Psalm 8:1, add 31:1-3

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in 2 Chronicles 17. The passage that spoke to me and stirred my thoughts included verses 3-6:

2Chronicles 17:3 And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;

2Chronicles 17:4 But sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

2Chronicles 17:5 Therefore the LORD stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.

2Chronicles 17:6 And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.

The first word that caught my attention was because. God does stuff because. One of the great tragedies of a watered-down gospel is the removal of because.

Many are led to believe that, because God saves us by grace through faith and eternal life is a free gift, there is no “because” in the terms God has stipulated for salvation. However, God saves us because Christ paid our debt for sin (Romans 6:23; 5:8-9). Christ is God’s because.

Even so, we are responsible for receiving (John 1:13) the gift purchased by Him, which involves repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Repentance is defined for us (Acts 26:18), and faith, or believing unto the righteousness required is illustrated for us by Abraham (Genesis 15:6) and clarified for us by James (James 2:21-23; see also Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8-10).

And yet, after all of this, the Spirit, through Paul, made clear what we do to express this repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). And this is because of God’s promise that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13, see Joel 2:32; Psalm 116:13 ). The because is God’s promise, and the do that triggers the because is obedience to the gospel command to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, calling on the name of the Lord.

There is always a because. And there is always a requirement to do. For salvation is grace alone through faith alone, but grace through faith produces works of righteousness (Ephesians 2:8-10), and this being absent is evidence of a dead faith (James 2:17).

Along the still waters, I reflected on the truth that God responds to His children because of what they do and what they don’t. The essential caveat is that without faith, nothing we do can please God (Hebrews 11:6), and that faith, the sort that does please Him, is not alone (James 2:17).

“The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because” of what he did and what he didn’t: “[Jehoshaphat] walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel” (2 Chronicles 16:3-4). This is a clear statement of what Jehoshaphat did and didn’t that formed the because that moved God to bless him.

It’s easy to see that God’s because was Jehoshaphat’s faith displayed by his works: because he trusted (had faith in) the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he sought to the LORD and not to the gods of the land (Baalim). He believed in the God of David, and so he walked in the “first ways of his father, David” (2 Chronicles 17:3).*

During his “first ways,” David was conspicuous in the habit of enquiring of God before every decision and action in his role as the leader of God’s people (1 Samuel 23:2, 4; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:15, 23). (This changed after his failure with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12).*) He continued to seek the LORD and was careful to honour His commandments. But he prayed with less boldness and confidence than before.*

We need to follow the first ways of David. If we fail, let us follow his example of repentance and careful observance of God’s commandments thereafter. In either case, let us trust in His grace and show forth His glory through our own do’s and don’ts. Set before Him a pattern of good works: “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you” (Titus 2:7-8).

In the valley, kneeling in the shadow of His Cross, I heard my Shepherd, the “son of David,” call: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).**

2Timothy 2:11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

2Timothy 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

2Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

At the table, He anointed my head with His “fresh” oil (Psalm 92:10) and filled my cup with the portion He has allotted for my day, but carefully intermingled His sufficient grace (Psalm 23:5), so that whatever reproofs meet me in the day, its sufficient evil would not “break my head” (Psalm 141:5; see Matthew 6:34).

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v7c2fmo-shepherds-pasture.html

[*What is meant by David’s first ways is not clearly identified in our text.

However, we can divide David’s service into a part one and a part two by before and after the matter of Uriah, the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba (1 Kings 15:5).

In Part One, David diligently sought the Lord in every matter that presented itself (1 Samuel 23:2, 4; 23:2, 4; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:15, 23).

Then we come to the matter of Uriah in 2 Samuel 11.

David certainly “besought the Lord” regarding the consequence of his sin (2 Samuel 12:16; see Psalm 51). And it’s true that the Hebrew word translated besought is translated enquired in 2 Samuel 21:1.

The word translated besought (2 Samuel 12:16), used when David sought God for his and Bathsheba’s dying child, is rendered enquired in 2 Samuel 21:1, where David is seeking God’s mercy upon the land for the famine God sent because the sin of Saul had not yet been avenged. The Hebrew under this word emphasizes the idea of begging, pleading, requesting, and seeking. Whereas, the word used for enquired in the period before the matter of Uriah translates a different Hebrew word: יִּשְׁאַ֤ל (Yi•Sh-awl’). These two Hebrew terms have the same meaning, with one difference: the word used in 2 Samuel 12:16 and 21:1 includes the idea of demanding and seeking counsel. The difference seems to lie in the petitioner’s boldness and the confident expectation of direction.

One might take from this the idea that David lost a bit of his boldness and confidence before GOD in the second part of his ministry.

This might add insight into what the Spirit promised to the deacon who uses his office well: “For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3:13).

The Spirit distinguishes between the first and later “ways” of David, and the only evidence I have to clarify what was meant is that before the matter of Uriah, David had a greater boldness before the Lord and greater confidence in his expectation from the Lord. It should be pointed out that God continued to use the king and did not withdraw any of His promises from him, as happened, for example, to the promises made to Eli (1 Samuel 2:30). Romans 8:28: God allowed David to continue reigning, He allowed him to go foward with the preparations for the transfer of his kingdom to his heir, and chose another child of Bathsheba to be heir to his throne. And yet, it should be pointed out that the combined weakness we find displayed in David and Bathsheba appeared in their offspring with double strength, and it led to the great division of the kingdom, and ultimately, to the loss of the kingdom to the Gentiles. Yet, even all these things were worked together by God to His good, albeit mysterious purposes (Romans 11:9-12).]

[** According to the flesh, Jesus is the “son of David” (Romans 1:3). We are baptized into Jesus Christ by the Spirit of holiness which declared Jesus to be the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4; 6:3; Galatians 3:27; 1 Corinthians 12:13). By the same reckoning that we who are in Christ are sons of Abraham, we who are baptized by the Spirit into the son of David (Christ) are sons of David, by faith (Galatians 3:7). So that we are made by Christ kings and priests unto God (Revelation 1:6), and jointheirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). In the same way Christ’s rule is elevated above his father, David, our position in Christ seats us with Him (Ehpesians 2:6) in His elevated throne above that of Israel. No wonder our place before Him requires the disposition He embodied on the Cross, and we are called to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5-11; see Romans 8:17).]