God's Action in Song
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26 “With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
27 with the purified you deal purely, and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
28 You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.
29 For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.
30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
31 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
32 “For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
33 This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.
34 He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.
2 Samuel
is a very unique chapter in the Old Testament. The entire chapter is a psalm. David wrote many psalms. Of the 150 psalms in the book of psalms, just over half, 76 in fact, were written by David through the course of his life. is unique though in two ways. One, it is not in the book of Psalms and two, it is likely one of the last songs if not the last song he ever wrote. David takes advantage of this opportunity to reflect on all that God has done for him in his life.
God Saves us According to His Character
The song is very rich with theology and is beautiful Hebrew poetry. So much so we could have couple week series on this chapter and not put too much of a dent into it. The reading for our sermon text this morning encompasses 11 verses that focus on the character of God and on God’s provision for David. This morning, we are going to focus on the action of God in the song.
God
Merciful, blameless, pure, illuminating, perfect, true, refuge, defender,
God Reveals
God Reveals
David is near the end of his life. He is living securely and his enemies are defeated. He now takes some time to reflect upon his life. One of the themes throughout our text this morning is the importance of God’s work in every aspect of David’s life. There are especially two works of God that stand out to me as we look at this text. The first work is that God illuminates. The second work is that God equips.
God Saves us According to His Character
God Saves us According to His Character
David is near the end of his life. He is living securely and his enemies are defeated. He now takes some time to reflect upon his life. One of the themes throughout our text this morning is the importance of God’s work in every aspect of David’s life. There are especially two works of God that stand out to me as we look at this text. The first work is that God illuminates. The second work is that God equips.
God Saves Us
God Saves Us
God Equips the Saints
God Equips the Saints
The first action of God we see is that God reveals himself to man. The magnitude of this cannot be understated. Verses 26 and 27 tell us about how God reveals himself to man and we are essentially given a this for that type of list. If people are merciful, God is merciful. If blameless. If pure. If crooked. This is not saying David believed that you had to earn your way into God’s good graces. That is, you don’t have to be the most merciful, blameless, pure, et cetera. This becomes more clear as we go along in the text. We get to verse 28 which explicitly states that God saves the humble and brings down the haughty.
God Sends Us
God Sends Us
We often talk about the characteristics of God. God is love. God is omnipresent. God is omniscient. And so on. David does something similarly here in this song. He says, “you are merciful, you are blameless, you are pure.” David here is summarizing God’s motive for saving him. It is because of God’s character. God saves David because God is a God of who is merciful, blameless, and pure.
This becomes especially clear as we look at the following verses.
David recognizes that mercy, blamelessness, and purity are gifts from God. If they are not, how could a liar, adulterer, and murderer ever expect to be saved by God? He sings that it is God who has revealed this to him. David’s life was shrouded by his sin. When we read his great confession psalms, and , we see the inner struggle and pain and sorrow that David’s sin caused in his own life. In his own conscience. He writes
We do this same type of thing in the Lord’s Prayer. “Hallowed be your name.” Repeating aspects of Gods’ character is a very intimate way to worship. To repeat back to Him and say, “God you are Mighty. You are Holy. You are Grace. You are a rock.” This is a wonderful way for us to pray to God and to meditate on Gods’ Word.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Psalm 51.
Yet in David’s Song, there is a sense that God treats every man in accordance with his conduct toward Him. For those who reflect the character of God, he treats them according to His own character. To the merciful, God is merciful. To the blameless, God is blameless. To the pure, God is pure. Then there is the trickier one. “And with the crooked you make yourself seem torturous.”
This God whose way is perfect in justice and righteousness is also perfect in love. God forgives David for his sin and David’s response in faith is to be merciful, blameless, and pure. Not that he perfectly embodies these things, but any mercifulness that he has is a gift from God for Jesus’ sake. It is according to Jesus’ mercifulness and blamelessness and purity by which God shows himself to be these things.
