2012-07-06
Hi There Dear Ones,
Last week, we looked at the story of David and Goliath [1 SAM 17: 1-58], which is a great example of how our God rememberes His covenant with the Jewish people. This week, we need to better understand our covenant relationship with God [remember that believing Gentiles have been “grafted in” to that same covenant relationship [RO 11: 16-25]. This should be done with seeing the future while remembering the lessons from the events from the past.
With Goliath defeated, David and Saul’s son, Jonathan, were free to live out their friendship covenant relationship (which also involved God). We must remember that this covenant was inaugurated at Mt. Sinai before our Diety. For a quick review of the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, read EX 24: 8-12. While David and Jonathan weren’t physically born yet, every Jewish lad growing up in the faith was taught about it and given instruction on it’s importance to their lives. David became a servant in Saul’s palace, sometimes playing the harp to soothe the king and at other times, leading the Israelite army against their Philistine enemies. 1 SAM 16: 14-16 reveals how David was called to play the harp for king Saul. “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. Saul’s attendants said to him, ‘See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better.’” Saul agreed to this search, and Jesse’s youngest son, David, was chosen. [Not much was understood about medicine in David’s day. Saul reigned in Israel from c.1030-1010 BC; David reigned from c.1010-970 BC; Solomon reigned from c. 970-931 BC. In view of Saul’s behavior, I personally think he would have been diagnosed with untreated Bipolar Disease, had he lived today].
We must understand that their covenant with God set the Jews apart from all their neighbors. Their belief in one God [monotheism] may well have contributed to their disputes with the polytheistic Philistines, who occupied five main cities in the SW sector of what is today Israel along the Mediterranean seacoast. Moses had written of past events in the Torah [first five books or Penteteuch] which both David and Jonathan knew well. Of interest is that Moses received the Ten Commandments between c. 1250 and 1210 BC. It’s appropriate that we look at which covenants David and Jonathan knew about. The cutting of the first covenant between God and His chosen people, the Jews came in GN 15: 17 with Abraham. We are given the meaning of the shedding of blood to confirm our covenant in LV 17: 11 and HE 9: 18-22. We are instructed to partake of a covenant meal in EX 12: 42, LV 23: 5-6, and 1 COR 11: 23-25 [in David’s and Jonathan’s time and with traditional Jews today, the Passover seder, and after David’s and Jonathan’s time, Communion]. Getting back to David and Jonathan, they knew well the consequences of breaking a covenant from EX 24: 4-8. It is my hope that you will refer to these verses, because they are important to us.
David and Jonathan knew the book of Deuteronomy, the last of Moses’ Torah writings, which went into rules for keeping and consequences for breaking our covenant with God. The law was discussed and described in detail to the Jews encamped on the plains of Moab . God assured Israel that if they kept the covenant, He would confirm it with them and multiply their numbers. LV 26: 9, “I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep My covenant with you.” The consequences for breaking the covenant are outlined in LV 26: 14-17, “But if you will not listen to Me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws and fail to carry out all My commands and so violate My covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon your sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will set My face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.” Whew! That’s pretty awful, and we can see it put into practice after long periods of idolatry and other faithless sinning practiced by God’s people. All this negativity has to be reported here, if the value of God’s truth is to be understood. I have always written that people who obey God and are faithful have nothing to worry about, but those who sin against Him have everything to fear. Enough of Jewish history had passed in David and Jonathan’s time for them to have seen this happen too.
There are historical cycles of breaking the covenant that are worth our time to examine. Since I’m running out of space this week, I will save that for next week. In the meanwhile, I believe that our Lord wants us to examine the status of our individual compliance of our Covenant of Grace with Him- not to evoke guilt, but instead to reveal the areas of our imperfections upon which we can work to improve our keeping with God’s will.
PRAYER: O Lord, we recognize that much heartache and despair could be saved if we and other humans were willing to learn the lessons that history has to teach us. PS 107: 43, “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” We also must understand the value of committing to things that are covenant-worthwhile in Your sight, things like what is between, us, You, and other humans. It is appropriate that we appreciate Your Son, Who is the “first among many brothers” to gain eternal life, for then we will understand the love that You have for us [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; and RO 8: 29]. It is right that He should be called the “Firstborn of many brothers” because it is Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection that leads to all who believe in Him following Him to eternal fellowship with You in heaven. In RO 3: 26, Paul told us, inspired by You, “He did it [began to punish sins left unpunished before the Law was given] to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One Who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” If we think about it, Dearest Abba, no one would take Your words, Your covenants, or their relationship with You seriously, if You never drew boundaries or punished sin. Furthermore, there are times when use evil to bring good. GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” That is why God allowed an evil spirit to inhabit Saul intermittently. It was enough of an insult that Your people replaced You politically with human kings, but to have one whose motives were a tainted as Saul’s were was more than You could bear. You knew the state of Saul’s heart-attitude and thus, knew it was necessary to replace him. You also know the state of our hearts too. We thank You for civilizing us, for Your patience with us, and for the love that You have shown us in bringing good to our lives. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: As I mentioned above, it’s necessary to go into consequences for breaking covenants, just as it is into blessings for making and keeping them. Next week, we’ll begin by looking at some of the historical cycles of disobedience from LV 26 and then go on to why we can say that God has never stopped loving Israel. A mature believer in the Lord knows and feels His presence in his life at all times. There is never a reason to want to escape, because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is no motivation to knowingly sin. Because of our imperfections, we are still sinners, but God knows when our intentions are in line with His will. A lot of what the mature believer understands is not based out of fright, but out of knowing God well through study of His word and prayer. Prayerful listening is what I like to call the first portion of any prayer session. It consists of quieting one’s inner self, letting the distractions around us fade away, and concentrating on anything God has said or is saying to us. Then, it’s time to enter into a two-way communication with God, the second part of any good prayer session. This should always begin with acknowledgement of Who God is and of His deeds. Then, there is a segment where we offer thanks and praise to God, if that hasn’t been done already. And then, it is offering God our supplications. God may or may not answer us right away on these, but we should listen more, in case He does. Never feel that God isn’t attending well to the hopes we have, what is in our best eternal interests, for healing/comforting those who obey His commands. I prayed about something for 1 ½ years before God answered that particular request, but His timing was best. God reveals Himself in our lives. AC 17: 26-27, “From one man He made a nations of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15