The Work of God—Man’s Way or God’s Way

“Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they anointed David king over Israel.”* (2 Samuel 5:1-3)

Before this time of acceptance of David’s calling as king of Israel, his pathway had been opposed. He was accused of treason, accused of an intention to murder the rightful king, accused of ambition, accused of a desire to “take over,” etc. He had been pursued as a fugitive, exhaustively, and had only escaped death by the mercy of God. The death of King Saul, his tormentor, was followed by a horrible civil war in Israel. In all this, David had chosen to follow the path that God had traced for him to follow.

But now we read of a complete removal of all internal opposition—a complete acceptance of the man and his mission. It is worth noting here that this acceptance did not come from a depth of conviction before God on the part of the elders of Israel and the majority of Israelites. They were not living in such a way as to bring depths of conviction before God; they were largely affected by events. Abner roused support for David, but both he and Ishbosheth, the son of Saul who reigned in his stead, were slain by treachery. The house of Saul was utterly removed from the throne, and the people saw little alternative to David.

When everything seems to go one’s way—this is a better measure of a man’s character than adversity. What was in King David’s heart? What was revealed as he began the task for which he had been so long prepared?

“And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.”* (2 Samuel 5:12)

David didn’t conclude that he had simply outlasted the opposition, or that he was simply stronger or more skillful. David realized that God had done the establishing; God had opened the door for him to take up the work for which he had been anointed. This was a true perception, and it is vital to have and to keep foremost at all times. Can I do as I please in what I think is right? Do I take the work of the Lord into my own hands in His name? Or is the fear of God upon me? Do I hold my position and influence as a sacred trust, given unto my stewardship by the hand of Him who knows all things? “And David perceived that the Lord had established… that [the Lord] had exalted [David’s] kingdom for [the Lord’s] people Israel’s sake.”

The work is not mine, even though it is in my hands. I am entrusted with the gospel. “As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”* (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

The way in which King David went about the work of God as king of Israel is in strong contrast to the way that King Saul did. These scriptures are given us by divine wisdom for our profit and comfort, and there is much here for meditation and food for thought. The difference in these two administrations is revealed to our eyes. If we had lived at the time of these two kings, before the complete story was manifested, it would have been much more difficult to discern the differences, but we are privileged to know the rest of the story. Were not both kings appointed of God for certain duties and responsibilities? Yes. David’s entire position toward the removal of King Saul from office was, “If God put him in, then God must remove him.” David was strongly tried on his stand for this truth, but he took his stand and God helped him to stay with the right. “The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed.”* (1 Samuel 26:11) There was more to this than just refraining from doing violence to King Saul. We might accurately characterize this as David’s stand against human politics. He stayed clear of the artful maneuvering of the politician. Here is the contrast with the administration of King Saul: “Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds”* (1 Samuel 22:7)? The man (David) who refused to take things into his own hands was enabled to go about the business of ministering to Israel in an entirely different way than his predecessor. A different ideal was in his heart and mind (2 Samuel 23:3-4).

We have met so many ministers who feel they have a right to take their ideas of how things should go, and tack them on to what God says. “This is my ministry, my congregation. I have a right to run it as I see fit. As long as I do not contradict what God says, then it is mine.” Do you not think that God has a way that He wants things conducted that is not spelled out completely in written form, but is left to Holy Ghost guidance? Of course, true Holy Ghost guidance never contradicts the written scriptures in any way, but harmonizes completely with the Word’s direction and underlying meaning. But nowhere do we find in the Bible that we can do as we please, binding out personal convictions as disciplines and creeds upon others. Our best enlightened vision is not established as a substitute for the Word of God and the Spirit of God, and I have no right to discipline others in His church to line up with my ideas, thus putting my ideas on a level with the Word and the Spirit. None of us are exempt from the Word of God; none of us have the right to do as we please. As to what God thinks of me adding things to what He binds upon us all, we read in Revelations 22:18-19, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Note how specific is this warning: “If any man shall add unto these things….”

You see, if God allows men to add to what He has given, then what He has given is not quite adequate. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”* (2 Timothy 3:16-17) The Bible can make a man of God perfect because the Bible is perfect. It is perfect for everything that is needed. Its obscurities are necessarily obscure; its hard-to-be-understood things (2 Peter 3:16) are there for reasons known unto God. It will do and does do just what the Author intended, neither more or less.

