Let’s pray.
Lord, You are the worthy One. And Lord, we’re thankful that, as we were in Your presence this morning, we were reminded in the very freshness of Your mercies, Lord, of the greatness of Your mercies.
And Lord, as we come to Your Word now, we continue in that spirit, that Your great mercy, O God, by Your grace, would really speak to us. Lord, capture our hearts.
We realize the days we’re living in. We realize the battle there is over life. We are those that come looking to You, Lord, in a very dear way, to continue equipping us, preparing us, that we could be those who are really prepared for our beloved Savior’s return.
In Thy name we pray. Amen.
I’d like to read a couple of verses to start. First, turn to Matthew 24.
The Lord is speaking with His disciples about the last days and what would be ahead of them. In Matthew 24:4-5, He says:
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray.
For many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.
And now also over in 1 John. Our group on Friday nights has been studying 1 John. We’ve been very blessed and encouraged by it. The life of the Lord is encouragement in these days that we’re living in.
One of the encouragements that John gives us is at the beginning of chapter 4, 1 John 4:1. John, in that loving spirit, says:
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
The wonderful thing about our Lord, in contrast to this verse, is that the Lord comes to us and says, “Test Me. Prove Me.” Our Lord is so secure in Who He is. He is not afraid to be tested.
Throughout history and throughout Scripture, those who may have been in doubt have tested the Lord—those who have wanted to know Him in a greater and fuller way. The Lord is not offended by our testing Him.
But the spirit of the enemy, the things of the flesh, and the things of the world—you test them, and they rear up real quick. They say, “How dare you challenge me?” That is not the Spirit of Christ. That is the spirit of our flesh. That is the spirit of pride.
So we see here how the Lord is encouraging us, as we live in these last days, to be a people who can really discern the things of Him. Many are coming in His name. Many are saying, “This is Christian. This is Christian. Christ is here. Christ is here.” How are we going to know the difference?
But we’re thankful, again, as we studied in 1 John 2, that we have the anointing within. We’ve got that precious Holy Spirit. We’ve got the life of Christ within us to teach us, guide us, restrain us when we need to be restrained, and loose and empower us when we need that empowering. His very life is within us to teach us and guide us.
In this thought of discerning what is of the Lord and what is not, a little phrase came to my mind: doing the right thing the wrong way. That is what I’d like to share on this morning.
Often, in our zeal and in our good intentions, we can do the right thing, but we end up doing it the wrong way. We do it in ourselves.
When I was in school, one of my favorite books—which I read a good number of times—was The Prince by Machiavelli. For believers, I don’t recommend it.
But there is a quote people associate with him, and it is actually not in the book. You take some words in the book and mix them around, and you come up with this quote: “The end justifies the means.”
The end justifies the means: if you get to the right place, however you get there, it is okay. In the world, that is a very popular thing. We see it in corporate America all the time.
But in the kingdom of God, that is totally contrary. Yes, God has an end, and we’ve heard about that end—His eternal purpose. But God is concerned about the process too. He is just as concerned about how we get through. He wants us to know the way through that He has designed for us.
What is God’s way? It is the way of the cross. That, again, is totally contrary to the flesh and totally contrary to the way of the world. But the way the Lord trains us and works within us, bringing us into His ways, is that wonderful way of the cross.
Last week, we heard the young people testifying from the youth conference about that theme of denying themselves. There was that theme verse out of Luke 9:23:
And He said unto all, If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
We know that, as we go through this process of allowing the cross to work within us, we enter into more and more of what God is after within our hearts and lives.
We know that the cross has to deal with our flesh. That is the only way it can get dealt with. Thank the Lord that, objectively, our flesh was dealt with at Calvary. But experientially, it gets dealt with daily as we deny ourselves, as we decrease and He increases.
It is interesting that within Christianity there is a phrase often associated with the flesh. It is not really scriptural, but we use it for descriptive purposes. Oftentimes, when we talk about the flesh, we talk about the bad flesh and the good flesh.