I had some wrestling to do with this one. What does it mean, “And with the crooked you make yourself seem torturous.” So I looked up the words from the Hebrew text as well as the Greek Old Testament which is called the Septuagint or LXX because it is usually a good commentary on the intended meaning of difficult phrases and long story short, the closest wooden translation I could find was
27 With the pure Thou shewest Thyself pure, And with the perverse Thou shewest Thyself a wrestler.
The idea is that for someone who shows themselves to be crooked or to be perverse, for one who proves to be a sinner, God will be a challenge for them. No only that, but God actually gives them over to their depravity. We can look at
Thus far, we have not talked much about that second line of verse 27. “With the crooked you make yourself seem torturous.” I had to wrestle with this line but it was helpful when I took at look at the original language and the Young’s Literal Translation which says,
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
This is in contrast to what God has done through His congregation. The people of God are the merciful, blameless, and pure. This is true, not because the people in His congregation have somehow vanquished sin from their lives and thrown down the giants of their life that keep them cooped up. This is true, not because Christians are so much better than everyone else. The truth is that God’s people are described this way because of Jesus. It is true because God saves the humble and God brings down those who think they are above the Word of the Lord (v28).
He saves us, not because we are so incredibly humble, pious, and such. He saves us through Jesus for his own sake. If we are these things, it is by the grace of God. We are those things because when we believe in Jesus, God works on us as a potter before his wheel and through the work of the Holy Spirit, he shapes us and molds us into his character. Into his image. This is what we sometimes call Sanctification which simply means to be made holy. Related to this is the second thing that really stands out to me from this song and that is...
27 With the pure Thou shewest Thyself pure, And with the perverse Thou shewest Thyself a wrestler.
The sense of the word “torturous” or “wrestler” like we see here in the YLT is that God shows himself as one who turns. It reminded me of .
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
It also reminded me of
26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
The action of God’s revealing, we learn then is a wonderful thing for those who are believing. It is a joy to the faithful when God appears. Not so much for the people who do not believe. For those who will not repent and turn toward God, God will turn them away. The end result is not heavenly bliss but instead is torturous.
The second action of God is illumination.
God Illuminates
God Illuminates
David says,
29 For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.
This illumination is really the chief work of God as long as we define it the way Scripture does. Yesterday during our congregational meeting I shared
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
God’s first work recorded in scripture is illumination. God spoke and light happened. Illumination is a theme that is carried throughout the whole of scripture. David recognizes this as God’s work here in . The psalmist from recognizes this.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
The John the Evangelist recognizes this in the Gospel of John when he says that the Word is the light of men. He recognizes this also in 1 John when he speaks of walking in the light. Paul writes about this also in . Paul in verse 12 calls believers “saints in light” and then says...
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
As we look at this theme of light, it becomes clearer and clearer that when we are talking about God illuminating us, we are talking about his Word, Jesus, and ultimately, the forgiveness of sins through Him. God’s desire is to save the world. His desire is to illuminate the world and so he sent his son to live a perfect life and die on the cross for the world. For you!
David then sees that God is perfect and his Word is true. Because of this, David has confidence. He is confident to take refuge in the Lord. He is confident in all he does because he is eternally secure.
The last action of God we see in our text this morning is that God Equips
God Equips
God Equips
David is described as a man after God’s own heart. Even before David earned that moniker and before he grew to be a mighty warrior, God was equipping David to be the King of the Hebrews. David’s early life was not one that would make you think that he would be one of the most powerful kings in the history of the Ancient Near East. He was the youngest boy in his family. He spent most of his youth in the fields shepherding the family flocks. Nothing remarkable about him. In fact, depending on how you want to look at it, he may have not been conceived in the most moral of ways either. If David had anything going for him before Samuel anointed him as king I would be interested to know what it was.
And yet, this young boy would be the sent to the court of the King to sooth his spirit through music. Saul loved David so much that he made him his armor bearer. This young boy would use his skills from fighting predators as a shepherd to become the boy-champion of Israel, defeating Goliath. He would become a general in the army and people would sing of his victories. Eventually he became King of Israel. A man after God’s own heart.
Throughout David’s life, God equipped David with what he needed. The skill to play a lyre. The faith and skill to drop a giant. The military acumen to defeat entire armies.
David recognizes that it is God who has given him all that he has needed. He writes
30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
and
2sam22.30
34 He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
2 Samuel 22.3
Whether it be his athleticism, his balance, his skill, or his strength that was obtained over a lifetime, David recognizes that all these things are gifts from God. God equipped him for whatever lied ahead in his life.
