No matter what the ancients did, IF they saw their err(s), and returned to HIM, HE was forgiving, though HE often chastised them in the process, and why not? SO many of them were EASILY carried away by the world, and it's offerings...
There were dozens, and dozens of kings who inherited the thrones of time, only to stir up the wrath of THE LORD, in which case, HE would send any of a number of Prophets to warn them, and to encourage them to change their ways! Some were absolutely defiant, and ignored HIM, even imprisoning Prophets, or putting them to death for speaking the words of THE LORD! Alas, every so often, a king would come along who would correct all the wrongs of their people, reinstate the Laws of *GOD*, and tear down those places where the people would bow to lifeless gods, along with other aligned reforms! These particular Men, would PRAY to THE LORD, along with commanding that the Laws be upheld, and order public readings of them, while calling the people to renew their Covenant with the one TRUE *GOD*...
There were/are few that had obedient hearts towards THE MOST HIGH *GOD*, but there were/are enough for HIM to grant MERCY, then, and now! As we study the ancients, we find mere handfuls of people who were totally devout, and whose lives were aligned, but even the best of these erred at one point, or another, such as Moses, and David, whom THE LORD considers FAITHFUL SERVANTS, with hearts after HIS own. Though they erred, HE maintained, HE remained FAITHFUL to them, however, altering particulars of their fate according to their actions, and HIS WILL, like forbidding Moses to enter the PROMISED land, and David to build HIS HOUSE for HIM...
HIS MERCY IS TIRELESS, and HE PROMISES that whomever, as long as time exists in this realm, turns/returns to HIM, with their heart of hearts, mind, and being, HE WILL FORGIVE, and transform, according to HIS WILL! Let us PRAISE HIM always, and let us WORSHIP HIS HOLINESS! Let us REJOICE that HE LOVES us SO much HE WILL turn an empathetic ear towards our cries, and a kind heart towards our misguided sufferings! AMEN!!!
The PRAYERS of the ancients are KEY to understanding the way our LORD'S MERCY is invoked! These PRAYERS are often, cried out after great sin by the entire population of kingdoms, and most times, THE LORD listened! Sometimes HE would send a Prophet to deliver the message that since the people had turned so far from HIM, HE had turned from them, although if they humbled themselves, cried enough, and made Covenants with HIM, HE would come to their rescue! It is amazing because, it never took long for them to return to their sins, and often, even worse than before...
David PRAYED to *GOD* for almost everything; he made few moves without consulting THE LORD, he RELIED UPON HIM for everything, and thus, *GOD* established him, and his line, forevermore...
18/ Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
19/ “And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord GOD.
20/ “Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD!
21/ “For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.
22/ “For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
23/ “And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?
24/ “For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God.
25/ “Now therefore, O LORD God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken,
26/ that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.
27/ “For You, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You.
28/ “Now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.
29/ “Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”
David's prayer is full of the breathings of devout affection toward God. He had low thoughts of his own merits. All we have, must be looked upon as Divine gifts. He speaks very highly and honourably of the Lord's favours to him.
Considering what the character and condition of man is, we may be amazed that God should deal with him as he does. The promise of Christ includes all; if the Lord God be ours, what more can we ask, or think of? Eph 3:20. He knows us better than we know ourselves; therefore let us be satisfied with what he has done for us. What can we say more for ourselves in our prayers, than God has said for us in his promises?
David ascribes all to the free grace of God. Both the great things He had done for him, and the great things He had made known to him. All was for his word's sake, that is, for the sake of Christ the eternal Word.
Many, when they go to pray, have their hearts to seek, but David's heart was found, that is, it was fixed; gathered in from its wanderings, entirely engaged to the duty, and employed in it. That prayer which is from the tongue only, will not please God; it must be found in the heart; that must be lifted up and poured out before God. He builds his faith, and hopes to speed, upon the sureness of God's promise. David prays for the performance of the promise.
With God, saying and doing are not two things, as they often are with men; God will do as he hath said. The promises of God are not made to us by name, as to David, but they belong to all who believe in Jesus Christ, and plead them in his name.
A standard was set by such as David, which the FAITHFUL kings after him, modeled their relationship with THE LORD upon, and which is useful for any of us to also, use as an example, because his heart directed his openness of communication with THE LORD!!!
No matter what has been said about David, he remained humbled before *GOD* ALL the days of his life, and even in his greatest sin, he repented, and believed in HIS MERCY! He KNEW HIS LORD, and HIS POWER OVER himself; he KNEW that he was nothing next to *GOD*; he KNEW that ALL he had, even when he was forced into the wilderness was OF HIS hand, and LOVE! Such PLEASES *GOD*, and inspires HIS BLESSINGS...
*GOD* IS LOVE, LOVE IS MERCIFUL, LOVE IS KIND, LOVE IS TOLERANT, LOVE IS UNDERSTANDING, LOVE IS FOREBEARING, and our *GOD* DOES EXEMPLIFY what HE expects of us, THROUGH HIS OWN WAYS, all the way to THE CROSS, and beyond!!!
REV. LWINSOR © 2014
BIBLICAL, and or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
No comments:
Post a Comment