Well, all flesh is bad. All flesh needs to go the way of the cross. But for the sake of fellowship and sharing this morning, I want to touch on these two descriptions. Not only does our so-called bad flesh have to be dealt with by the cross; our so-called good flesh needs to be dealt with by way of the cross.
Tragically, among believers today, we focus on the negative—the so-called bad flesh being dealt with. But if somebody has some good qualities, some natural abilities, and so-called good flesh, that often seems to slide right on through. It can even be promoted, enhanced, and made very popular.
So I would like to consider, as a teaching example, the life of a man who was a man after God’s own heart: David.
It is wonderful how Acts testifies that David was a man after God’s own heart. As we look at David, we know of David’s so-called bad flesh: his adultery, his murder, and his numbering of the people. We say, “Yes, the Lord had to deal with that.”
But the Lord also had to deal with David’s so-called good flesh. Hebrews tells us how a father loves his son so much that he wants to discipline him. God loved David so much that He was not going to allow his good flesh to go on. God loves us so much that He wants to deal with all that so-called good flesh within us.
Oftentimes, when David was doing something, he did the right thing, but he did it the wrong way. There are two examples I would like us to look at this morning:
First, let us look at David bringing the ark back to Jerusalem. This is in 2 Samuel 6.
We are not going to read the whole chapter, but let me summarize it. In Samuel’s days, the ark was captured by the Philistines. For a while it was kept by the Philistines, but God brought much judgment upon them. He terrified them through the curses and plagues they encountered.
So they said, “We need to get rid of this ark.” They built a new cart—a nice, shiny wooden cart—and we know the story of the milch cows and how the ark went back. It stayed in the house of Abinadab until the days of David.
David, having such a heart for the Lord, knew that the ark should be in Jerusalem. There is a great contrast here between Saul and David. Throughout Saul’s reign, those forty years, the ark was there, but we never hear Saul being jealous for that ark.
That ark speaks of the Person and work of Christ. Saul was never attracted to Christ. He was never attracted to the Lord’s mercy seat that we even sang of and heard of this morning.
But David, being that one after God’s heart, as soon as he was made king and had taken Jerusalem, wanted the ark there. He knew that it should be there.
David and all the people went to Abinadab’s house, and they made a new cart. They started bringing the ark back to Jerusalem with worshiping, singing, and great joy.
But along the way, the oxen slipped. Uzzah reached up his hand to steady the ark, and the Lord slew Uzzah right there for his irreverence. David got angry, left the ark there in the house of Obed-edom, and went back to Jerusalem.
We see David doing the right thing. The ark should be in Jerusalem. But he went about it the wrong way. He had very good intentions—very commendable intentions—but David, handling it in himself, brought about suffering and loss.
That is what happens. Our good intentions often do not achieve, or really bring in, what God desires. Instead, they bring suffering and loss. We create a bigger mess than when we first started because it is simply the way of the flesh.
But praise God, the story does not end there. So often, when we do something and find out what we did was not God’s way, we feel, “God is so unhappy with me. He has set me aside. I can never serve Him again. I am disqualified from service in the house of God.”
We think, “I can’t do anything for God, so I am just going to sit in my chair and let everybody else worship God. Everybody else can pray, but not me. I am so bad. Look what I did.”
Think about David. Because of David’s good intentions, Uzzah was killed. There is a correlation there. David surely felt bad. Scripture says he was angry with God. But what did David do?
In 2 Samuel 6:9, it says:
And David was afraid of Jehovah that day; and he said, How shall the ark of Jehovah come unto me?
That word afraid is often translated in the Old Testament as feared. Some translations say, “David feared the Lord.” What is the beginning of wisdom? It is the fear of the Lord.
David returned to that place of revering and honoring the Lord. Through discipline, he was brought back to the feet of the Lord, to seek Him. He said, “How, Lord? How can this come about?”
As David sought the Lord, perhaps he went back and read through the Scriptures again. He may have refreshed his mind: “Oh, that ark should be on the shoulders of the Levites. It should be brought back this way. They should be carrying it.”
