Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
January 19, 2003
Discovering God’s Involvement in Your Life
How to: Go On a Daily God Hunt
I Chronicles 28:9-11
INTRODUCTION: King David was one person who had discovered God’s total involvement in his life over the many years. Scripture reveals his many imperfections and flaws, his mistakes, his times of deep sorrow and depression, times when he was being disciplined for his sins--yet the scriptures show his genuineness when it came to serving God. God was with this person and involved in his life in all kinds of circumstances because of his diligence in searching for God in all areas of his life. You could say that David went on a “daily God hunt” and in today’s scripture he wanted his son Solomon to also experience God in his life fully. In verse 9 he said to Solomon, “acknowledge the God of your father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” Solomon was faced with a huge task and needed God’s involvement in every detail of his life.
1. God’s Involvement in Your Life: Are you ever disappointed with God’s involvement in your life? Does God seem far away during the week when you are trying to make decisions or when you are faced with some kind of difficulty? I’m sure that at times we all are disappointed because we try to walk by sight alone rather than by faith. David wanted to give Solomon some tips toward experiencing God’s maximum involvement in his life as he set out to build the temple. God had not allowed David to actually build the temple because he was a man of war who had seen much bloodshed, but He had given David the plans for the temple. Now David needed to turn these plans over to his son, Solomon. He had some advice for His son. These are principles we need in our life as well.
1. Get to know God personally
2. Learn God’s commands and discover what He wants you to do.
3. Worship God with WHOLEHEARTED devotion.
4. Serve Him with a willing mind
5. Be faithful and don’t become discouraged.
2. God Sightings: Are you on the lookout for ways the Lord regularly involves Himself in your life? Think back to an out-of-the ordinary miracle you experienced that caused you to be acutely aware that it was God. How much attention to do you pay to what God is doing in your daily life? If you are not looking, you can miss these sightings or think that they are mere coincidences.
STORY: Os Hillman tells of the time that before he and his wife were married, she went to a wedding shower given by her many friends in a town where she used to live.
One of her friends was known for her intercessory prayer life. This friend handed Os’s future wife a gift bag and said, “I have this unusual gift in there for your husband. I don’t know why I felt led to buy it for him. My husband thinks I’m crazy for giving such a gift as a wedding present, but I was impressed to buy this for him. Here it is.”
When Os’s fiancee looked in the bag and pulled out the creature, she started to laugh. It was a beanie baby named “Ostrich.”
“How did you know?”
“Know what?” asked her friend.
“My pet name for Os is ‘Ostrich’! (TGIF newsletter)
They were both amazed at God’s sense of humor.
God’s involvement in our life can be through little things such as this. It just helps us to see that God’s knows where we live.
Sometimes we are so busy during the week that we rush through the days and hours without the slightest thought that God just “might be interested” in what happens to us on the job, in our families, or in our finances. We are just not tuned in to consulting Him about any of the mundane daily decisions we need to make. Some people will say, “I think it’s the least I can do to give God an hour a week on Sunday mornings.” That’s a start, but what about the other 167 hours in the week. He is close by at all times waiting for your invitation. We must learn, like David, not to limit Him to only parts of our life. It is important that we have this sense of awareness that He is there ready to help us with the every-day decisions whatever they are.
Story: One day Dennis the Menace was trudging slowly up a steep hill pulling his wagon loaded with stuff. The local minister caught up with him and began to talk about God.
“So God is everywhere, Dennis asked?”
“Oh, yes, God is everywhere.”
“Is he in that tree?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Is He in that house?” probed Dennis.
“Oh, yes, He’s everywhere.”
“Is God in my wagon?” questioned Dennis.
“Oh, yes.”
“Well,” Dennis says, “Would you tell Him to get out and push?”
Sometimes God doesn’t interfere in our daily struggles and decisions because we don’t stop long enough to acknowledge him. David told Solomon, “acknowledge the God of your father.” We think, “I don’t need God’s help today because everything is going great. I can Handle things by myself.”
STORY: Out on the cliff’s edge farther than he’d ever been before, he sat with legs danglin high above the valley’s floor. He was lost in thought when a gust of wind unseated him and he began to fall. So he called upon a friend (I guess the only one he could) the one we all forget about when things are going good.
He said, “God, if you will help me now, I’ll quit my sinful ways; I will do those things you’d have me do and work hard all my days; I will quit the booze and cigarettes and help my loving wife; I will spend time with my children and I’ll turn around my life; I will work to help the needy and I promise to repent.”
Just then, a tree limb caught his coat and stopped his fast descent.
And while hanging from the tree that grew upon that rocky shelf, he looked skyward saying, “Never mind, I handled it myself.”
Can you relate to that???
3. The Certainty of God’s Involvement: Even though you can’t always see Him at work, you can have the certainty that He is always there. If you really KNEW and BELIEVED that God was with you 24/7 how would it affect your relationship with Him? Would you expect Him to do more amazing things in your life? Would you go ahead and ask him to work in your life without worrying so much? Would you experience fewer “What ifs”?
Story: A man was getting ready to get on an airplane for the first time. He was being consoled by his friends who saw his fear of flying.
“Don’t you know that Jesus said, “I will be with you to the end of the world?”
“Yes,” he responded, but he also said, “LOW, I will be with you...NOT HIGH!”
Later on in this chapter David told Solomon, “Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you...”(I Chronicles 28:20).
Our fears seem to come from not really knowing the Lord well enough. We are just NOT SURE. Getting to know the Lord really well takes time. It is a process. David told Solomon, “learn to know God’s commands and find out what He wants you to do.”
What he is saying is “Get to know God personally.” That comes about as we walk with the Lord on a daily basis. Get to know where He is in your life by discussing things with him just like you would your best friend. David told Solomon, “serve him WHOLEHEARTEDLY and with a WILLING MIND.
In many ways Solomon grasped this TRUST in the Lord that his father was trying to get across to him.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”
How have you acknowledged the Lord this week in the daily decisions you needed to make?
CONCLUSION: This morning think about how God was present in your daily life this past week. Not just the hour on Sunday morning. Come to think about it, has he been actively at work all week and you just missed out on His “sightings” because you were too busy to look for them or because you didn’t bother to consult Him? Did you think you could “Handle” things yourself and didn’t need Him on this one?
Sometimes it helps us to become more perceptive to His presence by writing down your “God Hunt Sightings.” Keep a journal of the things that “look like” God’s work to you.
How do you go on a God hunt this week? How can you get to know the Lord a little better? Is it possible?
Scripture tells us that it is possible. “If we seek Him (or hunt for Him) we will find Him (His sightings). It has to be intentional and wholehearted on our part. David told Solomon to be completely open to God and dedicated to Him. Get to know God personally.
This morning you can do this by saying, “Lord, I tear down the walls that I have built up around me that keeps You at a distance. I open my whole life to you. I will serve you faithfully and consistently.”
Let us pray:
