2 SAMUEL 5 REAP THE BENEFITS OF PURSUING GODS HEART2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 5 Reap The Benefits Of Pursuing Gods Heart

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. Well, this evening as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 5, I've titled the message, Reap the Benefits of Pursuing God's Heart. Reap the Benefits of Pursuing God's Heart. Here, chapter 5 is kind of a glorious chapter.

I was looking at this and kind of thinking of it as the glory days for David, because here we get to see David step into the fulfillment of what God has been telling him for a long time. And chapter 5 is kind of an overview. It's not necessarily, you know, step-by-step, moment-by-moment, chronological. It's some kind of like broad sweeping observations about the

reign of David as king over all Israel. And we really see it as the season of him reaping the benefits. He has spent many years pursuing God's heart. He's spent many years on the run and in danger and in all kinds of things, but being faithful to look to God and to live his life in such a way that he is pleasing to God. And he's really been a man after God's own heart. And that's what God said about him. And yet,

Even though he was a man after God's own heart, he was going through all kinds of affliction and difficulty and trials as Saul tried to kill him over and over and over again. And all of the things that we've walked with David through, but

But now the fruit of all that was sown is starting to come in as he is now going to be anointed as king over all Israel. It is the glory days for David as he reaps the benefits of those many years of faithfulness to God in the midst of difficulty and affliction. It reminded me of what the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians chapter six, verse nine. He said, let us not grow weary while doing good.

For in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. It's connected to that famous passage that, you know, God is not mocked. You will reap what you sow. If you sow to the flesh, you reap destruction. If you sow to the spirit, you reap everlasting life. And he goes on from there to say, so don't grow weary while doing good. And as we've been walking along with David, uh, we understand how easy it would be for David to grow weary while doing good, while honoring Saul and protecting him, uh,

not taking him out when he had the opportunity, we could understand how wearisome that could be, how difficult that could be. And we understand in our own lives how it is difficult many times to keep doing good when, well, you're not really seeing the benefits of it. You're not really seeing the effects of the good that you're doing. You're not seeing the reaping of the good seed that you're sowing. And it is easy to grow weary as a result of that. But the

The Apostle Paul encourages us, don't grow weary because you shall reap. It's God's law. You reap what you sow. You will reap. There will be the benefits that God promises for your service to him, for your walk with him, for your relationship with him. There's great benefits to pursuing God's heart, but we don't see them

immediately. And I'm going to be sharing a little bit about this on Sunday as well, doing a special message out of the book of Haggai, how we don't see the benefits right away, but we need to persist and be faithful even when it's difficult so that we can, after that, then reap the benefits. And that's what we see David living in now. He's

done the work. He's put in the effort. He's walked with the Lord. He's sought the Lord. And now he's going to experience the benefits. He's going to experience the blessings of that. Not without its challenges and not without his own mistakes, but still reaping the benefits of pursuing God's heart for so many years. And so there's four points that we'll look at as we work our way through the chapter this evening. The first one is found in these verses we read, verses one through five, and that is, let God fulfill his promises.

One thing that's always outstanding and noteworthy in David's life is how he handled the throne that God had promised to him.

Check it out again in verse 1 and 2. It says, And be ruler over Israel.

Here at this time, Saul has died. And just previously in chapter 4, we see Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, who reigned after Saul. He has now died. And so the elders of Israel gather together and say, okay, we're going to get in line with God's plan. And David, you're the one who's supposed to be the king over Israel.

And so they come to David at Hebron, and he's been king now over the southern tribe, Judah, for about seven years at this point. But they come to him now and say, we need you to be king over the whole nation. We're your relatives. We're your bone and your flesh. And

they remind him of those times they say when saul was king you were the one who led us out and led us back in you were the one who led the armies uh you might remember after david and goliath that david became a a very important part of saul's army and he would lead the troops and he was an important uh member of uh the the kingdom in that way and everybody began to recognize there was a calling on david's life that god had a special anointing on him

And it became known, they testify here in verse 2, the Lord said to you, you shall shepherd my people Israel. Now we know from 1 Samuel 16 that the prophet Samuel anointed David privately with his family. It wasn't a public ceremony. It was a private thing while he was still young, probably a teenager, maybe 15, 16, 17. We don't know his exact age, but he was a young man there. And

He was anointed as king, announced at that time, but it wasn't public. But at some point, the word began to get out, whether it was through something Samuel said, whether it was through just a moving of the spirit upon the people, we don't know exactly. But we've seen over and over again, everybody knew all along the way. And that's one of the reasons why Saul treated David the way that he did, was because he knew that God had called David to be king, and he didn't want it to happen.

But the people now testify, okay, look, we recognize, we're going to submit to what God has said. You were the one who led us, and God has called you to be the shepherd of Israel, to be ruler over all Israel. Verse 3,

1 Chronicles chapter 12 describes this scene a little bit more fully. And it describes there an army. It's like a bunch of the soldiers of Israel. Over 340,000 men are part of this scene. So when it talks about all the elders coming to the king, don't just picture half a dozen guys showing up at David's door. I mean, it's a massive gathering of the people of Israel. And they march to Hebron. They come to Hebron.

And they're saying, David, you're called to be king. We recognize that God has anointed you and appointed you. You are meant to be the king over Israel. And in verse 3, it tells us they anoint David king at that time.

So now it's the third time that David has been anointed. Anointed by Samuel, back in 1 Samuel 16, many, many years ago. He was anointed by the tribe of Judah seven years prior as he would become the king of Judah for seven years. And now he's anointed by all of the elders of Israel to become the king over all Israel. And finally...

After probably 15 years or so of lots of trials, of lots of difficulty, of all the things that he's been going through, finally after 15 years, the fulfillment of what God has said is coming to pass. God is fulfilling his promises. He's fulfilling what he declared. But again, the thing that I find interesting about David and is noteworthy about him is that

He was very careful to make sure that when this took place, that it was God's doing and not his own. There was, and we've observed many times throughout the life of David, opportunity for David to take the kingdom. There was opportunity for David to kill Saul, but he refused to fight. Even when Saul was throwing spears, David was not throwing them back. He was dodging, he was running away.

When there was those opportunities, those moments where Saul was vulnerable there in the cave and Saul was unaware of David's presence and David's men were saying, you could take him out right now. You can, you know, fulfill what God has said. And David said, no, I'm not going to touch the Lord's anointed. And then later on, when David snuck into the camp of Saul while Saul was sleeping and Saul

Saul's right there, and his good buddy is like, hey, just let me strike him once. It'll just take one time. He won't even wake up. He won't feel any pain, and then all of our problems will be over, and you can have the fulfillment of what God has said. And David said, no, we cannot touch the Lord's anointed and be guiltless that there is an issue with that. And so David was careful. Then after Saul's death, he invited the

other tribes to come and recognize him as king. But when Abner put up Ish-bosheth, you know, there was a delay now for David. And he could have been aggressive about that. He could have fought against that. He could have rewarded the guys who killed Ish-bosheth. You know, he could have taken these things into his own hands so many times. He had so many opportunities to make it happen.

And if you kind of try to imagine yourself in David's shoes, I mean, you could understand it would be so easy to talk yourself into those actions, right? Because you know what it is that God said. God says, I'm going to make you king. And then here's the one obstacle standing between you and being king and receiving the fulfillment of that. And David doesn't just make it happen because he knows the end result that God has said, but he wants to make sure that he gets there first.

in a way that honors God and glorifies God, he lets God fulfill the promises of God. He lets God do the work that needs to be done for him to be king. Now, if God had told David, I want you to go and attack or take Saul's life or, you know, resist that kingdom and set up your own. I mean, David would have done that if God had told him that. But the

But David held himself back, and we'll see that as we work our way through the chapter. He was inquiring of the Lord. He was seeking the Lord. And so he would not go beyond what God had said and just patiently endured. And after a long while now, he is starting to reap the benefits. The psalmist later on is going to write Psalm 75. Do not lift up your horn on high. Do not speak with a stiff neck.

For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. Don't lift your horn on high. That's another way of saying don't toot your own horn. Don't be promoting yourself. You try to accomplish what it is that either God has told you or you think that God wants or what you want. You don't make decisions.

the things happen that you want to happen or that you know that God wants to happen in your life. Don't do that on your own strength, with your own resources, with your own strategies, and in your own plans. Don't lift your horn on high. Don't do it with a stiff neck. You know, that's the idea of being prideful and trusting in yourself. Exaltation, the psalmist says, doesn't come from you promoting yourself and you impressing the people around you. It doesn't come from that.

God is the judge, he says. He puts down one and exalts another. It's God who puts down. It's God who lifts up. It's God's responsibility. It's God's job. And so leave that in God's hands.

Pursue God's heart. And when God tells you to do something, and that doesn't mean that we can't be honest about our capabilities, that kind of thing, we can. But in the direction of God and in the humility that is appropriate, in the honesty and the genuineness that comes from walking with God, that we need to let God fulfill his promises. We need to let God do the work of blessing

bringing in the benefits or, you know, reaching the goals or whatever it is that God has set before us. Verse four, now David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years. In Hebrew, David reigned over Judah seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah.

And so again, we're kind of looking at an overall picture of David's reign here in chapter 5, getting kind of some of the highlights and a glimpse of the things that happened. So he was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned over Israel for 40 years altogether. So seven years he was in Hebron, he ruled over the tribe of Judah,

And then he moves to Jerusalem, and we'll see that in the next few verses. And there he rules over all Israel for 33 years. So a total of 40 years, which makes him about 70 years old at the end of his life as he finishes his reign and hands off the kingdom to Solomon. So it's probably been about 15 years. David's been on the run. He's been going through these things.

Started great with the victory over Goliath, but then it was kind of like downhill from there. But through all of that, he continued to pursue God's heart.

to make it his goal, his mission, his desire to please God, to live in God's will, to do what it is that God desires. And as he did that, although things didn't shape up right away and things didn't get easy right away, now he's finally starting to reap the benefits and he's going to live in this time as king over Israel in the fulfillment of what God has promised to him. And so this evening, I want to encourage you to follow his example. Let God fulfill his promises.