Maybe the Levites shared with David. We do not know the exact details. But through His Word, and perhaps through fellowship, David saw what God’s way was.
So David returned. Praise God, David was teachable. He was teachable and correctable. When we make mistakes, are we teachable and correctable? Or do we give it up and listen to all the lies of the enemy?
Brothers and sisters, the table we took of this morning is very practical in our daily life. When we find that our flesh has had the better of us, the mercies of the Lord are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness.
The blood of the Lamb cleanses us and allows us to get back in and say, “Lord, not my way now, but Your way. What is Your way in this?” This is what we see, and how we can be encouraged by David.
David, in that teachable heart, continued. The ark was brought into Jerusalem God’s way, with great glory and honor to the Lord. Praise God for that.
As we look back through this story, there are some lessons we can learn. One lesson is that we need to be very careful when everything is going well and things are peaceful.
If you look back at the previous chapters, when David became king, he solidified the kingdom. He was going through wars and battles, and there is a phrase that characterizes the chapters before this: David inquired of the Lord.
When we are going through tough times and battles, nobody has to tell us to pray. When the big exams come along, when some test is coming along, or when we are facing something, we are cognizant of the battle. We immediately pray.
I go to the dentist—you better believe I pray before I go to the dentist. You know, I do not like pain. I have had enough of that in life.
But when things get peaceful, we have a natural tendency to let our guard down, slack off, and start thinking, “Well, I have been a Christian all these years.” David may have said, “Well, I am the king now. Let me talk to all the people and see how to bring this in.”
Turn for a moment to 1 Chronicles 13. This is a parallel chapter to what we see in Samuel, but it gives us a little more insight into the process David went through—and who, instead of inquiring of the Lord, David inquired of.
In 1 Chronicles 13:1, it says:
And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader.
Then David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seem good unto you, and if it be of Jehovah our God…” How often do we say that? “If it is good to everybody—oh, yes, and to God also.” Who should be the first One in that? There is something wrong with the order of that equation.
In verse 4, we see the conclusion:
And all the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
Does that not describe the days we are living in? Everything is right in the eyes of the people. That is the spirit of Laodicea. “Oh yes, you can do this. Oh, you are a Christian? Yes, you can do that.” We do not care what the Word of God says; we think this is the way.
When things are so-called peaceful—and we admit there are not many of those times in this day—we need to be on the watch. The enemy is out there, and the flesh is always warring against the Spirit.
We also see that David used the ways of the world in trying to serve the Lord. How did the Philistines bring the ark back? They made a new cart.
David, as he let his guard down, said, “Oh, that was a nice way. Look how they brought this back. Let us make a new cart and bring it in too.” We will bring the ark on the cart back to Jerusalem.
God is merciful to the world. They do not know any better. They can, at times, get away with things that we see and say, “Well, that was not very scriptural.” There is a different standard.
But once we come into knowing Him, knowing His ways, and being trained according to Him, we need to learn that He has certain ways that He desires for us to walk.
At first, it may even seem as though it is working. We might use our own ways, and it seems like it is working, but sooner or later it will end tragically. The ark was moving along on that cart. They were worshiping, and everything was going well. But then tragedy came.
Sadly, that is the way it happens when we rely on our own ways.
It is tragic today how, even within Christianity, so many of the world’s ways are used: the world’s ways of marketing, attracting people, setting an atmosphere and ambiance within a meeting room, and bringing entertainment in.
What happens a lot of times is that many are brought into these types of meetings. But then, when something happens, they are disillusioned because they do not have a solid foundation in Christ. They have been presented with a false Christ.
They become disillusioned, tragedy results, and they turn to something else. “Well, I tried Christ. I tried Christianity. It did not work. I am going to try this now.”
We might think that we are doing people a favor by coddling them and saying, “Oh, come. We will just have a great time. We will sing wonderful songs, have a certain atmosphere, have no accountability, and just enjoy yourself. Be at home. Be family.”
