Lessons We Can Learn from David in 2 Samuel 5
19 So
David inquired of the Lord,
saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You
deliver them into my hand?”
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| King David in Prayer |
1.
David took time to inquire of the Lord. So often the
people of God find ourselves in a difficult
situation and we don't know how to respond. Often the situation
involves confusion, conflicts of opinions and strife between two or
more people, or groups of people within the family or organization.
Since God gave us intelligence and reasoning, humans usually default
to our own natural understanding and decide to do what we think is
the right thing for us. Often we draw conclusions based on
insufficient, incorrect or biased information. Sometimes our thinking
is based on the Scriptures, but often it is not.
Christians
are also real good at finding a scripture to support our particular
viewpoint and find fault with the viewpoints, attitudes and behavior
of other Christians who oppose us. When we get offended our natural
tendency is to defend our position and find fault with what others
think. Without the Spirit of Christ directing them, humans default to
blame shifting and justifying why we believe we are right and others have to be
wrong. Often during times of conflict both parties are wrong and refuse to compromise their
position for the higher ideals of righteousness and being peacemakers.
Two
of the biggest problems Christians have are self-righteousness and
spiritual pride. When we are confronted with stress and conflict, we
defend our rights, our opinions and our positions without taking the
time to inquire of the Lord. When we do this we are operating in
works of the flesh and not being led by the Holy Spirit. We open
ourselves to deception from the enemy and fall right into his
blinding trap. We lose sight of the truth as God's knows it, can't
hear objectively from the Lord and make poor decisions we end up
regretting later.
2.
Failure to hear from the Lord results in NOT knowing God's WILL.
David
asked the Lord,
“Shall I go up against the Philistines? He
needed to hear a fresh word from God in order to know-- the will of
God for him in that situation. David understood the importance of
staying hidden away until he heard from God. That secret cave in the
desert was David's prayer closet, a place to spend time alone with
God and to know God's will. It most certainly was a suicide mission
if God was NOT going with Him into the battle against the heavily
armed Philistines. He did not dare move out to fight the enemy until
he got his instructions from the commander of the Lord's army
Himself.
In the first battle with the enemy, God told him to go straight up and attack them. It was a full, head-on confrontation, a power encounter with the enemy. When David obeyed the instructions, God gave him the victory. When we are operating IN God's will, He will fight for us, defend us and enable us to walk in righteousness. When we are in God's will, we are doing the right thing in His eyes and His hand of protection and provision will be upon us.
3.
Failure to hear from the Lord results in NOT knowing God's WAY.
David's
second question to the Lord was,
“Will You deliver them into my hand?” It
is one thing to know God's will and quite another to understand His
ways. Even a casual reading of the Scriptures informs us of God's
commandments, His laws and statutes. We know from the Ten
Commandments it is not God's will for us to murder people or dishonor
our parents. However, gaining revelation regarding God's ways with
His people and purposes takes years of study and divine revelation by
the Holy Spirit.
Knowing
the ways of God require that we become mature sons and daughters of
God who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in all matters pertaining to
life. We learn by experiencing His divine guidance, making mistakes,
being convicted by the Holy Spirit, or being given revelation in the
deeper truths found in God's Word. We learn by recognizing when the
voice of God speaks to us, and when it is our own flesh, or even
satan's minions trying to influence our mind, will and emotions.
23
“You shall not go (straight) up; circle
around behind them,
and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. 24 And it
shall be, when you hear
the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees,
then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord
will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
In
verse 22 of 2 Samuel 5, the Philistines gathered a second time to do
battle with the Israelites. David again inquired of the Lord, but was
given different instructions. He was told to go a different way; to
circle around behind the Philistines. God told him to wait in front
of the mulberry trees for the sound of marching in the tops of the
trees. At that point David could advance upon the enemy and God would
go before them. In this battle God had a different way for David to
defeat his enemies and handle the situation.
In
this passage we see God gave David a different set of instructions.
God told him to get in position and to WAIT expectantly for God to
show up. If we want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, we have to
wait expectantly in His Presence trusting the Lord to keep His
promise to us. If we want to achieve victory over our enemies, we
have to follow His instructions exactly for us in each particular
situation in life. What worked before in a difficult situation is
probably not what God wants us to do the next time. Assuming we know
God's way in a matter, results in missing God and failure to do it
God's way. Presumption has gotten more Christians in trouble with God
than probably any other type of mistake.
In
summary, what is the body of Christ's number one mistake when it
comes to confrontation with others? Remember our warfare is not with
flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities in the heavenlies
controlling people who may be blind and deceived. Our mistake is that we FAIL to inquire of the Lord FIRST, before we make
decisions and take action. We fail to take time out in prayer and
fasting to hear from God before we engage our brethren in disputes and disagreements.
We
make false assumptions about what is God's will in a situation. We
take action to fix the problem on our own and God is not with us!
When God does not send us out to fight the battle, we will suffer the
consequences of being out of His will. The Lord will not go out with
us or before us to fight the battle with us. We are on our own and
subject to the deceptions and destruction of the enemy.
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| Moses and Joshua bowing before the Ark, Tissot, c. 1900 |
4. Final
warning about disobedience!
Look
one more time at 2 Samuel 6 to see the consequences of not knowing
God's way in a situation. David was marching triumphantly into
Jerusalem with the ark of the covenant conveniently loaded onto a
cart. The oxen stumbled and the priest Uzzah reached out his hand to
steady it. Instantly, God's wrath broke out against him and he
was struck down. David named that place Perez Uzzah- which means
outbreak against Uzzah. The Lord shows no favorites! He breaks
out against foe and friend alike. The ark of the covenant contained
the glory of the Lord and the Israelites were instructed not to touch
it. They were commanded to carry it on poles on the shoulders of the
priest at all times when transporting it. David's failure to follow
God's instructions resulted in the death of one of his priests.
The
focus of this article was on how to receive breakthrough from the
Lord. However, we also need to know that disobedience results in God
Himself breaking out
against us. Failure to
take the time to inquire of the Lord and wait for His instructions
may result in sickness, disease, accident or even death. God blesses
us when we obey His commandments, but we bring destruction upon
ourselves when we fail to obey. Another example of how God's people
“failed to inquire of the Lord” can be found in Joshua 9 in the
story of the Gibeonite deception.
The
Good News!
God
is in the business of redeeming our mistakes! If
we will humble ourselves and pray, Jehovah
Raphael
will be there to counter attack with His mighty flood of power and
anointing for deliverance. Last fall God announced through John
Kilpatrick that He is going to bring Supernatural Breakthrough to His
people!
He
is the Master
of Breakthrough
when the times seem to be the darkest. When the enemy attacks trying to kill, steal and destroy us, our God will be there fighting for us. God has declared this is a
new season for breakthrough
over all the power of the enemy and God's people will go forth to
established God's kingdom on earth. In part 5 we will look at some additional hindrances to breakthrough and keys to receiving spiritual breakthroughs. If these articles have provided you with new insights and wisdom, please share the link with others. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions below.
Paintings from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ark_of_the_Covenant
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