God Illuminates Us
God Illuminates Us
God’s Equipping Action
God’s Equipping Action
God Equips us According to His Calling
God Equips us According to His Calling
To understand this, it is important to understand what I mean by “His Calling.” I believe scripture describes Christians as people who are called. We are called out of darkness into light. We are called to be ambassadors of the Gospel. I also believe, as God’s people, we are called to carry out his will in our lives. We are called to be obedient, though we often fail. Nevertheless, we are called. This includes all aspects of life. We can look at life and see a number of places where we are called to be faithful to God and to carry out his will. God is present and active in these spheres and the primary way he works is through ordinary human work.
7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
How does this happen?
God Equips us Through our Circumstances
God Equips us Through our Circumstances
The smallest son of Jesse, born under what may have been less than honorable conditions becomes a mighty warrior who can “run against a troop, and leap over a wall?” The answer is that God equipped David. David and Goliath is the obvious example to look at. David learned to use a sling and stone in the pastures while watching over his family’s flocks of sheep. He learned to face down wild animals that could tear him to shreds with nothing but a piece of leather for a sling and a smooth stone from the stream. God used this to equip him to fight Goliath. God equipped David to be a mighty warrior by putting him in the palace of King Saul where he could befriend Saul’s son, Jonathan, who was himself quite a warrior. In the palace, God equipped David to be King by giving him men to command and by having him grow up watching Saul conduct affairs of state. It is so clear in David’s life.
Great movies are often based upon the idea that a character is prepared by their history to face the problems at hand. I think of the classic 90s move, “Armageddon.” In the movie, NASA discovers a “killer asteroid” that is on a collision course with Earth. They theorize that the only way to save the planet is by drilling a hole into the core of the asteroid and dropping a nuclear bomb down the shaft and splitting the asteroid in two. Well, when it came to drilling holes in the toughest conditions in a remote area with unknown soil under a tremendous amount of pressure, there was only one man on earth for the job. There was only one guy who had the experience, the know how, the ability to adapt, and the guts to do the job required. Bruce Willis. Well, I guess he is “Harry” in the movie. Well, long story short, Bruce dies. Bruce saves the world. Guaranteed you will cry. I don’t think it can be considered a spoiler when the movie is 20 years old.
Martin Luther made this observation and he listed four spheres or estates where Christians have been called to be the hands and feet of God. They are the church, the family, the state and in everyday occurrences. For Luther, the family and the economy were inseparable but in today’s culture we would probably add the economy. What does this mean and why talk about it?
God Sends According to His Will
God Sends According to His Will
While, we might not be called to such an extreme job, the job that Christians are called to do is no less important. Christians are called to a number of callings in their lives that are of eternal significance. Perhaps the first one to mention is that we are all called to be ambassadors of the Gospel.
Well, I will use my dad as an example because he isn’t here and it isn’t being recorded. My dad, when I was growing up, was called in the church to be a member of the church and the chairman of the Board of Trustees for our local congregation. In our family, he was obviously my father, but he was also a husband, a brother, and a son. In the economy, he was the manager of a large ag company. In the state, he never held a public office but he was a citizen, and a voter. In these four estates, there are responsibilities given to us and God equips us for these responsibilities. God does this, I believe, through two very powerful means.
1 Peter 3:15-
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
tells us that as ambassadors of the Gospel we are to honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you.
tells us that as ambassadors of the Gospel we are to honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you. This means that our job, and in the context of 1 Peter, our job in the midst of persecution even, is to make Christ’s holiness known. We are to
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
How do we do this? God equips his people to do this because he has called them to it. He equips through our past, just as he did with David and Bruce Willis… Harry in Armageddon. We go through things in life that prepare us to help others who have will deal with the same struggles. Nobody understands what it is like to have parents divorce better than someone who’s parents have divorced. Nobody understand the struggle and hardships of caring for a spouse who is sick for months before they die better than someone who has carried that cross before.
