Daily Devotional – July 22, 2020

Of summer and it seems like it's going by very, very quickly, doesn't it? Before you know it, the summer is going to be behind us. Is it about a month, I think, until school starts, if that, and it's coming quickly.

So anyway, I hope your middle of the week is going well and you're getting over the hump just fine. Well, have you ever heard this mantra? I know you have. You have something like this. You've got to follow your heart.

What is your heart telling you to do? You have to follow your heart. Don't let anyone or anything stop you from fulfilling your dream. I've heard that counsel given to Christian people. You're a follower of Christ, God will give you the desires of your heart, and you've got to follow your heart and you've got to do what your heart's telling you to do and don't let anything keep you from pursuing what your heart is telling you to do and so forth.

And the thing is that what your heart is telling you to do may be something that is absolutely good and virtuous, something noble, something worthwhile. It could be something that actually is helpful to other people and beneficial, and it could be something that it seems like it would certainly bring glory to God.

Following Your Heart Versus God’s Calling

So if all that is true, shouldn't you follow your heart and pursue what is in your heart? Well, maybe, but maybe not. You remember the testimony of David. David had gotten near the end of his life and in the latter years of his reign as king over Israel, and he'd had a lot of battles and won a lot of battles and come to a place of relative peace in his reign, in his realm.

And he decided one day, I want to build the temple. I want to build a temple for the Lord. Now he had already set up a place in Jerusalem for the ark. And you remember that whole story where he tried to bring the ark from where it was to bring it to Jerusalem.

And the first attempt, it failed because they put the ark on a cart. The cart wobbled, and Uriah reached up to grab the cart, and the Lord struck him dead. And the whole reason was that they were disobedient in the way that they managed the transportation of the ark of the covenant.

It was supposed to be carried on poles and so forth. Anyway, David finally figured that out, and he established a place in Jerusalem, set up a house, a tent, a dwelling place for the ark of the covenant.

But this wasn't like a permanent structure, not like a temple built of stone and wood and solid structure. And David wanted to do this. He really did. He wanted to build this structure to bring honor and glory to the Lord, to bring all of the worship of the Lord to Jerusalem, to the city that God had established for his capital city of the nation of Israel.

He wanted to do this for the sake of God's people, that they might come to one place to worship a central location in the country. And it was a noble, virtuous endeavor. But he went to Nathan the prophet, and he told Nathan, he says, I want to build a temple for the Lord.

And Nathan said, go for it. Sounds like a good thing to do. But then that night, the Lord came to Nathan and said, nope, he's not going to do it. David shares that testimony in 1 Chronicles 28, and he says in verses 2 through 4 this.

Listen to what he says. He says, And I made preparations for building. But God said to me, you may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood. Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father's house to be king over Israel forever.

For he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah, my father's house, and among my father's sons, he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. Now, notice this. It was in David's heart to build this temple for the Lord.

Now, was there anything wrong with that desire? No. And he did a bunch of things to prepare for the building of this temple. Anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. This was a noble endeavor. But this was not the endeavor that God had for David to do.

We know later on, the Lord's going to tell David, David, I want your son Solomon to build me this house. It's later in 1 Chronicles where he talks about that, and Solomon does. But the point is that here was something that was on David's heart.

He wanted to do it. It was an ambition. It was a desire. It was something he was zealous to do. But the Lord said, no, this is not for you to do. It's not that it was wrong. It's not that it was not a noble thing.

It wasn't that David was going to do this out of pride to get glory for himself. None of that was so. It wasn't the motivation was bad. None of that. This was just something that was on his heart that was not for him to do.

So one of the lessons I get from that is that, look, just because something is on my heart and it's something I have a great deal of interest in and a desire to do, it doesn't mean it's for me to do. What the Lord finally helped David to realize and to settle on is that God had given him a place, had given him a role and him a responsibility to fulfill.

And that was the job that he was to fulfill. And he was to learn to be content in that job that he was to fulfill. That's why after sharing this, after saying that, you know, the Lord told me you may not build a house for my name.

Then he says, yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all of my father's house to be king over Israel forever. He took great satisfaction and found great contentment in what the Lord had given him to do.

And what the Lord had given him to do was to be the king over Israel for that particular period of time, to do the conquering that needed to be conquering, the shedding of blood that needed to be shed in bringing judgment upon those heathen nations that had been so corrupt and defiled.

This was the job that God gave David to do. The thing that was now on David's heart is something that God has for Solomon to do. David needed to come to an acceptance of that. And then he found great joy in just being able to say, and astonishment even, in being able to say among the whole nation of Israel, he chose Judah, and all Judah he chose my father's house, and of my father's sons, God chose me to be a king.

And he settled on that. So this is not to be a discouragement to you, to not pursue what may be on your heart that is something you feel very passionate about, and very zealous about, but it is an encouragement to you to question, is that desire simply there because you're discontent with where the Lord has you, what the Lord has given you to do?

And maybe in the pursuit of that which is in your heart you would be turning away from and leaving behind what the Lord really has for you to do. Perhaps the thing to consider is, do I need to just learn to be content with what God's given me to do where I am, and doing what I'm doing?

That's certainly food for thought as you ponder that which is in your heart that you're wanting to pursue. I trust the Lord will give you clarity and understanding and insight as you consider that. Well let's pray and ask the Lord to direct our steps through his word, through his guidance, and through his counsel, that we don't allow our hearts to lead us into something that is really not ours to do.

Praying for Contentment and Discernment

So our Father and our God, I pray that we would follow you above following our heart. We do realize that many times you do give us the desires of the heart that we ought to have and the things that we ought to pursue, but sometimes the desires that we have in our heart are not for us to do.

Give us the sense to know that and to discern that, and give us a sense of contentment and joy and happiness and satisfaction and delight in what you have given us to do and how you have graciously called us wherever you may place us in this world.

This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well have a good rest of your Wednesday, and again if you can make it to the midweek service tonight, we're having, showing video of going to Ireland and Scotland looking for artifacts that tie us to church history in the past.

Midweek Service Announcement and Closing

So I hope you can make it out seven o 'clock tonight at the church building if you can. Otherwise, God bless you. Have a good rest of your day.