Enquire of the Lord...

(2Sameul 5:23) “And David enquired of the Lord.”

This portion of scripture has relevance in every believer’s life and if I am honest it is Spurgeon who drew my attention to this truth or rather God through Spurgeon. How often have I walked as a victorious Christian in a particular area of my life and then thought to wash my hands by stepping back and saying, “next”. Only to find myself falling once again in the exact area I thought I had once conquered. The reason for this is possibly some form of pride and definitely the lack of understanding. “We have been saved by GRACE through FAITH which is a GIFT of GOD, not of WORKS lest any man should BOAST.” In other words, our faith, our conversion, and our eternal salvation, are not the mere products of any natural abilities, nor of any merit of our own; these things are not brought to pass by anything done by us, and therefore all boasting is excluded; he who glories must not glory in himself, but in the Lord. There is no room for any man's boasting of his own abilities and power; or as though he had done anything that might deserve such immense favours from God. We do not receive grace because we deserve it, it is the exact opposite, and it is because we are in such desperate need of help that God has had pity on some and poured out His mercy. Our minds in understanding must always be reminded of this truth, as soon as my mind moves from here to look for justification in what I have done, even if it is a good deed, I have fed an orphan and I want to pat myself on the back, I have forgotten my place in God’s kingdom. I have received GRACE through FAITH and it was a GIFT. We must all do good deeds, but when we look for justification in what we do we have not understood the GIFT of God, that GIFT is His Son Jesus Christ the Lord; a free gift to all who would dare to believe this simple message of salvation and fall to their knees in repentance and call upon the name of the Lord.

Let me prove this to be true; why do some believe the gospel message and others don’t? I want you to think about that, we may come up with different portions of scripture to justify why we believe and why some reject the gospel. John 3 gives us a very clear indication of why people reject this life giving message; “and this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19)

All this really proves is that sinners deserve hell; that people love darkness rather than light. But every person that finds themselves holding to this truth as they live in sin, which is darkness have not received the GIFT of God or they have found repentance and now look to live in the light, they once loved darkness but now are drawn to the light. Why some and not others? It is a GIFT of God, some have received a life line, and their eyes have been opened to the light. Why then do we see so many "born again" believers failing in righteousness and why are there so many bad examples in this world of ours? It is because we still have a body that is drawn to sin, it is a body (flesh) that was born into sin and whenever it gets a chance it will run to darkness and yet even with so many failures in our lives we have received the will to walk in righteousness, we may fall, I have fallen many times but I will not and must not look to condone my actions for sin in my life. I will by the GRACE of God fall on my knees and ask for forgiveness. How is it that I find the will to live like this, it is a GIFT of God. God has put this hope in all who confess Jesus as LORD. You may ask why some people look to live like this and not others. I would then ask you, why do we give gifts to certain people and not to others? Is it not in our power to determine who we show mercy too? Yes it is!

In South Africa we have many beggars at the traffic lights throughout our country. Does every person give money to the needy, no, but some do! They have it in their power to choose whether to give or not to give. Does God not have it in His power to give grace to whom He chooses? He certainly does and He will pour out His mercy on whom He chooses. Some will repent and believe while others won’t. The question we need to ask ourselves, has God shown us mercy and if He has we must thank Him for His mercy and never forget that it is a GIFT of God and that we never deserved His mercy but we now have it. The human race demands justice and that is why criminals are brought to trial. We are all guilty of sin and therefore deserve the sentence of hell, but God who is rich in mercy sent His Son to pay the price for sinners, but only repenting sinners will escape judgment, only those who believe on the finished work of Calvary will go free.

I now wish to address those who have received the Spirit of God, those who have by GRACE (free gift) through FAITH received the GIFT of GOD we must never forget that we once deserved hell but now we are free from that sentence. Let our minds not look to justify ourselves now that we are free to serve the living God. David understood this better than most!

Let us now consider my original point; when I begin to walk as a victorious Christian in a certain area of my life and I must never let pride raise its head and begin to justify my actions as if I am better that my brother because he falls in the area I now walk as a victor. If I do this, then before long I will also fall in the exact same area.

David went into battle and he defeated his enemy, but before he would go into his next battle he would enquire of the Lord to ensure that God was with him and that He would give him victory over his opponent.

“When David made this enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as many have in other cases, “I shall be victorious again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord’s hands?” Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength of the Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had ensured the same. He enquired, “Shall I go up against them?” He waited until God’s sign was given. Learn from David to take no step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid, if we would leave to his sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, “As sure as ever a Christian carves for himself, he’ll cut his own fingers;” this is a great truth. Said another old divine, “He that goes before the cloud of God’s providence goes on a fool’s errand;” and so he does. We must mark God’s providence leading us; and if providence tarries, tarry till providence comes. He who goes before providence, will be very glad to run back again. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go,” is God’s promise to his people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to him, and say, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.” C.H.Spurgeon

Let us therefore not take for granted the victory we have in our lives in the battle against sin, we must always remember to fall upon our knees and call upon God and find grace in time of need even if we have been victorious in times past, and our dependency must always rest with His mercy.

Signing off

Tyrone