When Jesus taught in parables, he said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” In other words, “Listen up!”
At the beginning of Psalm 61, David turns that thought around and calls on God to hear his prayers.
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. (Psalm 61:1)
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The children of God are never content until their prayers are heard. Not just spoken, but heard.”
I think that’s a great reminder that it’s not so much what we say when we pray as it is who we are speaking to. Sometimes, when I hear people pray out loud in a group, I wonder, “Is that the way you talk to Jesus when you’re alone?” Some frame their petitions with doctrinal truths that seem to be directed more at the listeners in the room than the Father in heaven. Just tell him what’s on your heart. Release whatever is on your mind. Implore him to hear you, and be confident that he does.
My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts (Psalm 57:4)
David wrote these words when Saul was pursuing him, intent on killing him. Hiding in cave, David whispers a prayer for God’s mercy as he feels surrounded by lions.
David has faced lions (and bears) when he was tending sheep. Having killed those predators, he knew he could handle Goliath.
But this was different. These were people bent on his destruction. They were relentless. They tested David’s faith more than ever.
David doesn’t despair. Instead he sings. He sings God’s praises as if he’s already been rescued.
How did he do that? I believe he remembered another lion, the Lion of Judah. His Lord never changed, no matter what the enemy threw at him. God got him through it before, and God would get him through it again. He’s in the cave, surrounded by lions, and he’s singing about his victory.
One day Daniel would be there. He actually got a good night’s sleep because that same divine Lion sent an angle to close the mouths of all the others.
I’m big into visualizing my prayers. I love this picture of the Lord, because you never know when you might have to face lions.
When David begins his prayer, he’s physically and spiritually troubled (Psalm 6:2,3). His nights are filled with grief and weeping (v6,7).
But by the end, he’d confident that God has heard his prayer and will take care of all his enemies (v10). His prayer has transported him from anguish to assurance.
How did that happen?
That is the power of prayer. It may or not change a situation, but it will always change us.
Prayer connects us with God. We may feel alone, scared, worried, or disconnected, but prayer refocuses us on his presence, protection, and power. It brings to mind his promises, puts everything into perspective, and powerfully calms our minds. It’s kind of like saying, “Amen,” nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed.
So even if it’s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, just pray. Just tell God how you feel. Let the process open the door for him to do his thing and create a new spirit in you.
A “through the bible” devotion from Psalms 3, 4, and 5.
There’s passion, confidence, and expectation in the prayers and songs of these psalms.
“I cried aloud to the Lord…Arise O Lord! Save me, O my God!” (Psalm 3:4, 7).
“The Lord hears when I call to him (Psalm 4:3).
“O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch” (Psalm 5:3).
In these psalms, David audibly voices cries for help. After falling asleep, he rises with anticipation of God’s presence and steadfast love. His tone of voice is different than I typically hear in prayer. It’s different from my typical prayers.
Think about it. How much passion do you hear in prayer? Confidence? Anticipation? Not much. Certainly not much compared to David’s words. You may disagree, but most prayer sounds rote, listless, timid, vanilla, and generic. Too often my own sound that way.
First of all, that’s okay. In Romans, Paul admits he doesn’t know how to pray. Thank goodness for the Spirit who intercedes for us, who translates our awkward words into powerful prayers. (Romans 8:26,27).
Next, I believe we worry too much about what others will think of our prayers. Don’t. It’s not about them, but the Lord. You don’t need to infuse your prayer with a doctrinal statement. Just speak from your heart.
Finally, just read some psalms. They have a way of spawning the passion, confidence, and anticipation we may have lost somewhere along the way. Imagine sitting there with David as he sang about his experiences.
You’ve got the words. Just sing along. And then add your own stanza here or there.
When we moved to Florida, we had the option of building a new house. I never thought we’d be able to do that. By the grace of God we had enough equity to build when startup costs were affordable. Before we move, we looked at lots of houses, but decided we needed to build new. It was the right decision.
David wanted to build. He wanted to build a house for God. A temple. A place of worship.
As usual, God has a better idea. This wouldn’t be David’s project. It would be his son’s. And God’s.
It was more important for God to build David’s house. It was more important for God to insure that David’s descendants would always rule his people. It was more important that God make a house, or dynasty, for David. Our projects are always so small compared to what God has planned.
In the end, we don’t have to do anything for God. He does everything for us. He creates, saves, and blesses us. We can do nothing in return, except to live as those who have been created, delivered, and blessed.
David is a part of our Jesse Tree because one of his descendants, Jesus, will be the king God’s people always needed.
Since I grew up in the United States of America, a representative democracy, I struggle to grasp the selection of a monarch. Candidates for elected office campaign for months before I and others vote for one of them.
A king or a queen is not elected. He or she inherits the throne from their father or mother. A person may have an opinion about the reigning monarch, but their voice has no weight.
When it’s time for Samuel to anoint the next king of Israel, neither his opinion nor anyone else’s matters. God chooses. God chose Saul. That didn’t work out. God chooses the next king, someone after his own heart. God chooses David.
God sends Samuel to Jesse the Bethlehemite to anoint one of his sons as the next king. It must be Jesse’s firstborn, Eliab. Nope. God is looking deeper than appearances. How about the next son, Abinadab? Nope. It’s going to be the youngest son, a good-looking, brave, eloquent, sheep-herding, song-writing musician named David (16:18). I know, that’s an impressive resume!
