Dismayed...Yet...

 

“…but when You hid your face, I was dismayed. To You, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.” (Psalm 30:7b-10, NIV)

Upon reading Psalm 30:7b-10, wonder arises about what David dealt with when he wrote this psalm. Could it come from a difficult time he had before this psalm’s writing? Why did David beg for God’s mercy? What did David mean when he wrote these words? Effective Bible study involves reading the entire chapter from which a passage comes and its surrounding chapters. Let’s study this passage and Psalm 30 in its entirety.

Whether a devotional guide gives these memory verses to read and meditate upon or you find Psalm 30:7b-10 on your own, the depth of David’s dismay is obvious. David perceived, though erroneously, that the Lord departed from him, leaving him to handle his hard times alone. He said it seemed like God hid His face from him (vs. 7b). For that reason, he experienced dismay and fear. Without the Lord, who chose, anointed, and protected him throughout his life, David knew his adversaries would have defeated him. He also realized God would not have used him as His king to unify His people, Israel.

Verse eight shows the depths of David’s despair. David considered God had ignored him. He felt like God’s mercy had left him and he was alone. To this, David pled to God in verses nine and ten. He reasoned with God in verse nine. David reminded God, as if God needed reminding, that if he was silenced by death, he could not praise God and proclaim His faithfulness. In verse ten, David begged God for mercy and help.

If a person reads just verses 7b-10, despair could overtake him. A reader facing difficulties would gain no strength or trust in a faithful God. Instead of gaining strength to endure, the person might experience discouragement and hopelessness. Yet, readers must consider the whole chapter.

When reading the whole chapter from its beginning, the introduction to the chapter should be read because it gives the reader a first impression of the intent, topic, or scope of the chapter. The introduction to Psalm 30 shows David wrote the psalm as a “dedication of the temple”. This introduction causes a question to arise since David did not build the temple. David’s son, Solomon, built it. How can this psalm be for a dedication if it has a dismayed David pleading with God at its center? Remember, a Bible passage must be read in context with the entire chapter.

After reading the chapter at least once, a student of this psalm should consider a Bible commentary or other scholars’ teachings on the text. Samuel Barth of the Jewish Theological Seminary studied and wrote about this psalm in his article titled Psalm 30: Dedication of the ‘Inner Temple’ (Psalm 30: Dedication of the “Inner Temple” - Jewish Theological Seminary. Barth gave two possibilities for how this psalm, that includes David’s dismay, could be a dedicatory psalm for the temple. He first stated that Psalm 30 leads the reader to go from the mental study of God’s word to soul praise of who God is and what He has done throughout the ages.

—From mental study to soul praise—

For today’s particular study, Barth offered a second possible reason for the Psalm 30 introduction: a dedication of the temple. He stated the “temple” in the introduction is not a physical earthly structure. Barth wrote, “The psalm is not about dedicating any earthly structure, but that each individual might be seen as a bayit (the Hebrew word for vessel.) that can, if we so choose, be dedicated to the service of God.” This means each person who sees himself as a vessel God can use gives his life to God to become a temple dedicated to Him.

--not an earthly structure but a bodily structure--

Barth’s second thought about the introduction to the psalm is what we will consider today with this study of Psalm 30. David’s dismay in verses 7b-10 is not intended to discourage a person, but to lead a person to God and cause the person to worship Him. How can that be since the middle verses, usually considered the main point of a chapter, cause discouragement in people? How does David’s dismay lead a person to dedicate himself to God for His purposes?

How does a reader shift from feeling discouraged by Psalm 30:7b-10 to worshiping God, as David’s introduction intends? Consider the verses before and after verses 7b-10. With verses 1-7a, David praised God for redeeming him from situations and enemies. He recited as a reminder for himself and his readers who God had been in his life. David praised God for who God is and for His faithfulness to and favor upon him. He reminded himself and the readers that he never needs to fear; his life was a testimony of who God is and what He had done: He is good, faithful, almighty, and provider. By recalling what God had done for David, it would lead people to recall for themselves who God had been in their lives and what He had done in their lives. These people could praise God for redeeming them, like David did. People could dedicate themselves as God’s temple for Him to use, like David did.

Transitioning from verses 1-7a onward into verses 7b-10 enables David and his readers to carry the joy from the first section of the psalm into the challenging days. With the joy and reminder of God’s faithfulness and mercy to them, they would feel more able to endure whatever hardship they would meet. Verses 7b-10 also become reminders to the readers and hearers of God’s redeeming David from his dismay and distress. They would be enabled to remember and rejoice because of God’s faithfulness to them. God, through this psalm, reminded David of His own great mercy, faithfulness, and favor towards him. He also reminded His children over many millennia since David’s time. From the first part of Psalm 30, God brought to mind His triumph over His children’s struggles so they would remember to trust in and praise Him. Because of God’s victorious triumph and who He is, a child of God can praise God more readily and choose to dedicate himself to Him, to be His living temple.