God Equips us Through Sanctification
God Equips us Through Sanctification
God equips us through the Work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is living and active amongst us in God’s Word. Jesus, when the night he is going to be arrested is praying what we often call the “High Priestly Prayer” which is found in teaches us, that the Word of God makes us Holy. He says,
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Word is true and the Word sanctifies. To sanctify or sanctification simply means to be made holy. This being made holy through the Word of God equips us for many things. That is because God’s Word is powerful and it bestows gifts to those who believe. Through the power of the Word of God we receive the forgiveness of sins. But we also receive gifts of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, to name a few.
These characteristics are God’s characteristics! These are the kind of words we can meditate on. God you are kind. God you are gentle. These characteristics are what God gives us as we are sanctified, as we are made holy. How can we make ourselves holy? Well, we don’t. God does. He does it as we read his Word. That is why you so often hear pastors and bible teachers stress the importance of reading our Bibles. We read the Bible because God’s Word changes us. It renews us. It cleanses us. God’s Word doesn’t just work when we read it, it also works on us when we hear his Word proclaimed. Almost every Christian I’ve talked to has said that they have heard a sermon from a pastor somewhere at sometime that they would just describe as powerful or as life changing. That is such a wonderful gift but even when we don’t have goosebumps, God’s Word is still active and moving and is transforming us who believe.
Paul describes the work of God’s Word in as if it were a bath.
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
It washes away the filth and uncovers who we truly are. I think is probably referring to the Word’s work in Baptism specifically because Paul uses similar language whenever he is talking about Baptism. I don’t want to go down a rabbit trail but I will say this, God’s Word is living and active in Baptism and in the Lord’s Supper. To say that we do these things out of obedience only and they are merely symbolic is to ignore a large chunk of scripture. God uses these two sacraments to equip us through the giving of the Holy Spirit.
It washes away the filth and uncovers who we truly are. I think is probably referring to the Word’s work in Baptism specifically
So, God equips us through sanctification, that is, through making us holy. He also equips us through our experience.
But I’m not going to go further down that road today because we need to get back to 2 Samuel. Suffice it to say that God is very interested in equipping you. This is something we are going to hear more about as time goes on. God equipping the church.
God Equips us Through our Experience
God Equips us Through our Experience
Perhaps it is good to look at the life of David to illustrate this. David was the smallest son of Jesse, born under what may have been less than honorable conditions and yet a mighty warrior who can “run against a troop, and leap over a wall?” How does this happen? The answer is that God equipped David. God equipped David to fight Goliath by having him raised in a family with flocks of sheep. David was the shepherd and with nothing but a piece of leather for a sling and some smooth stones, he would have to face down wild animals to protect the flocks. So when Goliath challenged the Armies of the Living God, David was equipped by his work as a shepherd and his faith in God to defeat Goliath.
Great movies are often based upon the idea that a character is prepared by their history to face the problems at hand. I think of the classic 90’s movie, “Armageddon.” In the movie, NASA discovers a “killer asteroid” that is on a collision course with Earth. They theorize that the only way to save the planet is by drilling a hole into the core of the asteroid and dropping a nuclear bomb down the shaft and splitting the asteroid in two. Well, when it came to drilling holes in the toughest conditions in a remote area with unknown soil under a tremendous amount of pressure, there was only one man on earth for the job. There was only one guy who had the experience, the know how, the ability to adapt, and the guts to do the job required. Bruce Willis. Well, I guess he is “Harry” in the movie. Well, long story short, Bruce dies. Bruce saves the world. Guaranteed you will cry. I don’t think it can be considered a spoiler when the movie is 20 years old.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
While, we might not be called to such an extreme job, the job that Christians are called to do is no less important. Christians are called to a number of callings in their lives that are of eternal significance. Perhaps the first one to mention is that we are all called to be ambassadors of the Gospel.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4.11-13
tells us that as ambassadors of the Gospel we are to honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you. This means that our job, and in the context of 1 Peter, our job in the midst of persecution even, is to make Christ’s holiness known. We are to
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
But I’m not going to go further down that road today because we need to get back to 2 Samuel. Suffice it to say that God is very interested in equipping you. This is something we are going to hear more about as time goes on. God equipping the church.
