FBC Morning Light (4/27/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. Before we get to our two separate passages that we're going to look at this morning, I wanted to tell you about a brief conversation I had with a man, oh, 35 years or so ago.

He was a godly man, and he and I were both kind of lamenting how so many older Christians that we knew were bitter, and it didn't make sense to us. And we openly wondered, what is it that causes so many older people to become bitter?

And throughout my life, from that point forward, from time to time, I would revisit that question. And, well, that question is highly appropriate to where we are reading today. The first passage I'm going to read is from 2 Samuel chapter 23, and this is about David at the end of his life.

And I will tell you that what you likely already know, there's many things in David's life for which he could have been very bitter about, and yet I don't find any hint of bitterness in what he's going to say here.

David’s Last Words and the Hope of an Everlasting Covenant

And so let me read this to you. It says, and starting in chapter 23, verse 1, says, now these are the last words of David. Thus says David, the son of Jesse, thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel.

The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

Although my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire. Will he not make it increase? But the sons of the rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands.

But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. So David is taking a step back, and he's looking, and if you notice, who is it that he is attributing all of his life to?

It's essentially, God has done these things in my life, and it's not going to be about him controlling things, all right? And that is an aspect of what we're going to find is the key to not becoming bitter.

Accepting God’s Sovereignty in Old Age

Now go down to 2 Chronicles, excuse me, 1 Chronicles and chapter 28. Says now, David in verse 1 says, David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel, the officers of the tribes and the captains of the divisions who served the king, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officials, the valiant men, and all the mighty men of valor.

All right, so David has brought in basically everyone who's meaningful to him, who's meant to him, and he's at the end of his life, he's weak, he's sick, he knows he's near the end. Says, then King David rose to his feet and said, all right, so just the idea that he rose to his feet, everyone there would have been totally fine with him not rising to his feet, but he rose to his feet as a sign of the significance of everyone being there and to express to them his appreciation.

Hear me, my brethren and my people, I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God and had made preparations to build it. But God said to me, you shall not build a house for my name because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.

All right, so David is going to go on and he's going to talk about how Solomon then is going to take over the kingdom, and Solomon is going to be the one who builds this house for the ark of the covenant and as a footstool for God.

And yet in all of this, you don't see bitterness in David. What you see rather is one who has accepted God's sovereignty over his life. All right, and I'm going to submit to you that that is the key to not becoming bitter, is to see that God's hand on your life is, or God's sovereignty over your life, rather, is the key to seeing it doesn't matter what color the carpet is.

It doesn't matter what I have for lunch. It doesn't matter how much sleep I do or do not get in a situation. The little things sometimes or sometimes big things in our minds that cause us or that we use as a source of bitterness oftentimes are just things that don't matter all that much, right?

I had an opportunity this week to meet with someone who is well advanced in years and is not bitter at all, and this person talked graciously of being thankful for everything that the Lord had done for her, and that's all that this person wanted to talk about.

That person clearly understood God's sovereignty over her life, and that, I believe, is the key as we move forward and we all get older to not becoming bitter, is to accept what God has for us in his sovereignty.

A Prayer for Gracious Acceptance of God’s Will

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the words of David and for his acceptance of you and your sovereignty and what you did in establishing establishing him in his kingdom and that he was a righteous ruler in spite of his troubles and in spite of his opportunities for bitterness, he chose to accept your sovereignty.

Thank you for that example, and may we live our lives even this day accepting your sovereignty over us. It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.