But if we really stop and think about it, within a family there is love, there is discipline, and there are certain characteristics. If those are not brought in—if God’s way is not brought in among the people of God—we have many Uzzahs in the days we are living in, because people become greatly disillusioned.
It is tragic today among many of the millennial generation how many have become so disillusioned with the things of the Lord because they never really came to see the true Christ—Who Christ was and Who He is to them.
May we not go that way. Sometimes it can seem very expedient: “Oh, look at the large crowds and everything.” But no, God has His way.
Paul addresses this to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul challenges the Corinthians concerning how they are building. Are you building with wood, hay, and stubble? That is the wrong way—the way of the flesh. Or are you building with gold, silver, and precious stones?
Wood, hay, straw, and stubble can be very impressive. You can build a huge cathedral with it. But it simply represents man’s opinions, man’s thoughts, and man’s ways. It is not stable, and it can go just like that.
But that gold, silver, and precious stones—that is what Christ is looking for. Yes, it is costly. They are precious. It can seem hard. It can actually seem impossible.
Praise God, there is great liberty when we see that it is impossible for us. As Jack opened this morning, we are all there in disobedience, and God has made one way: mercy for all.
Yet some still try to create their own ways to God. It does not work. There is one way. It is only by His grace and His life within us, as we deny ourselves and allow Him to establish us in Him, that we can be brought into that.
We have so many good intentions, but the Lord is looking for His life. As we say no even to our so-called good flesh and allow Him to bring us forth, He establishes what is truly of Himself.
Paul continued in 1 Corinthians 11, challenging them concerning the Lord’s table. They were taking the Lord’s table. That was the right thing to do.
Just as when they were building the house, Paul did not say the Corinthians were not building. They were doing the right thing—they were building—but many were doing it the wrong way.
It was the same with the Lord’s table. They were doing the right thing; they were taking the Lord’s table. But they were doing it the wrong way. They had lost the true meaning. They had lost the value, the cost, the preciousness, and the testimony. They had allowed it to become common.
They had very little respect for it. They were even there drunk. It had become totally self-absorbed.
It challenges us when we come to this table. Has it lost its value and preciousness to us? Do we really see that great testimony of all that Christ has done?
Another phrase we can use in talking about this matter of our good flesh, or the wrong way, is religious activities.
It is a great tragedy in our time how there are so many religious things done today in His name, and they actually bring a great disservice to the testimony of the Lord.
Tragically, God’s people are in such a weakened condition that we cannot discern between the things of the Lord and the things of the flesh. Many things are done in His name, but are they really of Him?
Have we developed that personal, intimate relationship with Him, so that we know His voice and know that Spirit within us leading and guiding us? Or do we get washed away and swept this way and that way by every new trend that comes along?
Outwardly, as you look, everything can look the same. But it is a heart issue. The Lord is looking at our hearts.
That is why we need that daily, personal, intimate relationship with Him: daily in His Word, allowing that Word to speak to us; daily willing to deny ourselves and follow Him; and developing a further, deeper sensitivity to that anointing within.
We are not to rely upon our mind, our will, or our emotions. Discernment comes through that dividing of soul and spirit.
As we allow the Spirit of God to increase and work within us, our soul comes under the dominion of the Spirit. Our mind comes under His government. Our emotions come under His government. Our will comes under His government. We are no longer doing it for ourselves.
But if we allow our souls to get so out of control, we do not know the things of the Lord.
We have been studying 1 John, and one of the calls throughout 1 John is loving one another. Tragically, today, you can see how much something means to the Lord by how much the enemy attacks it, changes it, and misrepresents it.
When we talk about loving one another, it is sad that so much of this matter has been confused with sentimentality.
There is so much sentimentality. I looked that word up in the dictionary, and sentimentality is defined as simply relying on your emotions or your feelings. It is the flesh. It is not relying on the Spirit.
Our God was not led by sentimentality. You know, you are not led by sentimentality when You put Your Son on the cross. You are led by love. That is love.
There is a love that is a righteous love. There is a love that is a holy love. It dies for everybody. Like David said at the table, that mercy was extended to everybody. Provision was made at Calvary for everyone throughout all creation.
