Life Learning Series

When we have fixed our minds on using examples from Scripture to make a case for ignoring the weight of errors and sins of our life, as we try to bypass accountability; we must be ready to apply the full weight of the example, instead. One of the weights of the examples of Scripture, as they are associated with errors of humans, is the matter of consequence. If we want to apply the examples of Scripture to our lives, we must be ready to accept the consequences that are associated with those examples. Scripture tells us that this is the normal course of events in the Kingdom of God.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

(Galatians 6:7-8)

When one soweth to the Spirit, the consequences are indeed blessed ones. For instance, in the community of Israel, the LORD described a series of blessings that were waiting for the people of that nation when they adhered to the requirements of righteousness.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Eleven –

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Yes, we can move our self through the grace that God allowed to king David, and receive the blessing of forgiveness; but, wouldn’t it be nice to think the matter through prior to needing the exceptional grace of the LORD, as pertains to forgiveness? Wouldn’t it be nice to consider the way that we are going, before we have to plead with God for forbearance of our failings? Yes, I know that we have access to the blessing that David spoke of in this Psalm .  .

A Psalm of David.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

(Psalm 23:1-6)

Yes, we will have the LORD’S forgiveness, when we are sincere in our repentance; however, before there is a need for repentance, there is another way that we can go. The other way is to show that we have a measure of commitment to the way of the LORD that precedes any thoughts or actions that we do. The apostle Paul tells us of this way of worshipping God through our service to the LORD. Please add this habit of blessed human interaction to the words that you have hid in your heart.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Ten –

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Let us review the source of many excuses in interpersonal relationships; especially, as they occur in the community of saints. Sometimes, to dilute their actions, some people only use a portion of the following Scripture: it is that portion which includes the deeply nested, and densely encircling, forgiveness of the LORD:

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD.

And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

(2 Samuel 12:13-14)

Surely, for Christians, this is the powerful message that is at the center of the Gospel of God, in Jesus Christ: thou shalt not die. However, too often, there is a lapse of application of the portions of our soul’s medication that points to the string of consequence that was waiting for the king. This is the string of consequence that was set in time, waiting for David to reach its time in existence; for, by a sinfully grievous action, David earned a string of consequence: I have sinned against the LORD.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Nine –

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In the time of king Saul, someone was declared, in a quiet and prophetic way, as being eligible for the high place in society that was already occupied by some else (Saul). This was not a matter of conjecture about some, at that time, unnamed man. The declaration spoke of a sure thing for this man, since he would soon be placed in that high position by the LORD. Later, we discover that the man is David. In that position, David would have the authorization to perform activities in the name of the LORD; such as this one . . .

And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

(1 Samuel 13:3-8)

One of the lesson that David was able to review from Israel’s history, taught him about the LORD’S precise instructions when one is authorized to lead his people, and about the danger of taking that type of authorization lightly. The lesson involves Saul, the first chosen king of Israel. It is the lesson that contains the prediction of the later elevation of David’s societal stature.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Eight –

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Redemption:

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

(Psalm 51:2, 7, 10)

Our motivation for pursuing the remission that comes from the LORD is that we have an extended stake in the matter. In the day in which I am living, there is a lot of talk about how some of the, so called, financial messes, as being blamed on various politicians, are damaging the future potential of the next generation; particularly, as this next generation is expressed in the structure of the family. Beyond concern for financial messes, we need to be doubly concerned about the spiritual messes that we create inside the financial messes that absorb our attention.

Also, we need to have spiritual concern especially for the next generations, as they are wrapped into the structure of the family. In our handling of these and other such high profile matters, we have an opportunity for either committing an affront to the next generation or delivering great benefit to it. The message from the LORD God is clear as to His will for such potentially god-spawning matters.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

(Exodus 20:4-6)

Even if you have repented, and seem to think that you can walk away from your sin; if you choose to invoke the David comparison, you must be ready to endure life with a dysfunctional family–again we say, think beyond the biological image of family. Below, we will think through a few of the highlights of that type of family dysfunction, in the life of David. (Speaking for those ones of us who have ever been in the corporate world, we know that what you are about to read can easily be applied to the ambitious portions–executive, managerial, and managed–of that particular, man-constructed family, too.)