A thousand years later, the angel Gabriel would announce to Mary that God would give her Spirit-conceived child “the throne of his father David.” No one would choose this child to be king. He would be despised, rejected, and killed. But he would rise and ascend to rule and reign. From the very start he is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Thank you, Lord, for David. Thanks for his songs, his victories, his descendants, and for Jesus. I would much rather be king or queen, but I am glad that he is my Lord. Only he can give me life!
David gets an ornament on the Jesse Tree; he is the ancestor of Jesus!
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:1,2)
Where I live in Florida, winter means cooler temperatures, but certainly nothing like the cold I’ve experienced when I lived further north. The temperature might dip below freezing one or two days in January or February. When it does, all the leaves fall off my Hibiscus, Mandeville, and Bougainville plants.
That’s my cue to get to work. I cut everything down to the ground and fill up bags for the trash guys to haul away on Wednesday.
Within a week, though, small green shoots with leaves will begin to grow from the stumps I left behind. As the weather gets warmer those shoots will grow inches overnight until a new vine is reaching towards the sky. I gather the new vines and use some twine to keep them close to the backyard fence.
It’s not a wintry blast of cold air that freezes God’s people in the Old Testament. It’s the loving discipline of the Lord for his people who have forsaken him to worship idols. Foreign nations and kings destroy and disperse God’s people.
When God decided that someone with a heart like his needed to be on the throne of Israel, he chose David, the son of Jesse. Not only would David be king, but his descendants would always be king over God’s people.
But once a pagan ruler exiles the people to a pagan place far away from Jerusalem, there doesn’t seem to be much hope. All that’s left to hold onto is the promise that “a remnant will return (Isaiah 10:21). And “there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,” a king descended from David infused with the Spirit of the Lord (Isaiah 11:1,2).
This is a messianic promise. That shoot would not be just any king. “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32,33).
That’s right, it’s not over till it’s over. God has the final word, and his word becomes flesh to rule and reign over his people. From that dead stump of disobedient and unfaithful people would come the one who would save his people from their sin, overcome death, and defeat the adversary, Satan.
When Jesus is born, a fresh green shoot starts to grow from the stump of Jesse, rooted in the promises of God. All that Jesus comes to be and do results in life, growth, and fruit. And guess what? By grace, you’ve been grafted into his family by faith. This isn’t just his story. It’s yours. You are part of God’s family.
In the song “Made for More,” Josh Baldwin sings, “I know who I am ’cause I know who You are.” Did you ever stop to think what a wonderful Christmas gift it is to know who you are? By grace you’ve been adopted into his family by faith.
If you’ve forgotten your identity, don’t just get out your wallet and look at your ID. Remember the shoot that comes forth from the stump of Jesse!
Since it’s December and Advent, I thought it would be fun to write some devotions for the season. Some decorate a Jesse Tree in the month leading up to Christmas, so I thought it would be interesting to write about the symbols that hang from its branches to remind us that Christ’s coming begins a long time before his birth in Bethlehem. In fact, we know that God had that day on his calendar before creation. “[God the Father] chose us in [Jesus Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4,5).
When I searched online for a list of Jesse Tree symbols, I found many variations. These devotions are based on one list I found from Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota. You can find more here: mlc-wels.edu/publications/the-jesse-tree.
I really want to up my readership, so please share this post with anyone you think might be (or needs to be) blessed by some Advent devotions!
A “through the bible” devotion from 1 Chronicles 23-27.
More names? Oh, yeah, and lots of them. King David’s reign is coming to an end and his son Solomon is ready to assume the throne of Israel (2 Chronicles 23:1). So David gets his house in order, and the write of Chronicles chronicles all of it for us.
David organizes the Levites for all the work in and around the temple Solomon will build. He organizes the priests to offer up the daily sacrifices. David organizes the musicians, gatekeepers, treasurers, and military divisions. Every name is recorded. Everyone knows their job.
When I was getting ready to retire from full-time pastoral ministry, there were a lot of lists to leave behind for my successor.
I updated the membership database.
I made sure every member was properly assigned to an elder, and made each elder had a current list of their assigned families.
I left a list of all the children and youth members for the youth directors.
I complied a list of all the homebound members and the last time I had visited each.
I arranged for the welcoming of new members, one last confirmation class, a few baptisms and a funeral.
Just like David, I tried to tie up all the loose ends as new leadership came on board. It turned out to be a larger task than I imagined. Which is why it takes up five whole chapters in 1 Chronicles. I had a lot of that information in my head and on my calendar. I downloaded it all to the church office.
I did a good job. I only got one or two phone calls over the next year about things I forgot to write down for someone else. I’m sure David did a good job, too.
The book of 2 Samuel ends on a sad note. Even though Joab advises against it, David takes a census of Israel.
Here we read that the Lord was angry with Israel and he incited David to call for a count of the people. In the parallel text of 1 Chronicles 21:1, it is Satan at work here. This is one of those times when God allowed a temptation, to teach and discipline David.
The results are impressive: his military forces number 1.3 million. But there is a price to pay. Seventy thousand die by plague because of David’s sin. When you are in leadership, your decisions affect a lot of people, and here, an entire nation.
Exodus 30:12 speaks to this. “When you take a census…” be prepared to make atonement for each one, a contribution, so that there won’t be a plague. These are God’s people, not yours.
What’s going on here? Is David simply curious? Or do the numbers bolster his confidence? Is he finding his strength in numbers rather than in God? David learns that God can take it all away.
I guess we all need that reminder. We need a math lesson. You and I have one God. That’s really as far as we need to count.
Waite for it... 