We’re reminded of the man who had a dream in which God handed him the Bible, saying, “George, here is the Bible. Just make it over to suit you.” And in the dream, the man handed the Bible back to God, saying, “Lord, the Bible is all right, just like it is. Please make me over to fit the Book.”

Now I am sure that there are sincere ministers who venture out unto this sinking sand with the best of intentions. They read such scriptures as Hebrews 13:17—“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you”—and conclude that their responsibility is to carefully and judiciously lay out rules for their flock to follow. However, this scripture does not justify the creation of rules by them that have the rule over others, but it emphasizes the divine calling of certain members of the body to hold before all, including themselves, the rules that God has already made and revealed. It is in this sense that the ministry “rules” over the laity. God enlightens His Word, expounds upon the meanings, and gives utterance to His chosen vessels in a way that is authoritative and binding for time and eternity to all who want to please Him and be acceptable to Him.

You may say, “What about things given ‘by permission’* (1 Corinthians 7:6)?” You will note that the rest of the verse reads, “But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.” It was necessary to distinguish between counsel/advice and commandment. Things that God allows you to speak by permission are not God’s commands. Brother Paul was advising others to consider not marrying, even as he was not married, for greater consecration to the will of God, but this was not a commandment (1 Timothy 4:3; 5:14).

We talked once with a dear soul who had certain rules bound upon her by a well-meaning ministry. They required her to do and not to do certain things in trusting the Lord with health. She promised. And she felt that this promise had been a help to her when she was tested. She felt it steadied her and kept her within certain bounds. No doubt, the ministers who bound this upon her felt justified by her reaction, but I could not. I knew that God values the motives of what we do even more than whatever it is that we do. If this sister kept to the outward boundaries of trust in God because she wanted to keep the rules and thus keep in favor with a certain body of people, was that motive pure and acceptable before the throne of God? God requires a trust in Him that goes further than this.

We have groups of people who all more or less dress modestly and plainly, for they are under a set of rules that is bound upon them, but God is looking at the individual motives of their hearts. Some of them please God by having a modest and humble heart as well as a modest and unadorned exterior, but a large number, I am sorry to say, know little to nothing about the motives in these things that are imparted by the Holy Ghost. They have a name to live, but are dead. They look like they are saved people; but in heart, many do not know God and are simply following rules. God works from the inside out, but man works from the outside in, and man doesn’t usually get very far in, either—certainly not to the depth that God requires of every one of us.

“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.”* (Isaiah 29:13)

“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”* (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”* (Romans 2:10)

This last text was spoken by Brother Paul about the Jews, and it also describes in general the administration of King Saul. This man—rejected of God for disobedience and stubbornness—chose to hold on to the position that God had given him. He held on to his destruction and the great hurt of Israel. He chose to try to accomplish his idea of the work of God on his own in the name of the Lord. He chose to be susceptible to the fear of man. And God permitted him to do so as a object lesson to all the generations of people following, including us. Leaving aside for a minute all the wicked things that he did, let us consider what he did that seemed right. “And the woman [a witch] said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”* (1 Samuel 28:9) “Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. …(now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)”* (2 Samuel 21:1-2) We learn of this zeal against the Gibeonites because King David had to clean up after it. We might also remember that King Saul fought against the Philistines and suffered no idolatry in Israel.

What then was the difference between the administration of David and the administration of Saul? They both fought the Philistines. They both stood against idolatry. But God was with David, whereas God was not with Saul. True, but how did this manifest itself? How can we know the difference?

“When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.”* (2 Samuel 5:17-18)

This was the same problem that King Saul had faced—over and over. God allowed His people to be opposed by these militant, aggressive enemies. In God’s appointment of these recurring crises, He had lessons for His people if those emergencies were met each and every one as God intended. In other words, it is not just in going through the battles, surviving and beating the foe, that God has in mind, but there are certain things to be gained in trusting God and walking with Him each and every time. Are we getting out of our trials what God has for us? Are we just interested in maintaining a certain line of conduct, or is there more than that to be gained in each conflict?

“And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.”* (2 Samuel 5:19)

It is not just another battle with the Philistines. Or another battle of sickness. Or another battle of misbehavior on the part of someone. It is not just routine—a matter I can handle with human wisdom, using precedent as a guide. If I am going to obey Proverbs 3:5—“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding”—especially avoiding the leaning to my own understanding, I must do as David did: inquire of the Lord. “Lord, how do You want to handle this.” And the man of God got an answer from the Lord. (Do you get answers from God in your battles?) And the man of God did just as God directed him.

