As the rain and snow

“David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had [done so]. He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing… to put out my hand against him,.. the Lord’s anointed.’ So David… did not permit them to attack Saul…”

“[Nathan said], ‘There came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock.., but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the [visitor].^‘ David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man.., ‘The man who has done this deserves to die… because he had no pity.’

“Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord,…. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?..’ David said, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die…'”

“But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly… I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great.’” 1 Samuel 24:4-7; 2 Samuel 12:4-7,9,13; 24:10,14

David, chosen by God as a king through whom He would establish His forever kingdom, was a regent under construction. The Scriptures lay bare many of his blatant sins, exposing both his wayward heart and the mercy of God. David’s want-to in his relationship with the Lord was often interrupted by fear, lust, and pride, and through the years, the Spirit developed in him deep sensitivity and aversion to sin. God’s conviction provoked confess and a willingness to repent, a true indication of a heart not yet whole, but being shaped after God’s. (1 Samuel 13:13-14; 2 Samuel 24:2-4,8-13)

Sanctification is a process the Lord patiently undertakes for His children. Once we’re saved, the indwelling Spirit works over time to make us like our heavenly Father. Not only our sin, but our response to it, reveals the condition of our heart. The more we kanoodle with bad company, befriend worldly entertainment and mindset, and succumb to the enemy’s wiles, the more numb our God-given conscience. (Zechariah 7:11; Mattthew 13:15; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Ephesians 4:18)

Where and why have we grown insensitive to sin, calloused to offenses against God’s holiness, real or virtual? Where do we excuse immorality, corruption, divisiveness, or greed? Do we even care? The Lord responds to desire, and can strike and warm the coldest of hearts. (Ezekiel 36:26)

“O for a heart to praise my God,
a heart from sin set free,
a heart that always feels Thy blood
so freely shed for me.

A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
my great Redeemer’s throne,
where only Christ is heard to speak,
where Jesus reigns alone.

A humble, lowly, contrite heart,
believing, true, and clean,
which neither life nor death can part
from Christ who dwells within.

A heart in ev’ry thought renewed
and full of love divine,
perfect and right and pure and good,
a copy, Lord, of Thine.

Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart;
come quickly from above;
write Thy new name upon my heart,
Thy new best name of Love.” – Charles Wesley (1742)

Ever strike my heart for Thee, O Lord!

“The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, ‘Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh..? Come down, O king,… and [we will] surrender him into [your] hand…’ Saul said,.. ‘If he is in the land, I will search him out…’

“Now David and his men were… in the Arabah… And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul… pursued David… Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side… David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.’ So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.” 1 Samuel 23:19-20,23-28

“To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, ‘Is not David hiding among us?’

“O God, save me by your name,
    and vindicate me by your might.
O God, hear my prayer;
    give ear to the words of my mouth.

For strangers have risen against me;
    ruthless men seek my life;
    they do not set God before themselves.

Behold, God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your faithfulness put an end to them.

With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.” Psalm 54

“For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings.” Psalm 66:10-13

David was hunted by many an enemy, from jealous Saul to cruel Doeg the Edomite, to Philistine armies to turmoil and guilt within. While his tactical skill was great, his hope and trust in every pursuit was his Lord. Even as he battled, he sang. God’s deliverances, physical and mental, prompted sacrifices from this grateful servant. (1 Samuel 21:1-7,10-12; 22:21-22; 24:1-15; Psalm 56; 57)

Every triumph won and imparted by the Lord is an opportunity for offering in kind. While thankfulness might prompt verbal praise, or financial return of blessing, every sincere sacrifice pleases Him. Acknowledging that Jesus Christ surrendered His very will to set us free enables us to surrender fully, love selflessly, and give generously. (Luke 22:42)

What offering has the Lord’s name and goodness prompted today? What ingrained resentment, anger, worry, dishonoring rebellion, selfish sin, thirst for revenge, or need to control will we sacrifice? How willing are we to offer up lingering disappointments, the residue of stubborn unwillingness to surrender personal wants? How readily do we forgive, as we’ve been forgiven? Sincere gratitude begets costly sacrifice. (Ephesians 4:32; 5:2)

Lord, may I daily consider Your gracious deeds, and sacrifice accordingly.

“Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
    sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
    and sings praises to you;
    they sing praises to your name.’

Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
    who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations… 

Bless our God, O peoples;
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
    and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
    I will perform my vows to you,
that which my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings…
    with sacrifice;
I will make an offering...

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me!” Psalm 66

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm. The header note on this piece, tucked into Scripture’s poetry, draws the whole self upward. Festive, joyful singing rings out to the awesome God worthy of glorious praise. This melody flows naturally and robustly from considering what He has done, manifold eternal works that punctuate man’s present. ‘We rejoiced then, we shall rejoice now.’ Sea made dry, steadiness in turmoil, tested to refinement, burdened and carried- God’s steadfast love attends His own.

The beautiful rhythm of rejoicing issues forth from wonder and gratitude. Rather than focus on the impossible, the weight, the tension, the fire, a glad heart looks deeper and beyond to the divine orchestration of all things. While the setting and setup can be ominous, God’s presence, deliverance, and accomplishments in and through the midst are glorious.

What is my mental preponderance? Fretting over today or tomorrow, or recounting God’s faithfulness that has led thus far? How attuned am I to the wonders, deliverances, provisions I’ve enjoyed at God’s good hand?

