LORD, YOUR WILL BE DONE

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In Christ, Mark

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The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley and all the people moved on toward the desert.

Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.

Then the king said to Zadok, "Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, He will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if He says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him."

The king also said to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Go back to the city in peace with your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan, son of Abiathar. You and Abiathar take your two sons with you. I will wait at the fords in the desert until word comes from you to inform me."

So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.

2 Samuel 15:23-29

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As David left Jerusalem with his people, they “crossed the Kidron Valley and…moved on toward the desert, fleeing impending danger from his treasonous son, Absalom. As they journeyed, we get a sense of the great sorrow everyone felt over what was happening as “the whole countryside wept aloud” when “all the people passed by”.

In today’s passage, we learn that the priests, Zadok and Abiathar, were along with David on the trek as were “all the Levites who were…carrying the ark of the covenant of God”. This meant that the Israelites could continue worshipping the Lord while on the run for we read where the ark of God had been carried from Jerusalem and was in their presence. The scriptures tell us that “Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city”.

Now, this wasn’t the first time the ark of God had been taken from the holy city for going back to 1st Samuel, chapter 4, you’ll recall that the Israelites took it with them and then entered into battle with the Philistines only to be defeated soundly, an outcome that had the elders of Israel perplexed. They incorrectly assumed that as long as the ark was present with them, success would follow.

After that failed to happen, those elders had the chance to go to the Lord and inquire as to why they had been defeated but they didn’t. Instead, they decided to sent the ark into the battle with the fighting forces, feeling that the mere presence of the ark would automatically lead to victory. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and the elders’ assumption led to the loss of 30,000 foot soldiers and Eli’s two sons, just as the Lord had prophesied through Samuel. And to add insult to injury, the ark of God was also captured by the Philistines and carried off.

So why did this happen? After all, wasn’t the ark of God representative of His presence and holiness?

Exactly. It was just that…representative but it wasn’t God Himself.

And so where Israel went wrong was doubting in the first place that it may have been God’s will that would lose the battle, even though the Lord had foretold of the loss and death of Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, because of their sinfulness. In the end translation, no mere ark was going to stop God’s will from being carried out. And so, Eli’s sons and a large number of Israelite fighters lost their lives, once again showing that sin does exact a heavy cost when the Lord’s wrath is displayed.

Well, it’s unsure whether or not David was well-versed on the history of Israel and the events of that fateful Philistine battle years prior but as we see in today’s passage, Israel’s king adopts a very different approach and attitude toward to ark than the elders of Israel had done before. For we see him giving Zadok the priest the following command:

"Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, He will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if He says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him."

David’s words show a real level of spiritual maturity, far from where he was when he committed sexual infidelity, deceit, and even accessory to murder during his tryst with Bathsheba. For Israel’s king clearly showed that he know the Lord would deal with him as He pleased and the presence of the ark of God wouldn’t change it. If the Lord favored David, then he would get to return to Jerusalem, seeing the ark and its dwelling place once more. Conversely, if God was displeased with David, then he was ready to accept whatever judgment might come.

In other words, David was willing to accept the Lord’s good and pleasing will in his life, regardless if it involved blessing or discipline.

And so David sent the ark back to Jerusalem along with the priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan. He also gave them instructions to act as informants for him…to collect any information he might need to know about Absalom’s intentions and then deliver that information to David who would “wait at the fords in the desert” until word came Jerusalem.

Friends, David serves as a remarkable model of faith in this passage for we see where he understood that the Lord is above all things and there is nothing on earth that would stop His will from being done…even the hallowed and blessed ark of God.

This made me wonder how well we do regarding this in our own lives. Are we really prepared to surrender everything to the Lord’s will in faith, no matter our circumstances?

How about when tough financial times come?

Do we say, “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, He will make the way clear for me to restore my finances…but if it’s not His will, then I am ready for Him to do to me whatever seems good to Him. I trust that He will work things for my good eventually.”

What about when suffering happens through a health affliction or some form of addiction?

Do we say, “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, He will make the way clear for me to be healed or reach remission…but if it’s not His will, then I am ready to wait for Him to work in my circumstances.”

What if conflict happens within our work, church, family, or friendships?

Do we say, “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, He will make the way clear to reconcile my differences with others…but if it’s not His will, then I am ready to patiently wait for Him to do whatever seems good to Him.”

Live life long enough and I think we all learn that it’s easy when everything is going well and during those times, we typically don’t turn to the Lord as much as we should because we tend to take Him for granted.

But things don’t always stay great, do they?

Change can happen leading us into times of difficulty…like as it did for David…and when those times come, we would be well served to just commit our trust to the Lord, waiting for His will to be revealed and carried out in our lives in faith. For just as David proclaimed, God knows what’s best for us and will do whatever seems good to Him because He wants things to be good for us, even if it means we have to struggle or endure hardship.

As believers, we need to simply remember that the Lord will always bring us through our circumstances…but in His way. This life attitude is embedded within the prayer that Jesus taught us:

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name,

Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done

on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  Matthew 6:9-13

Indeed, let us always submit ourselves to the Lord, ever asking for His will to be done in our lives on earth as it is in Heaven as we fully submit ourselves to Him in trust and faith, now and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.