.” (Job 19:25 [NLT]) Job, though a righteous man, lived a life that was not a bed of roses. Yes, God blessed him, and those blessings were very good, but he faced trials. The wolves battered his door. To prove the faith of Job, God allowed Satan to test him. Satan’s test failed. Job’s life demonstrates Satan trying God’s children. It shows this child of God’s life was not always fragrant and pleasant. After the season of trails by Satan, God blessed Job more than He had in the first part of his life. He doubled the number of his animals and gave him seven more sons and three more daughters. Besides this, Job included his daughters in his will along with their brothers to receive an inheritance. Doing this was very unusual because only men could inherit in their patriarchal society. Job remained firm in his faith in God during his trials. He grew stronger because of them. During his time of trials, Job chose to seek God and draw on His joy to get him through his difficult times.

Consider any of the disciples of Christ. They each faced persecution. People killed several of them. Many of the disciples faced imprisonment. Even today, Jesus’ followers face persecution, torture, and martyrdom because of their faith. Christians’ lives are not always a bed of roses. Yes, God blesses them, but they, too, face hard times–illnesses, lack of money, hunger, taunting, persecution, mocking, and death at the hands of other people. People who are not Christians consider the persecutions and wonder why a person would risk living like that and then they, themselves, turn away or they become the persecutors. Another group of people consider today’s Christians and the history of Christians and wonder what would make a person so strong in his or her faith to continue following Jesus when he or she knows persecution will come. Consider what Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10:16-18, 21-23, 28, & 34-39,

¹⁶ Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about Me.
²¹ A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. And all nations will hate you because you are My followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, the Son of Man will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel.
²⁸ Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
³⁴ Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.
³⁵ I have come to set a “man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ Your enemies will be right in your own household!”
³⁷ If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being Mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it. [NLT]

Jesus told His disciples that Christians’ lives will not always be a bed of roses. Their lives showed this to be true. Expect trials, persecutions, and even death. Students and slaves should expect no less that what happened to their teachers and masters. Wolves will batter the door of your homes if you are a Christian. Satan wants to discredit you and your testimony about Jesus. Notice, Jesus’ disciples chose to go through the trials, but they didn’t do it alone. They drew on the strength God gives. They counted it all joy. A joy they received from the source of joy, God, the Father.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 [ESV])

Christians should expect and will live through hard times. Jesus said it and believers lived out this truth in the Old and New Testaments, and in every generation since then. Satan is the incessant wolf at the door. He constantly tries to defeat the testimony of Christians about Christ. Yet, we need not fear. We can have joy even in difficult times. Why? Because God is our Redeemer. He is our refugee and strength. From Him we can have joy and hope. How can we have joy even while suffering? David explained and proclaimed it in Psalm 43:4. “There I will go to the altar of God, to God-the source of all my joy. I will praise You with my harp, O God, my God!” [NLT] Because God is the source of joy, we can have joy since we are Christians. Because Jesus defeated death and sin, we have hope beyond what we are facing and beyond this mortal life. Go to the altar of God. Rejoice because God is your joy. Your source never dries up like the land, water, and human bodies. It never rusts or corrodes.

Our Source of Joy is Eternal.

God is our Source of Joy!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12 [NIV])

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9 [NIV])

Lord, You are the fountain of all blessings. From You flows hope, joy, love, truth, righteousness, and all good things. Forgive me for losing hope and grasping only the joy of the moment instead of seeking You, the fount of blessings and the God of my soul. Lord, help me recall You and Your promises and blessings when I walk through dark times. Help me stand strong in Your strength remembering the hope You have given me through the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. Help me have joy even when facing trials because You are my strength and shield. Because of You, I have hope. Lord, help me not to shrink away from difficulties, but to walk courageously through them with You so I may grow closer to You and become more like You. Because of Your grace, I not only can prevail in these situations, but I have eternal life with You. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

Psalms Like David's

When I think of God, I wonder how I can even consider His vastness, His greatness?

How can I begin to put into feeble words who He is?

How can I say anything that is new that David and the other psalmists have never written?

Then I realize God did not ask me to write something new about Him; He asked me to write about Him.

Each person knows just a part of God. No one can ever say everything about Him,

But we each can speak about His attributes and character He revealed to us.