God has great things for you. God has a work that he wants to do in our lives. It's not up to us to make those things happen. Now, there are times when God tells us to do things that are part of the fulfillment of his promises, and we must obey those. But we have to walk this balance of not just trying to make things happen. You know, we know what's best. It's our resources, our techniques, you know, and we can manipulate and we can do all kinds of things to try to accomplish what

what it is that we know God wants to do, but in our rush to get there, many times we do it in a way that is not honoring and glorifying to God. It's not pursuing God's heart. Well, moving on now, verses six through 16 give us point number two, and that is stay in the presence of God. If you want to reap the benefits of pursuing God's heart,

You want to gather in all the fruit from that investment of walking with the Lord and spending time with the Lord and hearing from Him and seeking to please Him. You want to reap the benefit of that.

David sets a great model for us for setting up camp right in the midst of where God is. In verse 6, it tells us, And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame will repel you, thinking, David cannot come in here.

David, one of his first moves as king is to go against Jerusalem.

Now, of course, we know Jerusalem. We're familiar with Jerusalem because Jerusalem becomes the capital of Israel. It was not a super incredibly special city externally as far as the Israelites were concerned. They've been in the land now for several hundred years, and they've never really been able to hold on to the city of Jerusalem. There's been some battles there. But for the most part, the Jebusites, the original inhabitants...

you know, after Abraham and those guys, you know, but the Jebusites who were there when the children of Israel came into the promised land, they're still there. And they've been living there in Israel and in Jerusalem for this whole time. And, you know,

Nobody really bothered to take this city. Nobody really bothered to capture this and make it part of the nation of Israel. Even though it's central Israel, it was just this little pocket of these Jebusites, these foreigners who were staying there in the city of Jerusalem. And David, one of his first orders of business is to go to Jerusalem against the Jebusites. Now the Jebusites, it describes in verse 6, they're pretty haughty.

And one of the reasons why they've held on to Jerusalem this long is because it was strategically built and placed in a way that made it very difficult for

to conquer it for them and their techniques of war. So here's a diagram, a drawing of what it might have looked like, showing you the city of Jerusalem. Now, the city of Jerusalem during David's time was quite small. Under Solomon, it's going to be built out and become larger. But Jerusalem, it was strategically placed because it was on the top of this hill and it had valleys essentially on three sides of it.

And so that would make it hard for armies to get to the city because they would have to climb up a hill and then they had a wall around the perimeter. And so climb up a hill and then hit the wall. That was very easy to defend.

as far as their city was concerned. And then the only part that wasn't surrounded by a valley was up at the top there. And so, you know, they could focus their efforts there and defend the city there while the valley and the hills around it kind of, you know, served as a natural defense for the city. So it was difficult to conquer. It was difficult to take. And that's why the Jebusites have been able to hold on to it

this whole time. And the Jebusites are so confident in this. They're like, look at our walls, look at our valleys, look at how we have this set up. We're geniuses, you know, militarily. We're incredible and you're not going to be able to come against us. And so what they say is,

you know what, we're going to put the blind and the lame as our defenders on the wall. We're not going to need our soldiers to fight you. You know, you guys are so weak and our defenses are so strong. We're just going to put the blind and the lame there and they're going to fight you off. It's going to be no problem for them because, well, that's how strong we are. So that's what they thought. And for a long time in Israel, they've been right.

Nobody has been able to conquer them. Verse 7 tells us, though, nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion. That is, the city of David. Jerusalem, also known as Zion, also known as the city of David, is now conquered by David. Verse 8 tells us how. It says, David said on that day, whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites, the lame and the blind who are hated by David's soul, he shall be chief and captain.

Therefore they say the blind and the lame shall not come into the house. David says they say that the blind and lame are going to keep us back. All right, somebody go up there and defeat those blind and the lame. You know, go up this way. He kind of shows them how here's the water shaft and here's how you can get in. And it tells us that Joab is the one who actually goes in and conquers the city in that way. So David now conquers Jerusalem. But the thing I would ask you to consider as we look at this is,

Why would David work so hard to take this little city, the city that's been sitting there for a couple hundred years in Israel territory, the Jebusites have been sitting there, you know, coexisting alongside of the Israelites for a while. Why would David, first order of business, now he's king over all Israel. Why would David...

work so hard on this little city that was seemingly insignificant? Why would David do that? Why would that be on his agenda? And why would he spend the efforts there? Well, from our perspective, I mean, we look back, we go, that's Jerusalem, you know, like it's so important to us. But that wasn't the opinion. That wasn't, you know, the way that it was esteemed amongst the people around David. But for some reason, David,

It was important to David. He saw this place and he said, we need to take this city. There was other pockets and we'll see, you know, there's Philistines still in the land. I mean, there's other battles to fight also. Why this battle? Well, I would encourage you to consider what the Lord says in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse five. This is as the children of Israel are about to head into the promised land.

