Day 33: The Way Of The Warrior

The Way Of The Warrior

King David learned that he was utterly impotent to control his sin nature.  He was one of the most powerful men in the world, when he learned a disturbing truth about himself.  Though a believer, he let his desires rule his life. He sexually victimized a married woman, Bathsheba, then had her husband Uriah killed.  Trauma inflicted on others became his legacy, a horribly ignoble reputation.  He earned a guilty verdict in the courtroom of God, the death-penalty should be his sentence.

Secular people would look at David’s behavior and think his faith was a sham.  People of faith would be shocked by his choices.  The Lord himself was grieved by his behavior (2 Sam 11:27).  But who stood by David in his time of humiliation? Remember, the Lord was his judge, and he also was a victim of David (Ps. 51:4).  The entire world was against David, since he earned his guilty verdict. There was one who would be David’s advocate — God the judge, (51:1) and the victim.  Huh!?   The Lord is for David!

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (Ps. 51:11).  The negative in the beginning of the verse, tells us that the Lord would be justified giving David capital punishment.  David recoils at the thought, that his sin was reason that God could be done with him.  David does not want the Lord to leave his presence. Paul, in the New Testament, knew he was just like David: For I know that nothing good dwells in me… (Rom. 7:18). Yet God cares.

Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you! (Ps. 102:1).  It is safe to say, that the Lord is faithful to his children, and is willing to partner with them, in their repentance. Though David was a raging sinner, he was also a child of the Lord, and when there is true contrition, God is steadfastly on our side.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isa. 57:15)

Holiness, this attribute of God, is so ironclad, he cannot compromise, until a sinner agrees with it.  Then the Lord will in mercy, pour out gushing rivers of pure grace, restoring a sinner to a renewed condition. Not only does God ‘dwell’ with the sinner, meaning to settle down, he will then ‘revive’ his spirit. He will make life fresh, installing a dynamic energy in the spiritual condition of a repentant man or woman.

The absence of repentance, does not mean loss of salvation, it is a loss of vibrancy in a believer’s life.  David yearns for unfettered connection with the Lord of glory.  Restoration is based upon David’s acknowledging God’s purity of character, and understanding the Lord’s righteousness is not a hurdle too high for any person.  You simply agree with it, then with his help, act in faith according to his character – not yours. You and I are moral midgets.  The Lord comes storming into our lives, kicking down doors, busting through walls, moving at light-speed to come to our side to help us.  He wants us to experience the most glorious, freedom to act like him. This a rocket ship ride that we get to experience, by living our lives in lock-step with him.  That is real freedom!

The righteous shall live by his faith. (Hab. 2:4 ESV).  A believer does not live by doing, but by being.  Faith is a natural consequence of who you are, not what you do.  When the Lord partners with you, life then becomes a journey of you and him.  What happens next?

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. (Ps. 51:13). The natural progression of walking with the Lord, then leads to a passion, not a duty:  teach transgressors… The ‘then’ indicates that you have reached a new era in your spiritual life.  When you and the Lord are a team, ‘then’ something gets added to your life.  You do not remain self-focused, rather you are like the Lord – other-focused.

If your experiencing a cringe factor here, you have diminished joy. Joy is part of your experience with the Lord.  Limited joy, means fear has you captive. Sharing with others is not a duty, it is a desire.  If you are fearful about this issue, spiritual work is in order.  Spiritual complacency is a contradiction.  When you have spiritual joy: Restore to me the joy of your salvation (51:12), it bubbles up and out.  It is so energetic, that you feel an urgency, so others can experience this same freedom.

For instance: political freedom is so transformative to individuals, that they will fight with the cost of their lives to secure it – like American patriots in the Revolutionary War. Spiritual freedom has the same energy. When people experience it, they know others will benefit from it. They fight with fervor, so others can be spiritually free to receive God’s grace.  It is bigger than yourself, and a worthy endeavor for you to be engaged in.

Jesus thought the same way. He made disciples.  He pursued them. He was radically different than other rabbis of his day.  Rabbis had yeshivas, or schools, and students petitioned the rabbi to join his school.  The better the rabbi, the more students clamored to be in his school.  Jesus turned that model upside down.  He recruited students.  His students were not the talented young, adult male.  Rather Jesus went after the ‘Joe-bag-of-donuts’ kind of men.  These were average blue-collar guys, who had no spiritual training, they were his target.  Jesus changed the world with twelve average guys!

Jesus expects the same from you!  You change the world also!

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… (Matt. 28:19).  The imperative in this verse is not to go, but rather make disciples.  How many disciples do you have?

David did not protest, saying I’m a warrior/king; let the religious professionals, the priests and the prophets handle spiritual outreach. He wants to: teach transgressors your ways.  The spiritual ‘hired-guns’, had minimum impact.  Lunch-pail men and women will change the world.  They will ‘teach’ means they need to learn.  No one gets out of it, not even kings.

That is your spiritual job.  David was excited and embraced the new vision.  David made a profound difference in mankind’s spiritual life.  Just read his book: Psalms.  He has taught millions of people, through the ages.  You can too!