03-19-06-God's Principles of Guidance
Have you ever wondered how you could know God’s will for your life? Or how you can discern what He wants you to do? Is there some great “stop light” in the sky that will appear to let us know when to stop and when to go? How about a cosmic “yield” sign or heavenly GPS to guide us? The subject of being guided by God is a great mystery that all men—Christian and non-Christian alike have struggled with throughout time. Especially, today in our modern fast-paced world of high technology and instant everything, it is difficult for us to sort out the right road to take. There are so many decisions and so many choices to make that we may feel overwhelmed. As we meet this last Sunday at this church building I want to share a truth that I learned about 12 years ago that has helped me to deal with many of the twists and turns of this journey of life.
2 Samuel 12:15-23 (NIV) 15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” 19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. 21 His servants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” 22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
There are 3 principles that we want to focus on today.
The 3 principles are:
1. Never put a period where God puts a comma.
2. Never put a comma where God puts a period.
3. A period is not the end, but the beginning of a new chapter.
Let’s look at this passage in more detail to see if we can discern how these principles can be better understood. First, we need to see that the background to this passage is when Nathan the prophet was sent by God to reveal the sin of David of how he had killed Uriah and committed adultery with Bathsheba. After Nathan told David that he knew what David did, David admits it and cries out in repentance. Nathan tells him that God pardons him and that he will not die, but that the son that Bathsheba gives birth to will die “. . . because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt. . .” (v. 14).
David pleads with God in prayer and fasting lying on the ground prostrate before God for 7 days. We can only image the agony in his soul over his sin and the price it is costing him. We get a glimpse of this in Psalm 51:1-12 where he cries out to God:
(NIV) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 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.
Finally, on the 7th day the child dies. Now this is where the story gets interesting. The servants saw the state of mind that David had been in for the last week and were afraid to tell him that the child had died. But, David overheard their whisperings and understood that the child was dead. So what does David do, cry longer and harder? Beg and plead with God to bring the child back to life? Yell and scream at God for killing his son? No, David gets up and bathes, puts on clean clothes and goes into the tabernacle (there was no temple at this time, since his son Solomon (who built the temple) had not been born yet) to worship God. Then he goes home and eats. Now his servants are totally confused and have to know why David acted this way. So they ask him and it is in David’s answer where the 3 principles can be found.
1. Never put a period where God puts a comma. A comma is a symbol in our language that means to pause and take a breath. A period is a symbol that means a thought is complete and ended. David pleaded with the Lord for 7 days thinking that maybe God would have a change of heart. Maybe, this was not a period, but a comma. Maybe the child would not die (a period), but because of God’s mercy and David’s repentance, God would spare the child (a comma). Is this case, there was no comma (sparing the child), there was only a period (the child died). David recognized that the Lord was Sovereign and His will would be done no matter how hard David tried to change it. If God chose to spare the child (a comma), then it would be so, otherwise, if God chose for the child to die (a period) as had been declared, then nothing could change that.
2. Never put a comma where God puts a period. Once the child had died (a period), David knew there was no more reason to plead with God to save his life (a comma). To continue to plead with God at that time would have been to question God’s judgment and would have showed that he truly had not repented of his sin because he still wanted to do things his way and not accept God’s will.
3. A period is not the end, but the beginning of a new chapter. David knew that the chapter of his life with this son was over. “I will go to him, but he will not return to me (a period).” As proof of this we see that David comforts Bathsheba and God grants them another son—Solomon—whom the scriptures say “The Lord loved” (v. 24 & 25) and named him Jedidiah (beloved of the Lord). So even though David had one son die because of his sin, he now had an even greater blessing in his life.
Application: How do we apply these principles to our lives? How does this fit in with where we are as a church today?
1. Never put a period where God puts a comma. As we leave this place, we must be assured that God goes with us. There is a definite leading of the Lord to move as evidenced by the unity and blessings we have experienced over the past few weeks. However, there may be in the back of our minds a doubt as to whether we will ever return to this place. If this is just a comma (a pause), then we will know it in our hearts and we will know when the time is right to return here. However, the danger is to burn bridges thinking that you will never need this place again (a period). I assure you that is not what we are doing. I have spoken to Glendal Toney, the pastor of Neighborhood Bible Fellowship, and am asking God to bless them with new tenants as soon as we leave so as not to harm their cash flow. We will continue to seek their blessing and support in the community as opportunities arise.
As a personal example, let me tell you how I learned the importance of this principle. There was a time in my life when I felt that God had put me on the shelf as far as ministry. I never thought I would be able to minister to anyone again and thought that it was a period in my life. However, God showed me that He was not through with me (a comma, not a period); I just had to learn some things before I was ready to minister again. I tried to say and believe that ministry for me was over, yet God lovingly healed me and put me back into ministry with a more powerful ministry than I had ever dreamed of—I’m referring to Healing Hearts.
2. Never put a comma where God puts a period. As we go through life, we often want to continue to hang on to the things of the past. There are memories associated with this place. For some, this may be the place where they first met God. For others it may be the place where God truly changed your life after serving Him for a time. For others it is memories of good times and fellowship. Whatever the memories, they are real and very important. However, if we do not learn to release the past, it can continue to haunt us in the future. We will continue to look back at what happened here and miss what God wants to do where we are. We will have the attitude of desiring “the good old days” that we experienced here and feel that there is no future for us. This is the sign of a dying church!
This often happens when there is a change in pastors. The new pastor is compared to the old pastor. He does not do things the same way as the old pastor did and often is criticized for that. This is highly unfair to the new pastor, but it happens. These kinds of situations in churches can create real problems and dissatisfaction if allowed to continue. We have seen churches that were stuck in the past and could not move forward. Many of them are not around today.
The children of Israel did this when they complained about going back to Egypt because they were tired of eating manna in the wilderness (Numbers 11:4-9). There were certain ones who came out of Egypt that were not Jews, who stirred up this thought and the Israelites became infected by their dissatisfaction. I find that amazing, each day God provided for them food and all they had to do was go out and pick it up off the ground—no back breaking work there. And on the 6th day they gathered twice as much since they did not gather any on the Sabbath. Yet, with God’s provision all around them they said they missed the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that they had in Egypt. They forgot all abound the terrible slavery and bondage that God had delivered them from and only wanted meat for their stomachs. Leaving Egypt was a definite period in their life, yet they saw it as only a comma. When the going got rough, they wanted to run back to the safety of the past, forgetting the pain and bondage it had been for them.
3. A period is not the end, but the beginning of a new chapter. Only God knows what the next chapter of New Prairie is going to be. As we close this chapter, we must learn to trust Him that He is in control of our future. There are new challenges to face, bigger giants to conquer, and much to do in this area for the kingdom of God. I see that our greatest days are ahead of us. We will have some tough days ahead, I can promise you that. However, as we learn to release the past, we will be set free to enjoy the future.
I want to encourage each of you to take time today, or this week, to reflect upon the memories you have had here. It is OK if it causes you to cry. If you need to share those memories with someone, then do so. Then as you do, give God all the glory for what He has done and for what He is going to do in your life and the lives of your fellow believers at New Prairie Community of Faith. G.G and I are excited about the next chapter and can’t wait to turn the page to see what happens next!