Devotions

“So David went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with him” (1 Chronicles 11:9, NKJV).

The mighty warriors of 1 Chronicles 11 helped David conquer a new capital for his kingdom, a story told in verses 4-9. The modern nation of Israel has made a big celebration of the 3,000th birthday of this city, Jerusalem, as the center of Jewish life.

It was not an easy prize. The Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem flatly told David, “No way. This is a tough, fortified city, and you won’t get inside.” In fact, 2 Samuel 5:6 records their insult: “Even the blind and the lame can ward you off.”

So it is with every attempt to do something significant for God. It is never simple. Whenever God stirs us to establish His kingdom in a new place, the enemy is sure to taunt us. The devil always tries to convince us that we’ve tackled too much this time and we’ll soon be humiliated.

But David and his warriors pressed on. They would not be turned back. In fact, David made an unusual offer: “Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander-in-chief” (1 Chronicles 11:6). This meant being the first to head uphill against well-armed soldiers perched atop thick walls, just waiting to rain down arrows and rocks. David’s young nephew Joab, however, seized the opportunity to perform this exploit. He broke into the city first, and thus he became David’s leading general for years to come.

That is not how we select leaders in the church today, is it? We go by resumes, seniority, image, education, and a half-dozen other human criteria. By contrast, David looked for bravery and boldness in the real world of battle.

If we are courageous enough to go on the spiritual attack, to be mighty men and women of prayer and faith, there is no limit to what God can accomplish through us.

Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson and a frequent speaker at the Expect Church Leadership Conferences sponsored by World Challenge throughout the world.

"Out of the belly of hell cried I" (Jonah 2:2). Why did the Lord take Jonah so low? He was in the belly of a living hell, suspended in darkness, hanging between life and death. Why would a merciful God put a servant through this? I believe Jonah's story shows us how God deals with disobedient servants.

Jonah was in this hell for three days and nights. Yet, in all that time he never prayed. The storm hadn't brought him to his knees and neither did his brush with death in the whale's belly. Only after three days and nights do we read, "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly" (2:1).

Why didn't Jonah pray before this? It was because he was convinced, "I am cast out of thy sight" (2:4). He described God as having mercy for Nineveh, but Jonah couldn't believe for the same mercy for himself. He thought, "I'm a dead man. I can't fall any lower. God has turned His back on me. He hates me for what I did."

Nothing could have been further from the truth. When Scripture says, "The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah," the word for prepared means enrolled. God had picked out a huge whale and put an urgency in that creature. So when Jonah went overboard, the fish was there, ready to swallow him. The Lord was still at work.

The truth was, God was speeding Jonah on his way to Nineveh. Soon the prophet would be walking in sunlight again. He would preach boldly in the streets as a chosen messenger.

What did God intend through Jonah's belly-of-hell experience? For a season Jonah knew what it was like to feel dead. He couldn't pray. God had hidden His face, and the prophet had no one to turn to. Hell for Jonah wasn't the seaweed sweeping over him, or being pounded back and forth. It was the sense that God had lifted His hand from his life.

It was all meant to test Jonah in his disobedience. God wasn't demanding, "Now will you obey Me, Jonah?" Rather, He was asking, "Whose word will you believe in this awful hell, Jonah? Mine or the devil's?" Finally, we read, "Then Jonah prayed" (2:1). "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee" (2:7). Jonah rushed back to God's loving arms. Then he testified, "Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice" (2:2).
 

How could such a prayerful man as Jonah drift away from his calling and fall into disobedience? It begins with a partial, incomplete knowledge of God's nature.

Jonah was given a powerful revelation of God's grace and mercy. He testified, "I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil" (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah claimed this revelation was the reason he ran away: "Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish" (4:2). By his actions he was saying, "Lord, You so easily forgive all who repent. Every time you pronounce judgment, You are overcome with mercy. I know You're not going to judge Nineveh. As soon as I prophesy, they'll repent, and You'll pour Your grace on them."

Do you see the problem with Jonah's reasoning? He is describing only a partial revelation of God's nature. And he is accusing God of being soft on sin. Of course, God is everything Jonah describes here: longsuffering, willing to forgive, ready to pour out abundant grace. I thank God for this marvelous revelation of His nature. It has been the most life-giving truth I have ever known. I love preaching mercy to God's people.

But the Bible also speaks of God's holy, righteous nature. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Roman 1:18). Surely Jonah knew this side of God. How could he neglect it?

I believe Jonah had no understanding of the fear of God. If you think of God only as merciful, you will find it easy to disobey His Word. You'll believe He esteems His warnings lightly, that He doesn't mean what He says. I believe this was the root of Jonah's disobedience.

Such fear has to be sought diligently. And it must be implanted in us by the Holy Spirit: "If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:4-5). Like God's mercy, the fear of God is life-giving: "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death" (Proverbs 14:27).
 

Have you been taught by Jesus in your secret closet of prayer? Have you sought Him for things you can't get from books or teachers? Have you sat quietly in His presence, waiting to hear His voice? The Bible says all truth is in Christ. And He alone can impart it to you, through His blessed Holy Spirit.

A question may now arise in your mind: "Isn't it dangerous to open my mind to a still, small voice? Isn't that why so many Christians get into trouble? The enemy comes in and mimics God's voice, telling them to do or believe some ridiculous thing—and they end up deceived. Isn't the Bible the only voice we're supposed to heed? And isn't the Holy Spirit to be our only teacher?"

Here is what I believe on this matter:

1. Like the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is a distinct, living, powerful, intelligent, divine person in Himself. He is not a person of flesh, but of spirit, a personality in His own right. And He rules the Church. He brings divine order, comforts the hurting, strengthens the weak, and teaches us the riches of Christ.
2. Scripture calls the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Son: "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts" (Galatians 4:6). He is also known as the Spirit of Christ: "What manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them" (1 Peter 1:11). "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). It is clear that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are one and the same. Christ is God, and the same Spirit emanates from both. The Holy Spirit is the essence of both Father and Son, and is sent by both.
3. There is a way we can be protected from deception during deep, searching prayer. Our protection is in waiting. The voice of the flesh is always in a hurry. It wants instant gratification, so it has no patience. It is always focused on self rather than the Lord, always seeking to rush us out of God's presence.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came and demanded that Jesus show them a sign from heaven (see Matthew 16:1). Jesus responded, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Matthew 16:4). Later, Jesus called His disciples together and asked, "Whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:15-16).

Jesus declared, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). Christ was saying, "You didn't get this revelation just by walking with Me, Peter. My Father revealed it to you from heaven." In short, Peter received the glorious, initial revelation that comes to everyone who believes. The glory of Christ's salvation was being revealed in him.

Yet, we read, "Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ" (16:20). Why did Jesus say this? Hadn't heaven itself already announced that He was the Lamb of God who had come to save the world?

The fact is, the disciples weren't ready to testify of Him as the Messiah. Their revelation of Him was incomplete. They knew nothing of the cross, the way of suffering, the depths of their Master's sacrifice. Yes, they had already healed the sick, cast out devils and witnessed to many. But even though they had been with Jesus for those years, they still had no deep, personal revelation of who He was.

The next verse confirms this: "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples" (16:21). In other words, Christ began to reveal Himself to them, showing them deeper things about Himself. The rest of the verse continues, "how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."