The God Who Walks with His People

There's a portion that we're about to hit that it just man it just means so much to me and I hope I can convey it to you because I think I think I think if you see what I see it'll mean a lot to you because we're all going through stuff right and uh if y'all remember last week or maybe you don't remember last week um anybody remember where we were last week we left off okay [laughter] um last week David had finally gotten through the throne the to the throne we have been with him for months. We've been with him for a year. We've been through him with his struggles. We've been through David since 1 Samuel, early in the book of 1 Samuel. And here's what we saw. Uh we saw a guy by the name of Samuel anoint Saul. Saul wasn't a good king. God removed him from the throne, but he had chosen David. And when David was just a wee lad, like a teenager, the Lord sent Samuel and he anointed David as the king. And David then after the anointing went back to go raise the sheep. And then by, you know, the Lord's hands was on him and then he got invited to the house of Saul. He uh he kills Goliath. But then Saul gets jealous because Saul's not particularly a great guy. And he chases David down year after year, month after month, day after day. David's on the run. David is fighting Saul. David's having to deal with Philistines. David have have to do at the cave of Adulum. He actually even has to fight his own people for a little bit. I mean, life was rough. And that's what we've been through for months with David. And now we start at 1st Samuel chapter 7 and David is finally on the throne. Woo! Man, this is a great time. So, that's where we left off last week. David's come onto the throne. God had given him rest from his enemies, and we talked about that. And if you remember last week, the way we ended it was David was walking and he was thinking and he was thinking about how good God is. And this is the thought that he had. You know, here I am. I'm in this beautiful house made of cedar. You smell cedar smells so good. It's like having a Christmas tree around you all the time. He's like, I'm out here, but God's dwelling in in a tent. and and young kids, this is why David said, "God's dwelling in a tent." Because way back when, I mean, let's go back hundreds of years. We're going to go back to this little man named Moses. And when Moses was called to lead the people out of Israel because there were a bunch of slaves in Egypt, and the Lord said, "These are going to be my people because of a promise I had to Abraham. And I want you to take them and I want you to take them outside of Egypt." And as they started going, the Lord said, "Oh, yeah. I want you to build me a meeting place. And the way you're going to build the meeting place is going to be a tent. You know, we're going to we're going to throw together some cloth. We're going to we're going to put that's where I'm going to meet you and we're going to, you know, make special sections in that tent. But at the end of the day, it's a tent. And when Moses and the Israelites were walking through the desert for 40 years on their pilgrimage, that's where God would have a shikina glorious where he met them in in the tent. So when David took to the throne, he's like, "Man, got this palace. I got this house of cedar and God's in a tent. I want to build God something special." And you know what? That's a good thought. And so he calls his buddy Nathan. Nathan's like the head preacher. He's the prophet. And he says, "Nathan," and Nathan's a great guy. I mean, he's going to do some awesome things in the future. Very bold for God. He says, "Nathan, I got this great idea. I'm gonna build God a special place. It's going to be awesome. So awesome. And Nathan says, "Hey, do all that's in your heart because, you know, a pastor also wants to do great things for God." And you're thinking, let's see, the king signed off on it. The pastor signed off on it. Everything's good to go. And that's kind of where we're picking up. But there was one thing that David didn't do and that the prophet didn't do because nobody asked God. H And so if you'll just bear with me for just a minute, we're going to pick up and the next few verses in first in 2 Samuel chapter 7, I'm going to give you the Melvin Revised Version because it's a little bit easier to understand. But when we go to the exposition, we'll go back to the King James. Just just bear with me. Melvin revised version starting with verse four. But that night, see, David and Nathan went to bed thinking, "Okay, tomorrow we're going to start the construction project. It's all going to be good." And have you ever gone to bed one night only to wake up the next night and your plans were completely different? Or have you ever been at a breakfast table and life changed? Or have you ever opened up a that that thing from the doctor or you're sitting a mellow mushroom with your family on Christmas Eve? Have you ever had one of those moments that just completely changed the direction of your life? Because that's what's about to happen. But and if it hasn't happened to you, it will. But that night, the word of God came to Nathan and said, "Go tell my servant David this is God's word on the matter. Melvin revised version. You're going to build me a house to live in. Why? I haven't lived in the house from the time I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt until now. All that time I've moved about with nothing but a tent. And in all my travels with Israel, did I ever say to any of the leaders I commanded to shepherd Israel, "Why haven't you built me a house of cedar?" So, here is what I want you to tell my servant David. It says the Lord of hosts. Another way to translate that is the God of the angel armies. Yeah. And remember, an angel killed 187,000 Assyrians in one night. The God of the angel armies, so the Lord of hosts has a word for you. I took you from the vasters. I took you from tagging along with the sheep and I made you a prince over my people. I was with you everywhere you went. I mowed down your ene before you and now I'm making you famous. Your name is going to be ranked among the great names on earth and I'm going to set aside a place for my people Israel and plant them there so that they'll have a home and not not be knocked around anymore and I'm going to give you peace. That's the Melvin revised version. Let's go back to the King James. Everybody got an idea of what God said? He enters into the question. But this is a verse I really start off with and I want to look at as we go through the exposition. Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent in a tabernacle. Well, there's a couple of things I want to notice about that particular verse. The first thing I wanted to note about that verse is how gracious God is. Um, there isn't a trace of irritation in his words. He doesn't rebuke David for his presumption. He doesn't say, "Who told you I wanted to?" It's it's almost like a loving father sitting his son down. But what's fascinating is I have not dwelt in any house since the time I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt. Isn't that interesting?

