In the Bible water is often synonymous with chaos, sin, or evil. In the beginning, the earth was formless, void, and full of darkness… Chaotic.

When the nation of Israel escapes Egypt, God not only defeats Pharaoh, he defeats the waters. For Christians, the next generation crossing of the Jordan symbolizes the passing of life and entering life eternal.

Baptism took on new meaning for us with the resurrection of Christ. It came to symbolize our death and burial with He who saves us and our subsequent resurrection.

In the psalms, water represents our enemies, physical or spiritual. In the Psalm 69, the enemy is represented as deep waters, mire or muck, a raging flood, and an abyss. David has come to an end of himself. He is helpless, powerless, outnumbered, accused, and (vs. 19) guilty.

We too must come to the end of ourselves before God may act in His fullness. Paul says it best in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Do you feel like you are drowning, like you are ready to die? Give it up. Surrender to Christ, and He will make you alive. For when you are weak, He will be strong for you.

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Mephibosheth was born into the royal family of King Saul in ancient Israel. To be precise, he was Saul’s grandson. His father was Jonathan. He was only five years old when his grandfather gravely sinned and fell from power. During the transition of power from King Saul to King David, nearly every one in Saul’s family was killed,  including Mephibosheth’s father. The boy had been hidden away by his nanny, but he was injured when they fled – the nanny fell with him – and Mephibosheth spent the rest of his life unable to walk. 

Jonathan and King David had been close friends, and, while it was out of David’s control, the death of his friend greatly disturbed him. 

Years later, in God’s perfect timing, David approached a man who had been one of King Saul’s aids. He asked the man if Saul had any descendents remaining. 

The man told King David about Mephibosheth, who was now grown, and still unable to walk. 

David asked the man to bring Mephibosheth to see him. 

When he came before David, Mephibosheth fell on his face. 

David called him by name. 

“Here am I,” said Mephibosheth, “your servant.”

David adopted him into his own family. He welcomed him to his table, the king’s table.

Like Mephibosheth, you and I were hurt by a fall. In our case, it was not the fall of our nanny, rather the fall of all mankind through Adam. Mephibosheth could never walk again, while you and I are unable by our own strength to walk in righteousness.

Like he, we were exiled, unworthy to sit at the King’s table. 

Because of the covenant that David had made with Jonathan, David went looking for even just one descendent who remain alive and found Mephibosheth. Because of the Covenant of Christ, God went looking for and found you and I.

When Mephibosheth entered the presence of King David, he bowed before Him, knowing that he was worthy of Death because he was in the line of Saul. He felt that he did not to deserve to be in David’s house because he could not walk. He knew that he had no standing in the court.  You and I, of our own merits, are unworthy to be in God’s presence and humbly bowed before Him.

God called Mephibosheth by name. He calls us by name. He calls us to repentance. 

Because of David’s love for Jonathan, Mephibosheth was adopted into the family of David. He was given a place at the King’s table for a long as he should live. We, too, have been adopted into the Family of the King. We have a place at His table.

So David said to [Mephibosheth], “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake…” 2 Samuel 9:7

Fear Not, for God will surely show us kindness for Christ’s sake.

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God appears to the young King Solomon and says, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

God is no magic genie that we should ask anything of Him, but, in this case, He does exactly that: He offers Solomon his heart’s desire. 

You and I could probably not be trusted with such a wish, but Solomon had learned well from watching the failures of his father. He does not ask for wealth, or power, or love. He knows that riches may lead to evil, and excessive power could lead to abuse. Lust leads to infidelity, and sometimes to death. Instead, he asks for wisdom. 

If we look back to 1 Chronicles 22:12, we read that David had prayed that God would grant Solomon wisdom and understanding. In chapter 1 of 2 Chronicles, God answers David’s prayer and grants great wisdom to King Solomon. 

Much of Solomon’s wisdom was eventually recorded in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs. One proverb that catches my attention is 15:29, which reads, 

The Lord is far from the wicked,

But He hears the prayer of the righteous.

– NKJV

I wonder what Solomon thinking when he wrote that proverb? Did he think of that prayer, the prayer of his father, asking God to give Solomon wisdom? Was David perhaps the righteous man Solomon thought of when sharing that piece of wisdom?

If you’ve stayed with me to this point, you may see a paradox here. In one paragraph I suggest that Solomon learned from his father’s failures, and in another I propose that David was the model for the righteous man praying. 

This is really no paradox. Both may be true. You see, there exists no truly righteous man but Jesus Christ. Not David, not Solomon, not Peter, not Paul; none are righteous. With a broken heart and true repentance, David sought forgiveness for his sins. By faith, he learned to trust in God, and by faith, through the sacrifice of the Son of God, he was found righteous in God’s sight. In the same way, you and I, through faith in Jesus Christ, can be counted righteous in God’s eyes. 

It took David most of his life to develop the faith necessary to live a holy life. I can relate. I’m not there yet, but I am finally headed that direction. 

By the way, James refers to Solomon’s proverb, and his thoughts contain sound advice for the Christian journey:

…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

– James 5:16 NIV

FEAR NOT, for God hears the prayers of the righteous. 

