The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying God's providence or divine providence in the lives of David and Joseph and how we can apply His providence in their lives to our lives today.
The providence of God or divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. Divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe. He is in control of the physical world. He is in control of the affairs of nations. He is in control of human destiny. He is in control of human successes and failures. He protects His people.
This will be our final Session on David and it will be The End of an Era.
In this closing chapter of his years on earth, David was involved in four activities: he reflected on the temple; he spoke to his son, Solomon; he prayed before the Lord; and then he rejoiced with the assembly.
For our study we are using Great Lives: David: A Man of Passion and Destiny, and Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness by Charles R. Swindoll. To study along with us you can purchase the books by clicking the Links here or the images after the notes.
The providence of God or divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. Divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe as a whole, He is in control of the physical world, He is in control of the affairs of nations, He’s in control of human destiny, He’s in control of human successes and failures, He protects His people. Through divine providence God accomplishes His will.
Last week we looked at a very foolish decision that David made later in his life after he had written that wonderful song, we studied in Session 21 in which he covered four themes in his life that correspond to themes in our lives too. The themes were:
When times are tough, God is our only security (2-20)
When our days are dark, the Lord is our only light (21-31)
When our walk is weak, the Lord is our only strength (32-40)
When our future is foggy or fuzzy, the Lord is our only hope (50-51)
Now there was peace again, the Philistines have been defeated again and there is peace and perhaps David was full of himself, and he made a command decision to have a census over the objections of his military commander.
2 Samuel 24:1-2 NIV Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”
Bible scholars suggest that his motive was to learn the strength of his army. In other words, his unstated motive was pride. He wanted to see how big his land really was, how vast his kingdom, how impressive his army.
1 Chronicles 21:1-4 NIV Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.” But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My Lord the king, are they not all my Lord’s subjects? Why does my Lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem.
David did not consult with God.
1 Chronicles 21:7-8 NIV This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel. Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”
David confessed but the damage was done, and the nation paid the price for a foolish decision of its leader.
2 Samuel 24:15-17 NIV So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerualem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”
From this horrible incident we get warnings for leaders today.
1. To live an unaccountable life is to flirt with danger.
2. To ignore sin’s consequences is to reject God’s truth.
3. To fail to take God seriously is to deny His lordship.
If a man as great and godly as David could foul up his life so near the end of his days, so can anyone else.
This will be our final Session on David and it will be the end of a era.
In this closing chapter of his years on earth, David was involved in four activities: he reflected on the temple; he spoke to his son, Solomon; he prayed before the Lord; and then he rejoiced with the assembly.
REFLECTING ON THE TEMPLE: AN UNFULFILLED DREAM
1 Chronicles 28:2-4 NIV King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’ “Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the tribe of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel.
He is focusing on what God did allow him to do, not on what he was not allowed to do. It is so easy for us to be disappointed, to get so distraught over a frustrated desire that we forget the things God has given us, the good things He has accomplished through our efforts and through our hands. During the closing years of his life, rather than pining away over this unfulfilled desire, David focused on the good things God had given him. He had a vertical focus not a horizontal one.
God’s plan was different from David’s plan. David planned to build the temple but that was not God’s plan and David didn’t pout because he knew that God had blessed him beyond measure and that God told him that the temple would be built but by one of his sons not him.
1 Chronicles 28:5-7 NIV Of all my sons—and the Lord has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’
Instead of us being frustrated and angry because we have not been able to accomplish great things that we wanted to do in our lives. We should like David thank him for the things he did give us and allowed us to accomplish. Rejoice in them and reflect on the people that were blessed when we allow God to do His thing through us, and the legacy that we will leave.
We can either “eat our heart out,” or we can say, “By the grace of God, I did the best I could with what I had. And I claim His promise that somehow, He’ll use what I did accomplish for His greater glory.”
Romans 8:28-30 NIV And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Speaking to His son Solomon, his successor and the one that will build the temple and accomplish David’s dream.
David first talked about Solomon being intentional about seeking God.
1 Chronicles 28:9-10 NIV “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
We saw in our study that David was often so involved in the administrative work of running the kingdom, and in leading the military that he sometimes made bad decisions that were outside of God’s will. Too many wives, the affair with Bathsheba the census. He was not a good father. He was a great king but not a good father.
The second thing David said had to do with serving God willingly.
1 Chronicles 28:9-10 NIV “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
David was far from perfect as we have seen in this study, but we have also seen why God said that “he was a man after His own heart” David when he realized that he had sinned was immediate with his confession and ask for forgiveness because he know God’s heart and he wanted to mend his relationship with him. Solomon had seen that in his father. David knew that you can’t hide anything from God so get to know God and serve him.
How do we get to know God and serve him Well He saves and that’s a gift and we have the Holy Spirit, but we have to do some work ourselves, not for salvation but to work with God in His sanctification process.
So, David tells Solomon to seek the will of God. David was speaking with regard to the temple but for us it is to find out from God what He wants us to do.
1 Chronicles 28:9-10 NIV “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
Solomon had a big job before him. The temple was a big project, but Solomon’s first priority was to rule the nation. David was leaving quite a legacy.
The nation was now unified under one flag. A royal capital had been established in Jerusalem. The military force of Israel was now respected by all the enemies around them, and every enemy had been subdued, including the Philistines. Israel’s boundaries had been extended from 6,000 to 60,000 square miles. Prosperity had been brought in by the extensive trade routes that his father had set up.
Yes, it was a big job, but David reminded his son that he would not be alone.
1 Chronicles 28:20-21 NIV David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing person skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command.”
Just like with Joshua before entering Canan and us facing tough challenges, we are not alone.
Joshua 1:5, 9 NIV No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
David knew that if Solomon kept his relationship with God together that God would be with him. He also knows that God often places people in our lives to help us achieve what God has planned. We are not loaners; we all need others. God knows this so he puts us in families. So God spoke to those who would be there to help Solomon
1 Chronicles 29:1 NIV Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God.
David has now spoken to his son Solomon; he had told the people to support and help Solomon now he prays.
If you look carefully at his prayer, you will see that it has the elements that we have been talking about the last two Sundays as we learn how to pray from Jesus. David’s prayer puts God’s glory and his presence front and center.
1 Chronicles 29:10-13 NIV David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, 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, 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.
Then he prays for the people of Israel thanking God for them and their gifts that will be used in accomplishing David’s dream of a temple.
1 Chronicles 29:14-20 NIV “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.” Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.
The people agreed with David’s prayer and thus put a period on his life and rule as king of Israel.
1 Chronicles 29:21-25 NIV The next day they made sacrifices to the Lord and presented burnt offerings to him: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams and a thousand male lambs, together with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the Lord that day. Then they acknowledged Solomon son of David as king a second time, anointing him before the Lord to be ruler and Zadok to be priest. So Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David. He prospered and all Israel obeyed him. All the officers and warriors, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their submission to King Solomon. The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal splendor such as no king over Israel ever had before.
What lessons can we learn from David? We learn hope, in spite of his humanity. We learn courage, even amid his own fear. We learn encouragement and praise in the songs that grew out of his hours of despair. We learn forgiveness in his dark moments of sin. And we learn the value of serving the purpose of God even though all our dreams may not be fulfilled.
1 Chronicles 29:28 NIV He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. His son Solomon succeeded him as king.
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