Good morning. Let us begin with a word of prayer this morning.
Lord, we are grateful as we come to Thee today. Thou art a God who wants to commune with Thy people, a God who desires to speak with Thy people, and a God who desires fellowship with Thy people. Lord, Thou art willing to pour out Thy heart when we are willing to listen.
Lord, we thank Thee today that we have such a loving God—a God who would not spare even His own Son for our sakes. Lord, we are humbled before Thee today that Thou wouldst consider us in such a way, that Thou wouldst love us in such a way.
Lord, honestly, I have yet to grasp or understand the depths of Thy love. I can only humbly receive it, because Thou lovest me and desirest me.
Lord, as we come together today to hear Thy Word, we ask for Thy anointing. For, Lord, how can anyone share Thy Word? We ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to share, to be able to hear, and, most of all, to be able to respond to Thy Word. Open it up to our hearts today. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Let us begin this morning by reading a few Scriptures, beginning in 1 Samuel 16. Let us start with verse 7.
But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
—1 Samuel 16:7
Speaking of David, young David, a little boy—the Lord was speaking here of David’s older brother.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.
—1 Samuel 16:13
Let us turn to 1 Samuel 17:26.
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
—1 Samuel 17:26
And David said, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord shall be with thee.
—1 Samuel 17:37
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from off thee; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day unto the birds of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
—1 Samuel 17:45-46
Now turn to 2 Samuel 5:7.
Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.
—2 Samuel 5:7
Then 2 Samuel 6:12.
And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy.
—2 Samuel 6:12
Then 2 Samuel 7:1-3:
And it came to pass, when the king dwelt in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.
And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thy heart; for the Lord is with thee.
—2 Samuel 7:1-3
Then the Lord spoke to Nathan and told him to send a message back to David. In verse 7, we see the Lord speaking:
In all places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people Israel, saying, Why have ye not built Me a house of cedar?
—2 Samuel 7:7
As we have been sharing, the fundamental burden that has been on my heart is this matter of sonship. Sonship is when we come of age—when we come to that juncture in our life as Christians that we realize we need to take up our responsibility before the Lord.
It is our responsibility for the testimony of God in our lives personally, and on this earth as a whole. It is a point in life when you say, “I have to be about my Father’s business.”
When Jesus was in the temple at twelve years of age and His parents went back to find Him, that is where He was. His response to His parents was, “I have to be about My Father’s business.” Sonship is when you no longer feel it is acceptable for others to take care of your spiritual life, but you have become responsible for it.
And not only responsible for your own life, but for that of others. In other words, that sense of responsibility—that sense that only comes when the Spirit of God finally touches your heart.
Many Christians go through their entire life, and I have to say I am not sure they ever enter into the spirit of sonship. They accept His salvation. They accept the grace of God as one of His children and live their life. They may come to times when they hear the Word of God, and sometimes their heart is touched and sometimes it is not.
But basically, they drift through life. They never really come to the place where they understand that they are accountable and responsible before God for their lives and for the Lord’s life operating in their life.
When I first shared on this matter of sonship, I shared from the life of Joshua. Brothers and sisters, I think it is important to see that at an early age Joshua became a very responsible man in Israel. But he stayed faithful to that responsibility. Even at the age of eighty, we see him going into the promised land ready to wage war.
Then I spoke about the life of Samuel. Why Samuel? Because when we come to that place in our life where we want to be responsible, we do not just start doing things. We have to be right before the Lord, and that is consecration.
Samuel was a consecrated man from birth, consecrated to the Lord and to His service. Consecration was a key factor in the life of Samuel. Samuel was brought to the temple somewhere around age four and served there. One thing he did, even as a young boy, was to get up every morning at sunrise, or before sunrise, and open the temple doors.
We see Samuel giving himself to the Lord. In fact, his mother offered Samuel up to the Lord, and Samuel, thank God, followed through in that same spirit. He was a young man consecrated to the Lord.
Now, I feel that I have to say something about consecration. Consecration is not offering your old life to the Lord and saying, “Okay, Lord, I am going to change my ways, and we are going to press on together. I give myself to Thee.” That is not exactly it.
Really, what has happened is that you became a Christian when you were born again. In John 3, the Lord said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” When you are born again, you have the life of Christ in you.
