Go Back to the Davidic Heart

When ancient Israel was set free from Egypt, they began to wander in the wilderness. Their leader, Moses, was called up to Mount Sinai to meet with God. There, Moses received directions on an elaborate tabernacle structure where the people could seek God. God gave Moses instructions for the tent itself and instructions for altars, furniture, the priesthood, and the ark of the covenant. That ark was to be placed inside the innermost room of the tabernacle. God's presence would rest upon it.

Israel's wandering was, in essence, a nationwide camping trip. When they camped, they were to organize themselves in the way God prescribed. His tent, the tabernacle, was to be at the center of the camp. The tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun would camp to the east of God's tabernacle. To God's south, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad would camp. Dan, Asher, and Naphtali would go north, while Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin occupied the west. In the middle was the tribe of Levi; they surrounded the tabernacle and the ark of God.

So what you had was a nation centered upon God. Their campground was illustrative of a great truth: God's people are at their best when God is at the center.

Years later, King David understood this. One of his first moves as king was to bring the ark back to Israel's center. He spent his life adding to the prayer book of the nation as he wrote various psalms. He ended his life preparing to build a temple for God, turning the tabernacle into a permanent structure. For all his faults, David was loyal to God throughout his life. He always loved God. He never — like so many of his descendants — invited idolatry into the nation. He did not tolerate the worship of any other. He knew God's people are always at their best when God is at the center.

So, in Psalm 132, Israel sang a song about David. In so doing, the song would serve as a little checkup. Is God at the center? Do we love God as we ought? The song helps to answer these questions. The fight is on, pressures mount, and everything seems to be working against God being at the center. By looking back, looking within, and looking ahead, the disciple is aided in their quest to have God at the center.

Look Back: God Was at the Center

"Remember, O Lord, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured, how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 'I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.' " (Psalm 132:1–5, ESV)

Their song began by singing about "all the hardships" David had endured. He was a man beset with difficulties, but they aren't singing of the struggles we might regularly connect to David's life. When we think of his troubles, our minds flash to the issues within his own family, for one. His father seems to have forgotten him by the time he was a teenager, treating him more like a servant than a son. His father-in-law made multiple attempts on his life. His sons behaved treacherously. David's family hardships were immense.

But David also endured military hardships -- Goliath, the Philistines, the Edomites. He was a man of war, constantly battling against those who would crush God's people. On top of all this, David experienced leadership hardships, complete with betrayals, coupes, and the everyday weightiness of nation-building. He was a man of many difficulties.

However, this song isn't alluding to any of those hardships, but a singular hardship that had branched out into many. The hardship sung of here is the pain of maintaining the worship of the LORD in Israel, keeping God at the center. This painful work followed David all his life, for the worship of the Lord is always under attack. His entire life was devoted to the worship of God, and the promotion of the worship of God.

David longed not for his own throne, but for God to be on the throne. He wanted God at Israel's center.

This heart from David is encompassed by the beginning of this song, which describes the time when David had become king. His first move was to bring the ark to the center. He said, "Let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul" (1 Chronicles 13:3). And, as the song goes, he would not sleep until they began seeking the ark once again. So our pilgrims allowed themselves a backward glance to a time when God was at the center. In so doing, they saw a heart that beat strongly for God in King David. He was truly a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

There is much of David we cannot have. We will not possess his specific callings and talents and gifts. But there is one thing of David every believer can have — his love for God. We can have David's heart. He seems to have been a man who took the command to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" seriously (Deuteronomy 6:5). His love for his God serves as a measuring rod for our own hearts. Is God at the center of my life? Do I love the Lord my God?

I'm a married man, and from time to time, I'll find myself in the presence of a married couple in obvious love for one another. As they compliment and touch and smile at one another, I am stirred. Do I love my wife as well as that man loves his? The comparison is a healthy one, in that it produces something wonderful in me, bringing out the best in me. This positive boost is what Israel experienced when singing of David. He was a man in love with God, and that love ought to have propelled their love.

