Are You Just Guessing at How to Please God?

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What set David apart from Saul as a King.

I have been studying the life of David for a few months now. We have been doing a lot of reading and discussion in Sunday school class, but the truth came late one night as I was going to sleep, as all divine revelations and check list items seem to come to me.

Saul looked to possess every attribute of a King. He was a beauty of a man, a full head taller that any other. He was anointed and the people were glad. They had their hearts desire, their wish. Saul knew about God, he was a hebrew from a good standing family, reputable and learned in the ways of the laws. He heard Gods voice through the mouth of the prophet Samuel. When Samuel was near, Saul was confident that the Lord was working on his behalf. When Samuel was not present Saul wavered, feared and rashly acted out in his own efforts. It was as if Saul was always guessing how to please God, gauging by the reaction to his actions. This would lead any good man to throw spears and brood. This is what it is like to live a life trying to please a God you do not know. It is vanity, draining and eventually you will cry, Foul!

Thank God we are not expected to guess what the Lord expects from us. His word is a clear introduction, an open invitation and beginnings of a relationship. A two way dialog between maker and creation, creator and masterwork. In Psalms we read as spies, looking out on the ancient pasture, this very dialog as it happened in a field; in the quiet, among the sheep, with a shepherd boy with an open heart.

How do you talk to God?

First you get to know His character by reading His words. David would have memorized large portions of the Books of the Law. He spent his childhood hearing it and learning about the meaning but, so did Saul. So what set David apart? What defines him as a man after God’s own heart? David spoke to God. He often sang songs of praises and whispered prayers of thanksgiving. He spoke words of truth from his own heart. When David was pursued unrighteously by Saul, David never forgot the promise of God’s anointing. When he was in a cave, when he was in the desert, when he was driven out to live among his enemies, David never forsook God. What can carry us unshaken through trials? A true, deep, abiding relationship with the creator. David did not need Samuel to speak God’s words over him. David honored God because he knew God’s heart firsthand. He did not only know God by the word of Samuel.

In Acts 19, the seven sons of Sceva plotted to drive out demons “in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” The demons responded by beating them, shredding their robes saying, “We know Jesus, and we know Paul, but we don’t know you.” We can not deliver to the lost and dying world a God that we have heard of and hope they recognize Him and find Him more useful than we do. We can not hope to be effective or withstand trials on the fumes of a relationship.

So then how do we begin? We must claim some pasture. Find a quiet time, walk outside, get up early one day a week, but start. We must strive to know God and allow Him to teach us His character and stop expecting to be told who God is. He desires to show you His great love by walking beside you. First in the pasture, then with the bears and lions, in the cave, in the desert, among your enemies, and at the side of your homecoming. He wants to walk beside you through it all.

Lord, help us to know you as David did. Quicken our spirit to worship you this week. Open our eyes to your glory and mercy and write a Psalm of our very own on our heart. Amen

Do you know God deeply, or are you just beginning to come near to Him? Don’t stop and have to guess about how to please God like Saul. Know God deeply like David and rest in His company through every joy and trial.

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