How tragic it is that so few have responded.
But sadly, in the day we are living in, this whole thought of loving one another can become: “Oh, they have this problem. That is okay. Just let it go. Oh, they have this issue in their life. That is all right. We love them. We care for them.”
Yes, we love them, but we are not accepting their sin. We are not condoning the sin. We are trying to bring them to Christ in a way that they can be set free and delivered.
I have no children, so obviously I am no expert here. But I have heard enough parents say over the years how, at times, they have confused love and sentimentality.
You do not like the discipline of love at times. But through the years, with your child, you learn that it is necessary. I remember my father telling me, “This hurts me more than you.” I never got that.
But later on, I understood that he was talking about within his heart. It broke the Father’s heart for His Son to be crucified, but He was not going to be led by His emotions. His love was higher than that.
In this day and time, so much sentimentality has crept into Christianity and robbed God of His glory. That is why we need that cross working within us on our emotions, our minds, and our wills.
Thank the Lord, daily as we offer ourselves to Him, He does that great work of dividing soul and spirit. We are learning His ways.
I believe we all desire to do His will, but we also want to be those who do it His way. Praise God, David saw that, and the ark was brought back to the place God had appointed for it. God received the glory.
The second example we want to look at is David’s desire to build a temple. This story is in 2 Samuel 7.
Again, we are not going to read the whole chapter. But David, being a man after God’s own heart, knew the Lord desired a dwelling place among men. In the Old Testament, this was a physical place. At one time it was the tabernacle, and now David had this heart to build a temple.
David expressed this desire to build the house of God. At first, even Nathan the prophet said, “Yes, that is a good idea. Do that.”
But that night, the Lord spoke to Nathan and said, “Nathan, you go back and tell David no.” David was a man of bloodshed, but his son would build the house.
David had the right desire, but he was the wrong person. God had somebody else whom He wanted to build this house.
But God commended David for his heart. In 2 Chronicles 6:7-9, Solomon says:
Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
But Jehovah said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for My name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart:
Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for My name.
Look at that little phrase in verse 8: “Thou didst well that it was in thy heart.” God was so pleased. He was so blessed that David had it within his heart to build this house. This was the right thing; God just had a different plan.
It turns out that God had an even greater plan for David. What is greater than building the temple? You remember in the Gospel of Matthew, when our Lord was in the temple, He said there was One greater than the temple in their midst.
The Lord was going to use David in such a way that one of his sons would establish that eternal kingdom. One of his sons would be the Messiah. One of his sons would be the King of kings and Lord of lords.
We know that our Lord Jesus Christ came through the lineage of David. Even though David was told, “No, you cannot build the temple,” and his son would build it, God had something greater for him.
That is a great encouragement, because at times we are told no. When God says no, perhaps He has something else for us. So let us not limit God by insisting on our own ways.
Now, we are not talking about sin at this point. We are not talking about simply doing whatever you want to do. This is something that is on God’s heart. He may say no, but He has something even greater.
How did David respond? When you are told no, you are faced with an immediate choice. You can either sulk or seek.
You can sit and sulk about it. I think, naturally, that is our initial response. We fret, try to rationalize, argue, sulk, pout, take our toys, and go home. “It is my football. If I cannot be quarterback, I am going home.”
“Well, forget it. If I cannot have my way, no way. My way or the highway.” That is it. We can sulk about it, totally self-centered and absorbed in ourselves.
Or we can seek. This is what David did.
Look at 2 Samuel 7:18. Where did David go? It is a beautiful picture:
Then David the king went in, and sat before Jehovah.
In the midst of being told no, he went in and sat before the Lord. In a spirit of humility, he asked, “Who am I?”
The Lord had told him some of the things in which David would be involved in the future, and what would come out of his lineage. But David went to that place of sitting at the Lord’s feet and allowing the Lord to speak to him.
We do not have time to read it, but if you want to read one of the most beautiful prayers of worship and adoration to the Lord, read the rest of 2 Samuel 7. It is a beautiful prayer honoring the Lord for all that He has done.