What you are really consecrating to the Lord is the life of Christ in you. “Lord, from now on, I am going to live my life by Thy life. It is Thy life that I want exhibited in my life. It is Thy life that is to be the power and energy of my life.”
“You have given this life to me, Lord, and now I offer it back to Thee to do with it as Thou wilt.” That is really consecration.
When we come to David, there is a real key in David’s life. We see that as a young man David gave his heart to the Lord. In the story of David and Goliath, David was only about fifteen years of age when he faced Goliath. So we know that, as a young man, he had already given his heart to the Lord and experienced the Lord in his life.
There is something unique about David that is very important in this matter of our life before the Lord. With Samuel, we see consecration. With David, we see communion. Communion is a critical factor in David’s life and in the results that we see from his life.
I wonder how any of us would feel if we came before a man over nine feet tall, carrying armor that weighed 125 pounds and a spearhead that weighed fifteen pounds. What would we do if we had to fight this giant?
It is hard to grasp this story because it almost seems like a fairy tale. But it was real—a real story. David was not a big man. He was the youngest in his family and relatively small.
David had one thing. He said, “I come in the name of the Lord.” He had the Lord. He knew the Lord. His life had been operative with the Lord.
This battle with the giant was different from his battle with the lion and the bear. The battle with the lion and the bear was preparatory to this. This battle in his life was over the testimony of God.
David had come to the place in his life where he had to stand for the testimony of God—not only in his own life personally, but for the whole nation of Israel.
Saul could not do this. We went into this last time. Saul just did not have a heart for the Lord. He was religious. He wanted to appease God, but not necessarily to obey God. Even when he disobeyed God, he did not have a repentant heart before God. He really did not have a heart after God.
But David did. Even with his later faults in life—serious faults—he had a heart for the Lord. The Lord had looked upon the heart, and He saw in David the man who was after His own heart, one who would stand for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
When we come to this issue of sonship, we need to realize that the testimony of Christ in your life is primary. Standing for the testimony of God on this earth is critical.
Saul, who was a rather large Israelite—one of the larger ones, a head above the rest of his people—was not able to stand up to this giant. I do not know if Saul even realized what was at issue here, other than his own life and the fact that Israel would become slaves if they lost this battle.
David’s three brothers were there, and they criticized David for even showing up. Yet they could not stand up to the giant either.
But David knew God. He asked, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” That was so key in David’s life. He knew God as a living God. God was very real to him—very living to him.
Not some statue somewhere, not an idol, but the living God. The Philistines’ god was an idol. David immediately testified, “Who is this to stand up to the living God?”
Those were not just words David had learned from Scripture. He had experienced that in his life with the Lord. He had experienced the living God out there taking care of those sheep.
Taking care of the sheep was one of the lowest duties. It was given to David by his father and his older brothers. They would shove him off to take care of the sheep while they did other, more important business.
But God had called this man to sonship, and He was training him out there with the sheep.
Sometimes we take up our responsibilities as a heavy load, as David might have said, “This is a chore that I do not want to do.” But really, God had put him in the school of Christ.
While David was taking care of the sheep one day, a lion came to attack the sheep. David grabbed this lion by his mane, pulled him down, and killed him. Now, you have to remember: David was not a big man, and he was still a boy—less than fifteen years old when the lion came.
Sometimes we ask our older children to take care of the younger ones, and they have a hard time with that. What would you do if you had fifteen or twenty sheep in a field, and a lion came up to attack them, and you did not have a shotgun?
Are you going to go out and attack the lion? Are a few sheep worth it?
If we are reasonable men, we would say, “What are a few sheep? After all, it would be my life that is on the line here.” If it were somebody I loved—my friend or my family—yes. But a few sheep? It does not really matter.
But that is why God loved this man’s heart so much. It was like His own. We are lost and scattered sheep. The Lord loves you so much that He laid down His own life.
David had this sense of responsibility. He was going to take care of those sheep, even if it cost his life. I think that is amazing. More amazing is that we know he was less than fifteen years old at this point.
Then there was the bear. Another incident: a bear came to take the sheep, and once again David killed the bear. Bears are vicious, particularly when they are hungry. David took the bear down.