So our pilgrims considered David and his love for God. We can do likewise. But we don't have to only look back upon the ancient David, but upon those walking around in the flesh who have hearts like David. Many in the modern church have a Davidic heart. As the storms of life come and go, our hearts will ebb and flow. At times you will need my David-like heart, and at other times I will need yours. Multiple logs in the fire lead to a raging blaze, while gatherings of believers can lead to an intense love for God. We influence one another for the best. The book says it best: "Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24).

Look Within: Is God at the Center?

"Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. 'Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!' " (Psalm 132:6–7, ESV)

Our song continues with a look back to when David brought the ark back into the center of Israel's consciousness. By the time of Samuel, the ark had become a mere superstition. One day, before Saul was king, the people went to war against their oppressors, the Philistines. Israel was terrified until someone brought the ark. Upon seeing the ark, the army shouted with confidence. But they weren't worshipping the God of the ark. They were only superstitious about the presence of the ark, so God let them lose. The ark was lost to the Philistines, who returned it after a short time of inconvenient ownership.

Upon its return, the ark eventually rested in Kiriath-Jearim, which is in Jaar, as our pilgrim song mentions. Our song continues by remembering how they heard, while in Bethlehem of Ephrathah, that the ark was in Jaar. It was an exciting time, a time to bring back that which was lost.

Sometimes Christians need to do the work of looking around and asking a simple question — what is missing? Many of them knew exactly where the ark had been the previous twenty years, but they'd still neglected to bring it home. God was on the side, not the center, and they were content to move on in life with God as a complement to — rather than the point of — life. So our song recalls the time the people made things right, got rid of their obvious error, and rejoiced when bringing the ark back into the center.

"Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: 'One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.' " (Psalm 132:8–12, ESV)

Now the song turns to the present day. They've looked back at David and the time when the ark was brought back. They are beginning to wonder why those were times of such great revival and life and joy amongst God's people, but not their "today" experience. The song no longer looks back, but looks around, to today, within.

Many believe the author of this song was part of the Israelite group who came back from captivity in Babylon and Syria. After years of exile, they returned and looked at the temple lying there in shambles and ruins. They're thought of how strong the love of God used to be, and how beautiful the temple used to be, and how wonderful it was to have the ark in the center of Israel. So they sing to God, "God, as we look at our current situation, there is a huge gap from what we used to be when David was on the throne and today. You made promises to David. He experienced days of revival. And there's a massive gap between David's time and what we are experiencing today."

This prayer is an honest prayer to God, saying, "God, there is a gap. Would you close the gap? There is a distance between who we are, children of Israel, who have a king from David. There's a gap between being those people and what we're experiencing in our everyday lives."

Our pilgrims saw what was missing. They saw the gap between their identity and their experience. David was theirs, but his kingdom was lagging at the moment. They longed for the glorious days to return.

A revival was in their sights. In their mind's eye, they could see the throne of David, the conquests of David, the glory of David. Those days of glory were a far cry from their current experiences. In honesty, they sang to God.

It is good for believers to honestly pray about the gap between their identity in Christ and their current experiences. We are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15). We are born again with new natures from the Holy Spirit of God (John 3:3). We are alive with Christ, brought near to God by Christ, and partakers of the promise in Christ (Ephesians 2:5, 2:13, 3:6). We have received the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Our lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). The Bible says radical things about us, about who we are in Christ Jesus. But often there is a gap. Our identity is beautiful, while our experience is a battle.

We sing of forgiveness but hold grudges. We celebrate the new birth, but rarely tell a soul about it. We like the idea of unity, but barely make time for one another. A gap exists between our identity and our reality. This song, with its healthy comparisons, embraces that gap. Rather than acting as if the gap is an illusion, the psalm rushes towards the truth — a gap exists. Help us get out of it, O God! Graciously, patiently, slowly, He will.

But the song does not stop there. Our pilgrims saw how some blessings are tied to obedience. In the song, they rejoiced over God's double promise to David. Perhaps you noticed it. One promise was unconditional. No matter what, God would set one of David's sons on the throne, which is a reference to Jesus Christ. He will sit on David's throne and eternally reign. More on that later.

But the second promise was conditional. If David's sons were obedient to the law of God, they would sit on the throne. The inference is that disobedience would have removed them from the throne. The minute the kings began to deteriorate in Israel, ceasing to walk with God and started to neglect the Bible, that's when the nation eroded and, eventually, was taken into captivity.