David did not allow that no from the Lord to limit him in any way. He saw that there was something God had for him.
After God told him no, David did not just remain sitting there at the feet of the Lord. The Lord spoke to him, and he continued on. We see how he became the greatest supporter in making preparation for the temple.
In 1 Chronicles 22:5, David says:
My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be builded for Jehovah must be exceeding magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all countries; I will therefore make preparation for it.
Then the Holy Spirit writes of David:
So David prepared abundantly before his death.
Also, in 1 Chronicles 29:2, as offerings are being brought in for the Lord, David says:
Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaying, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.
Then he says:
Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God.
David could not build the house, but he made ample preparation. What a precious lesson. He saw that God, in His way, was not allowing him to be involved in the actual building, but he could make all the preparation. He became the greatest supporter for the house of God.
Remember Moses. Moses was told, “No, you cannot go into the promised land.” Moses had misrepresented God before the people. He was representing God—that was the right thing to do—but he did it the wrong way.
God said, “Because of that, you are not going into the land.” Yet Moses, in his faithfulness, continued to lead those people, care for those people, and suffer with those people. He trained up Joshua to take them in.
He did not sulk. He did not pout. He kept going on.
When they got into the land, we know the story of the two faithful ones, Caleb and Joshua. I have always been a fan of Caleb because he spoke up first and said, “We can go in. We can take this land. All the enemy out there will just be our food. We can overpower them because it is God’s will.”
We might say Caleb should have been the leader. But no, God had chosen Joshua. Yet throughout the story, Caleb was Joshua’s greatest supporter. He was at one with him.
We have a great challenge before us: learning His ways.
How about us? When we are told no to something we really desire—and again, these are things of the Lord—how do we respond?
We have a teachers’ meeting in a couple of weeks. Maybe you do not get the class you want to teach. You are told, “No, you cannot teach this one, but you can teach that one.” You say, “I do not want to teach that one. I want to teach this one.”
How do we react? How do we respond? “If I cannot teach this class, I am not teaching. God told me to teach this class.” Come on. I am doing a sales pitch for your teachers now.
But it is a wonderful way to learn of God’s wonderful blessing in serving in the house of God.
How about every Saturday morning when the brothers gather together? Different ones have a thought: “Oh, I have this thought to open. I have this thought to open.” Maybe one brother is chosen, and you are not.
You sit there saying, “Well, I thought my verse was pretty good. I thought my verse was better than his verse. My verse would really focus on the Lord.” How do we respond?
I have had these thoughts. That is how I can relate to you. If we are honest with ourselves, we have these immediate reactions.
But how do we respond when God has said, “No, you are not going to do this, but he is”? Do we become that person’s greatest supporter? Are we there supporting them in prayer?
Would it be that none would ever even know there was a difference? “Wow, that brother is supporting you so much.” No one ever knew that he had been the greatest one who disagreed with you. Praise God for that.
Maybe we want to be involved with something or someone for whom we are really burdened. We really want to do something, but God says, “No. What I want you to do is pray for them.”
“God, but I want to do this. I want to do that.” “Oh, I want you to pray for them in your hidden, secret closet. I want you to pray.” Are we willing to do that?
Sometimes we can get so convinced: “I have heard God, and nobody is going to tell me what to do.” Praise God for the spirit of fellowship. Praise God for the Holy Spirit and for His Word that we have.
Even if you have heard God, and the others are wrong—maybe your opening was better, and they chose someone else—remember that process of dying to yourself and supporting the one chosen, that God’s glory may come through.
We do not use our fleshly self to justify an end. As we said, the means do not justify the end. It is His way that we are coming to learn through this.
At times in life, we are told no. Sometimes that no can take the form of a wait.
Maybe it is about marriage. I know some young people would love to get married, and maybe God is saying, “Wait. Wait. Do not do it your way. Do not do it the world’s way. Do it My way.”
See, you are listening. I mention marriage, and everybody’s ears go bing. But they are not interested in marriage—no, no, no.