To do this out loud, publicly, requires courage and transparency.

To do this requires the Spirit of God to lead us into and through this psalm.

I can hear through history David singing, “Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth,”

And my heart sings and soars.

I recall his singing “The rivers clap their hands and the earth sings for joy,”

And my soul spirals with joy.

Then I sit and I recall who God has been for me and who His Word says He is,

And I fall to my knees crying, “Holy is the Lord God almighty!”

I cannot bear to be in His presence while standing

But must lay prostrate before Him, my great God almighty.

His breath blows my way;

I feel its heat and know I am unworthy to even feel it pass.

God’s eyes look upon me and I am undone to my soul;

His righteousness is purer than even the cleanest white I can imagine.

At this point, I hear Isaiah cry out his psalm, “I am a man of unclean lips.”

Yet here I lay in His presence proclaiming my King, the Lord Almighty!

His voice calls out, thunder tears the skies, and torrents rain down from His heavens,

Yet still I live to behold His greatness and tell of His mercies.

His commands boom forth and nature instantly obeys; He is Creator and Master.

With this, how can I still try to deny Him and go my own way?

His hands stretched out and stars, planets, and moon became fixed in place.

And I deigned to think I could choose my place in this world?

The gentleness of His nail-scarred hands surprises me by His touch of my tear-stained face.

How could I ever have doubted His love?

His heart beats louder than any cacophonous drum calling each person to come.

My heart beats as reverb; it can do nothing else.

Though fear breaks out in my heart and mind upon hearing its beat,

His “Peace, be still” calms my soul and beckons to me.

Then in my fear and the courage I can muster,

I raise my eyes to dare look at this great King.

What I see and recognize in an instant

Are the tears flowing down His face.

The sorrow and pain, I study, reveals

God sees what I’ve done and knows how I feel.

He recognizes the pain I brought on myself

Also seeing what others did when I couldn’t seek help.

His understanding is fathomless, nothing hidden from Him;

Yet love, mercy, forgiveness flows o’er me and then,

My breath catches, heart skips, I feel

Fresh breezes, washed cleaned, and redeemed.

Renamed as God’s child; Remade like new.

History is wiped away and I must tell you.

Lord God Almighty is more than we’ve heard;

He’s greater than what pen spoke and louder than said words.

He’s boundless, magnificent, more powerful than we think.

God is Creator, Protector, Redeemer, and King.

He’s always present, always loving, transcendent above all things.

He is love defined, descended, then raised upon a tree.

God’s unstoppable, undefeatable, risen ever to reign.

He’s the King of the beginning, middle, end through eternity

King of kings? He’s more than that.

He transcends thought, space, and time.

God’s undefinable, victorious, my Savior divine.

I may not sing like angels or write psalms like David,

But I know always forever, My Lord, My King, My Jesus is mine!

-Gail Suratt Davis

Intimate Assurance

“The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” Psalm 25:14 [NASB]

This verse, translated from Hebrew, means the intimacy of the Lord or the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him, who are in awe of and reverence Him, and He makes known to them His covenant, His pledge to His people. David avowed to God he had an intimate friendship with the Lord because of his awe of Him and their covenant of faithfulness to each other. To David, what made a person intimate with the Lord and in a covenant with Him? He recorded from verses four through twelve who the person is that is a friend of God.

In verses four and five, and expanded in verse eight and nine, God teaches His friend His ways and paths. This assumes the friend of God yearns to have God in his or her life and seeks Him to grow closer to Him.  In verses four and five, David desired to know God-His ways, paths, and truth. He expressed his desire was so great he would wait for God all day. With verses eight and nine, David proclaimed God is good and upright and so He willingly and desirously wants to teach sinners, all people, His way. God desires to have a relationship with all people, not just the ones who are good, or who think they are good. David foreshadowed the Messiah’s coming for all people because God wants to have a relationship, a covenant with everyone. With verse nine, he said, “God leads the humble in justice and teaches the humble His way.” As a person draws closer to God, that person becomes renewed in the image of God and is humble. God continues to teach that person to transform him or her into Himself-to make him or her humble. As the person learns more, he or she learns to care for other people. Justice, like that of God’s, becomes what the person seeks for every person.