In recalling this, our pilgrims recall a vital lesson in the Christian life. God's grace comes in various forms. One form is the unconditional promises and blessings He bestows upon us through simple faith in Christ. He gives us a position strong and secure. Another form is the grace He pours out on a life walking in righteousness. This is all of grace, for He empowers that life in the first place and overflows us with blessings immeasurable as a result. We obey a little, and He blesses a lot. Our pilgrims looked around and saw how a little obedience would go a long way to restoring the former days of glory. Perhaps, we must do the same.

Look Ahead: God Will Be at the Center

"For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: 'This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy. There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.' " (Psalm 132:13–18, ESV)

The song concludes with a forward glance. No longer does the song consider David of the past, nor the current situation, but the future glory of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been amazing under David initially. It wasn't all that impressive during the time our pilgrims sang. But, in the future, Jerusalem would radiate with the glory of God like never before. So the pilgrims sang about it: how God chose Jerusalem, how He would cause the Messiah to shine there forever, and how saints would shout for joy within it forever.

But how does this forward glance help the pilgrim life today? How is it helpful for us to anticipate the day when God will indeed be at the center of all we are and do? How does this help us recapture a Davidic heart within?

First, it seems helpful to know God will be at the center forever. This God-centered reality flows from the very heart of God. He created the first community in Adam and Eve, longing to be at the center of it, for His glory and their good. Ever since sin marred that first family, God has schemed to be at the center of people's lives once again. He found Noah. He chose Abraham. He instituted the tabernacle and altar and ark of the covenant. He sent messengers and priests and prophets. He sent His own Son. Believers now have the deposit of the Holy Spirit living inside them, which is a dream of God, for He loves to be close to us. But in heaven, this dream of God will be realized fully. There, His throne will preeminently stand as the central point of all we are. Love will pulsate from Him, into us, through us to others, and back to Him.

Second, we must notice how committed God is to these promises. David was exuberant in his desire to put God at the center of Israel again, but in this final passage, God seems more committed than David ever was. Time and time again, God says, "I will" and "I shall" and "I have." As fervent as we might be, as strong as our love for God might glow, it is nothing in comparison to God's love and fervency. It is good for us to remember just how committed to this future God is. We will not bring it about, nor could we, but God will. It is sure, fixed, immovable. It will be His fine hour of glory when He reveals His kingdom to the fullest and most visible degree. In all our zeal, we must remember the zeal of God.

Third, and finally, we must allow this glorious future and eternal Jerusalem to impact our lives today. Disciples can find motivation by looking back on David's example, but there is a better motivation to be found in looking ahead to heaven's example.

In heaven, we will fully realize our position as a kingdom of priests. We will lovingly serve God and each other. Properly digested, this ought to lead us to begin that work today, serving God and serving humanity.

In heaven, we will live in a perfect community with one another. We will not hide from God nor others. This ought to lead us to seek to live in an open and honest and transparent community of believers today. I cannot live the Christian life without you, nor you without me.

In heaven, we will experience the full weight and flow of the love of God. We will enjoy receiving and dispensing His great love. This knowledge ought to stir us to practice a love for God and our fellow believer today.

In heaven, worship will be the overarching attitude and experience of life. We will fall on our faces in overwhelmed emotion and joy in the presence of God. This knowledge should stir us towards a life of community-wide and personal times of worship in the presence of the Lord.

A day will come when we will experience all these elements in Christ's new Jerusalem, but today we may experience them if we so choose. The disciple has seen a glimpse of heaven and has allowed it to inform his life today.

So our pilgrims have looked back and grabbed ahold, afresh, of the Davidic heart. They saw a time God was at the center, how God needed to be at the center, and how He will eternally be at the center.

In this song, the people of Israel were running a bit of a diagnostic on their hearts. Where is our love for God? Let's look back at David. Let's look forward to the eternal realm. Let's ask where is our love for God today? So, let's have that in our lives and hearts, a God who is at the center of our being. When the people of Israel went out of Egypt, they built the ark and the tabernacle, and then God told them how to camp. He was right in the middle. They camped all around Him because we are at our best when God is at the center of our lives. Let's ask the Lord to help us cultivate this God-centered life more and more.