Do you see what God was doing in his life? God was preparing him for something in the future. What is important is that through those experiences David learned that God was a living God, and that God was with him.
A lot of weakness in our spiritual life, brothers and sisters, comes from the fact that in our daily lives—whatever we are called to be, doctors, nurses, delivery men, housewives—we sometimes go through life almost as if it is merely a duty.
We miss so many lessons that the Lord wants to teach us, lessons that cause us to grow in Jesus Christ. But David learned that God is a living God. Could a boy such as David take down a lion and a bear if the Spirit was not with him? No.
He had experienced God in his life. That is so important for younger people too: in your schoolwork, your relationships with friends, and your standing for the Lord, begin to experience God operating in your life and in your family’s life. Be able to say, “Wow, the Lord did that.”
One day the Lord is going to bring you to the place where you have to stand for the testimony of Jesus. Let me tell you, all hell comes against that. This giant is representative of all the forces of hell that are against the testimony of Jesus.
There was something else in David’s life that could have been just as devastating as a lion and a bear. When the enemy attacks us full frontal, our immediate response is to turn to the Lord because it is so overwhelming. We say, “Lord, this is going to take us down if Thou dost not do something.”
David was not highly regarded by his father nor by his six brothers. They ridiculed him when he came that day. They said, “Oh, you are just trying to be a big shot. You are just trying to spout off your mouth. Go on back and take care of the sheep.”
David was not well thought of. I would not say he was rejected, but it was close to rejection. And he was a teenager.
As adults, we realize that rejection—particularly by those we care for and love—is one of the most difficult and tragic things that can happen in our life. It is overwhelmingly difficult. It takes our emotions; it takes our heart; it can break our hearts.
That is something of what David had to live with. But David did not become bitter. He did not go on Oprah’s show and say he lived in a dysfunctional family. He did not react in that way at all.
What did he do? He was out there with the sheep, just being before the Lord. Just being before the Lord.
That, brothers and sisters, had to be the stability in David’s life to overcome the emotional rejection, if you want to call it that. Not respected. Made to feel little, and of no account. It would destroy many of us.
Yet it did not destroy David. Do you know what it did? It drove David to the Lord. He poured out his heart before the Lord.
If you do not believe he poured out his heart, read Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
—Psalm 23:1-3
David learned something out there: “The Lord is my shepherd.” He knew what it was to be a shepherd, and he knew that the Lord was his Shepherd. “He restoreth my soul.”
There are probably many here who have had heartbreaks and experiences that are almost unbearable—the tragedy or whatever it may be. But if we will turn to the Lord, I believe this is a real promise through this brother: He will restore your soul.
There is healing in the Lord. David was learning extremely deep lessons at such a young age.
Nothing is different today than it was in David’s day. You do not have to wait until you are thirty or forty years old to sense responsibility before the Lord, to give your life to the Lord, to be in communion with the Lord, to have the Lord speak to you, teach you these deep lessons, and enable you to take on the giant.
The question is: are we experiencing the living God? That was a real key in David’s life. He experienced a living God, so that when he came to this critical time in the history of the nation, over the testimony of Jesus, he was able to stand for the testimony of Jesus.
I think it is amazing. Only one man in all of Israel was willing to stand up for the testimony of Jesus. David may have been the only one who really understood what was at stake. To him, it was not a matter of being put into slavery. It was the fact that God’s name was being defied, and David could not allow that.
Thank God for such a young man. His brothers said he was full of pride. It was not pride; it was confidence in the living God that David had.
Saul had failed. His brothers had failed. But David stood for the testimony of the Lord. He said to the giant, “You come to me with a sword and a spear and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to prove to the world there is a God in Israel.”
What spiritual stature! He faced the giant and said, “You have a sword and a spear and a shield. I have the name of the Lord.” How many of us can say, “I have the name of the Lord”? Really, we all should be able to.
But David’s life with the Lord was clear and constant. He had a strong relationship with the Lord. He was given to the Lord. Therefore, he could use the name of the Lord.
Even Jesus Himself said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do.” Who does that apply to? It applies to you and me on one condition: we have to give ourselves to the Lord.
Some people just try to use the name of the Lord. In the New Testament, there were men trying to cast out demons in the name of the Lord because they had seen the disciples doing it. The demon jumped on them and beat them up pretty good.