Bec before God tells David what's going to happen,

he reminds him what has already happened. Catch that. He he he that's pretty significant. He reaches all the way back to Egypt. Hundreds of years have passed since he led him out of Egypt, since Moses did it. Entire generations have come and gone. Joshua went and and conquered Jericho in the entire land. Uh the period of judges and this multitude of judges came on up and they've come and gone. Saul has reigned and Saul has died and now David is sitting on the throne in Jerusalem. Yet when God begins to speak, he takes him all the way back to Egypt. And that tells us something about God. He wants his people to remember his faithfulness. And he still does. He wants his people because throughout scripture, one of the great themes of God again and again is he calls his people to look back. Not because he wants us to live in the past, but because remembering the past strengthens our confidence for the future. Before Israel ever entered the promised land, he he reminded them of Egypt. Before Joshua led him across the Jordan, he had them put up a stone to remember. The Psalms repeatedly rehearse the mighty acts of God. Even when we come to the Lord's supper 2,000 years later, Jesus tells us this. Do in remembrance of me, calling us back to his faithfulness. Second Peter chapter 1, Peter starts out the book talking to the elect family of God and he says,"I will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things." And then he says in another verse to stir up your me remembrance because Peter understood that we sometimes often need reminding more than we need new information. Second Timothy, the Apostle Paul's writing to Timothy and he he says here, I want you to remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. So Paul begins by reminding them about the risen Christ. The church is to remember the cross so that we can walk in our fellowship. Paul tells believers to remember what they once were so they will marvel on what grace has done. Now there's I I think the reason is is because we're kind of forgetful people. We can remember [laughter] I'm so good at this. This is like a superhero power I got. I can remember an insult from 20 years ago. And yet I struggle to recall the answers to prayers that I prayed last month. I uh I can remember a doctor's report and get frightened but forget the countless days that God has quietly sustained me before the report ever came. And and one of the human conditions is we tend to rehearse our disappointments far more than we rehearse God's goodness. So God calls us to remember not because he wants us to live in the past but because by remembering his faithfulness we'll have confidence to go forward in the future and even now in the present. So when we intentionally look back and trace his hand through those ordinary days and those extraordinary moments and those difficult moments what we see as we begin to see what David was learning. God has been faithful long before we recognized it. He's going to be faithful long after we've forgotten today's burdens. So, this is something else in this verse, too, because the Lord says something that's almost surprising. He says,"I have walked in a tent in a tabernacle." Now, if y'all remember Solomon, he's going to write a little bit later that the heavens of heavens cannot contain God. So, God was never confined to a canvas. When he says, "I've walked in the tent in the tabernacle." He's not talking about, "Hey man, I was confined to this." So why does he describe himself this way? And I think it's because the tabernacle was never about limiting God. The tabernacle is about revealing God. That's why we're going to park here for just a little bit because I want y'all to think about this. Everywhere that Israel traveled through the Sinai desert and through the land. Everywhere the Israel traveled, the tabernacle traveled. When the pillar of cloud moved, the camp picked up and moved. And the Levites took the curtains down. They carried the furniture. And then they would set it up at their next campsite. If Israel spent three days there, the campsite and the tabernacle stayed there. And and think about what that means. God wasn't waiting for them at some distant shrine. He was with them every step of their journey. And so y'all know that distinguishes Israel from every other religion on the face of the earth at this time. Because if you read your scriptures, the Moabites thought their deity was found was was chimosh was confined to the temple. The Philistines thought that Deeon, he ruled in the temple and that's how he affected the seas, but he was limited to the temple. The Greeks would worship Artemis in Ephesus, but then they would worship Apollo in Athens and Athena in Athens, I'm sorry. And even the Syrians, if we go back to First Kings chapter 20, the the the Syrians thought this is what they said. This is why Israel beat us. Their gods are the gods of the hills. Therefore, they are stronger than we. But let us fight them in the plane. And then God whipped them in the plane because the Lord says, I am the Lord of lords, the God of the hill and the valleys. So the God of Israel, your God, has never been confined to a mountain. He's never been confined to a city. He's never been confined even to the tabernacle. He's never been confined to a Sunday. Your God is with you every step of the way. He was with Israel in Egypt. He was with Israel in Si. He was with Israel in the wilderness. He was with Israel in Canaan. Wherever his people journeyed, he journeyed. That was the point that God was making to David. David, I've never asked for a permanent house because my greatest desire and delight has never been a building. It's always to be with my people. And and that truth I think touches much further than just the wilderness. Because if you remember the journeys of David, when David was at the cave of Adulum at the lowest point of his life, God was there. When he wandered through the wilderness of Ze trying to avoid all the Philistines so that f Saul wouldn't find him, God was there. when when he crossed the Jordan, when he he returned to Hebrew, and when he finally entered Jerusalem as a king, God had been with David all along. And it's kind of comforting, at least for me, because life has a way of convincing me that God's presence is is synonymous with my circumstances. But the tabernacle reminds us that God's presence is never measured with by our comfort. He's just as present in the wilderness as he was in Jerusalem. He's just as present with Israel with sand in their sandals as he was with David and cedar over his head. The scenery changes. God does not. So what David was learning was that God had been present with him at the cave of Adulim. And the Lord that meets us in worship on Sunday is also worth with us on Tuesday. The tabernacle reminds us that God has a joy in his people. And uh I got all my grandkids with me, but yesterday it was just me and Shepherd. So we built a blanket fort. Now any dad knows what a blanket fort is. Comes in the dead manual. You put chairs together, get some pillows, you put old blanket. is never going to make better homes and garden.

