David - 3rd Divine Principle - Bakht Singh

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

February 1, 2012


 *(Jim & Marie Watt – Beth Chesed, Tacoma*

*December 11, 2006)*


 *“THE RETURN OF GOD’S GLORY” – Bakht Singh*

*David: The Third Divine Principle*


 The third name is David, illustrating the third divine principle – the
necessity for God’s order. In Samuel 16:12-14, even though the Lord had
departed from Saul, yet we see that God allowed him to continue as king for
a while, so that David also might be properly prepared.

In 1 Samuel 30:1-4 we read of the tragic way in which David was overcome by
the Amalekites at Ziklag. David and his men all began to weep until they
had no power left to weep. Why? Because their wives and their children were
taken captive; and their houses and possessions were burned – what a great
loss! Now it is generally the privilege of women to weep. They weep on the
roadside, bus, on the train – anywhere. But a man does not weep. If a man
should weep on the roadside, it is considered strange. Here we find that
David and all his men were weeping. This shows what a very great loss there
was to recover!

This loss was the result of David’s own failure. He had failed to consult
God before he joined the army of the Philistines.

The time came when the Philistines joined battle against Israel. 1 Samuel
29. David saw in this an opportunity to avenge himself on Saul; so he
decided to join the Philistines in battle too, saying to himself, “He is my
enemy; he has tried to kill me; I have waited so long for this chance; let
me go against Saul.” Though he knew full well that God would not allow him
to touch Saul, he impatiently joined the Philistines, not waiting to find
God’s will as he had done at other times. But he failed, and he and his men
suffered great loss.


 In verse 8 we see David enquiring after God. God forgave him and told him
to “pursue, overtake them, and without fail, recover all.” David pursued,
and not only recovered all but found such great spoil that he was able to
pay his debts to all his men; and send gifts to the elders in Judah.

But God himself dealt with Saul without the help of David. We see in 1
Samuel 31:1-6 that Saul’s end came when the battle of the Philistines went
sore against him, and Saul died. David had no need to go against him. God
had this in His own control.


 My point is, that we do not have to go and fight against people – using
carnal weapons!


 2 Samuel 24:1-4; 13-17 gives the second occasion when David incurred a
loss. He fell into temptation by numbering the people. He knew full well
that all the battles had been fought and won because of the power of God,
and not by the strength of his army; but because of his pride, he wanted to
assure himself that he had a very large army behind him.

The result was that God had to punish him, and 70,000 of his men were
killed. He was about to wipe out Jerusalem, but He stayed His hand when
David confessed his sin on the threshing floor of Araunah: “Lo I have
sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? Let
Your hand, I pray, be against me.” Then God forgave him, and the very same
site became the site for the temple God wanted to be built.

In the same way many have failed. They argue: “We must have more money,
more power, more men, more knowledge.” In that way they have changed God’s
plans, but cannot defeat the enemy by any human strength or resources.


 In 2 Samuel 11:1 we see that David becomes a murderer, because of his
failure to obey God’s Word and go on duty. That was David’s third loss.

David tarried at Jerusalem and was tempted and became an adulterer, and
afterwards a deceiver. He repented sincerely, but God had to humble him.

To make him humble, God even permitted in David’s life these temptations.
In God’s work we have to be extremely humble and broken. So whenever we are
going through a testing time, remember, it is that God may make us humble
vessels.


 In 1 Chronicles 13:1-11 we see God dealing with David the fourth time.
David should have known that the ark of God was to be carried on the
shoulders of the Levites, and not taken in a cart; yet in human wisdom he
ignored the divine order. The Philistines had returned the ark of God in a
new cart, and David began to imitate the Philistines, so God became angry.

All Israel came with great zeal, singing and dancing and with harps, to
take the ark to the city of David, but the whole procedure was against
God’s will. David thought that by having a very grand procession, and a
military band, it would please God. But they entirely ignored the revealed
plan of God. The Ark must be borne by the Levites. It must be carried on
their shoulders. So God’s judgment fell, and then David feared God.

