God In Everything!

God In Everything!

Dr. Jay Worth Allen

In 2 Samuel 15 & 16, we see David display a striking blending of light and shadow. This was David’s darkest hour, yet in it, we see not only the shinning forth of some of his loveliest virtues, but we also see his friends and followers at their best.

David’s favorite son, Absalom, and his chief counselor, Ahithophel, had turned-traitors, risen in rebellion, and through stealth and conspiracy, had usurped the Throne and the hearts of the people. So David, barefoot and hooded (2 Samuel 15:39), along with a few faithful friends, hightails it out of the city.

Now, how are we to view David here? As a scared puppy, or as a contrite penitent? I prefer the latter. David’s refusal to stand his ground against Absalom’s rebellion is not moral weakness, but spiritual strength. David saw the righteous retribution of God upon his sins against Bath-sheba and Uriah, and accordingly he humbled himself beneath God’s mighty hand. David meekly bowed before the Lord’s chastening rod, bringing “forth fruits worthy of repentance,” which is as acceptable to God, as “the fruits of righteousness” in their season.

David’s sins had found him out. So he bowed his head and humbly accepted His reproofs. He crossed the Kidron and ascended Olivet barefoot, in tears (2 Samuel 15:30), turning his face toward the wilderness . . . where he and his little following, while coming down into the valley leading to the Jordan, come face to face with, Shimei, a descendant of Saul, who starts throwing rocks and cursing David. Now David was not a man, naturally speaking, “to suffer fools gladly.” But in this instance he endured with silence. Ablishai, one of his friends, wanted to kill the guy, but David told him, “No. The Lord has told him, ‘Curse David’” (2 Samuel 16:10), which raises a language problem in the relationship of God to evil; but David was not guilty. He spoke to a solemn truth.

David saw God in everything, in every circumstance. To David it was not Shimei, but the Lord. Ablishai saw only a man, and like Peter, wanted to defend his beloved Master (John 18:11). Both Peter and Ablishai were living on the surface, looking at secondary causes. The Lord Jesus, living in total subjection to the Father, answered Peter, “The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” This gave the Lord power over everything, because He looked beyond the instrument of God, beyond the “cup,” to the Hand, which filled it. Whether it was Judas, Caiaphas, or Pilate, He could see that it was, His “Father’s cup”, which is where we see David in his reaction to Shimei. He looked beyond man, up to God, and with bare feet and hooded head, bowed before Him saying, “The Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David.’”

Are you there? Is the Church there? Is the Church, corporally and individually, reacting like David in the valley, or like Peter in the garden? Are we seeing God in everything? Or are we living on the surface, ensnared by seeing secondary causes, and not seeing God in everything? If we are . . . ergo, Satan gets the victory over us.

If we, the Church, could lay hold of the fact that every event, every happening, even those where the voice of God may not be heard, His hand not seen - it is His hand holding the “cup” from which we drink - what peace would surround us. Men and Matters in this life would become welcomed agents, instruments and ingredients in our “Father’s cup.” Our minds would be tranquil, our spirits calm, our hands restrained. We would give-voice with the sweet Psalmist, “My days are like a shadow that declines, and I am withered like grass. But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and Your remembrance unto all generations . . . Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalms 102:11,12; 103:1).

May we all begin to see God in everything.

God In Everything!
Published 11 May 2011 on Freed In Christ! blogsite.
Published 12 May 2011 in FAITH Column of The County Journal.

Link goes to A Brief History of Redemption

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