David continued to describe the person who desires to be in an intimate friendship of covenant faithfulness with God in verse six and ten. In verse six, he recognized his sinfulness and neediness, and remembered God’s everlasting compassion and lovingkindness towards Him and throughout history. God’s lovingkindness (His goodness, kindness, and faithfulness) David recognized and stood in awe of. Then, with verse ten, he said these paths of God, of lovingkindness and truth, are available for those people who keep His covenant and testimonies. To each person who desires God and seeks to be in an intimate friendship with Him, God leads in His ways, He teaches and instills in the person, His goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and His truth (truth of His faithfulness, stability, and continuance). To each person who comes to God, He leads them to know and learn, and then to become like Him with His characteristics of truth, compassion, faithfulness, goodness, and kindness. David desired an intimate friendship with God. He desired that which God freely gave to him to become part of his own being. David wanted to live out in the world what God gave to him, these characteristics. He wanted to keep this covenant with God by sharing with the world about God and what God put into him when He renewed him.

With verses seven and eleven, David recognized he was a sinner. He understood God is the One who can forgive and cleanse all people from their sins so they can be in a relationship with Him, be made new in His image. He asked the Lord not to remember his sins, but in His goodness, kindness, and faithfulness remember Him with love and cleanse Him. David went further in verse eleven. He recognized he could not save himself and pleaded with the Lord, because of His glorious name’s sake, to pardon his great sin. David realized his sins were all against the Lord; they separated him from God. He recognized God’s great love and wanted His glory proclaimed continually so asked for forgiveness so the world would hear again of His goodness and faithfulness.

David ended this segment of Psalm 25 with a rhetorical question that pointed to his thematic statement. He said, “Who is the man who fears and awes the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The person who awes and reverences the Lord is the one who seeks to be with God and is the one to whom God teaches His paths and ways. This person is the one who chooses God’s ways out of lovingkindness, that is goodness, kindness, and faithfulness, for Him.

The person who fears the Lord in awe and reverence is the one in an intimate friendship with Him and seeks to know and follow Him. That person chooses to be faithful to his or her pledge/promise of love to God. That person chooses God above all others.

Are you one of those people?

Have you recognized your sinfulness and separation from God?

Are you humble because of following the Lord, His ways, His teachings, and His paths?

Do you seek justice and truth?

Are you good, kind, and faithful because of God’s goodness, kindness, and faithfulness to you?

Do you crave and seek God in an intimate friendship?

Are you faithful to God and His covenant faithfulness to you?

Are you this person who fears the Lord? If you are, the intimate friendship with the Lord is yours and you have no need other than to be in His presence. Your eyes will continually be toward the Lord (vs 15). You will rest in assurance nothing can pluck you from His hand, neither loneliness or affliction, troubles or distresses, nor sins or enemies.

v  You know with assurance God is your Guard and Deliverer; He is your             refuge.

v  You will wait with assurance that God’s integrity and uprightness will preserve you.

You will wait with assurance for your covenant God because of His goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and compassion to you, and yours to Him. He redeems His own.

God doesn’t only seek the good and right. Jesus said He came for the sick. He came to call the sinners (Mark 2:17). God wants to be in a relationship with each of us. He makes sinners clean. God is intimate with the upright (Proverbs 3:32). He is the one who makes each of us upright (Psalm 25:7 & 10). Just as the Lord spoke to Moses as a friend, He sought Him out and Moses craved Him (Exodus 33:11), so today God desires to be in a covenant (a faithful, intimate friendship) with you.

Lord, God almighty, I do not deserve anything You offer to me. Yet, You keep calling to me to come to You. Lord, I do not understand this great love and mercy of Yours, still, I am drawn to You. I am sinful and should not be near You. Cleanse me so I can come before You. Draw me into an intimate friendship with You for which I can never be sated so that I continue to desire You. Don’t let me go. Keep calling to my heart. Thank you for Your patient calling to me, that you never gave up on me. Thank you for your unending love, mercy, and faithfulness. I am Yours; draw me to You and never let me go. My heart I give to You forevermore. Amen.

A Heart for God - God's Leader

2 Samuel 7

What do we need to hear from this about the prophet, Nathan?