Psalm 30:11-12 tells of what God did inside of David. God changes not only circumstances; He changes the heart, mind, and spirit of each person who calls on Him. In this psalm, David went from wailing to dancing with joy when remembering God’s great favor, faithfulness, and mercy towards him (vs. 11). He sang praises to God and reminded himself never to stay silent, but outwardly to praise God. God’s redemption of David from his dismay caused his heart and mind to praise God, his body to dance, and his spirit to be renewed in faith. God can and will effect this change in His children's hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies when they call upon Him, like He did in David. David cried out to God and God heard and responded with His presence, help, guidance, and strength. When any of God’s children cry out to Him, He will respond to them similarly so that they dance with joy in praise to God. God’s redemption of His children from struggles can cause that person’s heart, mind, spirit, and body to praise God and dance with joy. They can experience a renewed faith in Him.

David did not intend the middle section of Psalm 30 to cause dismay to its readers and hearers. He meant for it to tell of God’s goodness to him and to all who seek Him in humility. This psalm’s purpose is to lead hearers and readers to recall God’s faithfulness, favor, and mercy even when times seem dark. David’s psalm causes each person to renew hope in God and praise Him—to renew his dedication to God as His temple.

The temple of God within each of His children is what they dedicate to God whenever they praise Him or pray to Him. From this temple within each of God’s children, the psalm elicits hope as they remember God’s faithfulness to David and themselves. Remembering God’s love, mercy, favor, and faithfulness to them may cause them to dance with joy and lift their hands in praise, too.

This leads us to agree with Barth. Barth is correct on both his points about Psalm 30; the introduction to Psalm 30 does both possibilities, not one of the other. It causes a person to go from mind study to soul praise. It also causes the person—child of God—to renew his faith and trust in God by recalling from the past who God has been as He helped him. This latter will cause soul praise that leads to bodily praise, such as dancing with joy. Both of these, David experienced in God’s inspiring him to write Psalm 30, like we each may have experienced as we read of David’s struggle in the middle part of this psalm.

David’s psalm should cause two things to happen. The psalm, as a reminder and as a song to and about God, causes us to go from the study of our circumstances and God’s word to the rededication of ourselves as God’s children—His temple—to whom He is ever faithful. This dedication of ourselves will take us beyond ourselves and circumstances to soul praise to God and dancing with joy.

The psalms are to lead us to worship God in easy and hard times. David shows us how to praise God in hard times and praise Him later as we recall God’s actions towards and for us. Today, remember when God was by your side during tough times, and how His faithfulness helped you overcome challenges; then praise and thank Him.

If you have not become a child of God, today is the day to seek His mercy and grace. You do this by believing in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior and by confessing and repenting of your sins (Romans 10:9-10). Today, will you choose to live with God now and forever?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. (Psalm 107:1, NIV)

 

 

Ends and Means: A 2 Samuel 4 Devotional

Focal verses: 2 Sam. 4:5-8

 ⁵“So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, departed and came to the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day while he was taking his midday rest. ⁶They came to the middle of the house as if to get wheat, and they struck him in the belly; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷Now when they came into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him and beheaded him. And they took his head and traveled by way of the Arabah all night. ⁸Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus the LORD has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants.” [NASB]

Rechab and Baanah were commanders of troops in Saul’s army, which Ish-bosheth inherited from his father, Saul. When Joab, the commander of David’s army, killed Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, in revenge for killing his brother, Rechab and Baanah took matters into their own hands. Before we go further in this study, I find it interesting that the Hebrew meanings of the names Rechab and Baanah. Rechab means “rider” and Baanah means “affliction.” They enacted their names when they killed Ish-bosheth.

Back to your story. Why would Rechab and Baanah decide to kill their king, Ish-bosheth? That is an interesting question. Immediately prior to the time of Ish-bosheth’s murder, Abner began encouraging the Israelites to give their allegiance to David. He did this out of spite when Ish-bosheth reprimanded him for lying down with one of Saul’s (his father) concubines. Abner did not like being called-out and reprimanded so he swore he would change allegiances and take Israel with him. Later in 2 Samuel 3, Joab killed Abner.