Before they enter in, God says, you shall seek the place where the Lord your God will choose. Out of all your tribes to put his name for a dwelling place and there you shall go. There in chapter 12, we're getting the instruction for whether to offer the sacrifices and to come and gather before God to worship. And God tells them before they enter into the promised land, I haven't shown you yet where I want

to have as this permanent place for you to meet with me, but I'm going to show you. There's a place that I'm going to choose. There's a place that I will show you. And you need to seek the place where the Lord your God chooses. You need to seek and to find. You need to search. You need to find out and discover where does God want you to meet with him?

Where does God want you to worship him? Where does God want you to connect with him? Where is the place that the Lord your God chooses? And for all this time that Israel has been in the land, they've had the tabernacle and the tabernacles moved from a few different places, but they've never had this place where this is the fulfillment of what God said. This is the place that the Lord God has chosen. They haven't had that place yet.

They still had the tabernacle. It's moved from place to place. They haven't had one central place, one specific place in the fulfillment of this. Later on in Deuteronomy chapter 16, you might remember God gives them the command that three times a year, all the males shall appear before the Lord for those three different feasts. The feast of Passover, the feast of tabernacles, and the feast of Pentecost. They were to gather together three times a year at the place, it says, which God chooses.

So they had this instruction. Three times a year, they're supposed to gather together at a specific place. And God says, I haven't told you that place yet. But now suddenly, that place is known. And again, we see in David here this incredible model of one who pursues the heart of God. This was important to David. This was insight that David had because he pursued God's heart. Now, we don't know

If it was generally known, if it was well known that this was the place that God has chosen. We know afterwards, so when God appears to Solomon, when God speaks later on, he makes it clear. This is, Jerusalem is the place. David got it right. This is the place where I've chosen. And so we know that it's the right place, but we don't know how David knew that. No scripture do we have before this that says, you know, through the prophet Samuel, this is the place. There's no indication of that whatsoever. Right?

If it was well known, well, nobody else had the pursuit of God's heart as a priority in that way to take Jerusalem and let it be the place that God has chosen and let it be the place where the people meet with God. This seems to be something that was revealed specifically to David, that

David, in seeking God and walking with God, he heard from the Lord this specific place. God says, this is the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 12. This is where I want to put my name. It's not revealed anywhere else until after David has taken the city and established it as the capital of Israel. And so David knew something that nobody else knew because he pursued God's heart.

But I think the important thing in there, so that's the first step, is he figured out, he found out, he sought the Lord until he found out and understood this is the place that God has chosen. And that was first priority. That was, you know, order number one, I need to find out where God wants to meet with us.

And then in verse nine, it tells us, So what did David do? He found the place where God wanted to place his name. And then he says, that's my home.

I'm going to live there where God puts his name. I'm going to live there. That's going to be the place where I wake up, where I go to sleep, where I spend my days. I'm going to spend my life in the presence of God, in the place that God has chosen.

And so he established himself. He says he built up from the Milo and inward. He established that. He put effort into that to make that a permanent place for him. And then the end result was in verse 10. It tells us David went on and became great and the Lord God of hosts was with him. God was with him. And I would ask you to consider why that is. Why was God with him?

I would suggest to you that we need to consider James chapter 4 verse 8. James tells us, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Here's David seeking out, Lord, what is your will? Where do you want to put your name? Where do you want to meet with us? Okay, I'm going to make that my home. I'm going to purposefully live in your presence. He's drawing near to God. And so it's no surprise that verse 10 tells us the Lord God of hosts is with him.

Because David was drawing near to God and God was drawing near to David. Again, such a great model for us, an example for us. Do you want God to be with you? If you want God to be with you, you can walk with God in this same way. You can have this kind of experience in the presence of God. If you want God to be with you, draw near to God.

And he will draw near to you. Now, like we've seen in the life of David, that doesn't mean, you know, you pursue God's heart and then everything is just awesome and glorious and wonderful and, you know, no problem at any time. But in due time, you reap the benefits of drawing near to God. In due time, you reap the benefits of that investment in the kingdom of God. Now, David here physically,

who lives in this place. Now, I would ask you to consider what does that mean for us? What does that look like for us? Do we all have to move to Jerusalem to live in the presence of God, to stay in the presence of God? Not quite, but we'll get to that thought in a second. Verse 11 now, then Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David and cedar trees and carpenters and masons, and they built David a house.

