When I first committed my life to Christ I promised that I would serve His Church. But except for my pastoral care work and volunteer youth and children's ministry, most of my working life has been spent outside the Church. After spending the last 3 years applying for jobs in Christian schools and Children's Ministry, again I find myself outside in the world - teaching in a circus.
David was a devoted servant of the Lord, and he too wanted to spend his life serving his God. The Lord had blessed Him abundantly and he wanted to give him something back. He wanted to build God a temple, but God had other work He wanted David to do.
It is important that when we are seeking to dedicate our lives to God's service that we do what David did:
1. Develop a strong relationship with the Father through prayer and reading the scriptures.
2. Consult a mentor or pastor (prophet) who can guide and pray with us.
David listened to God through the prophecy of Nathan and did not fight God's plan. At first he may have been a little disappointed, but finally this led to a `burst of praise springing from his heart'.
1. Do you feel you are doing the work God has planned for you? How do you know?
2. Do you have a mentor or pastor that trust to pray with you about these things?
DAVID'S STORY - 2 Samuel 7
"When He giveth you rest from your enemies round about you so that you dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there." Deuteronomy 12:10&11
Things had quietened down. David had defeated all his enemies. He and his family were living in a beautiful cedar palace which he was very thankful to God for. But there was something missing.
"The King summoned Nathan the prophet, "Look," David said, "I am living in a beautiful cedar palace but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!" Nathan replied to the king, "Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you." 2 Samuel 7:2&3
Both David and Nathan knew scripture and prophecy well, but they had missed this part in Deuteronomy:
"THE LORD YOUR GOD SHALL CHOOSE"
David wanted to build God a temple and he had the right motives. He wasn't being selfish or high and mighty. He had a servant heart. But even the most devoted of God's servants can get it wrong. God had other things he wanted him to do. It was his son Solomon who would build the temple.
Did David complain when God change his plans? Later, when he might have had a bad day as king, might he have said: "Well I could have been spending time worshipping God in the temple I built?"
No, in David's prayer of thanks in 2 Samuel 7:18-29 and later in Psalm 30, we see David honouring and praising his God in whatever situation he had been placed in, because when the LORD GOD DOES THE CHOOSING HE ALSO DOES THE BLESSING.
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28 (NLT)
3. Do you ever complain when you have a bad day? What would be a better thing to do?
TURNING TO GOD IN PRAYER & PRAISE - Psalm 30:1-4
David was indeed thankful for the way the Lord had blessed
him. As a king he now lived in a palace of cedar, and was currently in peace from his enemies. He had been healed from illness, and God
had taken care of the troubled and disorderly affairs of his kingdom. David
knew that a `life received back from the dead should be spent exalting the God
of our life’.
"I will exalt you, O God, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death. Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise His holy name." Psalm 30:1-4
But there was a time for David when he fell back into
despair, and as someone who has climbed many a mountain of illness and trouble,
I know how easy this is to do. Our mountain can be shaken. And in this time,
there is only place we can turn: to our Lord. Again, we can do this through prayer, or
consulting a close godly friend or pastor to pray with us. Then, again, like David, we may find that
`praise’ again begins to `burst out’.
In due time, God rescued David from his troubles, as he does
for us. It may not always be the way we
plan, but we can still know it is the way God wants.
"Give all your worries and cares to the Lord, for He cares about you." 1 Peter 5:7
4. What are some cares you need to give to the Lord today? What about some praises?
MY STORY - Read Psalm 30: 5-12
Psalm 30 is one that I have highlighted, as I have read it many a time. I have not been going through a time of sickness and trial, but
at the moment I am at one of those times David would of call of `prosperity’. I have a place to live, a good job and no `enemies' it seems.
Until these past few weeks, when I felt myself falling again. I had been having problems with my students
at school and my husband was stressing over money again. This is also the time of the year when I move into a time of grieving. It seems silly, as my sisters have been gone for many years now, but I still seem to miss them more on their birthdays. It is on these days when I question, for a short while, why God chose to leave me here and take them.
Then I remember my promises from this Psalm:
"Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning..... You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy." Psalm 30:5b, 11.
"What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you, can it tell of your faithfulness?" Psalm 30:9
"O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks forever." Psalm 30:12.
This morning I read an encouraging story by Dwight L Moody, telling about he decided that his ministry would be all about `converting others to Christ'.
'I want to tell you how I got the first impulse to work solely for the conversion of men. For a long time after my conversion it seemed I didn't accomplish anything. I hadn't got into the right work. I hadn't found my personal work. Then in 1860 the change came. In my Sunday School I had a pale young man as one of my teachers. He had a burning piety so I assigned him to the worst class. They were all girls, and it was an awful class. They would gaggle, laugh and carry on the whole lesson. Yet this young man seemed to have better success than anyone.
One day this man didn't turn up, and I had to teach the class. They seemed farther off than ever, and had no concern for their souls. The next day I met the man in town and he looked very sick. I asked him, "What's the matter?" "I have bleeding in the lungs", he said, "and I am going to die". He told me, "I am not afraid to die, but I will have to stand before God and give an account of my stewardship, and not one of Sunday School students have been brought to Jesus. I have failed them, and I don't have the strength to do it."
I got a carriage, and together, we called at each of the homes of the girls. He said to them, "I have come to ask you to come to the Saviour". He then prayed as I have never heard before. For the next 10 days we laboured in this way. At the end of the 10 days, each of those girls had yielded to the Saviour.
On the night before he died, the girls and I gathered together with him and celebrated. We sang `Blest Be the Tie that Binds'. We prayed and prayed, took communion and had a tearful fairwell. We then took the train home, and on the station he shook each of the girls hands and whispered, "I will meet you yonder". '
How do I know what God wants me to with my life? I trust Him to direct and lead me by staying close to Him and to His Son Jesus. I talk to Him each day, I read His word, and listen to my Christian friends. And, when things are a little down, I think about PRAISE!!
The Works of Dwight L Moody (2012) Golgotha Press
The Life of David as Reflected in His Psalms, Alexander McLaren, Samizdat Express
The New Matthew Henry Commentary, Martin H Manser, Zondervan
The Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, Tyndale Publishers
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