Back to our question: Why did these two men kill Ish-bosheth? Two possible answers come to mind. The first is they wanted to finish what Abner tried to do before his death. They wanted to make David king of all Israel. The means of it did not matter to them. For Rechab and Baanah, the ends justified the means. They did not ask David or God how to make David king of all Israel; they decided for themselves. By taking the head to David, they wanted recognition as loyal followers of David and consideration as men of worth.

The other possible answer to this question could be Rechab and Baanah were loyal to Abner in life and so wanted to be loyal to him in his death. They decided to finish what Abner began. Again, Rechab and Baanah did not consider how Abner wanted to make David king over Israel and Judah; they just acted upon their impulses. In this answer, they perhaps sought the approval and applause of their fellow Israelite army and civilians. Faithful even after death. Once again, they considered the ends justified the means.

Rechab and Baanah were not commanders of armies, but of troops. There is a reason they were not higher commanders and it probably hinges upon their wisdom and maturity about purposes, actions, wisdom, and maturity. When a goal reaches into the future, the best course of action is not necessarily the most expedient one. Rechab and Baanah were both a part of the nation of Israel God created. Their father and rabbis taught them about Yahweh. Each of these men knew to seek the Lord’s will before acting. Yet they are like people nowadays, too. They wanted to reach a goal and took whatever means they felt most necessary to bring about a quick result. They did not consult with God, a rabbi, another military leader, or an elder. Rechab and Baanah heard God anointed David. They wanted to follow the command of their leader who was murdered, but they wanted to do it the way they wanted and for the desired intent of their own good. They wanted recognition by the new king who ruled over them.

In life, we believe we know God’s plan and want to make it happen. We immediately begin to make plans to make God’s results happen. Then we wonder why we are experiencing difficulties. When we do this, we become like Rechab and Baanah. We get too concerned with reaching the goal and consider all costs necessary to get to the end. The goal becomes our focus and not God. Our commendation of “good servant” becomes more important than continuing to listen to God. Teachers and preachers expressed in the past, “God is more concerned with the journey than with the destination.” Our walk with Him here on earth is about becoming closer to God and becoming more like Him. It is not about getting to the goal, heaven. If that were the case, then we would all just kill ourselves now. God, though, created us for relationship with Him and He put us on this earth to begin and develop that relationship. He put us on earth to enjoy His creation, too. If the goal were merely to get to the end result and be with God in heaven, then He would not have created the universe and placed us on earth to live.

God anointed David to be king over all Israel over fifteen years before he actually began his reign. He had a plan, but it would happen in His time. Things needed to happen. David needed to grow and mature. Rechab and Baanah did not wait on nor ask God what He wanted them to do when Abner died. They aimed to accomplish the goal no matter how they had to do it. These commanders of troops killed the God-appointed king of Israel then. David, as God’s instrument, administered punishment to them for killing God’s appointed king for Israel.

God cherishes our lives. He created us to love us and have a relationship with us. This takes time to grow and know. All relationships take time to be built. Our lives are about the journey as well as the end. The journey is the time we need to know God and grow more like Him. The end is the place we will forever be with God in His heavens if we accept Him and His gift of salvation.

Those teachers and preachers were right. Life is about the journey. It is also about the destination – heaven. Do you work doggedly to get the job done and forget to ask God how He wants it done? Do you spend too much time working for God instead of getting to know Him His heart, and His plans? Maybe it is time for you and me to turn to God and consider His plans and timing. Maybe you have walked about from God in your process of doing His work.

Do not be like Rechab and Baanah. Seek God first when trying to help Him bring about His will. Seek God so you can know Him and be known by Him. Seek God so you can have life through the salvation He provided through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now is the time to turn around and seek God first (Matthew 6:33).

A Tale of Three Kings

In 1 Samuel, we meet God preparing a boy to become a man of God and a God-anointed king. The years of travel and training for David lasted a long time, about twenty-five years. When David began his reign of the Israelites, he was almost middle-aged. What made God choose someone of lowly birth to lead His people? What is it that David possessed that made him fit to be king? How did David’s reign presage the coming of Christ?  

From the beginning of David’s life, he realized he would be in the shadow of his brothers. His brothers probably teased and taunted him every day. David had seven older brothers. His father, Jesse, was the grandson of Boaz, who married Ruth and made her acceptable in the community of the Israelites (Ruth 4). Ruth believed in the one true God enough to follow Naomi, her mother-in-law, from Moab back to Israel because of the drought in Moab.

