I wrote in our previous article about how the people of Israel, after the generation of Joshua, were more interested in serving the Lord than trusting Him – meaning they just went for whatever they were commanded, before ‘trusting the Lord’. Here in David’s response we see that he did not respond the same way – He asked for the Lord’s counsel twice, and won against the Philistines twice.
– The First Triumphal Entry – March 20-21, 2024 (90/365)
Quick segue. Huge lesson from here, actually.
One time I wrote about how, at the end of the book of Joshua, and at the beginning of Judges, we saw how even if Joshua told the Israelites to ‘cling to the Lord’, ‘love the Lord’, and ‘fear the Lord’, it seems all the Israelites were fixated on doing was to serve the Lord.
We ultimately pointed out that if we want to serve the Lord correctly, and if we want to serve the Lord with all our heart, it matters for us to trust in the Lord first – that means, as Joshua mentioned: to fear Him, to cling to Him, to love Him.
We see in 1 Samuel 16:13 that David, the shepherd son of Jesse, was approached by the prophet Samuel, and was anointed with oil in the midst of his brothers… ‘And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.’
Fast forward to Acts 2, when a Descendant of David’s bloodline was born, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven; In the upper room, in an event that would hold true for all who would believe in Him, “there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:2-4)
We see, through David, who was anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit even when he was still in the Old Testament, that he demonstrated the bare minimum of what it meant to trust the Lord – that is, to inquire of Him. And when he did, particularly during his dealings with the Philistines, he always won. David inquired of the Lord, and he got His counsel.
However, here and now, when we inquire of the Lord ourselves, we can move, because we are sure that we are guided, not merely by an external voice speaking to us, but by the thoughts that come from within us.. why? Because prior to our receiving the Holy Spirit, we have the benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection – Christ’s work not merely filling us with new wine (the Holy Spirit), but discarding the old, and making us new wineskins, new temples of the Holy Spirit.
Through Christ, we have been recreated, and the facets of who we are now are amazing. Not only are we made temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16), we enjoy being made obedient from the heart (Romans 6:17), and, more importantly for my point, we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)
In the Scripture we read, David inquired of the Lord, and was once told to ‘go up’ against the Philistines – in what I would interpret as a direct assault. However, in a separate encounter, David inquired of the Lord, and was told to ‘go around to their rear’ – to flank(?) them.
We look back at these stories of history and say we want the same thing for us. Ask the Lord for counsel, get it clearly, do as He says, and win. But through the finished work of Christ, I believe we are able to not only look at the accounts of David with wonder, but we also could appreciate something far better than our God giving counsel (again, speaking to us from the outside in), but also our having the mind of Christ (or, what I believe is His thoughts in us from the inside out).
I feel as if, through Christ, God took His words to the Israelites – that is, the countless times He told them ‘I will be with you’, and spoke it to all humanity, that those who would come to believe would see that He brings His words to another level: God, not satisfied by always thinking about us (as it is written in one of our favorite verses, 1 Peter 5:17), also has His Son Jesus Christ, the Living Word, Emmanuel (God WITH us), causing us to live because He lives, and to have His mind – always connected to Him.
And there it is. David had counsel – a benefit of having the Holy Spirit, one I believe was quite the privilege before the appointed time of Christ… But we who have come so many years later, to believe His birth, death, resurrection and ascension, we have so much more than counsel; We have unbroken, perpetual connection.
Through Christ we have the best there is. I could write more about this, but this is all I’ve squeezed out for now.
God bless us all.
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