God, Who Adds Blessing upon Blessing
17When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 19David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.” 20David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “Yahweh has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. 21They left their images there; and David and his men took them away. 22The Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23When David inquired of Yahweh, he said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them in front of the mulberry trees. 24When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” 25David did so, as Yahweh commanded him, and struck the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.
Look at the people of faith in the Bible, and you will find that not many of them lived easy lives. In the course of life, not only the people of the world but those who believe in God can meet suffering they never imagined. This world is like a passage we must go through on the way to the Kingdom of God; until we reach heaven, then, we must keep God’s law faithfully and live good lives. How we weigh the problems we meet in life, and what we decide about them, determines whether we drift away from God or receive his great help.
Human lives vary, but we can see that every person of faith strives to enter a holy relationship with God. They may serve faithfully to the point of death or shed tears of repentance, but at the center of each of them there was always the Holy Spirit, the word, and faith. Even those who have lived looking only to God sometimes fail to keep a steady faith, because they too must live in the world. But only when we believe that God sees them and helps them as they labor to keep their lamps burning even in the darkness can we endure.
When David was being hunted by Saul, the king of this world, and suffering anguish beyond measure, he cried out to God with all his heart and prayed like this: “People who see how many are my adversaries, how many rise up against me, mock me and say that David will not be saved by God. So arise, Yahweh, and save me; I pray that you will strike all my enemies on the cheek and break the teeth of the wicked.” It is a prayer that shows David’s human side, but we too, like David, have times when we stumble and fall under the strain, and we may even feel that life is meaningless. Yet God’s people hold on to faith and endure in spite of it all.
After telling God what situation he was in, David said, “Even if tens of thousands of people set themselves against me on every side, I am not afraid, because I know that Yahweh sustains me.” Though the world was frightening and painful, at his center were God’s word, the Holy Spirit, and faith, and so he entrusted even his fear to God.
Refining in this world is truly painful, because no one can see where it will end, but people of faith turn it into a chance to draw closer to God. Through suffering they make their faith firm. Since the direction of a life depends on the point of view from which we see its problems, we who believe must train ourselves to decide more carefully and wisely, by the word.
The Bible records a great variety of lives. People of faith became kings and prime ministers who held power, grew very wealthy like Abraham and Job, or lived like the prophets who were killed while proclaiming the word. Wherever God has called them, if they faithfully fulfill their calling, they will enter the Kingdom of God. David now ruled a united kingdom and lived in plenty, but there was a time when he was hunted by Saul and lived in humiliation among the Philistines. While on the run, when his people had nothing to eat, he begged from Nabal, Abigail’s husband, and was mocked for it.
To escape Saul’s sword he even went over to the enemy, letting spittle run down his face and feigning madness to beg for his life. It was a life of great hardship, and those years made him strong and also weak, servile and cowardly too. But because David knew that, whatever his situation, God cared about him and was helping him, he gained wisdom through those experiences. Whenever life grew hard, he cried out to God, who knew his weakness, and asked for help. Always striving to live in keeping with God’s will, David never strayed outside God’s fence. For many years he suffered Saul’s one-sided attacks, but in the end he kept his faith.
With Saul dead, David’s refining was over, so he could return to Hebron and live in comfort. Only once David held great power did Israel finally come to him, saying they were his own flesh and blood and would serve him as king, begging for their lives. The elders of Israel anointed David as their king. In the same way, when we endure the refining God gives, he rewards us by setting us over others, making our lives glorious, and giving us co-workers to labor beside us. The refining David went through before receiving this blessing was by no means easy.
When someone torments you, I hope that instead of hating them you will think as David did: God has made you hear hard words through that person because there is still something in you that needs to be pared away. Then, even if you cannot love your enemy, you will not hate them or take revenge. At every moment David prayed that he would not hate his enemies, and strove to become the child God wanted. When you mature in faith like this, God will send you, as he did David, helpers rather than hinderers, and he will bring your refining to an end.
David became king of Judah at thirty and reigned for seven years and six months; when Judah and Israel were united, he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. He now held power so great that no nation would presume to stand against him. Another blessing David received was the stronghold of Zion, impregnable as an iron fortress. Jerusalem, where the Jebusites lived, was hard to take, because its rugged terrain made the city a natural fortress. After much thought, David settled on a plan: to send his men up, without the Jebusites knowing, through the watercourse they used. A watercourse here means an underground passage such as a drain or culvert. The Jebusites had dug a vertical shaft to draw up water that flowed from the Gihon Spring, southeast of Jerusalem, into a reservoir to the south. Through this shaft David sent his soldiers into the city of Jerusalem.