Now this did not happen just once. “And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.”* (2 Samuel 5:22-24) This is very plain. God does not go about every battle exactly the same. Victory over standing-for-the-truth-in-our-own-way is just as important as victory over the Philistines. Victory over me is critical; victory over my “I think” spirit.

It is necessary for me to win the victory in God’s appointed way, for there is more than just the obvious enemy to conquer. Put another way, our humanity needs to be outwitted and humbled under the mighty hand of God. We need this. It is not just a preferred outcome, it is essential; it is a matter of spiritual life and death; it is heaven or hell. Only in this way can we not give some place to our adversary that will give him the advantage over us. True religion of this caliber is beyond the ability of man on his own; “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”* (Jeremiah 10:23)

Now if I live this way, with this freshness of God-appointed victories, there is an accompanying upswelling of praise to God, of giving all the glory to Him, that floods the soul. It crucifies self; it humbles the flesh; it leads to an esteem, a value, and a magnification of the presence of God that will make you seek out the Ark of God (wherein He dwells between the two cherubims, even His Word and His Spirit). Glory to God! Just as a mother’s milk imparts all kinds of benefits to the baby, so winning victories in God’s appointments with trials, in His way of going through each of those trials, yields benefits beyond calculation. Hallelujah!

“When our hearts are full of gladness,
Which we joyfully proclaim,
How it cheers the sad and lonely,
How it magnifies His name!”*

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”* (Psalm 103:1-5)

We pause in our rejoicing over the presence of the Lord of hosts to express sorrow and pity for what King Saul missed. He missed so much. Grimly fighting off the enemies of Israel. Trying to hold a certain standard for the Lord without the blessing of doing it God’s way. Oh, how terrible to miss the blessing! To have a name to live while dead! Yet the majority of “Christian” legalists are in the same condition, more or less. How many neglect the Ark, while attempting to fight the battles of the Lord!

“Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.”* (2 Samuel 6:1-2)

Listen, O reader! Do you catch the note of triumph, of rejoicing toward God, as this army of victors went “to bring up from thence the ark of God”? God has given us the victory, and we want to exalt His name. How sad that the ark needed to be brought up! How grievous that it had not been kept in prominence, honored and exalted of all! Such was the fruit of the administration of the rejected-by-God king and the people. But now there was a different note indeed in the administration of King David.

But in all this rejoicing, revealed to our wondering eyes, was a solemn reminder to those brethren of a different dispensation, so long ago, of the absolute need of doing the work of God as He wants it done. How little, how very little, human excitement, zeal, and enthusiasm really amount to! The brethren back then made a mistake—an innocent mistake. They certainly didn’t mean to. They forgot to consult the Word of God as to how to move the Ark. They didn’t mean to forget. This was all so new to them, this wonderful blessing of being in His order with His abiding presence, after it had not been experienced for so long, that they inadvertently neglected to transport the Ark as God had instructed so long ago.

God knew this, of course. God loved them. God understood them. God knew what would happen when He manifested His displeasure. But, O my brethren, let us get the lesson! It is so important that we do things just as God would have it done, that it is worth the shock of Uzzah’s death, the consternation of King David, his displeasure with God (2 Samuel 6:8), his being frightened of God—scared of God. I say again, it was worth the shock. Surely the Lord does not think as we do (Isaiah 58:8-9).

Divine wisdom informs anyone who will listen that the Ark was not to be moved on a cart, even a new one. I would to God that the authors of the proliferation of different fellowships would pay attention. They keep building their carts. They keep engineering their “improvements,” of which Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun. They design shock absorbers and different kinds of tie-downs, motive power, driver training, etc., while neglecting to realize that there is a way that is God-ordained, prepared for all who love Him, that works, has worked, will always work. Oh, brethren, let us do it God’s way. Nothing else is worth considering.

There is a happy sequel to Perez-uzzah (the breach of Uzzah). They got it right, brought that precious residence of God’s abiding to a proper place of esteem and honor among them, ignored the scoffing of the skeptics (such as King Saul’s daughter), and continued to follow the Lord. May we do the same.

“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency!”* (Deuteronomy 33:29)

“Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.”* (Psalm 144:15)