1. Nathan was David's accountability to God. David sought Nathan to determine if what he had in his heart, to build a fine temple for the LORD, was good.

2. We must seek God's will to make sure our idea is iin line with God's best interest. Nathan previously told David to do what was in his heart and build the temple for the LORD. After hearing from God, Nathan spoke for Him to David of God's direct intentions about the temple. God's idea is best to our good ideas. God's plan was the way to go, though David had a good heart and wanted to provide God a temple since he himself had a grand palace made of cedar.

3. We must not assume that a leader God has chosen is always right in what they say. Nathan and David both had a heart for God. God spoke to Nathan later and told him His exact plans. We must always check with God and His Word to know God's plans for certain. Nathan was obedient to tell David exactly what God wanted. David was obedient to listen and he praised God from verses 18-29.

Oh that we would be willing to hear God's heart at all times, even when it is different from what we want or deem best. And, then to proclaim God's greatness!

1 Samuel 30:1-6 A Devotion - Strength in the Lord

1 Samuel 30:1-6

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.
And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. [ESV]

David and his men had traveled for two days to get home. When they arrived there, they found their city destroyed, their families taken hostage, and all their possessions plundered. The men were tired and angry. They blamed David.

We find it easy to blame a scapegoat when bad things happen. It seems to be human nature. What David did, though, shows us how we should react to trying situations. He turned to God for his strength. David sought God's advice and blessing for the next plan of action. God told him to go after the raiders - the Amalekites. He told David he would be successful.

God gave David and his men the victory, but with much blood, sweat, and tears. He did not magically kill the Amalekites and whisk their families back to David and his men. They had to turn to God, get His advice, trust Him, then act upon it.

God gave the victory. He promised it. God gave more also. He matured David and his men so they learned to turn to Him, trust Him, and go out in faith upon what He said. This was a double victory for David and his men. They got their family and possessions back and God matured them in their faith.

Today some of us may be going through very trying times in our lives. I do not know what that may be, but you do. From this lesson, we need to learn that we can and should go to God for our strength. Most often when He allows us to go through a hardship, it is to grow and mature us. Pray today asking God for His guidance, will, and strength. Then step out in faith on what He says. It may require your blood, sweat, and tears, but God's plans always work out. You will have the victory in this struggle.

Following the Leader (part 1) Deuteronomy 16:17-17:20

Deuteronomy 16:18-17:20

INTRODUCTION

            When God chose a people, the Israelites, from among another nation, He created a new nation with one of the smallest people groups. When nations begin, foundations must be laid – laws, covenants, leaders, structure, etc. Moses spent a large amount of time teaching God’s laws, commands, statutes, and ordinances to the Israelites. In the next two chapters, he will declare to them God’s means of ensuring order, righteousness, and fairness. Moses spoke in Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22 about the leaders God ordains to keep His order within the nation He created. These leaders are judges and officers, kings, priests, and prophets. Most of them are not new to the Israelites, but in these chapters, God proclaimed them as ordained leadership positions. This week we will study through chapter seventeen reading about judges, officers, and kings.

RULERS

Judges

            Moses dedicated almost a whole chapter to the role of judges and officers. The judge was a particular leader who would have profound impact on the social structure of Israel – civil and religious. God’s ordained judges and officers were men who judged righteously (16:18). Since Israel was a nation created by God, the nation’s base was religio-political. God’s laws undergirded every statute, ordinance, and judgment. So though this Bible passage does not state the judges and officers are ordained, because God founded the nation, the officers and judges were to be men of God.

Another aspect of this passage needs clarity. The word “judge” comes from the Hebrew word shaphat. It means judge, governor, and ruler. This person’s duty was to be a lawgiver and decider of controversies – civil, religious, political, and social. Judges enforced the law, too. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, introduced Moses to the leadership style that used judges and elders to manage minor disputes. Moses decided major disputes (Exodus 18:22). Since Moses was the God-ordained leader of the people, he based his decisions and rule on the laws and commandments of God. He was the first example to the Israelites of a religio-political leader – judge, priest, and prophet. Moses solved religious and societal disputes using God’s guidance. Jethro gave the first substructure to law making, decision making about laws, and enforcing of the law in Exodus 18. Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13 gives us God’s system for this, which is very similar to Jethro’s.

The other leader Moses mentioned in Deuteronomy 16:18 was officers. The word “officer” comes from the Hebrew word shoter. It means official or officer. The usage of this word in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy give a better understanding of what this person did. These men held positions where they worked as foremen (Exodus 5:6, 10, 14, 15, and 19); subordinate officers in matters judicial, civil, and military (Deuteronomy 1:15); minor or under-judges (Deuteronomy 1:15 and 10:5, 8, and 9); and overseers (Deuteronomy 16:18). In Deuteronomy 29:10 and 31:28, Moses listed officers in rank order of importance. Officers ranked above captains of tribes and elders, notice not above priests, judges, prophets, and kings. Officers were people who upheld the verdicts of the judges, led companies of people, and judged over smaller matters than judges, like junior judges.

As is noticable in verses eighteen through twenty, Moses spelled out the basis for the position of judge and officer. God gave the Israelites the ability to appoint/employ judges and officers. Moses said the purpose of the judges was to judge/govern the people. The mandate from God for the judges was that they were to do their jobs with righteousness (vs. 18c). He stated explicitly what He meant by saying they were not to pervert justice (case decisions) with partiality or bribe taking (vs. 19). Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 10:17 that God does not show partiality or take a bribe. Since that is the case, they, as God’s judges for His people and nation, must live by the same standard. Exodus 23:2 and Leviticus 19:15 speak about not perverting justice or being partial to one person or group over another. This way of life was not new to the Israelites. Solomon said in Proverbs 23:23, “To show partiality in judgment is not good.” Verse 19d of chapter sixteen says, “A bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.” A judge’s righteousness is so important that Moses repeated this requirement a second time and included God’s promise with it. In verse twenty, Moses said, “Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue that you may live in and possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” This shows that justice and righteousness are tied to their covenant with God. It carries the formulation of Old Testament covenants and carries great weight. The men appointed as judges and officers must be righteous to be in covenant with God and receive His blessing of life.

From Deuteronomy 16:21 through 17:13, Moses reminded the Israelites how to handle conflicts and disputes. He taught them when to seek the counsel of a higher judge, rather than using God’s commands and laws by one’s self. In these verses, Moses reminded the Israelites of God’s commands not to set up Asherah poles or sacred pillars because the LORD hates them. Deuteronomy 7 and Leviticus 26 noted this, too. God was to be their only God. He commanded the ox or sheep they offered to Him not have any defect – sickness or disease. God should receive the best of the produce and animals they received from Him that year. (We know from our studies in the New Testament God gave a perfect sacrifice for the sins of humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ.) Moses said God finds a blemished sacrifice detestable – abominable and disgusting. So far, Moses reminded the Israelites their worship of God was to be unadulterated and pure. Next, he recalled for them that no evil should live among them for they are a holy people set apart for God. If they found out about a person who is evil – transgressing God’s covenant (Deut. 13:6-11), serving and worshipping other gods, and serving and worshipping the sun, moon, or the heavenly host – that person was to be stoned to death. Moses reminded them of the rules God provided for inquiry and resolution so they maintained order. He told them to inquire thoroughly (Deut. 13:14) into the matter. If true, then the person was to be stoned at the town’s gates on the evidence of two or three people, never based on one testimony (Deut. 17:4b-7a). By doing these things, they would purge evil from among themselves. These are things individual and community elders and priests can judge for themselves.

When the conflict or problem in the community, tribe, or nation involved difficult cases – homicide, decisions of lawsuits, assaults, and cases of dispute – then the people involved were to take the matter to the Levitical priest or judge in office. God differentiated between a lawsuit and cases of dispute. The first involved a dispute over law while the latter dealt with quarrels and strife. Haggai mentioned the latter in Haggai 2:11 and told the people to ask a priest for a ruling. God planned for when Moses would be dead. He provided for a high court to decide and enforce a verdict. Deuteronomy 17:8-13 speaks of these difficult cases and what the Israelites were to do if a person did not abide by the verdict. Moses told them if anything surpassed their understanding of the law or was extraordinary, then the people were to take their claim to the place where the LORD chose – the temple where the men of higher learning and discernment were – to inquire of God what to do. Deuteronomy 12:5 and Psalm 122:5 speak of the thrones that God set up for judgment. Verse 9 alludes to and supposes the verdict given by the Levitical priest or judge would come from consultation with God. The Levitical priests knew more about the laws of God than anyone else in Israel did. They, too, were the ones who mediated between the people and God about sins and forgiveness, health, protection, and provisions. When a problem was too big for humans to decide, the obvious recourse was to seek the mind of God on the matter. As the intermediary between God and humanity, the Levitical priests were the ones to seek.

When a person sought recourse, more than one party was involved. Generally, two or more people and a mediator were part of the process. In Israel, God provided for this and His will superseded and interposed on the proceedings. As such, each party to the dispute and judgment held responsibility to abide by the judgment. Moses couched the command to do according to the terms of the verdict in the command from God that they carefully observe (shamar) what the priest/judge dictated as resolution. This drew attention to the fact that the judgment was not a choice, but a demand. The decision of the priest/judge was paramount as if God spoke it. It carried that much weight. Moses told the Israelites, “You shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or to the left.” If the person chose not to follow the verdict of the priest, judgment fell on him or her. Because the person acted arrogantly and presumptuously by not listening (shama – hearing and obeying) to the priest, who stands over the case to serve the LORD, that person must die and not receive the promise of the LORD, life (vs. 17:12). People were to consider the disobeying person evil. God commanded them to purge the evil person from Israel because he or she chose to go his or her own way instead of the way God told the priest/judge to command the parties of the case. Moses told the Israelites in Numbers 15:30, “The person who does anything defiantly, whether he is a native or alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD and that person shall be cut off from among His people.” Why did God cut off a disobedient person from His people, from life? Moses explain it in verse thirteen when he said, “Then all the people will hear (shama) and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.”

God required obedience just as a parent does. God is not the author of chaos. His laws established peace and righteousness among humanity if they chose to be obedient and live by them. To make sure the people of Israel understood the validity and weight of the verdicts given by the Levitical priests and judges, God had Moses say that obeying the judgments of the priests and judges was equal to obeying Him. God established Israel and created a system of laws, statutes, and ordinances to keep it peaceful and set apart for Him. To keep it that way, He provided judges for the people to help solve conflicts and enforce the laws of God. The priests and judges are the governors of God’s laws upon the people. They are God-ordained. Their verdict carries the weight of God’s when they decide the cases with righteousness and justice, not perverting justice or accepting a bribe.

Kings

            God preferred He be the only King of Israel. He knew, though, that the people would want a king of their own like the countries that surrounded Israel. In 1 Samuel 8:7, God told Samuel, His prophet, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.” He told Samuel this was like the deeds the Israelites did since He brought them out of Egypt. They chose to follow their own wills and submit to a willful, human king. In Deuteronomy 17:14-15, God provided the choice of a human king to rule Israel. The Hebrew word used for king in this passage and most of the Old Testament is melek.

The king of Israel was supposed to be a visual representation of the heavenly King. God gave two commands about who could be king of Israel. The primary requirement is that the LORD would choose the king of His people vs. 15a. The second is that the king would be an Israelite (vs. 15b). God did not want a foreigner to be king of His people because he would lead the people to stop following Him with all their hearts. They risked following other gods and ways of life if that happened.

Added to this, God gave four things that the king could not do and two He required the king to do. Each of these the king must or must not do to keep Israel safe from being unfaithful to their covenant with God. God said the king must not multiply horses, cause the people of Israel to return to Egypt, have multiple wives, and increase his gold or silver for himself (vs. 16-17). The Egyptians bred horses used to pull chariots. God wanted Israel to have no dealings with Egypt. He went so far as to say they must not cause the people to return to Egypt. The value of these horses was high and nations often traded their people for horses and chariots from Egypt. God fiercely protected His people and mandated the king and Israel have no relations with Egypt. God protected the king from the influence of the beliefs and cultures of other nations by commanding he have just one wife (vs. 17). The way to protect a nation’s foundation is to protect the leaders of the nation so their beliefs are not softened and eroded by ideas from other nations. David’s heart turned from God by his want of multiple wives and their influence upon his life (2 Kings 5:13, 12:11). The final thing God commanded a king not to do involved his treasure. God mandated the king not want to increase his wealth (vs. 17c). His seeking for more gold or silver would remove his focus from God to worldly, created things. God’s command was prevention against the erosion of the king’s trust in God by trusting in himself and his wealth.