So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people, Israel. Now Hiram, the king of Tyre, he's a little bit north of Israel and he becomes friends with David and they work together and they build a great house for David. And it tells us then David knows that the Lord has established him. Through this,

David knows that it's God who has done this work, that he's exalted the kingdom, and it tells us specifically in verse 12, for the sake of the people, Israel. David is recognizing, look, God has done this work. It's his work. He's done it. He's the one who's lifted up the nation of Israel and established us, and he's done it not for David, but for the people of God, for the people of Israel.

of Israel. And David continues to maintain that perspective on the Lord throughout his reign. Again, this is kind of an overview of his reign because when Hiram gets involved and builds a house, this is not to later in David's reign. This isn't, you know, number one on my list is to find a place that God chooses. Number two is to build myself a house. That's not how it was. You know, David moves into Jerusalem, but this palace that he builds happens later in his kingdom, later in his reign rather,

And so, again, this is an overview. This is just looking at the fulfillment of what God promised and how that took place in David's life and how through that, David knew this is a work of God. He looked back on his life and said, wow, only God could do this. And God has done it for his people. Verse 13, and David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem. After he had come from Hebron, also more sons and daughters were born there.

to David. And it lists some of those. Verse 14, now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem. Shammuah, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishamah, Eliadah, and Elif. I don't know why I could do all the others and not that one, but I ran out of steam, I guess. So all of these are the names of the sons born to David in Jerusalem. Now, it's kind of interesting to look at and to note in David's life

We've talked about many times before. He was a man after God's own heart. He pursued the heart of God, but that doesn't mean that he was also a perfect man, that he did that flawlessly and without exception. In the taking of concubines and multiplying his wives, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago, it was an issue, and it caused issues for him and his family and his kingdom in his later years. And so he's going to reap what he sows in this as well as

reaping what he sowed in pursuing the Lord's heart later on. And so we'll see that develop as we continue to work our way through 2 Samuel. But so he was there in Jerusalem and his family is growing. He is blessed. And again, this is just talking, you know, kind of generally giving an overview of his life there in Jerusalem.

But coming back to the point here, for us to stay in the presence of God, I want to encourage us to consider this, that we would follow David's example and pursue God's heart. And that means to seek God's will, to say, Lord, what do you want? What do you say? Where is the place that you have called me to be? And what is the life that you've called me to live? That we would keep ourselves in the presence of God. And how do we do that?

Well, you have to stay at church all day, every day. And we're going to have some cots brought in and we're just going to stay here because this is where the presence of God is. No, of course not. Do we have to move to Jerusalem? No, of course not. So how do we stay in the presence of God? Well, I would encourage you to consider the early church as a good example for this in Acts 2, verse 42-43.

It talks about them continuing steadfastly. The new believers, you know, they were born again on the day of Pentecost. Here's what they did. They continued steadfastly. They stayed in the presence of God in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. We stay in the presence of God, not in a physical sense, not in a physical location, but we stay in the presence of God in spiritual disciplines.

in walking with God, in connecting with God in a variety of ways. And sometimes we need to consider these different ways. Even as you look at Jerusalem and how strategic that was and the wall was built up. And so you could see, you know, there's extra fortifications at the top here where there wasn't a valley to defend them. You know, they're like, hey, this is a weak spot. So we got to build this up extra, you know.

Obviously, this is just a drawing, but you get the point, right? Looking at this strategically, you recognize here's the weak spots, here's the strong spots, here's what we need to do. This is a good location. And you can evaluate those things. And I would encourage you to consider these kinds of things in a spiritual context as well, that there are these different aspects of walking with God and our relationship with God. And some of it involves with just you and the Lord just by yourselves, right?

And you need to have that time in the presence of God that's just you and Jesus, that's just you and him, that you walk with him, that you spend time in his word, that you spend time in prayer.

But then also we recognize that, well, God hasn't just called us to just be me and Jesus, and that's it, that there's, you know, nobody else is needed in my life. And, you know, the Apostles Paul made it abundantly clear that we need one another, and God has intertwined us. And so there's another aspect to our relationship with God and staying in the presence of God that

Well, we gather together. And so there's the fellowship and the breaking of bread. And that can either refer to communion or the actually like sharing of a meal together. And so...

different scholars kind of debate on what exactly that means. So just to be safe. So partake of communion together and have meals together. Do both. That we would invest in our relationships with one another as well. And that's part of our staying in the presence of God. Building those relationships and building that fellowship and recognizing, hey, there's a weak spot here and sometimes we're weak in our personal connection with the Lord. Sometimes we're weak in our

corporate connection with the Lord. And so the early church continued steadfastly. They made their camp. And it describes here in 2 Samuel 5, when David moved in, he builds out the city of Jerusalem. And he's investing, he's putting effort in, he's making it his home.

And I want to encourage you to think about it in those terms. Stay in the presence of God and set yourself up for success. Build yourself a defense. And build yourself, you know, something comfortable where you can be comfortable there in the presence of God, you know? And so when you're having a hard time in that personal connection with God,

Well, you know, pull out the bricks and the mortars and build yourself some walls and set yourself up with some protections and some barriers and some ways for you to be able to get away and spend time with God, for you to have that time with the Lord. When you have that lack and that you identify, wow, there's a weak spot on my wall and it's the connection with other believers,

then, well, you're going to have to pull out the brick and mortar and start to put some work and some effort into building relationships with other believers that you can enjoy the fellowship and the breaking of bread. And

