The Heart God Loves

The Heart God Loves
Michelle Molina
Nov 25, 2008
"No one loses God but he that is willing to part with Him" ~ William
Gurnall 1617-1679
A HEART GOD LOVES
David and Saul both grew up in the same land. Both had faced hardships. Both
were living as God's chosen people. But both responded differently when
faced with either adversity or pain.
In I Samuel 8, Israel requested to be ruled like the other nations: by a
king, rather than God. They wanted to be like the people around them. And
God gave them their king: Saul. He came from a rich, influential family. He
was very handsome. "His son Saul was the most handsome man in Israel - head
and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land." (I Sam 9:2)
When Saul is proclaimed as King, God had this to say: "I brought you from
Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that
were oppressing you. But though I have done so much for you, you have
rejected me" (I Samuel 10:18)
David, on the other hand, was a shepherd. He did not have have the same
privileges as Saul growing up, but on those long, hot days in the sun
watching after his father's sheep, and in the even longer, colder nights
that he spent without human companionship, David learned how to look to the
God of Israel for his companionship. And that would be the thing that would
separate these two men years down the road.
Like his predecessor Moses, David was in God's School without knowing it.
Moses, adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, grew up being groomed for the throne.
He learned battle strategy. He learned about leading large groups of people.
Through the eyes man, his schooling was for one purpose, but in heaven, God
had a bigger plan.
He placed Moses in the care of Pharaoh to learn the things he learned for
one purpose: in order to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the promise land.
Egypt made him the leader God was calling him to be. That would require his
knowing everything the master generals of Pharaoh knew. That would require
his knowledge of strategies in order to safely maneuver multitudes of
people.
Think about it - if you were sent today, into one small state in the United
States - would you know what to do if all the people there needed to leave
at one time, on foot, and had to face terrorists and hunger along the way?
Would you know? I wouldn't. I've never been trained. But Moses was.
David was also trained, but in another manner. God's school for him was to
be alone with sheep. He placed David in Jesse's family in a special
position: as the last son. The lowest rung on the ladder positionally to
recieve blessing; the one who would be faced with all the grunt work. To
Jesse or his friends, there was nothing out of the ordinary about this boy.
He was not the most handsome in all of Israel. He was not head and shoulders
taller than anyone else in the nation. He was handsome with nice eyes, but
that was not enough to make him special either.
What set him apart is the same thing that sets you apart: God's plan for his
life.
God placed you in the family you are in for a reason. He has allowed things
in your life for a reason. He has placed you at a certain job for a reason.
Even when you rebel against Him and leave Him for a time, He can use those
things you learned about hating sin and separation from the peace and
presence of God to save others down the road.
Whether you grew up in a loving family or one that made the Manson family
look like the Brady Bunch, what you have lived through serves a greater
purpose. It has equipped you for something God has placed in you.
David learned to really know the God he was serving as he spent day and
night alone in the fields with sheep as the only company. So he talked to
God. And God met him there. That intimate knowledge of God helped him when
he was a man on the run for his life. Saul would chase him, so he wrote a
psalm. The army tried to kill him, so he wrote a psalm. He and his men were
held up in caves for months on end, so he wrote a psalm.
He wasn't doing that so that so he could publish them one day. He was
writing them to himself - like a diary or journal.
He had seen God's mighty hand when he faced foes like beasts or Goliath, so
when he faced the armies of Saul, he could write with assurance, "Only by
your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample
our foes. I do not trust in my bow; I do not count on the sword to save me.
It is you who gives us victory over our enemies; it is you who humbles those
who hate us. O God, we give glory to you all day long and CONSTANTLY praise
your name." Psalm 44:5-8
So how do we overcome? The same way David did. Constantly praising the name
of the Lord. Constantly calling to remembrance all that He is and all that
He has promised for our lives. Constantly reminding our enemies that God is
a good God and we will bow our knee only to Him. Constantly surrending our
flesh to Him and staying in HIs magnificent presence. That God alone is who
we will serve.
