After God's Own Heart ~ Blog
Recently, I was reading in 1st and 2nd Samuel and came across a few things I had not noticed previously. Most of us have been blown away by David's honor and respect for King Saul, even though the Lord had rejected him. David knew something that the church does not get today. Vengeance is the Lord's. If the Lord wants to reward someone for what they've done or not done, He is very able to do so. Oftentimes, we see the world as a place where we must take care of ourselves because no one else will, but David had such an amazing relationship with God that he fully trusted God in everything, including timing.
David was anointed King, and most today would force their way through doors or even into pulpits, believing it was for right now. However, what becomes clear through the lives of so many in the Old Testament is that God spoke to them and told them of His plans years in advance, and a few got it wrong. Abraham got ahead of God and had a son who was not the one God had promised. Moses took matters into his own hands, seeing a man killed, and turned and killed him, and then he ended up running for 40 years. Talk about a delay. The children of Israel had been waiting for a deliverer, and yet their deliverer felt he had to run away.
IS THE HEART OF GOD DEATH AND DESTRUCTION?
No, it is not. Many read through the Bible, and they see only death and destruction without understanding why those things not only happened but had to take place. In the church today, there are still far too many who don't understand what happened in Genesis 6 when the angels (sons of God) came down and mated with women (the daughters of men). God never intended all the death and destruction. Those things came upon the earth because of 200 angels who left their own estate (the heavenlies) and decided they wanted their own children. Not only did they become gods to the people, but their sons were the Nephilim, who we know to be a race of Giants that were never created or purposed by God. It was these fallen angels who taught how to use metals to create weapons, swords, and shields. It was these fallen angels who taught the women how to paint their faces and use seduction, and it was these fallen angels who knowingly went against God and created a brand new race that would one day grow to such an extent and such an extreme that they would eat everything that man made until they ran out of food and began eating man. Yes, you read that right.
If you are one who refuses to read the book of Enoch because it isn't a part of the Bible you bought at a store, please answer a few questions for me. Why would our Bible tell us of Enoch's importance as a mediator between God and the fallen angels? Why would our Bible tell us in Genesis 5:24 that Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him? Isn't this an important reference to the only man that we know of in the word of God, whom God loved so much that one day God just said, 'Hey, I'm bringing you up to Heaven to live with me, and you will never see death. The only other person we know of who went to Heaven without seeing death was Elijah. It isn't like being taken to Heaven to live without death is normal. Enoch was obviously pretty special.
Even Jesus knew the book of Enoch, and He clearly called it scripture in Matthew 22:29, which reads Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. This answer was given to the Pharisees when they were trying to trap Him into answering a ridiculous question that is not even found in the Torah, but the story is only found in the book of Enoch. My point in sharing this is that the lies and deception about why the Nephilim or the Nephilim spirit is still on this earth comes through people who refuse to read or share extrabiblical books. The whys of the wars, death, and destruction in the Old Testament that so many don't understand and believe that God is mean and hateful and angry are revealed through text that is not understood, and that has been kept from them on purpose to keep them separated from the very God who created them and loves them so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die on the Cross for us.
GETTING BACK TO THE HEART OF DAVID...
Saul chased David and tried to kill him for years, and David had many opportunities to kill Saul. His men even asked him to, but David continued with a heart to honor the King. Why? Not because he deserved it, but because Saul had been crowned King by God. Saul was lifted up by God. He saw Saul through the eyes of a choice that God made for the people, and he knew and trusted that God would raise him up in His perfect timing. David never had a heart to take the kingdom. David wanted only what God wanted to give to him. If that wasn't enough to show his heart, the Bible also tells us that David lamented over Saul's death. While many today are celebrating the death of those they believe are against them, David didn't feel this way or model this to his men.
I was also quite surprised to find that his honor went even beyond Saul. Did he honor all the King's? Of course not. As I just shared, David knew that there were men on this earth in his day who were not created by God. He understood that the Nephilim had to be taken out. Saul lost three sons on that fateful day when he was so wounded that he knew his only way out was to fall upon his sword, but he still had one son at home who was crowned King after his passing. Ishbosheth was made King over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel. What does this mean? It means that it was still not the time for David to be King over Israel. This is a man who walked in patience, unlike many who exalt themselves today. I believe we must come to a place where we aren't just preaching about the heart of David, but where we actually take it to heart and become a man or woman after God's own heart.
David had no reason to care about Ishbosheth. Jonathan was his favorite and his brother in the Lord. They truly loved each other, even though Jonathan's father, Saul, wanted to kill David. The entire story is just fascinating and truly horrible at the same time, but by the time we get to 1 Samuel 4, Saul's son Ishbosheth is murdered. The two men who do this actually believe they are doing God a favor and helping David to finally step into his calling, which is to be King over all of Israel, but David did not see it the same way. I will let you read it for yourself. There are things that I don't necessarily need to share in this blog, but let me close this by sharing what David said to these men in 1 Samuel 4: 9b-11 “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity, 10 when someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?”
David had the two men killed. He owed Ishbosheth nothing, but he was of the house of Saul, and David never lost his love or respect for God's choice in raising up Saul to be King. In the midst of these years, David had also asked that his wife Michal be returned to him, who was the daughter of Saul that he loved and had been given to him and taken away by the King. Can we pull ourselves out of this worldly mindset that says vengeance is ours and find the heart of God again, which trusts fully in Him and believes even now in the midst of all the trials and difficulties that we face in our world today that God knows all and sees all, and that His heart is that we would leave vengeance in His perfectly loving and capable hands?
Sheryl York 🕊️
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