THE WARHORSE AND THE GOD OF A THOUSAND HILLS

Author Guardian

Psalm 30-33,

Lord God maker of heaven and earth and all that is in it we give you all that

you might reign and rule in all areas of our lifes and that you might open doors that no one can close and close doors that no one can open In Jesus name amen

We look to Psalm 30 and end at Psalm 33 and we consider the message,

THE WARHORSE AND THE GOD OF A THOUSAND HILLS

Lets look into two scriptures , firstly

Psalm 33

13 The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.

14 From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.

15 He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.

16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king nor is great strength enough to save

a warrior.17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—for all its strength, it cannot save you.

18 But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.

19 He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.

20 We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.

21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

22 Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.

And we also look too31 -32 and leap on to Psalm 50

Why do we leap to Psalm 50 ?

Well at the time David wrote Psalm 30 he was putting burnt offerings on an Altar

and offering peace offerings up to God and begging Him to stop a plague upon the

people

He was there at a threshing floor that was made as an Altar to sacrifice before God

and to ask God for forgiveness and restoration

A threshing floor was usually located on a hill or high place, so that the wind would

blow away the chaff, here the separation took place between the chaff and the wheat

Sometimes we may find ourselves at this threshing floor of life when an open door in our hearts is seen by one who seeks to destroy and God grants permission to this , that we might be sifted as wheat

But God in His mercy has ways of making our circumstances and situations into something good for His glory

God has a way of taking the trying circumstances in our life and turning them to our good. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” Ro. 8:28

Sometimes we do not realise an open doorway of the heart is even there and sometimes we do and we allow and in fact hold onto this open place, which in turn can have disasterous consequences, but God makes a way of escape which we will see in the life of David as we read on and discover that David in Psalms chapter 30:1 to Psalms chapter 33:22 knows of and speaks of.

God bless you and be encouraged in the Lord, knowing that God is watching over your life. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it” 1 Cor. 10:13

Here the threshing floor where the oxen trampled the grain became the Altar where David sacrificed and pleaded with God his maker for the people

At Araunah's threshing floor we come to the hard ground to have the chaff of our hearts and lifes blown away by the wind of the Holy Spirit and from this a harvest

At this point I'm taken to Luke 22:31-32

Note this is at the last supper and also at the time when one who sat at the table with Jesus was a betrayer who had an open door where satan had entered

Luke 22:31-32

31"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you,

Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your

brothers."

So many find themselves on the threshing floor where the dividing of the wheat takes

place and where the wrong heart motives and attitudes are blown away

O to be refined and sifted by one so that God can appoint and anoint...

You know children find it very easy to take ownership of things ?

" ITS MY BEDROOM " they say " Its my pc, its my room, its my food, its my toy, its

my pocket money, its my life, its my choice, its my bike , its my parents...."

We take this on into adulthood as we say " Its our house, our car, our lifes, our money, our job, its my husband , my wife, my choice, my job, my career, my decision..."

We play the game into relationships often where the child is an adult but then becomes a child once more if it suits them

"I CAN DO WHAT I WANT, ITS MY LIFE .....UMM MUM CAN I GO OUT TONIGHT ...HAVE YOU GOT

ANY MONEY ?"

Between husband and wife when its her home that becomes his home when it suits best, its our car until it breaks down and the ownership reverts back to the husband who bought it

We are very good at taking onwership of things are'nt we ?

When a child is asked to give some of their pocket money for something mmmmmm

When an adult is asked to give some of their money towards something...mmmm

When God asks us to give mmmm

Now thats where the game ends

You see all through the history of Gods chosen people God was always the King of His people, He had and has ownership believe it or not

Psalm 24:1

Of David. A psalm. The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all

who live in it;

He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, whether we decide to give our hearts to God or not, we are still on his planet, in His solar system, on His earth, On His soil, the very atoms we are made of were created by Him, the air we breathe , every tiny particle of our makeup is His.