They also continued steadfastly in prayer, and that's another aspect, you know, that I think, you know, it's easy for us to all feel bad about our prayer lives, and we all, none of us pray as much as we should or ought to, you know, that's kind of the testimony pretty much all the time. Everybody says, I should pray more, I could pray more, you know, that kind of thing, but to continue steadfastly, and not as a means of beating yourself up and evaluating these things, but

but just thinking strategically. How's your walk? How's your relationship with God? Are you staying in the presence of God? And are you setting yourself up to succeed and to be able to stay in the presence of God in these spiritual disciplines? Because God calls us to walk with him. And if you want to reap the benefits of pursuing God's heart, you don't reap the benefits by

than sowing and then burning down the field, right? Like you don't reap benefits that way. It doesn't work. But you got to camp out there and stay there. And then after time, you reap the benefits. And so you need to be able to set yourself up in a way that's going to last. That you don't, okay, well, I'm going to get spiritual. So I'm going to read 35 chapters a day. And on day three, you know, you fail and give up and you walk away. And you know that you're not going to do that. Set yourself up with

Well, this is a manageable, this is a way that I can walk with God and stay in the presence of God and continue to invest in that relationship with him. And David sets a good model in the practical, physical, you know, way, but it's a great picture for us in the spiritual realm of how we can stay in the presence of God and build up our spiritual life. Moving on now, verses 17 through 21. Here we get point number three, and that is inquire of the Lord.

It's pretty simple, but if you want to reap the benefits of pursuing God's heart, you need to be asking God what it is that he wants you to do. Verse 17, now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

Now the enemies, the arch enemy of Israel, the Philistines, when they hear about David, so this is, you know, a little bit more immediate after David is anointed as king and set up over the nation of Israel. They hear about that and they want to make themselves known a little bit. They want to remind Israel, hey, you're still weaker than we are. And so they start to invade the land and set themselves up against David.

You know, some time has passed. It's been seven years that David has been king over Hebron. So probably some things have changed for the Philistines.

But there's probably some of the same people that David kind of hung out with whenever he was camping out with the Philistines, when he was hiding out from Saul. It's kind of interesting to consider that there was this battle that now is drawn and David is now facing some of the guys that he maybe knew before. And there's this opposition and they're coming against David. And David hears about it and it tells us in verse 17 that he goes into the stronghold.

probably speaking of the city of Jerusalem, you know, that's the stronghold. That's the place where he would, you know, be able to defend himself. And he goes in there and he's prepared to defend himself. But it's interesting that he doesn't just go in there and hide and, you know, tell me when it's over kind of thing. In verse 19, it says, so David inquired of the Lord and

The first thing David does is defensive action. The Philistines march out. David ducks into the city where the walls are fortified, where it's safe. But he doesn't do so in a cowardly way. He does so to give him an opportunity to

To stop and hear from God. You know, it's really hard to hear from God when your life is threatened. You know, when you're in the midst of chaos and the panic is there and your adrenaline is rushing, that's a real hard time to hear from God. I often encourage people, you know, make sure that you develop what we talked about in the previous point, that relationship with God and learn how to hear God's voice

before the crisis so that when the crisis hits, you've got some experience in walking with God. And it's way more difficult to be in the middle of a crisis and then trying to figure out, okay, now, how do I hear from God? And what does that sound like? What does that look like? And what does that mean? And trying to figure out how to walk with God while the storm is happening is very difficult.

But David here, he's established his relationship with the Lord. And so he takes a pause. He just kind of like, you know, boom, here's my sanctuary. I can stop and I can hear from the Lord. And he inquires of the Lord, Lord, do you want me to go up against them?

Kind of the idea is, well, do you want me to hole up here in Jerusalem? The Jebusites stayed here for a long time. I mean, we'd probably be pretty safe here. We could be really safe right here in the city of Jerusalem. They're not going to be able to take us. You know, maybe we'll put the blind and lame to defend our walls, right? No, not quite like that. But you get the point, right? David, he had that option. He could be protected there in Jerusalem. But he says, Lord, what do you want?

I could be safe here. I could be comfortable here. I could last here for a long time. But Lord, what do you want? And God says, I want you to go up. Go out of your safety zone, your comfort zone. Go out into the battle because I am going to deliver the Philistines into your hand. God gives him that promise of victory with the instruction to go. It's important to point that out. I think that many times God gives us instruction, but

without the promise of victory, but we assume the promise of victory. And there's a difference. Sometimes God sends us out and his objective is different than what we're projecting and what we're wanting and what we're thinking. Now, it's always for the best and we can trust God in that. We talked about that this past Sunday. But the point is, David has this clear promise from God. I'm going to deliver them into your hand. You're going to have victory in the midst of this particular battle. Verse 20.

So David went to Baal-perazim and David defeated them there and said, the Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of water. Therefore, he called the name of that place Baal-perazim and they left their images there and David and his men carried them away. So David goes and he marches to meet with the Philistines there.

