I couldn’t help but think about the personal and spiritual fruit that would come from experiencing that type of revelation. While I feel I’ve had some amazingly direct revelation in my life, it just doesn’t seem to compare to these stories of old. According to how he opened Psalm 44, I think David could relate.
“We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.
With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.
It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.” – Psalm 44:1-3
Why is it that we always seem to covet an encounter with God that is different than the one He’s offering? David craved an encounter with God like he had heard about. He wanted a different kind experience than he found himself in. He wanted to see the God who drove out nations with his hand, not their sword. Why?
David acknowledged that it was God who gave his armies victory over their enemy. It was always with sword. Yet now God was not going before them in granting military victory. Since that had been the sign of God’s presence, it would make any reasonable leader doubt God’s favor. Yet David responded, “I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not give me victory”.
It’s a true reminder. I wonder today if this was an “ah ha” moment for David. The moment where he realized, “Maybe I do trust in my leadership and brut force a little bit too much.” Either way, he made the right call as he closed out the Psalm, “Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.” – Psalm 44:26
Here’s a pattern I’ve seen in my life. God uses things for His glory. He gives us abilities, He gives us relationships, He even gives us successes to show His greatness. Our temptation is to slowly lean too much on the tools of that experience instead of the God of that experience. When we do, God can quickly take them away and make sure our affections remain on Him.
So where does our help come from? Does it come from horses and chariots? Does it come from bows and swords? Where do we gain victory?
“I lift up my eyes to the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
The Maker of heaven and earth.” - Psalm 121
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I think we see it in David's life, I know I have seen it in my own life, when we start to rely on our own abilities instead of God, He takes them from us. His desire is to play an active role in our lives. He wants to be the reason things happen. When we start to rely on our own ability to lead too much, God will take it away by humbling us. Being humbled is a very hard lesson to learn. The longer it takes to learn the lesson, the harder it is. Proper time in God's presence keeps us focused and relying on Him to do what needs to be done. We need to do what we CAN on our own, so He can do the rest of HIS plan in our lives. - Michael
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