How do we do this? God equips his people to do this because he has called them to it. He equips through our past, just as he did with David and Bruce Willis… Harry in Armageddon. We go through things in life that prepare us to help others who have will deal with the same struggles. Nobody understands what it is like to have parents divorce better than someone who’s parents have divorced. Nobody understand the struggle and hardships of caring for a spouse who is sick for months before they die better than someone who has carried that cross before.
What we see here in is that
David was going to be great warrior. God equipped David to be that warrior and because of God’s work David was indeed a great warrior.
God had a specific call for David in mind before, well, the foundations of the world. David was going to be a Warrior, a King, a Father, a Husband, a shepherd, a musician, the list could probably go on. God equipped him especially for those callings.
David was going to be great warrior. God equipped David to be that warrior and because of God’s work David was indeed a great warrior.
30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
2 Samuel 22.
God equipped David with great strength and a strategic mind to attack enemy lines.
35 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
God equipped David to be a ruler by giving him the heart of a leader. A heart that seeks to carry out the will of God by recognizing who God is and obeying his commandments.
Because of the security in the truth of God’s Word, David describes God. He says
31 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
32 “For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
33 This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.
David recognizes that all this is because of God’s work.
2 Samuel 22.31-32
This is all God’s Work. Justification and Sanctification. Equipping and Calling. It is all done by God. He doesn’t just do this for David. He also does this for all people.
33 This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.
2 Samuel 22:
You are a father, a husband, a manger, a son, and a brother. God not only has called you to be these things but he also equips you for those callings. You are a church member, maybe you are a deaconess, you are a Christian; God has called you and he is equipping you.
He has given us the congregation to assist with this equipping too.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Because of God, David can be considered blameless. Because of God David can fight.
The point of equipping the saints is to work in ministry. Ministry is for building up the congregation so that we can mature to the full measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ministry, whether it is VBS, Sunday School, preparing Coffee, reading to your children, changing a dirty diaper, doing laundry, swinging a hammer or writing a sermon; Ministry is for the building up of the people of God to do the work of the people of God. That includes taking care of our own and adding to it through outreach and witnessing.
35 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
2 Samuel 22.35
This is also the work of a congregation, to equip God’s desire is not just to save a few people. His desire is not just to have his name proclaimed amongst one family or one nation or even one local congregation. God’s desire is that the whole world would be saved. He has commissioned us to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ. If you are interested in
Because of God David can rule. Because of God
Because of God David can rule. Because of God David has salvation.
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.
2 Samuel 22:36
This is all God’s Work. Justification and Sanctification. Equipping and Calling. It is all done by God. God’s desire is not just to save a few people. His desire is not just to have his name proclaimed amongst one family or one nation or even one local congregation. God’s desire is that the whole world would be saved. He has commissioned us to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ. If you are interested in
God Calls Us
God Calls Us
God Equips Us
God Equips Us
The most important thing that God did for David was not to give him strength to bend a bow of bronze or to give him deadly hands to defeat the enemy. David recognizes this also. The greatest gift David received from God was his faith in God. That is why God sings of God as a rock and a refuge.
Yesterday in our congregational meeting, I shared from
God had very specific callings for David’s life. Shepherd, musician, warrior, and King amongst others. God has very specific calling for us as well. We are called to things that may seem ordinary but are really quite supernatural when we mediate upon it. For a mother, an ordinary task such as changing a dirty diaper becomes as supernatural one when you consider that you are doing the Work of God in your family. Unlocking the doors and problem solving issues at VBS goes from ordinary work to supernatural work when you realize that God called you to that specific work in that specific time so that little children could hear the Gospel.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
The meaning of our work, whether it be at home, at church, or at our jobs, is no longer tied simply to what is accomplished but what is behind the work. God’s people are the salt of the world and act as the hands and feet of Jesus. It is good for us to pause and take note of how he has equipped us and is equipping us even know for ventures unknown.
Our neighbor looks different according to the calling we consider. Our neighbor is simply a person who is close to you. Physical proximity is key here. Do we love our neighbors? We have a school full of kids here during the school year. Do we love them and their teachers? We have two congregations who worship in our building. How can we love them? We have husbands, wives, grandchildren, children. How can we show love to them?