Every DNA strand and molecule are his, and then we dare to stand and say " ITS MY LIFE "

"I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD "

And we say this through the very mouths that God made and breathed life into

and to give life to Adam and Eve

All through Gods word we hear the cries of the King telling His people to come back to Him

But they had to have an earthly king

1 Samuel 8 (NKJV)

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and

said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us

a king to judge us like all the nations.”

And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.

You see Gods people rejected the King of Kings, they had to have a King like other nations

And so God handed them over to the earthly kings

But the true one and only King was the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Angel of angels, the ruler of rulers, the judge of judges, the authority of all authorities, the Father of all Fathers, the Father of all Nations, the ruler of heaven and earth

The maker of makers and Priest of priests, the Teacher of teachers and the Forgiver of forgivers, the unseen all seeing God, the eye Opener of the blind, the Light Giver of all givers, the all seeing God who closes the eyes of those that walk the damascus road that they might fall down and hear His voice and have their eyes opened to see His glorious light

The Holy God of all gods who rules and reigns and has dominion and is Holy and righteous and blameless and sinless and good,

HE is the one who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords

But the People who were married to God and had God as their husband wanted another king like the nations surrounding them and so God gave them over to the kings of the earth

And what does God do to those who walk in darkness who do not see the darkness they walk in ?

What does He do when people reject and despise and forsake and scoff and mock and spit at Him , He gives them over to other gods, that in so doing they might return to Him ...

Yes return to him the one whom made them and the one who dwells in unapproachable light is the one they approach ...

That they may see that light that is not a light of the sun but a light that penetrates deep into the very being and soul and speaks deep into hearts and changes lifes and brings healing and the wind of His Holy Spirit that they might lay on the threshing floor.

Have that wind blow away the chaff and divide the heart motives and the thoughts that they might be renewed and changed and have new life, that their God might call them His children and that they would call Him their Father

Romans 8:23

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

And so the people had their kings who ruled and reigned over them and who they were

subject too, being subjects of the ruling King of the time

And so we go to Psalm 51

9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

How many times do we go back to God again and again and again asking for forgiveness ?

How many times do we repent and turn back to God ?

How many times did David sin ?

How many times did solomon sin ?

How many times did David go back to God again and again and again and again ?

You see there were consequences for the sins committed and David was convicted by the Holy Spirit

This conviction is not the conviction of the world but a conviction brought about by God

To make a person change course , to make a person alter direction, to make a person see the error of their ways , to make a person go back to God and ask God for help and direction.

This conviction has consequecnes as we saw before when David looked upon Bathsheba and took her as His own and he took ownership of that which did not belong to him.

And again we see the Holy Spirit conviction but also the consequence of that sin

Because the sin was to take someone as his own.....

We are very good at ownership are'nt we ?

Well so is God....!!

God paid a great price for us, and the consequences of that are that we might be free

And again we see the love of God is free at a cost

So lets look at psalm 50 as it reads

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

Or the amplified

10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills or upon

the mountains where thousands are.

During this week the same song kept going over and over in my head and I wondered what God was saying and as I played some music this very song came on and God said " Yes I am your all in all "

You see how ever rich or famous or great or properous we are God will always be the all in all

Success and fame will never replace God and neither will wealth, we are instead millionaires by having a Father who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He is our all in all

He is everywhere and in all things and the earth is the Lords and everything in it and once we have this mighty creator in us and for us and alongside us He is all we need ...our all in all

Wealth and fame can spoil and decay and comes to nothing in the end, its blows away like the chaff on the threshing floor, its amounts too nothing

In fact it can spoil us and make us proud in our own efforts and achivements and can cause us to open a doorway to one who will seek to destroy us

Now in Gods love and mercy He causes a bad thing to work to His good that in His wisdom knowing all things He might bring us back to Himself and that we , whether we be Kings of nations, wealthy or famous or merely proud... might be humbled and kneel on that threshing floor and come as a living sacrifice to Him who owns all things

11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

He is in all things , knowing all things, having crated all htings ,, being everywhere at once, and yet nowhere to be seen in the eyes of the blind, He is in everything and He is our all in all

And so we come back to David and to Psalm 33:16

Psalm 33 (New Living Translation)

13 The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.

14 From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.

15 He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.

16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a

warrior

17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot

save you.