God gave two positive commands for a king who presided over His people. In verse eighteen, He said, “He [the king] shall write a copy of the law (Torah) on a scroll in the presence of a Levitical priest.” Why would that be important? God told why in verse nineteen. He said it was because the king must read it every day of his life so he can learn to fear/revere the LORD by doing what God commanded. This is why Christian leaders teach other believers to have a quiet time or devotion time every day with God. When people read God’s Word every day, their hearts become inclined to follow God every day. The word Moses used in verse nineteen to mean obedience is one of the favorite words in Deuteronomy, shamar. It means to hear, listen, and obey. When reading God’s Word, a fear and reverence of the LORD grows in the person so that the person desires to show his or her love for God with obedience. So a king who reads the laws of God every day would revere and obey the LORD and then lead the people of his nation in the LORD’s way. It keeps the king’s heart focused on God and the good of the people instead of himself (vs. 20). That provides the second reason the king must read God’s law every day. The final reason God commanded the king to read His law every day was so the he would not turn away from God’s commandment, the mitzvah. Moses said this in Deuteronomy 5:32 and the royal chronicler said it of David in1 Kings 15:5.

 As an encouragement, God gave a promise to the king who followed His commandments closely. He said that the king who did this and his sons would continue in the kingdom of Israel. Moses used the word ‘arak in verse 20c. The English words in this verse, “continuing long,” do not adequately rephrase ‘arak. ‘Arak means to be long, prolonged, and grow long. This word gives the gist of the promise God gave to the Israelites. God’s promise was for the present day and would go into the infinite future. This meaning goes along with the prolonged life in Israel God promised to the Israelites who remained faithful to Him (Deuteronomy 4:40, 5:16, 5:33, 6:2, 11:9, 22:7, 25:15, & 32:47). Prolonged life meant eternal life with God for the Israelites. A king who followed God’s commands would have prolonged life with God and would lead the Israelites to have it, too.

Conclusion

            God chose the Israelites, the smallest people group of the time, to be His people. From them He made a new nation. The foundation of this nation was the LORD God. Because of this, the nations’ foundation rested on the standards of God and required faithful commitment to their covenant with Him. The covenant established a just and right social and religious code. These codes of law and life led to a peaceful, just, and ordered nation under God. If the people kept their covenant with God, God promised them life. Life meant sufficient food and drink, protection from enemies, a deep relationship with God, and the provision of all other needs. This defines fulfillment on all levels - physical, spiritual, and emotional. God appointed leaders for the Israelites. These leaders, when they followed the commands of God in chapters sixteen and seventeen, would give a visual, godly role model for the Israelites. This would encourage, lead, and require the people to stay faithful to God.

            God calls each person to be in relationship with Him. He allows each person to vote or appoint people as their leaders. When people vote or appoint a person who follows God’s laws, statutes, commands, and ordinances, they are most likely to stay faithful to their commitment to God. God still gives the promise of eternal life with Him to everyone who believes in Him and accept the salvation His Son’s death and resurrection provides.

If you are currenly a believer in Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as your LORD and Savior, it is still important to stay faithful to Him. As Christians, God assures people of eternal life with Him. Their faithfulness to Him in this life determines if they will have abundant life. Abundant life is joy in knowing God protects and provides for them now. It brings the promise of life with Him in heaven into their present reality so they have hope in the midst of their day’s walk – good and bad days. Abundant life is knowing nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God. Romans 8:35 says, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?” The answer comes in verses thirty-seven through thirty-nine. It says,

“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth not any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If you are not a Christian, God’s promise awaits you. What keeps you from accepting His gift of forgiveness and salvation from your wrongdoings in life? Why do you hold on to your life as if you have ultimate and eternal control over it? God is the Creator and almighty one. There is no one and nothing greater than He is. He is the one who controls life. God gives life now on earth and He offers life for eternity with Him in heaven. What are you allowing to keep you from abundant life now and eternal life with God? You get to make the choice. You decide for yourself; no one can make you decide. It is up to you. What do you choose?