It is funny or maybe it isn’t!!!

How many times do we decide what to do without bothering to seek God? 

Every day, I see and hear folks making decisions and plans.  I hear them discussing what they are going to do, how they want to do it and when they want to do it.

They ask friends and family.  Sometimes, they even ask people at work.  They take their plans and their problems to facebook and twitter, they text and email, they plan and organize every detail without ever consulting the Lord. 

Too bad God doesn’t have a facebook page or a twitter account. 

Too bad that God doesn’t answer us when we talk to HIM!!!! 

OH, WAIT!!!  BUT HE DOES!!!! 

Why don’t we take the time to ask God about what we have in mind?  Then we could make an informed decision!  After ALL, God knows everything!!!

It is funny or maybe it isn’t!!! 

How we don’t rely on God for our answers, when HE knows what will happen next, when He knows if we will be victorious or NOT.  How we don’t bother to ask HIM if we should do something or NOT! 

Isn’t it crazy to think that instead of calling on the one who knows the outcome of EVERY SITUATION, we would rather call up our friends, people who most likely do NOT even know what we are talking about until we explain it ALL to them.   

Or go to facebook and tell 100 people to see what ALL of them think, so we can make a decision based on the opinion of folks who know less than we do about our lives or our situations!!!

We need to remember, that we don’t have to fill God in!!!  He already knows it ALL, so we don’t have to spend a whole lot of extra time telling HIM the details and hoping that He understands!!! 

He is the best person to help us understand and consider what decision we should make.  He already knows how the decision, we make is going to effect our lives whether good or bad!!! 

To be truthful, even though we might say that we want an unbiased opinion about our situation, we really don’t!!! 

We ALL want to be thought of in the very best of light and we want others to know and understand why we do the things we do!!!  There are very few of us who do NOT care what others think of us.

And if we would only think about it for a few minutes, we would realize that God is the one who we have to face at the end of time for ALL the things that we have done!!!

What anyone else thinks or thought, says or said, does or did, won’t matter when you come face to face with GOD!!!  That’s when there will be no excuses and you will have to answer for yourself and your deeds!!!

So, the next time when you are trying to decide what you should do, why NOT do something strange; something different?  Why NOT stop and ask the Lord what to do, instead of taking so much time to ask ALL those around you? 

Why NOT make your decision simple???

ASK THE ONE WHO KNOWS ALL THINGS!!!    

  

Would it amaze you to know that even one of God’s favorite men did exactly the same thing that most of us do?  Would you be amazed to find that after David became King, he made a few mistakes? 

We ALL know that David was a man after God’s own heart and that He sought the Lord or inquired of the Lord in most situations.

But do we understand that one of the reasons that God loved David so much, was that when David messed up he stepped up to the plate and admitted his mistakes before God!!!  David had a repentant heart!!! 

David was what you could call a real man!!!  He made decisions and then he took responsibility for the decisions that he made.  That is what a real man does!!! 

Oh sure, David made some lollapaloozas-some real whoppers!!!  He messed up big time and once God even had to send in the prophet Nathan to show him his mistake, but he realized what he did wrong, he always admitted it before God and asked God to forgive him!!!   

Yes, there were times when David forgot to ask God what HE thought or how he should go and it caused major problems for him!!! 

Let look at one of these times, and see what happened!!!

1 Chronicles 13:1-4

 

 ¹And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. 

 ²And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us: 

 ³And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul. 

 ⁴And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

Here, we see that everyone agreed with David that this was the thing to do.  And so David did it.

1 Chronicles 13:5-8

 

 ⁵So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim. 

 ⁶And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjathjearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. 

 ⁷And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart. 

 ⁸And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. 

Wow!!!  They were ALL truly excited and they were ALL celebrating the return of the Ark of God.  They were worshipping the Lord with ALL their might!!!  And you would think that this was a good thing (except they did NOT seek God first.)

1 Chronicles 13:9-11

 

 ⁹And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. 

 ¹⁰And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God. 

 ¹¹And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore that place is called Perezuzza to this day. 

 ¹²And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?

 ¹³So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. 

 ¹⁴And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.

Why is it that many times, something bad has to happen to us before we will call on God??? 

You know, we have ALL done this!!!  Made a mistake, and caused a real problem because we didn’t consult the Lord!!!

I think that this was new for David because he usually went to GOD for EVERY SITUATION!!!  I can see that this scared David and really made him think about what he had done!!!  I know this because David left the ark in that same place for 3 months.  It says, David was afraid of God that day.  
  

David had known God since he was a child looking after his father’s sheep and he had learned to depend on God!!!  God had always been with him and fought for him because David sought The Lord. 



When David inquired of The Lord, the Lord always provided for him.  God always looked out after him!!!

1 Chronicles 14:8-9 (KJV)

 

 ⁸And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them. 

 ⁹And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 

 

Twice the Philistines came against David at this time, and twice David consulted the Lord!!!  AND TWICE GOD GAVE DAVID THE VICTORY!!!

The first time, this is what happened!!!

1 Chronicles 14:10-12 (NKJV)

¹⁰ And David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?”   The LORD said to him, “Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.”

¹¹ So they went up to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there. Then David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore they called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

¹² And when they left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire. 

When the Philistines came against David and Israel a second time, this is what God did!!!


1 Chronicles 14:13-17 (NKJV)

 ¹³ Then the Philistines once again made a raid on the valley.

 ¹⁴ Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.

 ¹⁵ And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

 ¹⁶ So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

 ¹⁷ Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.