1 Chronicles 11:6
6David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.” Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief.
When David told his men that whoever conquered Jerusalem would be made commander, Joab was the first to step forward. He was a brave man, and with a brilliant strategy he and his elite troops slipped in through the watercourse and took the city of Jerusalem. The Jebusites had never imagined that their natural fortress could fall, so they were off their guard. But David took the land with the wisdom God gave him and built the city stronger still.
Because David knew that nothing he had achieved so far had come by his own strength, he asked God for greater wisdom and received his answer. Now Israel had become a mighty nation that no one could attack. The nations that had ignored David when he was powerless now sent envoys bearing tribute, and Hiram king of Tyre sought peace and sent cedar trees, carpenters, and masons to build David a house. The king of Tyre did this to secure his own people’s safety, since David now appeared so formidable.
Since the world is a place that bows first to whoever holds great power, you must stand firm in your place, as David did, strong in body and spirit. In no situation did David grasp greedily for dominance or strive in his own strength to win recognition. He simply loved God, took pains to keep his statutes and ordinances, and helped the people live by faith, and God lifted him up. People of faith know that their power and ability were given by God, so they never look down on or belittle those around them. Seeing David’s faith, God made the nations fear Israel and caused them to serve David of their own accord. In the same way, those who obey the word and endure in faith can receive God’s complete protection.
In Deuteronomy 6, God tells his people that the statutes and commandments he is giving them are the law they must keep in the land they are crossing over to possess, Canaan, and that they must be sure to keep them. He promised that if they kept his statutes and commandments, he would give them, in Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, the blessing of long life and the blessing of descendants who would multiply greatly. But to receive these blessings, there was something Israel had to do first. They had to love Yahweh with all their heart, all their soul, and all their might; they had to take his words to heart and teach them diligently to their children; and they had to talk of them when sitting in the house and walking by the way, when lying down and rising up. To those who truly obey his word, he also promised great and goodly cities they did not build. He said he would give them houses full of good things they did not fill, make them possess wells they did not dig and vineyards and olive trees they did not plant, and bless them so that they would eat and be full.
To be clear, we do not keep his statutes and commandments in order to prosper in this world.
Yet because God promised to give these blessings to those who keep his statutes and commandments faithfully, you who have become his children need to receive and enjoy every one of them. To enjoy these blessings, we must first keep his statutes and commandments, and after receiving them, we must have a faith that fears and serves Yahweh all the more. The promise that those who obey God will gain beautiful cities, fertile land, and people to help them still stands today.
If we obey the word, we can receive not only spiritual rewards but the blessings of this world as well. Only faith can move the heart of God. I hope, then, that you will honor him with a true and upright faith. Of course, this does not mean you should do nothing and only pray. You must do your best to prepare for the future and work to develop your abilities. If, while making these basic efforts, you obey God’s commands, submit to his statutes, and stay faithful, he will fill your life even with blessings you never asked for.
When people are filled with the Holy Spirit, they live brightly and boldly even in suffering. A faith that walks with God raises our sense of our own worth, and because of that we do not sink into the world’s troubles or grow anxious and discouraged. God’s blessing gives us strength to overcome the world; that is why we must be sure to receive it. But there is something to be careful about when we receive God’s blessing. When many blessings we never expected come to you, then, as Deuteronomy 6:12 says, you must beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Surprisingly, we see many people stumble when they are blessed. They forget the God who rescued them from suffering too heavy to bear and grow proud, and in that pride they leave him as if they had gained their blessings by their own ability. Sadly, we sometimes see people who, after long years of patient endurance, at last receive a blessing, yet instead of giving thanks they only complain, until it is taken from them. It is God who blesses, and it is God who rebukes the proud. No one is more foolish and senseless than a person who forgets God, the master of all things, and parades their own righteousness until the blessing is taken away.
When Israel forgot Yahweh, who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt, and grew proud, God struck them all down in the wilderness, and that wrath of God is eternal death. Those who came out of Egypt all died in the wilderness, unable to enter Canaan because of their own sin. You must not forget the gratitude you felt when your prayers were answered. It is those who give thanks in all things, pray without ceasing, and know how to rejoice in small things who are loved by God.
