Seeking God (Part 1 of 4)

David was one of the great seekers of God. I would like to say that he sought the Lord more than all others, but no one can judge a man’s heart, so we don’t know. However, of all writers of the Scriptures, he may have expressed a seeker’s heart better than all others. He was a passionate pursuer of God, and His words vividly illustrate that, painting pictures that help us understand a hunger for God that many believers may not even know is possible to experience.

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship Thee
You alone are my strength my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship Thee
You’re my friend and
You are my brother,
Even though You are a king.
I love You more thank any other,
So much more than anything.
I want You more than gold or silver,
Only You can satisfy.
You alone are the real joy Giver,
And the apple of my eye.

One of the most popular contemporary worship songs of recent years is “As the Deer,” written by Martin Nystrom in 1984. It’s based on Psalm 42:1–2. Whose heart doesn’t get drawn toward God when singing that song? In a masterful way, the songwriter helps us sense the emotion, I believe, David felt when he wrote the psalm. However, it is not the only time David expressed his longing for God. Anyone who has ever been in love knows it takes more than one letter to express what the depth of that love means. I want us to examine several of David’s “love letters,” in the hope that they will help generate the same passion for God in us.

But before we do, let’s look at some Scriptures, expressing the same kind of zeal for God, which were written long before David’s time. After the children of Israel had wandered for 40 years in the wilderness and just before they were to enter the Promised Land, Moses described their future as a nation, a future God no doubt revealed to him supernaturally. He began, “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land…” (Deut. 4:25). Sadly, he goes on to reveal that they would become guilty of idol worship, and the Lord would scatter them among the nations. But, he also shares the good news: “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (v. 29).

Wholeheartedness
is the
secret
of joy in
salvation.

With a noticeable heartbreak in his voice, Moses later pleads with them, “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you…” (Deut. 6:3a, NASB). And then Moses speaks the words that would become the nation’s daily recital, the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (vv. 4–5). This is what David took to heart. Author Andrew Murray, in his book The Believer’s New Covenant, writes, “Wholeheartedness is the secret of joy in salvation…God rejoices over His people to do them good, with His whole heart and His whole soul. It needs, on our part, our whole heart and our whole soul…With the measure we give, it shall be given to us.”

When God raised up David to be king, the prophet Samuel told Saul, “…The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…” (1 Sam. 13:14). When the Apostle Paul spoke to a crowd on one of his trips and related this story, he expanded on what that meant: “…a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22b). Though David sinned (2 Sam. 12), like all men do, his passion to love God with all of his heart was so embedded in him that when he sinned, he repented with as much passion.

Everyone who reads Psalm 51 can sense his gut-wrenching sorrow and brokenness over his sin and the fear that he might be separated from the One his soul loved so dearly: “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me…For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it…The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (vv.11, 16a, 17).

We learn from this that it takes a passionate love for God to repent passionately and sincerely. Yet today, church leaders who have fallen into grave sin, like David’s, often will not submit to church discipline. Oh, that our leaders would be men “after God’s own heart”! Congregations are, of course, also guilty. May we be convicted to repent rather than defend and justify ourselves, but to do that, we must develop a heart like David’s. 

By Charleeda Sprinkle

Assistant Editor

All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

© 2010
Note our new policy:

Bridges for Peace holds the copyright on this material. We encourage pastors, Bible teachers, and lay people to use these articles for preaching and teaching, and we hereby grant permission for a limited number of copies for such educational purposes. However, any other reproduction or transmittal of this material in any form—including reprinting, republishing, recording or use with any information storage and retrieval system—requires written permission from BFP International.


For the full version of this teaching letter please visit www.bridgesforpeace.com or click on the link provided 
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Bibliography
Brown, Rebecca, and Daniel Yoder. Standing on the Rock: The Powers of God’s Covenants. Clinton, AR: Harvest Warriors
Publishing, 2002.
Chappell, Clovis G. Sermons from the Psalms, 1931. http://www.abcog.org/psa042.htm.
Kolatch, Alfred. The Jewish Book of Why. NYC: Jonathan David Publishers, Inc., 1995.
Murray, Andrew. The Believer’s New Covenant. Bethany House Publishers, 1984.
Steinberg, Milton. Basic Judaism. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co, 1975.

Walking God's Way (Part 5 of 5)

This is part 5 of 5 in the teaching series, "Walking God's Way" by Rebecca J. Brimmer, International President and CEO of Bridges for Peace. May you be blessed by reading this teaching letter.

Spirit-filled Living

The world we live in is full of temptations, sin masquerading as normal, acceptable behavior and opportunities to compromise abound. So, God, in His wisdom, has given us the Holy Spirit to lead us and give us power to be His representatives in the midst of an evil age. Those, who are filled with the Spirit, will show fruit in their lives. Paul tells us in this passage some of the ways in which a spirit-filled person will act. It is practical advice to help us to walk in Him on a daily basis.

1) We are to encourage and edify one another singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

2) We are to have a joyful heart, out of which flows spontaneous praise in song to the Lord. I love to work at the Bridges for Peace International Headquarters in Jerusalem. I have wonderful co-workers who constantly have a song of praise in their hearts. It is very common for the sounds of praise and worship to float down the halls as one or another passes through.

3) We are to be thankful for all things. Even when unpleasant, painful things happen to us, we can be thankful that God is with us in the midst of them and recognize that He is able to even bring good out of disaster.

4) We are to submit to one another in the fear of God. There is no human being without weakness. Each of us is susceptible to temptation. The wise person recognizes his area of challenge and asks others to help him. We all need to be accountable to other believers. Within our trusted circle, we need to find those with whom we can be vulnerable and transparent. We need to humbly confess our sins one to another and submit to another in the fear of the Lord.

Faith and Action

I am thankful that my Jewish friends challenge me to think about the connection between faith and practice. They probably don’t realize it, but another Jewish man, James, said similar things!

“…be doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves...What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 1:22, 2:14–20).

My father, Dr. David Allen Lewis, used to paraphrase James’ words and say, “belief without action is deception!” Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount is grounded firmly in Jewish thought. He insists; “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

God is calling us to be doers of His Word. Let’s choose to walk in love, light, and wisdom. Let us choose to walk in fellowship with God. Faith with works will allow God’s glory to shine throughout the world.

By Rev. Rebecca J. Brimmer
International President and CEO 

By Rebecca J. Brimmer

International President and CEO

Photos
www.israelimages.com/Hanan Isachar

All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

 

© 2010
Bridges for Peace holds the copyright on this material. We encourage pastors, Bible teachers, and lay people to use these articles for preaching and teaching, and we hereby grant permission for a limited number of copies for such educational purposes. However, any other reproduction or transmittal of this material in any form—including reprinting, republishing, recording or use with any information storage and retrieval system—requires written permission from BFP International.

For the full version of this teaching letter please visit www.bridgesforpeace.com or click on the link provided