And they have a great victory there. So great that David describes it like a breakthrough of water, you know, kind of like a dam that is breached and the water just, you know, breaks through, bursts through. That is David's picture of how they were able to burst onto the scene with the Philistines and wipe them out and have victory there in the midst of that battle. And it was all rooted in this

Simple thing that David did in inquiring of the Lord. We've seen this already several times in David's life. This was not a one-time thing for David, but it was his habit. It was his pattern to inquire of the Lord. We saw back in 1 Samuel chapter 23, it was, you know, a very...

tight timeline where David says, should I go defend the city, Lord? God says, yes, go defend it. He goes and he defends the city. He has victory. Then Saul is chasing after him. Lord, should I leave the city? Yes, leave the city. And then, Lord, should I go over here? Yes, go over there. And we see this as a pattern throughout David's life. He inquired of the Lord. He didn't just do what he thought best or do what he was comfortable with or do what he wanted to do or do, you know, he inquired of the Lord.

He always gave God, well, maybe not always, but we see it frequently in his life that he gave God opportunity to redirect. And again, we see this example here that David, when he hears about this threat, he takes a step back. Let me step out of the danger zone. Let me step away from the pressure, give myself a little bit of reprieve so that I can stop and ask God, God, what do you want in this situation? Do you want me to go to battle again?

Do you want me to stay here and defend the city? And David would have been up for whichever one God wanted. His objective was, Lord, what do you want? Again, he sets the model for us. This is what it means to pursue God's heart. It's to ask God, God, what do you want? You don't have to make up your own thing that you think that God wants and then hope it aligns. We get the opportunity to ask God, what does God want for your life?

What does pleasing God look like in your context? What does God's will look like for your situations? And I would encourage you to follow the example of David, and maybe you need to put a little distance between you and the pressures and the threats. Maybe a little retreat, a little time off, a little time away, I don't know, but that you give yourself a little bit of space,

And you present the situation before God and say, God, what do you want? What's your desire? What's your will? What's your plan? What would please you in this situation? And you might say, I'd be more comfortable staying in the city. And God might say, go to battle. Or you might say, I'd rather go to battle. And the Lord might say, hey, stay here and defend the city. The point is, it's not about what I want. I'm pursuing God's heart. Lord, what do you want? Usually it's, you know, not that difficult to figure out what I want.

But what does the Lord want? And it can be difficult to discern that. And it's why we need to have that step away, that sanctuary, that place where we've established to spend time in the presence of God to be able to present these things before the Lord and inquire of the Lord. And so David does. He has victory. But the cool thing here as we continue on finishing off the chapter in verses 22 through 25 is

Well, it gives us point number four, and that is keep inquiring of the Lord. This, again, it was not to say one-time thing, David inquired of the Lord, but this was the pattern of David's life. And listen, if you want to reap the benefits of pursuing God's heart,

This is the pattern to follow, that you don't just one time, you know, and if you look back to that one time that you inquired of the Lord, you know, a long time ago, or even last month, and you know, it's that one time that it happened, you know, that's not the pattern, that's not the way to reap the benefits of pursuing God's heart, but it's to really make it a pattern, and to have this be part of our lives, that we are looking to God and saying, God, what do you want?

What would you say? Where do you want me to go? How do you want me to handle this? Well, what steps do you want me to take? In verse 22, it tells us the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephim. Now think about this. Here's the Philistines again. It tells us once again, they deploy themselves. So here we're faced with the same enemy. It's the Philistines. We just faced them a few verses earlier, had a great victory, same enemy.

Not only that, but they're in the same place, the Valley of Rephaim. Same place where the battle took place before, now the battle is taking place again. So we have the same place, the same enemy, and it presents an easy trap for us to fall into. And that is, we've already done this before. I've seen this movie. I know how it ends. I know the route to take. You know what I mean? I know how to handle this situation.

But that's not the way that David approached it. In verse 23, it says, Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and he said, You shall not go up, circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. Verse 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 the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines. And David did so as the Lord commanded him, and he drove back the Philistines quickly.

David is setting a good pattern for us. Don't fall into the trap of facing a situation and thinking, okay, I saw this already. I asked God last time. He told me what to do. Now I'm facing this situation again. I already know what to do. I don't need to ask God. And I think, you know,

If we were to stop and think about things in those terms, we would know better than that. But, you know, many times the difficulty is we just move forward. We just march, you know, we're reacting. And we need to develop in ourselves that pattern where we keep inquiring of the Lord, that we present before God our whole life and the details of what we're facing and the things that we're going through and the decisions that we're making that we're

That we protect ourselves from this trap of thinking, I already know how to handle this. And just approaching it and dealing with the situation in the same way we've dealt with it in the past. If you look at the life and ministry of Jesus, you can see great variety, right? It's often observed. His miracles, he did them differently. Even in the same type of miracle, when he's healing a blind man,

Sometimes, well, he spits in the dirt and makes mud and rubs the mud on his face. He only did that once. He healed more blind people than just that one, but he only used that method, that approach, one time. He healed the lame. He cast out demons. He did an amazing abundance of works, but he didn't do them the same way every time.