I believe is programmatic for the entirety of history. There is darkness and God speaks into the darkness and creates light. We see this here on the first day. We see it in how the Jewish people conceived of a day. A new day begins with darkness and ends with light.
A phrase I’ve heard a few times over the past few weeks is that hindsight is 20/20. This is true. However we can benefit from the hindsight of those who have gone before us and we can echo the last lines of David’s last song.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:
50 “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.
2 Samuel 22:50
This is what God does. He takes the darkness and he vanquishes through his Word. Through his Son Jesus Christ.
David recognizes that this is what God does in verse 29.
To understand this, it is helpful to reflect on the life of David. David was the greatest warrior in Israel’s history. When he was a boy, he was the slayer of Goliath. As he grew older, when Saul was king, the people would sing,
7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
29 For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.
How does this happen?
God uses his Word to illuminate. We saw that in . We see it also in .
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
The smallest son of Jesse, born under what may have been less than honorable conditions becomes a mighty warrior who can “run against a troop, and leap over a wall?” The answer is that God equipped David. David and Goliath is the obvious example to look at. David learned to use a sling and stone in the pastures while watching over his family’s flocks of sheep. He learned to face down wild animals that could tear him to shreds with nothing but a piece of leather for a sling and a smooth stone from the stream. God used this to equip him to fight Goliath. God equipped David to be a mighty warrior by putting him in the palace of King Saul where he could befriend Saul’s son, Jonathan, who was himself quite a warrior. In the palace, God equipped David to be King by giving him men to command and by having him grow up watching Saul conduct affairs of state. It is so clear in David’s life.
God illuminates. John the Evangelist explains this illumination in light of Christ. When you have the New Testament directly giving interpretation to a text or to a concept, that is called a midresh. They are very common. This is why we read the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and so when we don’t understand something in the OT, we look to the NT for the proper understanding. That is what John does for us. He tells us in .
Great movies are often based upon the idea that a character is prepared by their history to face the problems at hand. I think of the classic 90s move, “Armageddon.” In the movie, NASA discovers a “killer asteroid” that is on a collision course with Earth. They theorize that the only way to save the planet is by drilling a hole into the core of the asteroid and dropping a nuclear bomb down the shaft and splitting the asteroid in two. Well, when it came to drilling holes in the toughest conditions in a remote area with unknown soil under a tremendous amount of pressure, there was only one man on earth for the job. There was only one guy who had the experience, the know how, the ability to adapt, and the guts to do the job required. Bruce Willis. Well, I guess he is “Harry” in the movie. Well, long story short, Bruce dies. Bruce saves the world. Guaranteed you will cry. I don’t think it can be considered a spoiler when the movie is 20 years old.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
While, we might not be called to such an extreme job, the job that Christians are called to do is no less important. Christians are called to a number of callings in their lives that are of eternal significance. Perhaps the first one to mention is that we are all called to be ambassadors of the Gospel.
The Word in Genesis is the same Word, God’s Word, which illuminates David. Not only that, John continues to tell us about the light.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
tells us that as ambassadors of the Gospel we are to honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you. This means that our job, and in the context of 1 Peter, our job in the midst of persecution even, is to make Christ’s holiness known. We are to
The Word from the beginning, the Word which illuminates David, is Jesus. God himself.
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
So, God illuminates. What does this mean for us? It means that our entire perspective is different.
How do we do this? God equips his people to do this because he has called them to it. He equips through our past, just as he did with David and Bruce Willis… Harry in Armageddon. We go through things in life that prepare us to help others who have will deal with the same struggles. Nobody understands what it is like to have parents divorce better than someone who’s parents have divorced. Nobody understand the struggle and hardships of caring for a spouse who is sick for months before they die better than someone who has carried that cross before.
Think of a dark room. In it you can see nothing. You can’t even see that it is a room. When a light enters the room, not only do you immediately look to the light and see the light, but by the light, you see the rest of the room.
This is the effect God’s Word has for all of creation. It illuminates. We can know about sin and we can know that we are not fulfilled. But when the light enters our lives, we suddenly see with sharp clarity the realty and darkness of our sin. We also see God’s light and when our eyes are opened to his light, it is life changing. It changes eternity for us. We confess our sins to God who is merciful and good and he forgives us. We are made right with him. Not only that but we no longer desire to dwell in the darkness. We desire to flee from sin.