Jesse was a leader of his time, according to the Midrash, an ancient commentary on the Jewish Torah. The people considered him more blessed than others because he had eight sons. Why, then, did they treat David like an outcast? The Bible gives no specifics why, but Jewish writers say that his mother, Nitzevet, conceived David through trickery with Jesse. David’s seven brothers thought she had been unfaithful. They wanted to kill her and the unborn child. Yet Jesse told them not to harm her and the baby. This provides a possible explanation why David's brothers and father belittled David and gave him the lowliest job of being a shepherd. There are, therefore, two reasons for the brothers to think so little of David – he was the youngest and possibly conceived through trickery. As the eighth son, though David was the lowest of the brothers, he was in the best position to learn. He was humble. David, being meek, sought after God in the quiet times when he was with the sheep. He had time and quiet to learn the voice of God. David penned the words, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). He was open to hearing the voice of God; he was a young boy after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

God told Samuel to anoint another king for the nation of Israel. Saul disobeyed God when He told him to kill every Amalekite and their animals. Saul kept king Agag and the best of the animals alive against God’s command (1 Samuel 15). He did not repent for disobeying God then and just sporadically during the next twenty-five years in which God trained David to be the king of the Israelites. God was sorry He listened to the Israelites when they wanted to choose a tall man who was a natural leader to be their king (1 Samuel 9:2, 10:23-24). The problem was this natural leader would not subjugate his will for God’s will. God cut Saul’s line from the generation of future kings because of his disobedience.

Because God removed Saul’s family from being kings of Israel, He sent Samuel to Jesse’s family. Samuel, one by one, went by each of the first seven of Jesse’s sons. God did not tell him to anoint any of them. Samuel inquired if there was another son since he understood God said he would anoint one of Jesse’s sons. With trepidation, Jesse mentioned the youngest son, David. Samuel sent for Jesse’s last son, the one whom God desired to be king of His people. He anointed David as the future king of Israel. (Notice God did not tell him his reign would begin many years later and not then.)

Why, of these large strapping young men of Jesse, did God want David to lead Israel? Maybe the question should be - what could God do with young David that would make him fit to be king of His people, Israel? Think about birth rank in families. Often fathers train the first sons to be strong men who lead families and people. Since Jesse was a leader in the community, his community would expect the son’s of Jesse to be future leaders. Jesse and the rabbi trained them in tradition, history, wisdom from their patriarchs, and in the knowledge of the Lord. They were a family to whom Israel would turn to find their future leaders. Yet, there always is a last son when a first son exists. The role of the last son often turns out to be the baby, the momma’s boy, or the scapegoat. He is the one who is least considered to be a leader and who, by his place in the family, is least expected to make decisions. Family members look upon the last son as needing specific directions about what to do. Did David live up to that role? It appears his seven older brothers and Jesse wanted to put him in that role. They wanted to get him out of the home to avoid him dishonoring the family name. (When David took bread to his brothers as they trembled at Goliath’s feet, they ridiculed him for thinking he was good enough to leave the sheep fields and face battle.) 

We find out who young David was in our reading of 1 Samuel. David was an obedient boy. He learned obedience at his mother’s knee and through the teaching harshness of his father and brothers. Doing right was easier than wrong. By doing right, David could stay out of the limelight. This obedience put him in the right place for hearing from God. David grew accustomed to subjugating his wants to those of his parents and elder brothers. As a son in an Israelite family, he would have learned the ways God spoke to and took care of His people. In the fields watching the sheep was a good place to learn to be still and quiet. It was a perfect place to hear the voice of God. For David, it became the perfect place to speak to God, too. The fields, too, became his battleground as he fought lion, bear, and wolf in defense of his sheep. Does God use people whose ears are attuned to Him? Does God use people who will fight for the sheep? As others have noted, God does not necessarily choose the equipped, but He equips those He chooses. 

God chose David. David’s was more than just in the sheep fields and with his family. He would have royal training, too. David became the psalmist for tormented king Saul. It was the words and music God put into David’s heart that soothed Saul. Later David’s presence enraged Saul. His presence always reminded Saul God removed His blessing from him and placed it on David. David’s close friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s son, made Saul jealous. Eventually Saul became jealous for the position of king Jonathan and his descendants could have had as his heirs. Saul became so tormented he even tried to kill his own son with a spear at a public banquet (1 Samuel 20:33). From that point in time through another twenty to twenty-three years, Saul spent most of his waking hours plotting to capture and kill David. He wanted to remove God’s hand from David and place it back on himself. Saul became so obsessed with this that he compromised the security of the Promised Land. 

During David’s time of running from Saul, he hid and grew. David grew in leadership, military acuity, diplomacy, judgment, and faith in Yahweh. With each attempt on his life by Saul, he grew to be the man God would have be the king of His people. Saul grew more self-absorbed as shown by his actions. As David grew in the knowledge of the Lord, Saul decreased in power and control. This does not mean each of David’s teaching moments were brilliant shining examples of growth for later generations to follow. David was human, too. He slid into the depths because of making human choices instead of following God’s choices, such as asking Achish, the king of the Philistines, to give him protection from Saul (1 Samuel 26-27). Yet David learned he must ask and listen to God’s decisions about each step upon the way (1 Samuel 30). 

