David's First Ways

David’s “first ways” are stated in II Chronicles 17:3-4—“The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father David’s earlier days and did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, followed His commandments, and did not act as Israel did.” Therefore, David’s “first ways” served as a warning as a pattern. His first ways were his best ways, but that should not be true. Deterioration in the spiritual life is an anomaly.

The Christian’s life should never be subnormal—a misfit. God sees the whole of everything. Therefore, “Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars” (II Chr. 16:7-9).

Asa induced Ben-hadad (an idolater) to break treaty with Baasha. Here was a believer teaching an unbeliever to be untrue. Did Asa think that all was fair in war? Believers are “in” but not “of” the world (John 17; I John 5:19). Here we see a believer acting worse than an unbeliever. God laid the good prophet by the heels in prison, and He laid Asa by the heels in his bed. What a lesson for us! (See II Chronicles 16:7-14.)

The story of Asa’s transgression shows what happens when the best believers are left to themselves in the worst of times. Asa did his best at the first, but the conclusion of a trial should be better than the beginning. This is another lesson for us! Our model is Proverbs 4:18—“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” As stated earlier, God sees the whole of everything. We see but little of anything. God exists through all times; He sees all things in all places; and He knows all things, even to the number of hairs that are on each head. Furthermore, God knows not only everything that has been, but what will be and can be.

Even Socrates could say, “Whosoever denied providence was possessed with a devil.” God’s government is practically denied, abused, or condemned when men (1) walk contrary to the checks and balances of providence, (2) omit prayer, (3) lean on impatience, (4) praise means rather than God, and (5) have difficulty discovering the will of God and their own duty under doubtful providences. God’s will is a great globe with two aspects. Man does not see or understand the sphere; he sees the hemisphere of the revealed—not the secret. Secret things belong to the covenant God; revealed things belong to God’s covenant people (Deut. 29:29).

God’s existence through all times proves His eternality. His knowing all things prove His omniscience. God does not get knowledge of things by hearsay and reports, but by His own inspection. God uses men, but He is either in them or with them. It is not material things that interests God most, but it is His own things. God is the only true judge; other judges are either too favorable or too severe. Suppose you had a problem and you requested help and advice from several persons. Having come to the conclusion that God is the true Judge—others are too favorable or too severe—there is only one choice for the Christian.

The mystery of providence is a subject of great debate. Some question the unequal distribution of providence. It is high presumption for ignorance to judge God’s proceedings. How can finite understanding prescribe measures and methods to finite wisdom? To question providence is to question wisdom. Man sees only the present, the external; but God sees the whole and the internal. Upon due consideration, the inequality is not great at all but the complaint is great. The little good that some have is better than the highest enjoyments of the wicked. The Psalmist said, “Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the LORD sustains the righteous” (Ps. 37:16, 17).

The universal plan originated from God, the Creator. God is the source of all things, apart from evil. In Paul’s sermon, he said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, For we also are His children” (Acts 17:22-28). Paul also said, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).

It is impossible for man to survey the whole universal plan of God. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite. When God spoke to Job, He said, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job. 38:4-7). (Compare this with Romans 11:33-36.)

As fallen and sinful creatures, we cannot—apart from grace—press into the height of that pure and holy world. The infinite and eternal Holy One is enthroned in unattainable height above all the creatures, until the proper time arrives for Him to be manifested. Paul said to Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen” (I Tim. 6:13-16).

The universal plan of God originated not only with Himself, but the purpose of God is being executed by and through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Since it is impossible for man to survey the whole universal plan of God, Christians are able to see that God’s royal rule embraces the whole of creation, the kosmos—sun, moon, stars, planets, angels, cherubim and seraphim. The ages were called into existence in the Son of God. There is a circular movement from God to God. Ezekiel saw a wheel within a wheel (Ezek. 1). In the highest view, the whole symbol declares that God is the Lord of the universe. Observe the different parts of the symbol! The lion is the highest among the wild beasts, the ox among the animals, the eagle among the birds, and man over all. God, however, is the All-Highest. The earth is in God’s plan—creation, catastrophe, and restoration. What the first Adam failed to do, the second Adam shall accomplish.

Man, as the viceroy of God, explains the enmity of Satan. This explains the mystery that there can be a new earth only by perfecting the earth for man. This will be fulfilled in the coming kingdom (Is. 65; 66; II Pet. 3; Rev. 21, 22).

The earth, though small in comparison to other planets, acquires significance for the whole universe. This is always God’s plan. “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:6-8).

God originally divided to the nations their inheritance, but in doing so, it was according to the number of the sons of Israel. In the arrangement of the divisions, God had a special reference to His chosen nation of Israel. Therefore, Israel became the most important people among the peoples of the world, because through them would come not only the Savior of the elect, but also through them would come the oracles of God. (See Psalm 115:16, John 4:22, and Romans 3:2.) What some people call luck and chance in the government of the world, Christians call circumstances and events of divine providence.

Providence and sin have become a problem with many. How did it originate? Did God permit it, or did He ordain it? Many believe that God only permitted sin, but does this answer the problem? This only pushes the problem one stage further back. Why did God permit it? Non-intervention and non-interference must, in relation to God, be something positive—not helpless or frustrated inaction. Sin, therefore, must not be excluded from this comprehensive foreordination.

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.