So it is not just a matter of using the name of the Lord like some kind of magic trick. David’s heart was given to the Lord. He was one with the Lord, and the name of the Lord was upon David.
God is always looking for those with a heart. It does not matter about age. What He is looking for is the heart. He is always looking upon the heart, and He is always looking for those who have a heart for Himself—a pure heart. Not necessarily a perfect person, but one with a pure heart.
When David was out with the sheep, he opened his heart up to God, and God opened His heart up to him.
The other night, I was considering this message and woke up about 2:30. I decided to go outside, as I do sometimes, and just look at the stars. You know, it says that the heavens declare His handiwork and His glory can be seen.
There was a dog baying in the distance, but it was a starry night with no moon. It was beautiful. I said, “Lord, I have looked at those stars many times, and they are still there. They are still moving in that same orbit just like they have for millions of years.”
What glory! What hast Thou done, Lord? What an amazing thing—and Thou considerest me, a little speck upon this earth, among all these millions of stars.
The Big Dipper has always amazed me because it is so easy to find. It always circles the North Star. In the northern hemisphere, you can see it—it is always there. Just the glory of the Lord. He is always there.
He has these stars in their orbits, controlling them by the power of His hand. Surely He can look after a little life like mine. He is so marvelous. He really is.
Go out one night and just look at the stars. See if it does not bring your heart to the Lord. David was out there in the field under the starry skies, and he looked and realized it was God. He started communing with the Lord.
That communion overcame everything else in his life—all the discouragements and everything else.
How did David get such a heart? In Psalm 86, David refers to himself as “the son of Thy handmaid.” I cannot help but wonder whether it was his mother—whether it was the touch of his mother—that comforted David, kept him on track, probably taught him to read, and taught him about God.
We do not really know, but there seems to be a term of affection in “the son of Thy handmaid,” as he refers to himself.
Parents, our being there and our guidance to our children in the Lord are critically important. Our children are the Lord’s gift to us, to help train and direct in the admonition of the Lord. A mother’s heart—thank God for a mother’s heart.
But I really have to say that David’s real secret is communion—his communion with the Lord. In Psalm 27, David says:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
—Psalm 27:4
That was his heart: just to behold the beauty of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, that began out there in the fields, taking care of those sheep.
Psalm 27:8 says:
When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face;
My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
—Psalm 27:8
Just seeking the face of the Lord. Just coming before the Lord. If you read the Psalms, you realize that they are about communion with God. Look how much of the Scripture is given to communion with God. Most of these Psalms were written by David, pouring out his heart to the Lord.
It is a key to our spiritual life. Communion has no age limit. It just requires a desire in our heart for the Lord. If we do not have that desire, we will not commune with Him. We will just go about our busy days and miss the Lord.
The Lord desires to commune with us, and He has made provision. He has given us the Holy Spirit, that we might commune with Him. He has regenerated our own spirit so that it might communicate with God.
Our spirit is like a radio. It has to be tuned in. It has to be tuned in to the Lord, and then we will hear what God has to say.
Communion is very precious. In the Garden of Eden, God communed with Adam and Eve. But when they sinned, He had to put them out of the garden, and that dear communion with the Lord was lost.
At Mount Sinai, the Lord made His heart known to His people. He said, “I brought you to Myself, and I want to dwell among you and with you. But you are not fit. Make a tabernacle, that I might dwell among you, and I will speak to you from above the mercy seat.”
God made provision even in the Old Testament. God wants to speak to His people. Only the high priest could go in once a year, but Moses would go to the tabernacle and the Lord would speak to him from the tabernacle.
It is very similar with the prodigal son. The prodigal son grew up with all that was available to him—his father’s riches and the good life that he had. But he decided he wanted his portion and wanted to live life the way he wanted to live it.
He went off and spent everything he had. He went into poverty. One day, he got so desperate that he found himself eating the husks that the pigs had been eating. Then he awakened.
God was able to awaken a desire in his heart. What was that desire? To return to the father’s house. He said, “At least I can perhaps be his servant.”
Desire is a real key. Brothers and sisters, we have to watch our desire for the Lord, because when it wanes, we are missing communion with the Lord. But praise God, the Father was there waiting for the prodigal son to return.
