Tag Archives: King David

June 4, 2025 · 9:31 AM

Good Reasons to Worship God

The Bible verse for Vacation Bible School in 2025 is Psalm 34:3. Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together (CSB). The heading to Psalm 34 tells us it was written by David about his escape from his enemies the Philistines. David could see God’s hand in the events surrounding his rescue. As a result, he called on others to join him in proclaiming the Lord’s greatness and exalting his name.

In Scripture we find three solid reasons for proclaiming the Lord’s greatness. First, we should exalt his name together because of his character. God is love. He is righteous. He is faithful. He is all-powerful and eternal. He is wise and true. Nobody is like God. If he never did a thing, the Lord would be worthy of our worship simply because of his personal attributes. (See Revelation 4:8.)

Second, God is our Creator. He is also the creator of all that exists. He is the maker of the universe. In the beginning, God created! The Lord is the source and support of everything and everybody. Without God, nothing and nobody would exist. We owe him our lives. We should exalt his name because he has given us life and he has made a marvelous world for us to inhabit. (See Revelation 4:11.)

Third, God is our Savior. We thank God for this life and this world, but we also recognize that we live broken lives in a broken world. Our disobedience against God has wrecked God’s good creation. But the Lord was not caught off guard by our rebellion. He has a plan. He promises to make a new heaven and a new earth without sorrow, sadness, crying, or dying.

God invites us to join him in his new heaven and earth. He offers to rescue us from this world which is passing away. God’s great rescue is accomplished by his Son Jesus. Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice to guarantee forgiveness for all our disobedience. When we trust Jesus, we belong to God. He promises to give his people a special place in his new creation. (See Revelation 5:9:10.)

God’s providence in David’s escape from the Philistines inspired him to write Psalm 34. Verse 3 is a call for others to join David in proclaiming the Lord’s greatness with him. David is not satisfied with simply thanking God personally. He wants others to exalt God’s great name with him. Psalm 34:3 is a call to worship.

Vacation Bible School is one way that we call on others to join us in proclaiming the Lord’s greatness and exalting his name. At VBS we focus on teaching children about God’s greatness so they can worship and serve him. But adult workers and family members are also reminded of God’s greatness. VBS is a call to worship and serve the One who is worthy of our very best.

Pray for God to bless our efforts again this year as we call on others to join us in worshiping and serving our glorious Maker and Savior!

May God bless inspire and empower us to serve him well,

Brother Richard Foster

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April 15, 2025 · 1:33 PM

Is There No God?

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” These words are about three thousand years old, recorded by King David in Psalm 14:1. The temptation to dismiss God as a figment of someone’s imagination is nothing new. And this ancient notion is still with us today.

We live in a world filled with skepticism about eternal realities: life after death, final judgment, heaven and hell, and so forth. Satan has convinced many people that God is nothing more than a threat to their personal freedoms. Without God, he promises, they are free from accountability, thus free to live as they please, to do as they please.

But the old serpent is not telling the whole truth. Without God, we would live in a world utterly devoid of real meaning and purpose. True, we would be able to do whatever we wished, or at least we could try. But whatever we might do would be empty of any lasting value. Whatever momentary thrill we gained would soon be lost and forgotten, just as we also would be.

Life without meaning is a deeply troubling prospect. Those who fear that their lives have no purpose are often visited by depression. We are ‘hardwired’ to believe that life should be meaningful. If there is no God and life truly is meaningless, then why are we so stubborn in our conviction that our existence must have meaning and purpose?

Here are more ancient words from the Bible: “He (God) has put eternity in their hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God has put eternity in the hearts of all people everywhere at all times. In the very core of our being, our mind, will and emotion, we are ‘stamped’ with the idea that life is both valuable and meaningful. This is one mark of the image of God in us. God’s existence is meaningful. So is ours, because we reflect him.

This ‘imprint’ of God’s character on each of us is robust. Parents who lose a beloved child to an apparently random accident or disease might insist on starting a foundation to raise money and do research to avoid future similar fatalities. This good work is done in the name of the lost child. Why? In order to find meaning in a life that was cut off too soon. Living with the idea that the child’s life had no meaning is unacceptable.

Atheists propose a solution to the problem of our desire for purpose and our need for God to supply ultimate meaning. They insist that people can still live fulfilling lives even if God is imaginary and life is ultimately meaningless. How? By simply inventing a purpose for life. In other words, by pretending that life does have meaning, all the while knowing that it doesn’t.

