“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”
2 Samuel 23:5
In Scripture, God called David, “A man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), and yet we read of the terrible trouble brought on Israel, and David’s own house because of his sins. David’s sins of adultery and murder resulted in the death of his infant son. His proud attempts to take a national census brought a deadly plague to his own people. Because of his sinful failure as a father, his household was further characterized by the attempt of his own son to usurp him as king as well as by the rape of his daughter by another one of sons, who was then murdered by his brother.
Possibly you, like David, know that some of the disorder and suffering in your heart and life is the result of your own disobedience to God. As such, there’s a great temptation to torture the mind with the “if only”, “should have”, “might have been” kinds of thoughts. It is this “disconnect” between what we wish are lives would be, and what is the reality of our circumstances that can result in a discontented and depressed spirit.
David knew his house was not in order. He knew all too well the bitter fruits of disobedience. And he knew that his heart had deceived him a thousand times, resulting in the terrible repercussions of his sin. But instead of allowing these thoughts to overwhelm and depress him, he redirected his thinking to God’s Covenant of Grace with him, “ordered in all things and secure”. Herein lay his peace of mind.
David knew that in spite of his sin, God loved him with an everlasting, unchanging love. He also knew this love was not dependent on him but was bestowed freely on him because of grace and grace alone. David did not have the Covenant of Grace revealed to him as fully as we have, but he, with the other Old Testament saints, “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth” (Hebrews 11:13). He lived in anticipation of the fulfillment of the Covenantal promises through Jesus Christ, who would seal the Covenant by the shedding of His blood. And he therefore knew there was forgiveness and cleansing for those who humbly come to God in confession and repentance, which is what David did.
Indeed, Jesus would come, and has come, and “this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). This means for the believer that he is eternally secure in his reconciled relationship to God even though he is not yet fully sanctified in this life. And not only that, but Christ, because of His sin-bearing suffering and death, has taken not only every sinful failure, but every setback, every affliction, and every disappointment, and sanctified it for good for the believer. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 28-29).
It is the contemplation of this marvelous truth, therefore, which removes the “disconnect” in the mind and heart between a believer’s circumstances and what he wishes his life was like. The believer is now able to see the disorder in his life and heart in the greater context of God’s bringing the believer into conformity to Christ for eternal life in His glorious Presence. The Apostle Paul wrote regarding believers, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Beloved, here’s the antidote for discouragement and discontentedness. Here’s the truth that lifts one from the seen to the unseen, into the very heavenlies. Paul exhorted the Colossian believers to, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (3:2-3).
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ as not only your Savior, but also as your Lord, then you may have confidence that you are under God’s Covenant of Grace, which is “ordered in all things and secure.” Let your mind and heart be at ease. Let the things and concerns of this life fade in importance, and with confidence in God’s everlasting covenant, say with David, “For this is all my salvation and all my desire.” Here’s faith, and here’s true joy and gratitude. By God’s grace, may it be yours.
2 Samuel 23:5
In Scripture, God called David, “A man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), and yet we read of the terrible trouble brought on Israel, and David’s own house because of his sins. David’s sins of adultery and murder resulted in the death of his infant son. His proud attempts to take a national census brought a deadly plague to his own people. Because of his sinful failure as a father, his household was further characterized by the attempt of his own son to usurp him as king as well as by the rape of his daughter by another one of sons, who was then murdered by his brother.
Possibly you, like David, know that some of the disorder and suffering in your heart and life is the result of your own disobedience to God. As such, there’s a great temptation to torture the mind with the “if only”, “should have”, “might have been” kinds of thoughts. It is this “disconnect” between what we wish are lives would be, and what is the reality of our circumstances that can result in a discontented and depressed spirit.
David knew his house was not in order. He knew all too well the bitter fruits of disobedience. And he knew that his heart had deceived him a thousand times, resulting in the terrible repercussions of his sin. But instead of allowing these thoughts to overwhelm and depress him, he redirected his thinking to God’s Covenant of Grace with him, “ordered in all things and secure”. Herein lay his peace of mind.
David knew that in spite of his sin, God loved him with an everlasting, unchanging love. He also knew this love was not dependent on him but was bestowed freely on him because of grace and grace alone. David did not have the Covenant of Grace revealed to him as fully as we have, but he, with the other Old Testament saints, “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth” (Hebrews 11:13). He lived in anticipation of the fulfillment of the Covenantal promises through Jesus Christ, who would seal the Covenant by the shedding of His blood. And he therefore knew there was forgiveness and cleansing for those who humbly come to God in confession and repentance, which is what David did.
Indeed, Jesus would come, and has come, and “this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). This means for the believer that he is eternally secure in his reconciled relationship to God even though he is not yet fully sanctified in this life. And not only that, but Christ, because of His sin-bearing suffering and death, has taken not only every sinful failure, but every setback, every affliction, and every disappointment, and sanctified it for good for the believer. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 28-29).
It is the contemplation of this marvelous truth, therefore, which removes the “disconnect” in the mind and heart between a believer’s circumstances and what he wishes his life was like. The believer is now able to see the disorder in his life and heart in the greater context of God’s bringing the believer into conformity to Christ for eternal life in His glorious Presence. The Apostle Paul wrote regarding believers, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Beloved, here’s the antidote for discouragement and discontentedness. Here’s the truth that lifts one from the seen to the unseen, into the very heavenlies. Paul exhorted the Colossian believers to, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (3:2-3).
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ as not only your Savior, but also as your Lord, then you may have confidence that you are under God’s Covenant of Grace, which is “ordered in all things and secure.” Let your mind and heart be at ease. Let the things and concerns of this life fade in importance, and with confidence in God’s everlasting covenant, say with David, “For this is all my salvation and all my desire.” Here’s faith, and here’s true joy and gratitude. By God’s grace, may it be yours.