That desire did not come from within that young man’s own heart. God put it there. We are in a very dangerous place when we are away from the Lord, and it really takes, at that point, a touch from the Lord to draw us back.
God desires to commune with us. But unfortunately, we are much like the prodigal son. We want to live life our way. The world draws us, as it did the prodigal son, and we do not understand how precious that life with the Father is—how precious communion with the Father is—until we are away from it.
It is a matter of the heart. What is communion? Our brother has been sharing on worship, and to me, communion is fellowship with the Lord from your heart. The Spirit is there; the Spirit is involved. Without the Spirit, there is no communion.
As you begin to open your heart before the Lord, He begins to share back with you. He waits for us to open our hearts to Him. It is not duty. It is not something that is a duty. We have to acquire a life of communion before the Lord.
Our brother shared from John 4 about the Samaritan woman. When the Lord offered her living water, her first response was, “Where should we worship?”
There is something deep inside of us, even unbelievers, that realizes there is a God. I think even people who say they are agnostic are fooling themselves. Something deep down says there is a God, and worship is something God has put in man. But often man worships the wrong thing. So often, he worships himself.
This matter of communion is simply being heart to heart with the Lord. When we come to the Lord’s table, it is a heart issue. You get heart to heart with the Lord. It is not a duty where you simply come and take the table.
That would be an affront to the Lord. The table is so that we might remember Him, commune with Him, and do it together as a family. It is a precious time of communion with the Lord.
The Samaritan woman asked whether they should worship in Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim. The Lord said it was not a matter of where. In other words, it is not that you have to come to a certain place to worship.
Communion is what brings us into worship. If you are not communing with the Lord, you do not instantaneously start worshiping. Communion brings you to the Lord.
So it is not a matter of place or time, but a matter of the Spirit—the Lord’s Spirit, who wants to commune with us all the time.
It is communion that transforms us and transformed David. When our hearts turn to the Lord, the veil is lifted. When our hearts turn to the Lord, the veil on our heart is lifted.
Often we have veils. Some of us know we have a veil right now. But if you turn your heart back to the Lord, the veil will be lifted. That is a promise from the Lord.
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
—2 Corinthians 3:18
How is that going to occur, brothers and sisters, if there is no communion? How is our life really going to be transformed if there is no communion? It is not so much what we do or do not do that transforms us. It is beholding Him that transforms us.
Oh, we are so much like Saul. We say, “Just give me my regimen of things to do, and I will try my best to do them. Then God will be appeased and satisfied.” God forbid that kind of relationship.
If we are in that kind of relationship, we need to go back to the Lord. It is easy to fall into that kind of relationship—so easy. But we are transformed only as we behold His face. Communion is so critical.
One of the things I missed growing up is that I never really learned, at least as a younger person, to exercise myself in communion. It takes a little time.
I said it was not a matter of time or place, but in Psalm 108 David said he rose early in the morning and drew close to the Lord. Is it a matter of time? No. But there is something special about early in the morning, when everything is quiet and you can just get before the Lord.
Communion is not something you just rush into, giving Him a list of problems in your life. That is not communion. Nor is it merely a list of requests before the Lord.
Communion is getting before the Lord, opening your heart to Him, and sharing your heart with Him. Eventually, some of the things on your heart will come out, and some requests will come out. But in the beginning, you just say, “Lord, I love You.”
Or you will read a Scripture, or perhaps sing a song that focuses your heart on the Lord. As your heart is focused on the Lord, the Spirit begins to move, your soul begins to respond to the Spirit, and you come into communion with the Lord.
It does not take hours. Just a little bit of time. But it is something we have to practice.
If we do not do it regularly, we will drift. We will get where we do not do it at all. We will just let things happen in our life.
Even during the day, our hearts should be like a compass. A compass always points north. During the day, we may be busy with many things, but there should be times when we can stop for a moment, look back to the Lord, and thank Him.
Just thank Him. Just say, “Lord, thank You. Thank You for being with me today.”
We need to cultivate this desire for communion. If you read the Psalms, that is one characteristic of David’s life that is so prominent: his communion with the Lord.
The Lord has graced us by providing so much of the communion David had with the Lord to us, I think, as an example and encouragement. The Psalms often soothe our soul.