The atheist considers this a bold and admirable move. But is it honest? No. They are asking us to live a dishonest and deceived life. This bizarre solution is ironic since atheists have long accused Christians of engaging in wishful thinking and refusing to face reality.

But what purpose is there in a world filled with evil and injustice? How can we believe in a good God, they ask, considering the terrible pain and suffering in this world? They want us to conclude that either God is not good (since he allows suffering), that God is not all-powerful (since a good God would stop suffering if he could), or that God is non-existent. They opt for the final choice and persuade us to agree with them.

However, the atheist’s argument from the existence of evil is incomplete. There is another possibility. Perhaps pain and suffering is meaningful. This is precisely what the Bible reveals. The greatest example is Jesus Christ. The life of Jesus shows that God is willing to join us in our suffering (since Jesus is God). And, the sacrificial death of Jesus shows that suffering can produce great good. Jesus’ unjust suffering on the cross saves all the faithful from eternal judgment and condemnation.

God loves us enough to send Jesus to join us in our pain and suffering. God despises pain and suffering enough to send Jesus to the cross to sacrifice himself so we can be set free even from death itself. God proves his power by raising Jesus from the dead. God is powerful enough to defeat suffering and injustice and to create a new heaven and earth where evil will no longer exist. God invites us to join him in that new heaven and earth by trusting in Jesus.

May we seek the Lord while he may be found,

Brother Richard

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January 6, 2024 · 12:13 PM

Honoring God His Way

King David wanted to honor God. He made extensive preparations. He gathered a large group of people. It was a big congregation. He put together some wonderful music. They used all the latest instruments.

At first, things went great. But all the enthusiasm and the music came to a bitter end. One of the men serving that day died in the middle of all the excitement. He was struck down by God.

They were moving the ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem. The ark was the ancient container that held the people’s copy of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments reminded them of their covenant relationship with God.

More than that, the ark was a symbol of God’s presence among his chosen people, Israel. They were blessed because the God of heaven and earth invited them to approach him and to worship him.

God instructed the people to keep the ark in the innermost room of the tabernacle, the room called the holy of holies. It was seen only by the high priest, only once a year, and only with the proper sacrifices.

When it was necessary to transport the ark, only Levites were supposed to carry it. When David moved the ark to Jerusalem, however, it was transported on a cart pulled by oxen. The oxen stumbled. Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark.

That’s when it happened. The Lord struck Uzzah down. David was angry. But David also feared the Lord that day. He seriously doubted the ark could ever be brought up. He left it in the house of a man named Obed-edom.

David could have let his bitterness grow and become a permanent barrier between himself and God. Instead, David learned from his mistake. He adjusted. He tried again.

On his second attempt, David made sure the ark was transported as the Lord instructed: not by a cart, but by the hands of the Levites. He also offered sacrifices to the Lord. By offering sacrifices, David was acknowledging that sinners can only approach a holy God by appealing to his mercy and his grace.

This time, things went well. David and the people had a wonderful time worshiping the Lord. The ark of the covenant was brought into Jerusalem where the temple would later be built. There, God’s people would worship him for many generations.

Success! But not perfection. After the worship was finished, David went home to bless his family. His wife, Michal, ridiculed him for his passionate public display of worship. David had been dancing before the Lord with all his might. Michal accused him of making a fool of himself in front of the people. What a disappointment!

David did not let criticism change his mind about worshiping God, even though the criticism came from someone in his own household. He was committed to honoring God with his very best.

This episode in David’s life reveals important truths about seeking and serving God. David learned to honor God on God’s terms. Even though it required him to make adjustments to his original plans. David was committed to passionate public worship, even though it required him to suffer criticism inside his own household.

Let’s worship and serve the Lord with passion this year. Like David, we may sometimes need to make adjustments. And, like David, we may sometimes face criticism. But the Living God who loves us and saves us is worthy of our very best.

Honoring God his way includes participation in regular public worship. And, as New Testament believers, we honor God with the Lord’s Supper. Remembering Jesus’ sacrifice with the bread and the cup is the premier act of worship for Christians.

Honor the Lord his way, passionately!

May we seek to honor God with all that we say, think, and do,

Brother Richard

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June 6, 2023 · 9:15 PM

Hell’s Highway or the Path to Peace?