Or maybe you think you know who you are supposed to marry, and God says, “No, no, not that one.”
Are we willing to allow the Lord to teach us His way? Are we willing to lay things down? The things that are of the Lord, He will resurrect.
Sometimes when He says no, it is simply a delay. It is a pause. “It is not My timing,” because His ways are done in His timing.
We think about the choices we make regarding a school or our jobs. So often, we choose our job or school because of prestige, the potential for making money, and having a glorious position in the world.
But do we even consider the impact on our life as a believer? How will it affect our service to the brethren and to His house? What about our availability to our families?
I went through a season in my work where I would fly out on Monday morning and fly back on Friday evenings. It is not a very conducive lifestyle for family life.
That was before cell phones and the internet. We were Morse coding it back and forth and using smoke signals.
But do we stop and think? We want something, but what does God want? What is He really after? And when He says no, how do we react?
Oftentimes, we love to quote Scripture. All the Scriptures are beautiful, but some of them have a certain beauty and poetic nature to them. We love to quote Isaiah 55:8-9:
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith Jehovah.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
The My there is God. It sounds very beautiful, and we quote it: “Oh, the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are not my thoughts.”
But then there is a decision to be made. His thought is, “Do this,” and your thought is that. Then it becomes very practical.
All of a sudden, the beauty of this verse and its poetic nature meet our two wills, our two ways, in conflict. How do we react then?
This is where the rubber meets the road in the Christian life. This is what He wants us to really see and truly know.
At times, we can say, “Oh yes, we know God’s ways are higher than our ways.” But this is not something that, as soon as we are saved, we automatically enter into. This is part of discipleship.
This is part of daily denying ourselves and learning that His ways are higher than our ways. This is an experiential reality: “Lord, I want Your ways in my life. I do not want to go my own way.”
Praise God, David learned these lessons. Others in Scripture learned this way as well. In Philippians, Paul testifies, “I have learned to be content.” It did not come to him naturally.
Whether he was abased or abounding, he learned. As I spoke earlier about David being teachable, the Lord is simply wanting us to be teachable—to be learners. That is what a disciple is: a learner, learning of Him and learning His ways.
I had it on my heart this morning to give this simple word of encouragement. In these last days, many things are going on, and many will come in His name. They will use the right words. Outwardly, everything can look beautiful. They will be doing the right thing outwardly.
But how do we really know whether it is of Him or not? Whether it is His way or the way of the flesh?
That is why, in these days, it is so essential that we allow that Holy Spirit—that anointing within—to work within us.
We need to develop that intimate, personal relationship, allow the cross to work within us, and allow that dividing of soul and spirit. We need the Word of God, the truth, that two-edged sword working within us.
At times, I refer to these three as God’s GPS—God’s positioning system. You have the Holy Spirit, you have the cross, and you have the Word.
When we are trying to find God’s will and God’s ways in our lives, and those three are in sync, that is the way we walk. When we get all out of balance and out of whack, we need to come back to that place.
That is when we can start distinguishing between the things of Him—what is of Him and what is not.
May we be those who are learning of Him, allowing Him to conform us unto His image, walking in His ways, that we can be prepared for His return and, in that, even hastening His return.
We are thankful that David was willing to be disciplined by the Lord, not only for his so-called bad flesh, but that he learned from the Lord and His ways through David’s so-called good flesh.
That is a man after God’s own heart. May we also be known as ones after God’s own heart, fully surrendering our whole being to Him, that He can work as He desires and wills in our lives.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we are thankful for the great provision we have in Christ Jesus. Lord, we thank You for how You have made every provision there.
Lord, as we return and give ourselves unto You, we are thankful that we have Your Spirit within to search us.
Where we are doing things in our own ways and according to our own desires, Lord, search us. We do not want to play games. The time is too short. It is too critical.
We do not want to neglect You or Your ways, but we want to be those who are truly following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, allowing the life of Christ to be manifested through us and in us, to Your glory.
In Jesus’ name, amen.