How important is communion? I will say today that you will not fulfill God’s purpose in your life if you do not have communion. God has a great eternal purpose, and we have all been called to that purpose.
It takes one who is in communion with Him before God will share the deep things in His heart.
Let me tell you three things David did when he became king. The first thing he did was capture Zion, the stronghold. Zion was Jerusalem, a mountain in Jerusalem. He took that.
That was a stronghold even Joshua was not able to take. But when David became king, the first thing he did was take Jerusalem. Why is that important?
In Deuteronomy 12, the Lord told His people that after they entered the promised land to possess it, they would not be able to sacrifice anywhere they wanted. He said, “I will appoint a place, and there I will put My name. Only there will you be able to sacrifice.”
For hundreds of years after they entered the promised land, nobody knew where that place was. But it was finally revealed to David.
How was it revealed? We do not see prophets coming to David saying, “It is Jerusalem, David.” No. We simply see David responding to the Lord’s heart and taking Zion—a place for the Lord’s name.
The testimony of Jesus was primary in this young man’s life. When he became king, he knew God had a place where He wanted to put His name, and it was Jerusalem. But He revealed it to David because, out of communion with God, God was able to touch his heart and share the depths of His own heart with David.
Secondly, David went and got the ark. The ark represented the glory of the presence of God, and that was precious to David.
Saul, during his forty years, never even thought about the ark. It was there the whole time, but it did not mean much to Saul.
A place for the Lord’s name, the testimony upon this earth, His presence in the midst of His people—these things are precious to God. They are so precious in His heart that He does not simply tell everybody and everyone.
But through communion with the Lord, David said, “We cannot live without Thy presence, God, in the midst of Israel. I need to get that ark.” And he went and brought it back.
The third thing was the house of God. David said, “Look, all my enemies are at peace now. I live in a house of cedar, and we have God in a tent. Why should His house be less than the one we live in? His house is what is important.”
Nathan the prophet said, “Do what is in your heart, David.” What was in David’s heart was to build a house for God, a permanent place for God.
But God, through Nathan the prophet, responded to David: “Now, David, in all My travels with the nation of Israel, I was in tents all along. Who did I ever tell to build Me a house?”
That Scripture is so precious because it tells us that in communion with the Lord, David touched God’s heart at its depth. He knew that God wanted a house. It was revealed to David in communion because the Lord had not told anybody that He wanted a house.
There are hints throughout the Old Testament, but we can only see those hints because we already know today.
A place where the Lord can put His name; a place where His presence can be; a place where He is honored and loved; a house made without hands; living stones built together.
Oh, how we have failed down through the ages to build this house that God wants. But His heart has not changed. His heart has not changed at all, brothers and sisters.
Those three things are still deeply in God’s heart. As we commune with Him, we will personally touch those issues as David did.
If there is something else in God’s heart that He wants to share with you, certainly He may do so. But will it be extra revelation to Scripture? I want to be very clear about this: no. God has revealed Himself.
But it is in communion, brothers and sisters, that you become knowledgeable of the living God. It is only in communion that we can touch the depth of God’s heart.
For myself, I feel that I am always so busy about many things that I skip the most important thing so often, and that is communion.
May the Lord encourage us today, tomorrow morning, and the next day to take a little time to be with Him. Just open your heart to Him. It will make a world of difference, not only to you, but to the Lord.
He is waiting. He is like the father waiting for the prodigal son to return. The father was only interested in his son coming back so that he could have fellowship with him.
The son was out living life the way he wanted to, and the father’s heart was broken. But he waited. Let us not keep the Lord waiting.
Lord, we come to Thee today. Thou hast called us all to be sons, and Lord, we want to be the sons that Thou desirest us to be.
Lord, we want to be those consecrated to Thee, and we want to be those in communion with Thee.
Lord, this is not asking for our own sakes, but even for Thine own sake. We know that Thou gavest the precious life of Thy Son that we might have communion, because real communion could only be restored once He died on the cross for us.
Lord, we thank Thee. We thank Thee, Lord. We thank Thee for that restoring work of Thy Son Jesus, that we might commune with Thee today.
It is a precious gift, Lord, that Thou hast returned to us. We thank Thee in Jesus’ name. Amen.