David had wealth, David had all he needed, David was King, David had a King, David had wealth ,prosperity, fame, but now we come to the threshing floor of Davids life once again and as we look through these Psalmns and through psalm 51 we can almost hear David speaking out through this time in His life when he had come to the threshing floor that is turned to an altar

When he once more comes to the Lord the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, the owner of a thousand hills, a thousand kings, a thousand kingdoms, a thousand planets and a thousand hearts, in other words God is the owner of all things and above all things and in all things and is all in all

But David looks to the warhorse on the hill , in other words he looks to his own strength, he looks to his own might, he looks to his own armies, he looks to his own mighty kingdom, he looks to his own wealth and fortune, his own success, he own power and his own might

As if this is above God and not Gods , but belongs to David

David looks to his military might and power and this is the warhorse mentioned in psalm 34:16 in the NLT Bible.

Now we see where David is coming from as we go to 1 Chronicles 21:1-30 and this is reflected in the writings of Psalms 30 - 33

It says here that satan rose up against Israel, but you see you could say the same thing as Eve was deceived by satan and disobeyed God, you could say that satan rose up against humanity in the garden and caused temptation that resulted in the action

There is nothing wrong with a temptation, Jesus Himself was tempted, but Jesus never

sinned

There was never a sin in temptation, but woe to him who does the tempting

And so this temptation I imagine had always been there for David and the enemy knowing this saw the open doorway of Davids Heart and commanded yet demanded of God that he might tempt David in this..

That he rise up and cause david to sin and

God gave permission for this, and so david was tempted and he give in to this temptation as before he gave into temptation many times and asked for a census to be taken of the nations military strength

He thus ordered Joab AND Joab replied " why are you causing Israel to sin ? "

You see even Joab knew and yet David would not listen because he was the King in his eyes

And so the census was taken of the nations military strength was counted as if Davids armies and numbers mattered ?

This was a sin against God because God was the King and the nation did not need a mighty army or a king to defend its borders , for God was the King of Kings,

David had been filled with pride and had taken ownership of that which was Gods, he had allowed an open doorway in which the tempter had come and David was now convicted and asked for forgiveness

David was given three options by God

1.

three years of famine

2.

Three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies

3.

Or three days of severe plague

David had to choose and pay the consequences of his actions

And David having the wisdom of God and the wisdom that was also passed down to his son, did not want to fall into the hands of the enemy or have the entire nation

dependent on neighbouring nations for food and to be weak and defenceless against attack

Decided upon three days of plague

And during this time over 70,000 lifes where taken by the plague

This was the Angel with the sword

1 Chronicles 21:16 (New International Version)

16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

And so we come back to the threshing floor in verse 18 of Chronicles 21 where David buys the threshing floor of Araunah and Araunah looks up and see's the angel of the lord

Now David repents and pleads and begs God to stop the plague and God orders the angel

to put his sword away

1 Chronicles 21 (New International Version)

27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there.

29 The tabernacle of the LORD, which

Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Now the plague had ended not before 70,000 lifes were taken as a result,

As so we look back through Psalms 30 to 33 and we read them again and understand the cries of David and the words of the king as he speaks of forgivesness and restoration and he speaks of the warhorse of military strength that cannot save in Psalm 33:16, he looks to the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills in psalm 50 and in psalm 51 speaks of restoration and forgiveness and a clean heart

We see now where David is coming from and He speaks from his heart and life through the Psalms

We may not have experienced what david experienced but we can come to the threshing floor and it can become the Altar of sacrifice as we lay those things that we lay ownership too at His feet

Lets pray

Lord God the owner of a thousand hills and the cattle on a thousand hills, you no about everything and everyone and you are the King whether we make you King or not, but if we do not there are consequences to our actions and decisions

Lord King and Maker and Ruler we give you our lifes and make you King over our hearts.

Close any doors that may be open and lead us not into temptation but delievr us from the evil one, let us come to the threshing floor where you can separate our motives and heart intentions and blow away anything that is not of you

Let us not be proud or lay ownnership to that which belongs to you in Jesus name amen