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In 1 Chronicles 22, David turns over the construction of the temple to Solomon, his son, and tells him to have no fear. David has gathered the materials for its construction. He has received the plans for the temple from God. 

That’s the easy part, though. God, we learn, has denied David the opportunity to build the Holy Temple because David is a man of war. He is, in fact, too rebellious. 

Although David is later called a Man after God’s heart, he has spent most of his life following his own paths, walking wide-eyed into desperate situations, and remaining in dire straights until he hits rock bottom. Only when he hits rock bottom does he ever repent and fall on his face, asking God’s forgiveness. It is a circuitous pattern. 

By the time David commissions Solomon to construct of the temple, he had reigned over Israel for forty years. He was full of days and full of wisdom. He assures his son…

“Courage! Take charge! Don’t be timid; don’t hold back. Look at this—I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to stockpile materials for the sanctuary of God: a hundred thousand talents (3,775 tons) of gold, a million talents (37,750 tons) of silver, tons of bronze and iron—too much to weigh—and all this timber and stone. And you’re free to add more. And workers both plentiful and prepared: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, artisans in gold and silver, bronze and iron. You’re all set—get to work!” 

– 1 Chronicles 22:13-16 MSG

Back up a few verses, though, and one sees the foundation upon which David based that entire conversation. It is the same foundation upon which, by that time, he had learned to base his life. 

Verse 12 NKJV: Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 

The Message makes the verse a little easier to understand. “And may God also give you discernment and understanding when he puts you in charge of Israel so that you will rule in reverent obedience under God’s Revelation.” 

Like David, I struggle to give God control of my life. Like him, I must sometimes hit rock bottom before I do. Like him, it has taken me forty years to begin to mature in my spiritual life. Readers, take this lesson to heart: surrender and study God’s Word. Seek the knowledge that builds godly wisdom. For only God’s wisdom protects you from the slavery of sin, and allows you to keep God’s Law. 

Fear Not, for God will give you wisdom and understanding and keep you free from the slavery of sin. 

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Still David prepared for its construction by gathering the building materials, and turning over the materials and plans to his son (1 Chronicles 22), Solomon, who, in fact, constructed the most splendid temple ever conceived. It took seven years to build. Solomon employed seventy thousand men to bear the burden of construction. He hired eighty thousand men to quarry the stone. He sanctioned 3600 foremen. It was a wonderous achievement. 

As glorious as the temple was, it is not what Solomon is remembered for today. Solomon is best remembered for his wisdom.

In Psalm 127, Solomon tells us, 

Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

You and I are just as wondrous as Solomon’s temple if we are truly children of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Apostle Paul tells us that we- Christians – are God’s temple. 

We can take care of our bodies, and should, but the construction of the entire temple (our lives) must be turned over to God.  

God has gathered the materials to make you into His temple. He has lined up the workers. He spares no expense. He has drawn up the plans. He is the builder.  He is the foreman, and the head craftsman. Allow Him to construct your life. 

Do not be afraid, for He has taken much trouble to prepare a house for the Lord… The house is you. 

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In Psalm 34, David gives thanks for God’s protection, for delivering him from his enemies. This Psalm was written while David hid from King Saul among the Philistines. David spent his entire life, it seems, in a cycle of sin, repentance, and forgiveness, followed by sin again. And again. And again. You and I are much the same. 

In a passage similar to Psalms 34:4 (2 Timothy 4:18), we find Paul Pouring out his heart just before facing Caesar and execution. He says,

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.”

Both David and Paul were fully human, full of sin, murderers both, yet they are considered great men of God. Why? They fell on their faces daily and repented. When God revealed to them their deceitful hearts, they sought God’s mercy and asked Him to cleanse their hearts and change their lives. 

The difference in these passages, one written by David and one written by Paul, is this. David’s plea was answered when God rescued him from a dangerous situation and hid him in the unlikeliest of places. David lived many more years. Paul’s prayer was answered by his immediate execution. In Paul’s mind (and in truth), though, his execution was rescue. He was “taken safely to [God’s] heavenly kingdom,” which had been his hope for years. 

Both were delivered, but in very different ways.

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“Take the children to the dining room and set them at the tables,” he told the housemother. He then prayed, and thanked God for that which He provided, even before He had provided a bite to eat.

Within minutes a baker had knocked on the door and delivered bread to the children, telling Mueller that God had impressed it upon his heart to give it to the children. Then a milk man knocked on the door. His cart had broken down and the milk would spoil unless he found someone to use it. He gave the milk to the orphans.

Mueller never doubted that God would provide. Through his  92 years, Mueller lived by faith. In addition to five orphanages, he preached in the same church three times a week for most of sixty years. He worked beside D.L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, and Hudson Taylor. He traveled to 42 nations, preaching the Gospel. In the end, he personally preached to over three million people. All the while, he  trusted in God to pave the way and provide the means.

He took the promise of God to David and Solomon to heart. “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.”

Do not fear. The same God who called you to do His work, has already provided the means for you to complete that work.

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