We don’t do this perfectly. David, having been called a man after God’s own heart was an adulterous murderer. His life is not a life of unbroken righteousness. Instead he says,
33 This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.
2 Samuel 22:33
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.
When we are illuminated by God’s Word and we do wrong, we ought to flee to God, our strong refuge. This is also what we try to teach our children. That if they are in trouble to run to Mom. Run to Dad. Because we love them and want what is best for them and will protect them and guide them. God does the same thing. When we confess our sins God forgives us and cleanses us and he “makes our way blameless.” He grants us salvation. Our sin condemns us to darkness. God in his love gives us a future of light. God does this work. God gives us salvation. He calls us from the darkness, into his light. Just as he does for all of creation in .
The second work that God does that David reflects upon is that
God Equips Us
God Equips Us
God desires to do the same thing we desire to do as parents. He wants to guide us and teach us. He prepares us and teaches us to fulfill the callings that he has given us in our lives.
In order for us to understand how and why God equips us, we have to understand what it means that God has given us a calling. A man named Gene Edward Vieth summarizes God’s callings into what he calls 5 different estates. All Christians have callings and our callings fall into these five estates. An estate is simply a place where we can show love to a neighbor. The five estates are Church, Family, Economy, State, and Common. Let me illustrate this for you.
My dad isn’t here and this isn’t being recorded so I’ll use him as an example. As I was growing up, he was called to be a christian, a church member, and the chairman of the board of trustees. In the family he was called to be a father, a husband, a brother, an uncle, and a son. In the economy he was called to be the manager of a large company and a land lord. In the state, he never held a public office but he was a citizen and therefore a voter. The last estate, the common estate, are simply opportunities that we happen upon throughout the course of life to love our neighbor. Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
These callings are places where we as Christians are to love our neighbor and in doing so, carry out the will of God.
God had placed a number of very important calls upon David. David was to be a king and a mighty warrior. God equipped David for these important calls.
The first way, we have talked about already. God illuminates David through his word. He guides him as a believer.
David highlights how God has equipped him especially to be a warrior.
2 Sam22.30
30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
David acknowledges it is only through God’s equipping that David can succeed in battle. He has given him bravery and athleticism.
35 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
2 Samuel 22:
He has made his hands deadly and given him strength. The exact things that will make a mighty warrior.
How did God do this? Well, think of David and Goliath. David, a shepherd boy had the exact experience needed to face Goliath. He was skilled in fighting from a distance because he needed to fight off predators from his family’s flocks. God used David’s family to build him up so that he could serve God’s people. God used David’s history to care for God’s flock.
God does this for us as well. Who is there who is better at ministering to a person who has lost their spouse than someone who has lost his or her spouse? Who is better to minister to someone with addictive tendencies than one who has overcome addictive tendencies?
God gives us experiences that help us in all five estates that I mentioned before. Church, Family, Economy, and State plus our everyday meetings. We are to use our knowledge and our experience to show love to those closest to us in these places as an act of worship.
Yet within this, the way God equips us for ministry through our past experiences, there is something missing still.
30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
David speaks about running against a troop. To run against a troop, you either must be brave or you must be foolish. To be foolish is to be unaware of the danger. To be brave is to see the danger and to go, nevertheless. God equipped David with bravery because David knew he was secure, regardless of the outcome of the battle. David knew he was saved. in verse 33 he said that God has made his way blameless and in verse 36 that God had given him salvation. In this security David could charge and the sense is “crush” a troop.
God grants this security, not through our experiences or what we have done or will do. He does this the same way he light came into the world, through His Word.
Through His Word, God has granted David eternal security. He has illuminated eternity. He has granted him eternal life. If eternal life was dependent upon what we do, then David would be in trouble. David was an adulterating murderer. Yet, because of his faith in the coming Christ, he was deemed a man after God’s own heart. He was forgiven his sins and cleansed from all unrighteousness.
Without this, without salvation, without the forgiveness of sins being applied to us through God’s Word, we are incapable of fully loving our neighbor. Without God’s illumination we are not capable of seeing how God has equipped and is equipping us.
This same
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