But what makes blanket fort special is a shepherd and I are together. It's just the joy of being with someone that you love. That's how we need to view God. And the tabernacle was nothing more than a blanket fort. So if the tabernacle reminds you of nothing else, let it remind you that God joys in being with his people. And I think that's why the Lord calls on us so often to remember because gratitude flourishes when remembrance lives. Here's what David is learning time and again. God has been faithful long before he recognized it. And he's going to be faithful long after David's failures. And I wonder if perhaps that's one of the reasons that you and I become so anxious about the future. Because we spend so much time imagining what might happen tomorrow that we forget about what God has already done yesterday, rehearsing our fears far more often than we rehearse his faithfulness. And yet, if I were to ask you to sit down and write out the many ways that God has blessed you and delivered you over your life, I would imagine that most of you all could fill out an entire book with that. if you really sat down to think about it. Some of you could tell stories about illnesses that you survived. Others could speak about financial hardships that you honestly didn't know how the bills would get paid, but somehow God provided. Others could point to seasons of grief and you wondered if your heart would ever feel whole again. And looking back now, you may not understand every detail of the chapter, but you can now say with David that the Lord was with me. And I want you to think about this language because it says, "I have not dwelt in a house, but I have walked in a tent in the tabernacle." Here's something else we can take away from that.

The tabernacle was never designed to impress anybody. If an Egyptian nobleman just happened to to walk into Israel's camp, he would not be amazed by what he saw. The Egyptian pyramids towered towards the sky. And it wasn't until the 1800s that humanity even reached that height. Again, um the temples that they had, not just the pyramids, but the temples that they had in other phase were were lined with massive stone columns covered in car carvings and precious metal. And you compare those structures that existed at the time with Israel's tabernacle. Well, Israel's tabernacle looks kind of simple. uh wooden frames, animal skins could be taken apart, carried across the wilderness, assembled again wherever they stop. And and but that's where the beauty is because God was in the campsite. And and and God wasn't trying to compete with with Pharaoh's architecture. He was trying to teach people something about his heart. He was showing him and them that his presence was never dependent on magnificent buildings. He was willing to to dwell among a pilgrim people whose lives were still unfolding one campsite after another campsite. And I got to tell you, the tabernacle must have been a lot of encouragement to those Israelites who never saw their life settled because I want you to think about those 40 years. Most of those people uh a lot well a significant number of those people were born in in in the desert. Um they married in the desert. They buried a lot of people in the desert. And every few weeks or every few months, the trumpet would sound and then the camp would take be taken down and another journey begins. Humanly speaking, this must have felt like so many of us feel like life was in constant transition.

