David said about him: "'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Acts 2: 25
Where is God to David? At his right hand. The world will try to shake you. The enemy will come against you. Jesus Himself said we would have tribulation in this life but NONE of it means we should even be shaken! As long as God is at our right hand, it matters not what is in front of us.
And God looks upon us with love.
Whatever punishment He may deem necessary is because of actions on our part
that cause us to stray from Him. Look, God has a plan for our lives. The
details of which are on a need to know basis and we often do not need to know.
His Word is a lamp unto our feet so we can see the next step He has for us to
take. That is the essence of faith. Do you think it made sense to a trained
military expert like Joshua to march around the walls of
Another popular lie is that God is only concerned with the major details of our lives. Often times we can go to God in prayer only after things have reached the point of no return. When things have become a huge problem. God would prefer that we surrender our entire life to Him before there are major problems so He can help us to avoid making poor decisions. Look at David and Bathsheba. David saw Bathsheba bathing and lusted for her. He did not go to God with his lust. David then coveted Bathsheba but he did not go to the Lord with his covetousness. David has a problem. It started out as so many of our problems do, just a thought here just a look there. We know we shouldn't be dancing with the devil but it all seems so small; so insignificant. You must believe that David knew what he was entertaining was wrong. Maybe he pushed it far back in his consciousness so as to not allow the sin to bother him. Maybe David felt some entitlement or a sense of what he deserved as king. Maybe all the sycophants surrounding him, telling him what a great guy he was started to take its toll on his pride. If he had gone to God and repented at this point he could have avoided so much heartache in his life. But he didn't. He sent for Bathsheba and thus David became an adulterer. God watched as David began to try and cover up his sin. David still did not turn to Him. God watched as even the righteousness of Uriah was not enough to shake David from his path of ruin. David still would not turn to God. David orchestrates the murder of Uriah to cover up his sin and God sends Nathan the Prophet to rebuke him.
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is
what the LORD, the God of
As if scales fall from his eyes, David sees the scope of the sin in his life and finally turns to God. He pleads for the life of his new son but God would take him. He would then see another son rebel against him and lose his kingdom. What scales blind us today? What pride has infiltrated our lives? What sin seems too small to bother God with? Truth is God could say this speech to any of us. He has done so much in our lives and if we would only ask purely, He would give us even more. Yet the devil shows us what we do not have and we covet. God sees that small detail. He wants to be a part of it beloved. He wants to show us the right way through the valleys in our lives. David would repent and God would restore him but the damage had been done.
Lastly, we can believe the lie that says God doesn't understand what we go through. God doesn't understand pain, betrayal, or anger. That is how the enemy wants us viewing God. As some aloof deity unconcerned about how we are feeling. But we know that is a lie. We know it is a lie because of our key verse today... Jesus wept. The Lord of all creation wept. The Alpha and Omega and author and finisher of our faith wept. What would move the Everlasting God to tears? Was it some cataclysmic disaster? Was it some war of man on a grand scale? No. It was feeling the pain of His friends. Chapter 11 of the Gospel of John tells the story of the death of Lazarus. Who exactly was Lazarus?
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. John 11:5
These were friends of Jesus. Remember, Jesus was 100% God and 100% man while He walked the earth. He experienced all we would in our lives. He had friends, people He cared deeply for, people He loved. Still, Jesus would delay going to see Lazarus and by the time He arrived, Lazarus had died.
