God does not call everybody to build temples. He calls some people to be soldiers. He calls some people to do the gutsy work in the trenches. He calls some people to compose and conduct music. God has all kinds of creative ways to use us—ways we can’t even imagine and certainly can’t see up there around the next bend in the road.
Read MoreTag Archives: Second Samuel
When God Says “No”
“David, you will know the delight of having a son by whom this temple will be built. Not through your efforts, but through your son the dream will be fulfilled.”
Read MoreThe Interludes of Life
David brought the ark of God up to Jerusalem and back to the people of Israel. It had begun to bother him that the ark of God was in a tent while he lived in a beautiful house. So he got the idea in his mind to build a permanent residence for God in which to house all the sacred furniture.
Read MoreTrue Freedom
Why in the world would they get so excited about it? Because they’re free. When you obey, you’re free. When you disobey, you’re in bondage. All around us we see individuals in bondage because they’re in sin, and all they talk about is freedom. They’re not free. The obedient guy dancing is free.
Read MorePrinciples vs. Precepts
What an epitaph! Not, “I found David to be a great warrior,” or, “I found David to be a faithful shepherd,” or, “I found David to be a brilliant king”—none of those things. It says, “I found David to care about the things I care about. He’s a man whose heart beats in sync with Mine.
Read MoreGod Cares
We’ve got David standing here mad at the Lord, when, in fact, the Lord was angry at David. About now you might be thinking, Well, I thought you said he was a man after God’s heart. I did—or, rather, God did. Does that mean he’s perfect? It does not. Having a heart for God doesn’t mean you’re perfect, it means you’re sensitive.
Read MoreFrom Fugitive to Monarch
Because of David’s many mighty acts and the legacy he left, it is easy to forget that for a dozen or more years he lived as a fugitive and spent many hours of discouragement and disillusionment in the wilderness. He was a broken, humbled man during those days as a fugitive.
Read MoreNever the Same
David was “a man after God’s own heart.” Yet, once he crawled into bed with Uriah’s wife on that moonlit spring night, never again did he know all the former joys of close family ties, public trust, or military invincibility.
Read MoreLife’s Arrows
Having just held a memorial service for a friend several years younger than I who had died with liver cancer, I have been thinking about how to respond when struck by an arrow of affliction. Not a little irritating dart, but an arrow plunged deeply.
Read MoreLive Like It Today
When I think of fallen people, my mind returns to an ancient example, King Saul, the tall, dark, handsome monarch of the Hebrews. What an impressive specimen of humanity! He was the one of whom the Lord had said to Samuel, “Behold the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall rule over My people” (1 Sam. 9:17).
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