Psalms 19, 23, 24, 62; 1 Chronicles 29; 2 Samuel 5-6, 2 Samuel 15
Today, we will continue our unit on The God Who Reveals Himself. We are thinking about the ways that God has revealed Himself to us so that we might know Him. Does anyone remember what Big Idea we began looking at? Here’s the Big Idea Picture from the front of the folder to give you a hint.
Our Big Idea is
‘God Made Our Heats to Know & Love Him.”
Have you ever run and played too long outside on a hot summer’s day and gotten so thirsty that your mouth was all parched and dried out? As you ran back to the house panting from the heat, all you could think of was a glass of icy cold water to cool you off and wet your mouth. Remember what it feels like to have that first taste of water? You can hardly get it to your mouth fast enough. And when you do, it is so very, very cool and refreshing. All you want to do is say: “Ahhhhhhh!” asyou drink the rest.
That’s how the Sons of Korah felt about God when they wrote our Big Idea Scripture Verse:
Psalm 42:1-2. Let’s hear it again:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
Can you imagine loving God so much and longing to know Him that much?! Today’s story is about a man who lived 3000 years ago who had a heart for God like that. In a little village, in the green, rolling hills of Judah, lived a good, old farmer named Jesse, with his sons. No one would have thought much of Jesse or his sons, especially the youngest son, who was just a shepherd boy. But the LORD, who looks at the heart and not at outward appearances or wealth or anything we might see, knew differently. For here in the heart of that littlest boy was something that pleased God so much that He gave him the highest compliment of all: He called him a man after His own heart. What did this boy have inside his heart that made him a man after God’s own heart? He had a heart full of desire to know and love God, the way the Lord wanted all people, to.
Who was this little shepherd boy? I bet you have a guess! It was none other than David. God had revealed Himself to David’s heart and gave him a great desire to know and love Him most of all. Everywhere David went and everything David saw, reminded him about the wonderful God he loved most of all. David would take out his harp and make up his own songs to sing to God. He sang: “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it” (Psalm24:1).
When at night he was out with his father’s flocks, he would look up at the skies and think: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
During the day, he would look up at the blue sky and puffy white clouds as they touched the beautiful, grassy hills and he would say: “Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love!” (Ps. 36:5-6).
As he led his sheep to good grazing lands and led them to places to drink and protected them from fierce lions and bears with his long shepherd’s staff and his wooden rod with sharp, spiky nails, he sang, “The LORD is my shepherd, I will not be in need. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters….His rod and his staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-2, 4, NIV)
God had great plans for the little shepherd boy, David. God chose David over all the men of Israel to be king over His people and God blessed everything David did. David and his soldiers had to fight many bloody battles against Israel’s fierce enemies. God gave him victory over them all so that they fled back to their own countries and never bothered Israel again. He blessed David with a big family, a beautiful cedar palace in Jerusalem, and lots and lots of money. He gave all the people love and respect for David. His soldiers would do almost anything for him.
But what would all this victories and blessings and praise of the people do to David’s heart?
Would he forget what God had revealed to him in his heart? What was inside David’s heart then?
Would he stop loving and wanting to know God most of all? No, he would not! When all these good things happened to David, David just praised God more. He made up new songs to praise God who gave him all these blessings and who was the real King. He made plans to build the most beautiful Temple to which the Israelites could come to worship God. He had 16,000 men come and serve before the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, each day offering sacrifices and praising God. David made 4000 of these men teachers and singers and musicians to sing praises to God and to teach the people also. Lyres and harps and flutes and trumpets and cymbals would blast out while the great choirs of men and all the people gathered would praise the Lord. David, himself, would lead them in praise to God, saying, “Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our Father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O LORD , is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you: you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name” (1 Chronicles 29:10-13).
David was a man who desired to love God with all his heart, but he was not a perfect man. He did many things wrong and many bad things happened to him. One of the saddest things in his life happened when he was an old man. His dearly loved son, Absalom plotted with some of his father’s closest friends and many of the people to kill David—his own father!- and make himself king in his place! David had to leave his beautiful palace and all his things and run away to the dry, desolate desert of Judah so that Absalom and his men would not kill him. As he ran away, some people yelled mean things at him and even threw rocks and hit him.
What was inside David’s heart then? Would he stop thinking about the God who had revealed Himself to him in his heart? Would he stop wanting to love and know Him most of all? No, he would not! David picked up his harp, even out there in the wilderness and sang this song, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken….trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving” (Psalm 62:1-2,8,11-12). Maybe he did not have a palace or a son who loved him, or even people who loved him, but David had God and God was all he really needed.
After a while, one of David’s soldiers killed Absalom and David went back to be king in Jerusalem. He stayed there until he died. When he was very old and knew he would soon die, what was inside his heart then? What would happen to him when he died? Would God take care of him even in death? David wrote this: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6). David looked back over his life and all he could think to do was to praise God who had taken care of him and loved him in good times and hard times. And when he thought about what happened after he died, all he could think about was getting to finally see face to face the God he had loved in his heart his whole life.
Our Big Idea is: God Made Our Hearts to Know & Love Him
Our Scripture Verse is: Psalm 42:1-2
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
What about you and me? What do we have inside our hearts? God has also made our hearts to know and love Him, to seek after Him. Will we be like David and seek after Him? Will we turn away from our sins and trust in Jesus as our own Savior? God will help us if we ask Him. He will forgive us our sins and send His Holy Spirit to live in our hearts so we can know and enjoy God forever!