Now when David returned to God’s order in bringing back the ark, there was
great joy. It was then that David wrote that wonderful psalm in 2
Chronicles 16:7-36.

Maybe we have the same temptation that David had. He thought that by making
some change he would make a better impression. But in God’s work, we can
never change God’s order. Whatever has been revealed in the Bible is to be
followed, for every period of time, for every worker and for every group.
YOU CANNOT CHANGE IT.

When you are tempted and make some change, there always comes loss.

Afterwards when David returned to God’s ways, God gave him the pattern and
plan for the temple. He did this on two separate occasions; but only after
he was delivered from his human wisdom.

We think that we are living in different days; but I can see from God’s
Word clearly that unless we follow the heavenly pattern in our day, we
cannot see God coming in His full glory. Sometimes we have to be brought on
the “threshing floor” because, in God’s work, we are depending far too much
on human wisdom and cleverness; but we cannot make any improvement on the
heavenly plan.


 *NOTE:* In review – we have seen that the Glory of the Lord departed from
Israel because of the sin of Eli in refusing to discipline his two wicked
sons. God warned him twice. He was not ignorant of God’s thinking.

Then we see God’s heart in preparing to return His Glory to Israel through
4 divine principles illustrated by 4 Bible personages: Hannah, who switched
from personal desires to God’s desire; Samuel, a man of God, who
forthrightly spoke the Word of the Lord on all occasions; now David, who
painfully learned the necessity for God’s order; next mailing we will learn
the 4th divine principle that finally returned the Glory of God.

But back to David – Why is God such a stickler for HIS order over against
ours?


 In 1963 Marie and I had a house built for us in Kent, Washington. One day
when I came to see its progress, the foreman said to me – “Oh by the way, I
took 5 feet off your living room and added them to the next bedroom. I knew
you would like it better that way.”

I was so sure no one would be so foolish as to change our plans without
first consulting with us, that I assumed I had misheard him.

But that weekend I was able to visit my family in Port Alberni, BC, and
shared with Marie what I thought I heard the foreman say. She asked – “Did
you check with the Builder?” I acknowledged that I hadn’t. “I think you
should,” she said.

So I phoned, and upon checking, the Builder discovered that our Foreman had
foolishly taken it into his own hands to change our plans.

As soon as I returned to the Seattle area, I immediately went to Kent to
sort out the problem. I told the Foreman: “We are in the ministry! We have
meetings in our home, and actually need a living room larger than our
original plans. By taking 5 feet off of it, it makes it impossible for us
to use the house as we planned and intended.

“Furthermore, the bedroom you put the extra 5 feet on, is the guest
bedroom. We don’t want it too comfortable so that guests may be tempted to
want to stay too long.

“Therefore, we can’t take over our house unless you restore our plans the
way we gave them to you.”

“Oh, I can’t do that,” he said.

“Then you buy the house, seeing you’ve built it according to your plans,
not ours,” I replied.

“Oh, I can’t do that,” he responded.

So I turned it over to the Builder, and he ordered the foreman to restore
it according to our original plans.

He was so upset that he let it sit there for a month. It was a split level
colonial house, and the 2-set stairway would have to be moved 5 feet to
meet the original requirements. He finally obeyed the builder, but
complained that it was the first time he had remodeled a house before he
built it the first time!


 One night the Presence of the Lord drew very near to me, and He spoke,
“This house problem has disturbed and upset you, hasn’t it?” I agreed with
Him that the whole episode was deeply disturbing.

“Well, look at it in this light. I am building a house, My Church. And the
builders say to Me, ‘Lord, we know Your plan and pattern, but You don’t
understand our world of today. We will remain anchored to Your Rock – but
we believe it should be geared to the times! We know You will like it
better this way!’

“Now I don’t like how denominations and pastors are building My Church
according to their changes – anymore than you like it when your foreman has
changed your plans without consulting you.

“And you may use this illustration wherever you go!”


 David learned this painful lesson. Don’t do ANYTHING in God’s Kingdom in
the matter of human change, without checking with Him first! Jim Watt



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