Because God’s blessing is a blessing that cannot be taken away, we can go on enjoying it only if, as Leviticus 18:4 says, we do his ordinances, keep his statutes, and walk in them, and strive to keep our faith from wavering.
2 Samuel 5:12
12David perceived that Yahweh had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.
Because David believed that Israel had crossed the Red Sea, he had confidence in the God who parted the sea. He knew from his own experience that God had protected him as he had protected Israel, and had worked many miracles and wonders for him. His faith was spiritually perceptive and keen, and that is how he could see God’s love and grace even in the midst of suffering.
For God’s people, nothing brings more happiness than experiencing firsthand the grace of God at work on their behalf. David knew the trouble God had taken in causing him to conquer Jerusalem so as to establish him as king, and that knowledge kept him from betraying God. You too will have times when you confess that God has been with you in every moment. Then, if you, like David, sincerely give thanks for the love that moved you from suffering into blessing and never forget it, you will enjoy a blessing that will never be taken from you.
2 Samuel 5:19
19David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
Can you see David praying? He had received a blessing that could not be taken away, and with it the strength to defeat the Philistines whenever he fought them; yet he is praying, asking God whether he should go to war. Whether he was suffering or held power, David always sought God’s permission. This is because he had a humble faith that acknowledged that his life and even everything he owned belonged to God.
This is exactly the kind of person God wants his people to be. For David as he was now, driving off the Philistine soldiers was no great matter. Though he could easily have driven them off, David, inside the impregnable city of Jerusalem, is praying like a weak man, asking God to help him. How dear David at prayer must have been in God’s sight! What would God withhold from David, who held immense strength, authority, and wealth, yet leaned on God and prayed for help? God went ahead of David and broke his enemies before him, so that David would not have to shed blood in battle.
Seeing God fight for him in person, David named the place Baal Perazim, meaning that God had helped him and broken his enemies before him. Baal Perazim is a confession of faith that the victory over the Philistines came not from his own strategy or military might but only because God had helped him. The Philistines were so terrified of Israel that they abandoned all the images they had brought and retreated. But perhaps resenting that they had fled and left even their images behind, they regrouped their soldiers and attacked again. When David saw the Philistines return, he once more asked God what he should do.
It is astonishing to see David pray yet again after so great a victory; how could anyone have such a humble faith? Such a faith was what enabled him to endure King Saul’s endless attacks, and it was probably because he did not take revenge that he was loved by God.
2 Samuel 5:23-24
23When David inquired of Yahweh, he said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them in front of the mulberry trees. 24When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.”
This time God said that he himself would take part in the battle. As David heard God tell him to attack when he heard the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, his heart, we can imagine, was racing. It was astonishing enough that God would draw up the strategy, and his word that he would send his angels on ahead to strike the Philistines was something marvelous beyond anything a human being would presume to imagine.
It is a promise to turn an earthly war into a heavenly war for David’s sake. God’s promise to face and defeat in person the nation that was harassing David is the blessing of blessings. If God summons his angels against the Philistines, no one in the world can defeat David. When we simply obey God’s word and entrust our lives to him without doubting, we can receive blessings as wonderful as this.
What do you fear most as you go through life in this world? If people, health, or money troubles are attacking you, entrust them to God. He will answer you in your weakness as you pray in faith. And he will go before you and comfort you, telling you not to worry, because he will take care of every care and anxiety of this world. If, like David, you put to death your hot temper, cherish life, teach your children the word, and live humbly in a low place, you can receive the same blessing David received. David’s blessing is not reserved for special people. If you live as one dead to the world, as David did, and keep God’s law with your very life, it is a blessing fully open to you as well.
Friends, as we live in this world we may suffer hardship and be in pain because of it, but it is all right, because God is with us. As David experienced, God will summon his angels, turn your problem into a heavenly war, and settle it for you. I hope you will not give up, telling yourself that since you cannot solve this problem no one can, but that, whatever the problem, you will pray without doubting until God answers. Then the answer to that problem you could never solve will appear before your eyes. There is no problem God cannot solve, so if you pray persistently and cling to him, you will receive a far better result than the one you wanted.
I hope your life will become a beautiful vessel that holds miracles. If you walk with God, your life will be one miracle after another, and it will become a holy instrument that brings honor to God. Moses said that if you love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might, you will receive great blessing. May you, like David, be blessed as God’s holy people; may you always keep his word in your hearts and live by faith as his children.