Sitting Before The Lord

READ: 2 SAMUEL 7 (Text: v18)

There’s something about our culture — we find it very hard to SIT STILL for any length of time. We’ve lost the art of solitude. No time for contemplation.

I’m sure King David was a busy man — he had a whole kingdom to run — and yet it’s quite obvious that he still made time to regularly sit in God’s presence. I know that must be true because of the scores of Psalms which he wrote. Psalms of worship and prayer. Psalms which are rich and weighty and which have the touch of eternal reality upon them. They’re quite obviously the product of wonder and musing.

Here in 2 Samuel 7, we read how David receives the most amazing revelation of God’s Word of promise to him by Nathan the prophet — how God is going to build David a house (David had wanted to build a temple — a house for God. God said, “No, David, I’m going to build YOU a house”.) God would establish David’s throne forever.

When David receives this word from the prophet, his immediate reaction is to go, as I imagine he had done so many times before, and SIT BEFORE THE LORD. We read it in VERSE 18. [READ.]

Sometimes he had sat before the Lord . . .

* UNDER THE STARS - while shepherding sheep.

* IN ROCKS AND CAVES - while fleeing for his life.

Now he is the great King of Israel, and he kneels (most probably), in the courts of the Tabernacle. But, as always, it’s the same presence of God.

It doesn’t really matter where we do it, does it?! We can kneel at the altar here in precious times in God’s house, we can sit before the Lord in our home, or some other place, in good times, or in troubled times. We will find God never changes. He’s waiting for us to just SIT BEFORE HIM.

David wrote in Psalm 139:

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into Heaven You are there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, You are there. If I take the winds of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”

So, it doesn’t matter WHERE we sit before the Lord, BUT — I want to show you tonight that it DOES matter HOW we sit before the Lord. David sat before the Lord in a very productive way.

1. DAVID SAT BEFORE THE LORD WITH A HUMBLE HEART

David was not a perfect man — he made his share of mistakes. He knew what it was to really blow it. But one thing about David — HE ALWAYS KNEW HIS PLACE.

Whereas Saul became proud because of his position as king — David never suffered from the same false illusions of grandeur. He never forgot that it was the Lord who had raised him up in HIS purposes. And he kept a humble heart.

Listen to the very first words David utters as he sits before the Lord [(v18) - READ AGAIN.]

Many men, hearing of God’s promises of greatness for them, may become proud and loud. But not David. “WHO AM I”, he says!

ILLUSTRATION: There is story from the Welsh Revival of 1858-1860 of the preacher David Morgan. He was holding meetings at a place called Devil’s Bridge. The account is written by one of the deacons of that church of how they had experienced a particularly powerful sevice with a tremendous sense of God’s presence and moving. After the meeting he was walking with David Morgan through the darkened streets of Devil’s Bridge, and so near was the revivalist to his God that the deacon dared not break the silence for quite some time. Eventually he spoke up and said: Didn’t we have a wonderful meeting tonight Mr.Morgan." To which the preacher replied, "Oh yes. God would do great things for us us - if only he could trust us no to take the glory for ourselves!" And then the village rang with the sounds of David Morgan crying out ...“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory”.

David sat before the Lord with a HUMBLE heart. If WE desire revival we must come and sit before the Lord in the same way. PRIDE will kill any revival — who knows how many times revival has been stifled before it even got started because of pride.

2. DAVID SAT BEFORE THE LORD WITH A WORSHIPFUL HEART

This goes hand in hand with humility.

You see, for David it was GOD AND HIS GLORY that mattered. God was not a means to an end for David. God IS the glorious end of everything.