There was wondrous variety because, well, of course, Jesus is walking in the Spirit. He is walking in the will of the Father and modeling for us that, well, there's a variety of ways that God wants to handle the different things that we face. And we can fall into the trap of just doing what we did before in similar situations.

And last time I was in a situation like this and the Lord gave me that right word, you know, this verse, it was just perfect. So let me just share this verse because that sounds a lot like what this person is saying, you know, so let me share that verse. And maybe that's going to go over as well as it did before because if it's not the word of the Lord for that moment, for that person, for that situation, it's not a formula that we can just plug in, you know. You have this kind of family trouble? Okay, just plug in this verse. You have this kind of family trouble? Okay, just, you know what I mean? Okay.

we need to inquire of the Lord. What does the Lord want for your family situation? What does the Lord want for your employment type of, you know, issue that is going on? And it's not about, well, you know, Uncle Joe had the same problem and here's what he did. What does the Lord want?

It's not about figuring out what somebody else did or what happened in the past. This is really important too, by the way, as we're evaluating our own hearts and lives and the things that we're facing. But when we're the ones imparting advice or encouragement, as where others are sharing their things, and let me tell you what I did. And here's how I fixed that in my life. And here's how I fixed my kids and their problems in this way. And we need to be very careful that we don't just give people advice

Something that God did as like, this is what God always does. He always does it this way. We really need to be careful to help people inquire of the Lord. We need to do that for ourselves, but we also need to do that with those that we're interacting with, that we would keep inquiring of the Lord. What does the Lord want in your life, in your situation? Here, as we look at the example of David, he sets a great model for us. Again, he's not perfect. He's not without his frailties and failures.

But he was a man after God's own heart. God said so. God said, look at this guy. He's one who pursues my heart. And here in this chapter, we get to see him reap the benefits of that. We get to see those promises fulfilled. We get to see the place established. We get to see the victories take place. And I think we can all look at those things and desire those things appropriately so, and not in a covetous way, but just, yes, Lord, I want to experience the benefits of

I understand there's going to be the trials and there's the wilderness season, but Lord, I want to reap the benefits of pleasing you and walking in your will. And here David sets a great example for us. First of all, we need to let God fulfill his promises. Let's be careful not to take matters into our own hands and try to accomplish what it is that we know God's leading us in a direction or we believe that's what God wants, but it's not up to us to make that happen.

It's up to us to find out, Lord, what do you want me to do in these situations? And to not just accomplish things because we know that that's what God wants, but to let God bring that about. Let God do that work. Exaltation comes from the Lord. And then we need to stay in the presence of God.

You find out, you figure out where God is, where his name is, where he's chosen, and you camp out there. You stay in that place. You stay in that relationship. Learn how to walk with God and stay in the presence of God in your spiritual disciplines, in the doctrine, in the spending time in his word, in the times of prayer, in the fellowship, in the private times, in the corporate times, that you learn what it means to dwell in his presence and to walk with him

To walk in the Spirit, as Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 5. And part of that is inquiring of the Lord. And not just one time, not just, you know, occasionally, once in a while, but making it a consistent and continual part of our life. That we're looking to God and saying, God, what do you want? There's this opportunity for, I mean, it could be an incredible opportunity, God. There's like so much abundance right there. Do you want me to take it? It could be a challenge. Lord, this is really threatening. This is really difficult. Lord, what do you want?

whatever we face. And even when it's the same thing that we faced last time, I've seen this enemy, I've seen this place, I've seen this situation, I've seen this, here's how to handle it. What do you want? What do you want from us in the things that we face? As we walk in these things, God's promise is that we will reap what we have sown. Again, Paul tells us in Galatians chapter six, God's not mocked. It's a law. You reap what you sow.

So don't grow weary in doing good. When you're like David in the wilderness and you're like, okay, God, you got to fulfill your promises. I'm not going to do it. But here I am in difficulty and suffering in the meantime. I'm trying to stay in your presence, but boy, is it difficult. You know, there's challenges, there's enemies and there's attacks and, you know, there's going to be opposition, but you stick it out and you'll reap the benefits of pursuing God's heart. His fulfilled promises, his victories and his presence will abound in your life.

the worship teams that come up and close us in a time of worship. And it's a great opportunity for us to just begin to put these things into practice. And I want to encourage you this evening to stay in the presence of God and to start that now and to start inquiring of the Lord. And so whatever you're facing and whatever situation you're facing,

I would encourage you to bring those specifics before the Lord that you would ask him, Lord, what do you want in the midst of this? And that you would allow him to show you the things that he wants to do, the ways that he wants to direct you and how you can take these things and live them out in the pursuit of the heart of God. And as we always do on Wednesdays,

We want to give you the opportunity to minister to one another also. So during the time of worship, if you are prompted by the Lord and you want to pray with one another or encourage each other, share a scripture, whatever, you know, the Lord stirs up, then be free to do that as we worship the Lord and inquire of the Lord. Again, we have in the presence of the Lord those private moments

and those corporate moments. And both are important and necessary. And so feel free to spend this time with God and with his people according to his leading in your life as we continue to pursue his heart and worship him together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.