David was a shepherd-singer who became a warrior king. He had big successes (uniting Israel, defeating dangerous enemies, and establishing Jerusalem as the capital) and big failures (adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband). How did this larger-than-life man choose what pursuits in life were worthy of his efforts? To what authority and direction was such an influential and powerful man willing to subject himself?

Psalm 25 was written by King David. It begins with the words, “Lord, I appeal to you. My God I trust in you” (CSB). David knew where to go for answers, for help, and for encouragement. David knew where to go for direction in life. He went to the Lord.

In Psalm 25 verse 4, David writes, “Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths.” He asks God to make his ways known. In other words, David wants to know what lifestyle choices are pleasing to God and will be blessed by God.

David implores God to make known his ways, to teach his paths. David knows that we do not naturally know or understand the ways of God. This broken world is filled with darkness and deception. Our own hearts are confused by sin and they often lead us astray. God must reveal his ways to us. We cannot find them on our own. God must teach us his paths. We cannot understand them without his instruction.

The Bible often contrasts the ways of the Lord with the ways of the wicked and foolish. In this world, we are tempted to turn away from God’s ways and follow selfish desires, popular opinion, peer pressure, or one of many other destructive pathways. The first step toward God’s blessings is to turn away from the world’s empty promises.

“Teach me your paths,” David writes. God’s ways are like paths. We must walk in them. We must decide to follow the direction of the path, trusting it will lead us to the right place. God’s paths always lead us to him and to his blessings.

The other pathways in life lead to destruction. Yes, they may offer pleasure or excitement for a short time, they may be popular, they may even be easier, but they always end in disaster. They don’t lead to God. They pull us away from God.

David asks to know God’s ways, not for God to bless his ways. David is choosing God’s ways over his own ways, knowing that he is a sinner, knowing that he is prone to wander away from God, not toward him.

Heaven’s blessings don’t come to those who walk on hell’s highway. We cannot pursue the lies of sin and expect the joys that come from God. The peace of God comes to those who walk the paths of God.

When we follow the Lord’s paths, he promises to walk with us and strengthen us along the way. He promises to be by our side and correct us if we begin to stray.

Jesus pictures this truth with memorable words. He says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

In another place, Jesus says that he is the Gate. He also says, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). In fact, in the New Testament, following Jesus is called The Way! Jesus is the way that pleases God. He is the way that leads to God and to his eternal blessings. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is the way to peace with God.

Seek the Lord’s way and walk in it!

May God bless us with a desire to walk his pathway,

Brother Richard

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April 3, 2013 · 11:25 AM

King David’s Support

David was an extraordinary man. He was a mighty warrior, a wise king, a gifted musician and poet. As a king in the ancient Near East some 3,000 years ago, he was in a position of almost unquestioned power and authority. David united the people of Israel into a strong and successful nation, subduing all his enemies. He captured Jerusalem and built his capital there, forging a well-deserved reputation as an effective leader.

David’s successes could very easily have persuaded him that he was invincible. Such power and notoriety could have resulted in a man who was proud to the point of arrogance. But in addition to David’s military might, political ability, and musical talent, he was a deeply spiritual man. David trusted the God of heaven and earth implicitly. In fact, it was his trust in the LORD that inspired him to fight and defeat the giant Goliath when David was still a lad.

David is credited with writing many of the Psalms in our Old Testament. In Psalm 18, he expressed his deep love for the LORD in passionate worship. David recognized that the LORD was his strength, his security, his song, and his salvation. In verse 18 he remembered that his enemies confronted him in a day of disaster, but the LORD was his support. David gave God credit for his victory.

In Psalm 18:6 David recounted how he cried out to the LORD when he was in distress. His response to distress is remarkable. When people are in distress they tend to reveal what their real support truly is. Under stress we discover what we really believe, what or whom we really trust. When serious stress hits, different people run to different things for support. Some people simply go into despair. Apparently they have no support at all.

When you are being pressed hard, where do you go for strength, security, and deliverance? What or who is your support? If a man as powerful, popular, smart, successful, and talented as King David needed the LORD for support, surely the rest of us do, too. David cried out to God, and as David recorded in Psalm 18:16, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me.” What better place to be than in the grip of God?

May Almighty God be our support in all that we do,

Brother Richard

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