What was the difference between Saul and David? They both started their reigns listening to God. Still they both disobeyed or followed their own desires. Yet David learned and repented while Saul never repented for allowing king Agag to remain alive or for most of his other sins. As a human, David possessed none of the “things” that made him more of a king God wanted on his throne. He was not the tallest of Israelites as the Israelites wanted when they chose Saul. David was not the one who commanded the following of many people when God chose him. He was, though, a young man from God’s chosen people who listened to God’s voice. David’s job as shepherd and musician for the king was not so exalted that he thought himself bigger than Yahweh God. His financial security was not so large he felt he could depend upon himself. David’s birth did not commend to him supernatural power and authority, as would his descendent, Jesus. He did not dress better than anyone dresses, smell better than anyone smells, or command vast numbers of people. David was the last son of a son of Israel who received no promise of an inheritance. He stank like the animals he tended. David’s family mocked and forgot him. David possessed nothing except his belief in God Almighty.

Why was David’s reign so important then? Why do we look to it as the foretelling of the future reign of Christ? To answer these questions, let us look at it backwards in time. Jesus was the son of the human woman, Mary, and the heavenly Father, Yahweh. For humanity, Jesus needed to be seen as a human, one of them, having gone through things each person normally goes through and faced what they would face. Yet humanity needed a Messiah who would come in power and might, like a warrior king, to defeat the forces of Satan and reign in power and majesty. For God the Father, the sin of humanity separates each person from Him because His holiness cannot be in the presence of sin. Humanity needed an adequate means to remove the stain of sin so they could have a renewed and clean/pure relationship with God. Jesus is the answer to both these needs -  the needs of the Father and the needs of humanity. Jesus was the little boy born into a poor carpenter’s home. He lived life as an Israelite boy growing up under the tutelage of his father, Joseph, and the rabbis at the synagogue. Jesus, too, was the perfect sacrifice the Father required to purify humanity of their sins. He lived His life without sin, even in the face of blatant temptation by Satan during his forty days in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11).

David, in comparison to Jesus – boy and man, was a young boy, the lowest of his brothers. His family cast him out (as a shepherd), almost to the point of not acknowledging him as family. David learned to recognize God's voice as a youth. Jesus knew the Father’s voice as a youth, too. At age twelve, Jesus stayed in the temple and taught the other temple-goers. He came to earth to lead the people to know and follow the Father. God chose David to lead His people to perceive, understand, and follow Him, Yahweh, I AM. Both David and Jesus began their work for the Father at a tender age. The people despised them. David and Jesus chose not to do his own will but that of the Father. 

How did David’s reign presage Jesus’ reign? Old Testament prophets foretold Jesus would come and be a king from the line of David. Jesus came to be the sacrifice for His people. (David sacrificed his will most of his life to God’s.) How is Jesus’ reign more important? David was the king of the chosen people. Jesus came to be the King of God’s children, Israelite and Gentile. David’s sacrifice of himself and his will to God was for the people of that time. Jesus’ sacrifice of His life was for the people of all time. David's sacrifice could not erase sin. Jesus' sacrifice erases the penalty and guilt of sin for those who repent and believe in Him.

Knowing this, the reign of David as “a man after God’s own heart” and the reign of Christ as God’s Salvation, both of which required sacrifice, it might be scary to consider allowing yourself to subjugate yourself to the Father (1 Samuel 13:14). Consider this: if you do not allow God to lead you on a daily, personal basis to live the best life, you are choosing the opposite that of allowing Satan to win by demanding your own way. Your way is not the best way because your view of life is limited, but God’s is endless. He knows best how to go through the path of your life. If you refuse to live God’s way, you are choosing to live Satan’s way. There are just two ways. God loves you and wants the best for you. Satan, as the master of chaos, does not know love and seeks his own best. He sees life as a game. The game, to him, is to keep the Father from getting as many people as He can from entering heaven’s gates. Satan cannot go to heaven and he does not want you to go to heaven either. He is jealous. He is tricky. He is confusing.

Which path would you rather choose –

wait and earn God’s voice and listen to and follow Him as the young boy David did

or

stand on your own two feet, be the master of your own life, and be wrong and unable to make it right because of your human limitations, like Saul?

Forever after, God and His followers recognized David as a “man after God’s own heart.”

You can choose. 

Do you want to be a person after God’s own heart?