Chapter 22 is a beautiful song of praise David sang to the Lord. There is nothing like a good song to the Lord. I am not blessed with the talent of writing. It takes a lot out of me to put my heart into words. This is one reason I love to sing to the Lord. There is something special about music that makes my heart feel connected with Him. When I feel overwhelmed with a situation and the words are not there to express my feelings I often start to hum a familiar tune. Sometimes a song from long ago will come to my mind. Singing the words to the Lord, and sometimes just humming the tune, brings peace to my heart. It helps me remember the Lord’s goodness to me and that He will never leave me. In the moments of a song is when I feel the Lord truly hears my heart.
David was certainly a writer but I think he also returned to familiar songs at times to praise the Lord and to be reminded of His goodness. This psalm is a summary of David’s attitude through his entire life. He made many mistakes, and allowed sin to take hold at times but his heart still belonged to God. He made it known who holds his future and who gave him victory. I wish I could hear him singing.
Chapter 23 begins with the last words of David or his last psalm. There is so much packed into these few verses. I think my favorite part is verses three and four:
The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
‘When one rules over people in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings grass from the earth.’
These verses would explain why David would have a list of “Mighty Men.” They were inspired and motivated to greatness by their leader. These men were loyal to David and they were true heroes. Those we follow greatly affect our lives.
In the final chapter of 2 Samuel, David decides to count the men of his famous army against the good advice of army commander Joab. This passage is difficult to understand. It seems like God punished 70,000 people because David counted his fighting men. After reading some notes on the text I had to be reminded that God was already angry with Israel. We are not told why and sometimes God doesn’t tell us why He does things. David’s sin was pride or maybe distrust. But God was merciful.
I was curious about the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So I did some extra reading and found something very profound. I noticed that the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem when the Lord said, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” He stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David was instructed to build an altar there. Now here is something really exciting to learn; the threshing floor of Araunah was located on Mount Moriah where God instructed Abraham to take his son Isaac to be sacrificed. God intervened then as He did here with David. Both times God commanded that an altar for sacrifice be built. I also learned that this is the place where Solomon will be told to build the temple. Wow!
Oh Amy, I'm so glad you got these chapters. You are such a sweet and humble person with such an amazing voice! You know I love to hear you sing and that is because your heart and soul are always in it - not for the praise or acknowledgement, but you just "sing to the Lord" every time! How precious is that to God. I had not thought of "hearing David sing" before, but wouldn't that be just something else.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your honest and thoughtful post today. I almost hate to see David fade out of our picture since we've studied him for such a long time and know him so well!
Amy, I agree that this post is perfect for you. We love to hear you sing. I remember as a child hearing that when words could not express our feelings our hearts would soar to music. I know even now when I am trying to think of a way to express something words of a song will come to mind. The Bible is full of words that someone found it necessary to put to music and I am thankful for it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! I loved how you related it to how we view our heavenly king!
ReplyDeleteAmy - you know that Eric and I just LOVE it when you sing!!! It is such a blessing to all of us who get the honor and priviledge of hearing you lift your voice in praise to the Lord! I just think the whole thing about Mount Moriah and all of its connections to the different areas of the Old Testament is just the neatest thing! Thank you for doing further research into that and sharing it with us!
ReplyDeleteMy earlier post was meant for terrys post yesterday. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteAmy- love the post. Your heart certainly comes through when you sing. I love to hear it. It's a gift of God to you that we get to share! My heart is very stirred by music and songs as well, but I'm not blessed with a voice that blesses others! I sing my heart out in the privacy of my own home sometimes- and I know God honors it for the worship it is.
I have always loved the written word. To me, I love and enjoy the words of Davids psalms. This is another beautiful example.
Amy-I too LOVE music!! To praise and worship the Lord every day is just amazing. It seems that God will place a certain song in my path just at the right time. Today I was listening to "How Great Thou Art". Wow!! Powerful, praise, AMAZING!!!! I don't carry a good tune either, but I LOVE to praise the Lord through song.
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