How will we practically implement rejoicing? When reading Scripture, dated, noted comments remind us of the Lord’s inspiration and interventions of the past. Voicing psalms and other biblical praises and prayers in first person tunes our hearts to His perfect pitch. Mutually recounting with others how God has helped and revealed Himself stimulates gratitude. Will we today take part?

Lord, may past rejoicing continue forever, to Your glory.

“King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come!.. What more can David say to you? You know your servant! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness… You are great, O Lord. For there is none like you, and no God besides you… And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things..? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,” and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts,.. have made this revelation… Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.’” 2 Samuel 7:18-29

The prophet Nathan had just announced God’s covenant with David to establish his throne forever. Overwhelmed, David voices his awe at the Lord’s generous affection and promise. He realizes the magnitude of God’s declaration is only a small part of His infinite ways and greatness, and is both humbled in gratitude and emboldened in faith. (2 Samuel 7:4-17)

There are unnumbered ways the Lord works in His children’s lives. Many go unnoticed because we are creatures of the world, caught up in urgencies and material. Unaccustomed to using spiritual senses, we choose inundation with input that is fickle and ever-changing.

By God’s grace He sends us Nathans, particular people or messages from His word or nudges to our spirit that remind us who He is and what He’s done. When we’re attentive enough to trace His hand through our years, mercies, interventions, and deliverances come alive, and we are overcome. What have we let grow so large that we can’t marvel at God’s remarkable ‘small’ deeds, or relish His promises? What will we do about it? For whom would I be a Nathan?

When do we take the time to bow as servants before the Almighty, proclaim His greatness, and thank Him for His many gifts? How high and broad is our view of God? How have His majesty and His unshakable promises humbled us, and fortified our confidence in His will to perform? Focusing on the Lord keeps us in our place.

Lord, may I marvel at Your lovingkindness and thank You all my days.

“I remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand…

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… I am… unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me… 

“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… 

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…

“What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body…

“For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“’Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?’

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:1,3-4,9-10,14,17,20,42-44a,53-55,57

When Jesus foretold His death, he included being raised. The two together composed the gospel of grace He would enact. Paul understood this mystery, experienced it spiritually, and was compelled to make it known. Without death there was no resurrection, and without resurrection, no new life. The gift of God- faith- enables His children to receive and apply His grace unto salvation and purposeful, victorious living. (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; Mark 9:31; Luke 24:7,25-27; Ephesians 2:8-10)

Christ’s resurrection is the crux of the gospel. Without it there is no victory over sin or death, no power to endure, no eternal hope. The empty cross and the empty tomb make way for fullness of life. The better we know Christ and share in His death to self, then partake in His resurrection life, the more real and effective the joys of His gift becomes. (Psalm 16:8-11)

“You’re my safe place, my hide away
You’re my anchor, my saving grace
You’re my constant, my steadiness
You’re my shelter, my oxygen.” ~Lauren Daigle (2023)

What graces of Christ’s costly death and powerful resurrection am I experiencing today? Is there deep peace in sharing the fellowship of His sufferings? Is there palpable hope in the bleakest of circumstances? Is there victory over besetting sins? Is there zealous vitality in the Spirit, the will to put to death what belonged to the old body? Christ’s being raised is whole-life- affirming. (Philippians 3:10; Colossians 3:1-17; 1 Peter 4:13)

“Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! 
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! 
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia! 
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!” ~Charles Wesley (1739)

Lord Jesus, may I ever marvel at the graces of Your resurrection!

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:1-2

“God thunders wondrously with his voice;
    he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
    likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour…
From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
    and cold from the scattering winds.
By the breath of God ice is given,
    and the broad waters are frozen fast.
He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
    the clouds scatter his lightning.
They turn around and around by his guidance,
    to accomplish all that he commands them
    on the face of the habitable world.
Whether for correction or for his land
    or for love, he causes it to happen.

“Stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Do you know how God lays his command upon them
    and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
    the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
you whose garments are hot
    when the earth is still because of the south wind?
Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
    hard as a cast metal mirror?…

“God is clothed with awesome majesty.
The Almighty—
    he is great in power.” Job 37:5-6,9-18,22-23

“From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:4

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

God’s prescription to meet desperation is His infinitude. The Scriptures are peppered with descriptions of the vastness of His majesty and capacity to create and sustain, to shake and uphold, to guide and accomplish by the breath of His mouth. He has no beginning nor end, nor is there anything He does not know or cannot do. He is limitless in power and awesome in splendor. To behold Him is to know Him, to know Him is to praise Him. His worthiness astounds and inspires those who wait for and love Him.

Living in the finite, we cannot comprehend His capacity to meet us. There are days when schedule and cares and responsibilities and griefs are so wide we can’t see their edges. Clouds loom, tensions simmer, hearts turn frigid with fear and doubt. Questions are wide and wisdom is limited, needs are great and strength is small, and we cannot know the how of it all be handled. (2 Chronicles 20:12)

But for God’s limitless capacity! Look to Him! He is sovereign over the downpour and the whirlwind! He whose infinite strength has not diminished from eternity past will match our strength to our days. While we cannot measure His reach and might, we can trust them to sustain, comfort, and lead. (Deuteronomy 33:25; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3)

Have we made our dwelling with the everlasting God? Do we recognize His voice in the storms, see His providence in the whirlwind? What burdens can we cast onto Him, knowing He always works with holy cause? Stopping to consider Him aligns faith and hope to His greatness. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Lord, make me keen to perceive the intricacies and vastness of Your capacity in all things, and praise You.