What about all the tragedies we face(d)? What about the rejection we have
buried deep within us?
Two things: In Psalm 44:17, David said, "All this has happened despite our
loyalty to you. We have not violated your covenant. Our hearts have not
deserted you. We have not strayed from your path. Yet you have crushed us in
the desert. You have covered us with darkness and death. If we had turned
away from worshipping our God, or spread out our hands in prayer to foreign
gods, God would surely have known it, for He knows the secrets of every
heart"
David knew that all this happened even though he had not broken covenant or
sinned by worshipping another god. He knew that God was the one true God and
was committed to Him - even when he didn't know when his life as a cave
dweller would end.
Worship was a secret that the enemies of David couldn't take from him.
People may steal from you, reject you, hurt you, cause you to lose much, but
they can't take your worship. That is something that only you can give up.
"Praise the Lord, I tell myself, with my whole heart I will praise His holy
name" (Ps 103:1)
Tell yourself to praise God in spite of what you are facing and in spite of
what has happened to you.even if you are hurt at the hands of those who call
themselves your friends or brothers or sisters in the faith. Tell yourself,
like David said he did, to stop moping about with a long face and begin to
worship God.
Verse 2 of Psalm 103 says, "Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget
the good things he does for me."
What good things has God done for you? Call those things to your memory. If
nothing else, I know He died for me so that I wouldn't have to pay the
penalty for my sins. That alone is worth praising Him for the rest of my
life.
All it would take is for us to catch one small glimpse into Hell to realize
what an awesome deal we have.
Verse 3 says, "He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He ransoms
me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies." David goes on
and on about the mercies of God and how awesome they are - not to be an
award winning author, but to be an award winning praiser!!
I have faced rejection, fear, doubt, hurt, addictions, and multitudes of
other hurdles in my life. And when I faced them, one by one, I had to
decide, just as you do, what I was going to do with it. Am I going to
overcome or be overcome? Bad as they were, I have to question if I would be
the person I am without having gone through those things. I don't think so.
Am I going to give up all He has placed before me for something that Satan
or the flesh would do to take me out of His perfect will for me...the
perfect place of surrender and rest.
We all face trials. We all will continue to face them. But you need to
settle one thing in your heart today - do you really believe what the Bible
says? Not what religion has said, but what Jesus says.
Do you believe in what you say you believe?
Do you act like what you confess to believe?
Do you talk like what you say you believe?
Do people come to you for prayer or for a partner in the flesh?
Do you believe God is good?
Do you believe He is the Savior of the world and can save even the most
wretched soul?
Do you believe He is the Healer of all our diseases?
And do you believe that you are precious to Him - so precious that even the
very hair on your head is numbered and He knows exactly how many birds are
flying around outside your home.
If you believe what the Bible says, then you know that God will take those
things that have tried to keep you crippled and make them into your greatest
strengths.
Whatever you are facing; whatever you have gone through, see it the way
heaven sees it. Moses could have chosen to stay in Pharaoh's house. He could
have encountered God on the mountain and then refused his life mission.
David could have surrendered to Saul or grown bitter at his existence in
life.
You, like Moses and David, have a destiny. You have a psalm inside of you.
You have a story to tell. And it is the very things that God has brought you
through or trained you in that will make you into a great man or woman of
God.
See your weaknesses differently. See the rejection as something God can use.
Even your backsliding can become a great strength if you turn and let God
restore you now. See the things that have hurt you as something that can be
turned into your greatest strength.
You WILL become a great worshipper in 2009. You WILL become an overcomer in
2009. You WILL step out of the shackles that have held you down and kept you
from going forward. You WILL grow into a relationship with God this year
that is more intimate and more precious than you ever thought possible.
Moses and David - both men after God. Both men trained by God though they
didn't know it. Both worshippers deep within their hearts.
If we live and believe the words in Psalm 103, the things that are
destroying us WILL fall off. Meditate on those words. Memorize them. One
day, when stories are told of the great overcomers and people of faith, it
will be Moses, David and You!
Living for the Call,
Michelle Molina