The Plans of God
Sandi Bird
God is just so awesome! Although it never surprises me, it does never cease to amaze me the way He loves us so much! As I was studying about King David this morning, I was reading in 2 Samuel 11-24. It was one of those times that you don’t really intend to read that large a portion of scripture, but you just get drawn in by the Word, and you can’t stop reading. [Just for background, that portion covers all the way from David and Bathsheba’s sin to the coverage of the event at Araunah’s threshing floor where David makes that awesome statement, “neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.” Boy can THAT preach!]
There’s enough material in those 14 chapters to preach for a whole year, but one verse jumped out at me as I was reading. Over the last three Sundays, Pastor has been ministering on “2007…The Year of the Open Door.” And during that teaching he has taught us about the Key of David (Rev. 3:7) being a revelation of the Authority of Access…which is Grace. Grace gives us FAVOR, and we have favor through Jesus Christ! The Key of David is Favor. I’m so very thankful for that Grace and Favor! And once each one of us, as born-again believers, catches hold of that revelation for ourselves, it becomes totally life-changing.
I’ll have to give a little background before getting to the verse that I want to highlight. King David’s son, Absalom, had been banished from the city for three years after having his half-brother Amnon killed (because Amnon had raped Absalom’s sister Tamar.) Even though 2 Samuel 13:39 tells us that, “And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom:”, David would not face the situation and deal with it. Joab, the commander of David’s armies, devised a plan that would cause David to see the need to reconcile with his son and allow him to return to Jerusalem. [Unfortunately, we again see the humanity and stubbornness of one whom the Word calls “a Man after God’s own heart.” For the next two years after Absalom returned, David refused to reconcile with him. By that time the situation had caused bitterness on Absalom’s part and he had conspired to take the throne from his father. That would sure preach as a case for not holding on to unforgiveness!]
Having said all that, I wanted to focus in on the scripture that prompted me to sit here and “run off at the keyboard” in the first place. 2 Samuel 14:13-14. Joab had prompted a woman to go before King David with a request for help. It was, basically, the same type scenario that the prophet Nathan used when confronting David about Bathsheba. Share with him a “situation” that “took place”, get him on your side, and then hit him with the fact that you’re really talking about him. Listen to what was said:
13And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. 14For we must needs die, and are as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. KJV [Emphasis mine]
I like that, but I like the NIV even better. [Yeah, I know, I don’t use the NIV as my main Bible, because they omitted several NT verses and downplay the Blood of Jesus, but it’s still a good study tool.] Here is what the NIV says in verse 14:
14Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. NIV [Emphasis mine]
Wow! You know, you and I were once banished from God’s presence by sin. If we had died in that sin-state we would have been eternally separated from His presence. [As bad as any other aspects of hell might be, the eternal separation from the God who loves us must be the most horrible realization one could have once there. Wherever His love is not present, then everything that is the opposite of His love is present…no wonder there’s wailing and gnashing of teeth!]
This verse says that God devises ways…he comes up with different plans…so that we don’t have to remain estranged from Him. Your unsaved loved ones…He’s devising plans, right now, on how they will be brought into fellowship with Him! That good friend that’s living like the devil…God’s devising plans, right now, so that he or she doesn’t stay in that lost state! That rebellious child…God’s devising plans, right now, to bring them out of rebellion!
Sometimes it’s easy to think that God’s just sitting there, waiting for us to figure out that we can’t make it without Him…waiting for us to want to turn to Him. And I wouldn’t blame Him, stubborn lot that we seem to be at times! But all the while we’re ignoring Him—or even running from Him, He’s strategically planning how to bring us home! Talk about FAVOR!!!
Child of God, stop struggling! Stop trying to devise your own plans and ways of “making” your loved ones and friends “see the light.” Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Not, “Mom is the author of Junior’s faith.” [How many years did it take me to figure that one out!?!] Be still. Be at peace. Sit back and watch the salvation of God!
Sandi Bird
I found this unpublished draft from 2008
and felt like it needed to be published, so here it is:
There’s enough material in those 14 chapters to preach for a whole year, but one verse jumped out at me as I was reading. Over the last three Sundays, Pastor has been ministering on “2007…The Year of the Open Door.” And during that teaching he has taught us about the Key of David (Rev. 3:7) being a revelation of the Authority of Access…which is Grace. Grace gives us FAVOR, and we have favor through Jesus Christ! The Key of David is Favor. I’m so very thankful for that Grace and Favor! And once each one of us, as born-again believers, catches hold of that revelation for ourselves, it becomes totally life-changing.
I’ll have to give a little background before getting to the verse that I want to highlight. King David’s son, Absalom, had been banished from the city for three years after having his half-brother Amnon killed (because Amnon had raped Absalom’s sister Tamar.) Even though 2 Samuel 13:39 tells us that, “And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom:”, David would not face the situation and deal with it. Joab, the commander of David’s armies, devised a plan that would cause David to see the need to reconcile with his son and allow him to return to Jerusalem. [Unfortunately, we again see the humanity and stubbornness of one whom the Word calls “a Man after God’s own heart.” For the next two years after Absalom returned, David refused to reconcile with him. By that time the situation had caused bitterness on Absalom’s part and he had conspired to take the throne from his father. That would sure preach as a case for not holding on to unforgiveness!]
Having said all that, I wanted to focus in on the scripture that prompted me to sit here and “run off at the keyboard” in the first place. 2 Samuel 14:13-14. Joab had prompted a woman to go before King David with a request for help. It was, basically, the same type scenario that the prophet Nathan used when confronting David about Bathsheba. Share with him a “situation” that “took place”, get him on your side, and then hit him with the fact that you’re really talking about him. Listen to what was said:
13And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. 14For we must needs die, and are as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. KJV [Emphasis mine]
I like that, but I like the NIV even better. [Yeah, I know, I don’t use the NIV as my main Bible, because they omitted several NT verses and downplay the Blood of Jesus, but it’s still a good study tool.] Here is what the NIV says in verse 14:
14Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. NIV [Emphasis mine]
Wow! You know, you and I were once banished from God’s presence by sin. If we had died in that sin-state we would have been eternally separated from His presence. [As bad as any other aspects of hell might be, the eternal separation from the God who loves us must be the most horrible realization one could have once there. Wherever His love is not present, then everything that is the opposite of His love is present…no wonder there’s wailing and gnashing of teeth!]
This verse says that God devises ways…he comes up with different plans…so that we don’t have to remain estranged from Him. Your unsaved loved ones…He’s devising plans, right now, on how they will be brought into fellowship with Him! That good friend that’s living like the devil…God’s devising plans, right now, so that he or she doesn’t stay in that lost state! That rebellious child…God’s devising plans, right now, to bring them out of rebellion!
Sometimes it’s easy to think that God’s just sitting there, waiting for us to figure out that we can’t make it without Him…waiting for us to want to turn to Him. And I wouldn’t blame Him, stubborn lot that we seem to be at times! But all the while we’re ignoring Him—or even running from Him, He’s strategically planning how to bring us home! Talk about FAVOR!!!
Child of God, stop struggling! Stop trying to devise your own plans and ways of “making” your loved ones and friends “see the light.” Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Not, “Mom is the author of Junior’s faith.” [How many years did it take me to figure that one out!?!] Be still. Be at peace. Sit back and watch the salvation of God!