First, here is the prophetic pronouncement. As you read this, and other portions of the rebuke for this matter, substitute the word, opportunity, in place of the word, wife; and, too, substitutive the word, opportunities, in the place of the word, wives. Additionally, you might find it useful to mentally insert the word, slander, where you see the expression, the sword.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

(2 Samuel 12:9-12)

The fulfillment of that prophecy gives us clear evidence of the dysfunction of king David’s family. The message of the dysfunction begins with an extra-family inoculation that introduced a virulent strain of duplicity into the body of David’s household; or did it

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Seven –

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As David stood at the threshingfloor of Ornan, God opened David’s eyes to his need to mend his way, in the LORD. Thus, with his eyes opened, David set out to make things right, by making amends to the LORD God because of his error in commissioning an unauthorized census

And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

(1 Chronicles 21:19-30)

David’s full acceptance of his part in the matter of the judgment that fell on Israel would not have happened if the LORD had not opened David’s eyes, thusly.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Six –

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Have you ever been in a situation in which you just cannot get your mind to release from a principle or concept that you know is damaging to you? Have you ever been in a place where you know you should not be, but you lack the desire to leave? Have you ever heard a certain type of joke or story being told, and you know that it is outside of the proper thought process that you need to absorb, and yet you still do absorb it? In general, have you ever been immersed in something that just seems to hold you, in spite of yourself? When we are in these situations, it may seem to be akin to mud wrestling: no matter whether we accomplish a measure of victory, or not; we are still perceived as being dirty.

When we grab for God’s forgiveness of our actions, as based on supposed historical precedent, we need to be very careful that we fulfill all the requirements that were placed on our chosen entity of history. We need to resist the urge to generalize the events of the Bible; instead, we need to carefully overlay the entire environment on our own. We need to ask questions about the appropriateness of the fit of the ancient event to the modern condition. Among the questions is this: just because a certain outcome is present in a historical even, does this mean that the historical event acts as a kind of formula for motivating the LORD to dispense forgiveness? Of course, these sorts of questions are neither needed nor appropriate for the consequential commandments of the LORD, except where repentance has been blended with the consequential commandments: Nineveh is such a blending.

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

(Jonah 3:1-10)

In the case of Nineveh, they followed the commandment of the LORD, which they summarized as follows: let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Specifically, they wanted to trigger a consequence of non-destruction: if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not. This is in accordance with a portion of the prayer of king Solomon, at the dedication of the first temple of God, in Israel.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Five –

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When we take the stance that we should be automatically forgiven, and, too, allowed to continue as if there was no offense, we discard the close relationship that we need to have with the way of the LORD. To give you an idea of how this relates to the husband-wife situation, here is a time when the LORD described such a relationship between God and the congregation of Israel. Unfortunately, the reference was to a time that was in a state of transition. Actually, I should not say, unfortunately; for, the transition that was coming upon them was a blessed one.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Yes, just as the children did; when we assume that we have a right to forgiveness, we both damage our relationship with the LORD and mishandle the responsibility that God has placed in our hands. However, the offense of someone who has mishandled responsibility–such as happens when there is an abusive or cheating spouse–does not stop with the desire of that person to be retroactively forgiven. The offense continues in that they require their true mate to participate with them in a public display of calm waters. When you are a husband that has abused or cheated your wife, and either require or expect her to go on as if there had been no storm; this is the type of treatment that you are inflicting on your wife. Moreover, by your request for complicit duplicity, you are asking her to consent to your violation of the law of God; after all, she is the other portion of your whole self, now, as Jesus reminded us.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Four –

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David was the first king of Israel that was given independent responsibility, and that, therefore, was allowed to fail or succeed, in the ways of man. The prior king, who is generally accepted as being the first king of Israel, was not allowed to make independent decisions about how to proceed. We will see, in a moment, why David is the first king to be given a chance to exercise independent initiative. For now, let us consider the sort of restriction that was placed on the first generally accepted king of Israel, Saul.

Initially, it seems that Saul had free reign:

Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

(1 Samuel 13:1-3)

However, though there was an initial surge of potentiality; his adversary’s preparation and his adversary’s reputation powerfully quenched the kingly fire of confrontation.

– Explore The Fullness of David: Part Three –

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When we paused, we shared information on the absence of a gifted privilege of receiving a negative response, as from the LORD. (Yes, sometimes, people do look for the gift of a negative action from God.)

The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

(Ezekiel 18:1-4)

Let us go further, and take note of a time of absence of a gifted privilege of receiving a positive response, as from the LORD. The gift, in this case, is life, and it must be retained by moving in accordance with righteousness.

But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

(Ezekiel 18:5-9)

Moreover, let us take note of the absence of a gifted privilege of passing on to another person a like-kind weight of responsibility, as from the LORD.

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– The Fullness of David: Part Two –