Every single time they look toward the center of the camp, even in those transitions, every single time they look to the center of the camp, tabernacle is still there. It's like God saying to them, you may not know where you're going next, but you don't have to wonder whether I'm going with you. And I suspect there are people here who need this reminder because life has become unsettled. Perhaps your health has changed. Perhaps retirement has brought more uncertainty than you expected. Perhaps your children have grown. You've moved away and the house feels strangely silent. And I used to think silence was something I want. I wanted, you know, but then the kids grew up and they moved out. And now I've discovered there's different kinds of quiet. You know what I'm saying? there's a quiet of peace. But but the other kind where you walk past the empty bedrooms and and think

[sighs] life happened awful fast. Man, I remember Mike saying one time, "The days are long, but the years are short." I think it's one of the truest things ever spoken to this church. Some of us right now and some of y'all right now are caring for aging parents and the roles are quietly reversed. The people that want cared for you now depend on you. Others are are facing decisions about work or family or finances. And there's no easy answer. Life has a way of making us feel unsettled. And I hope you see the encouragement of the tabernacle because wherever they went, tabernacle went with them. David understood the feeling of uncertainty long before he ever lived in this palace. He spent years living wherever he could. One season it was a cave of Adulum. Another season it was in the wilderness in Zetti. Later it was going to be in Zachlag with the Philistines. David knew what it was like to go from bed to bed wondering whether he would be sleeping even a month from now. And perhaps that's why these words from the Lord meant so much to him. I have walked with my people. In other words, David, while you were running from Saul, I wasn't waiting for you back in Jerusalem. I was with you in the caves when you crossed into the wilderness. I crossed into the wilderness when you hid from the forest. I was the one that caused the birds to chirp. I was there before you arrived. And I got to be honest with you, I think this is one of the sweetest truths in scripture. God doesn't meet us at a destination. He accompanied us on the journey. And sometimes we speak as maybe the Christian life is arriving somewhere spiritually. I I do know that's one of the pernicious implications of prosperity gospel. But we imagine if we could just solve one more problem, overcome one more struggle, get through one more difficult season, then everything will finally be set. But it just doesn't happen. Most of our life isn't lived at a destination. Our life is lived on the road. That's certainly true of families. Looking forward to graduation only to discover that graduation leads to weddings. Then weddings lead to grandchildren. And grandchildren lead to wondering why you suddenly have toys scattered all over your house again. Somewhere. Amen. Somewhere. Amen. Somewhere along the way, you realize life isn't a series of destination. It's it's the journey. And every season brings its own blessings and challenges. And the good news is that our Lord has always been a God who journeys with his people. And the tabernacle delivered that truth every single day. Centuries later, John would use this language that sounded wonderfully familiar to anybody that knew the Old Testament. The word was made flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us. So our God took on human form. He didn't change. He lived among the common, the ordinary, and the everyday. So the same God who walked with Israel through the wilderness stepped into this world through the person of Jesus Christ. He knew what it was to grow weary. Any of y'all tired? He knew what it was to be misunderstood. He knew what it was to weep at the grave of the love. He knew what it was to be rejected by people that he came to save. And our God Jesus did not redeem us from a distance. He walked our roads. He bore our sorrows. And he carried our sins to a cross. And it says he did it for the joy that was set before him. You see how that worked? God remembered on the cross while he was doing it. For the joy that's you that was set before him. For the joy that's you who he built a blanket for it with so he could hang out with it. That's you. And at the cross Jesus accomplished everything necessary to bring his chosen family to heaven with him. A family, by the way, that outnumbers the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky. It is a number so vast that no man can number. It is a people that include from every nation, kindred, tongue, and tribe. Y'all, that is straight Bible talking. That's not my Melvin revised version. That's scripture. It's larger than the primitive Baptist church. It's larger than the Christian faith. The chosen family of God to whom when Jesus paid their sins, he said, "It is finished. He died for remembering you for that joy that was set before him." And so the fellowship. So by that Jesus established the relationship with us. He adopted us into his family according he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. You're his child because he adopted you, not because you said some magic prayer, but because it's a sovereign act of God. And so, he's established the relationship. And what the gospel does is it says, "Okay, you got the relationship. Let's work on the fellowship." And you get to know this God who tabernacled among you. You get to know this God who has taken so much joy in you. You get to know this God who has known every bad thing that you have done or will do and still died for you. That's the God that you get to worship. And this gospel is God's wonderful invitation to all his children. Hey, if you've departed, come back, walk. If you've made a decision without consulting me and like building me another house of Cedar, I don't need that. just enjoy my fellowship because this is the truth of this passage. God is not waiting for us at some finish line when we finally get our acts together. He's with you in your struggle now. He was with Israel in the wilderness. He was with David in the cave. He was with the disciples on the road to Emmas. And he's with every child of God today, no matter where they are. And wherever this coming week may lead us, we will never take a single step alone. This was true for Israel in the wilderness. It was true for David in the palace, and it's true for us today. The greatest treasure wasn't the curtains of the tabernacle. It was the God who met his people there. So, if you've been looking for a church home, [laughter] come on into the blanket fort and enjoy the God who loves you. Uh we give you that chance as we stand to sing hymn Remember?

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