King David's Final Advice

I'm sure we are all familiar with David from the Bible...the shepherd boy who became king. He slayed Goliath, penned many of the Psalms, fled from King Saul, and eventually ruled over all of Israel. He was a man of great courage who fought many battles, he was devoted to YHWH and there are many stories of his adventures in Scripture. But we don't often talk about the end of his life.

When David was dying he poured his heart out to his son Solomon, who would proceed him in rule. He prayed for him and gave him the very best advice he could. A friend of mine had a similar experience when her beloved grandfather was dying. Each grandchild went to him and he prayed over them and poured into them one last time. The experience was rich and meaningful, and she remembers his words years later. And you know what both men talked about? It wasn't small talk about the weather, professional sports, or politics. They focused on the important stuff.

Doesn't that make sense? If you can only say one thing to a loved one, or if you're running out of time with someone you don't just blabber nonsense. You don't spout off cliches. You focus on the most important truths.

So what did this great king say to his son?

"Guard the charge of YHWH your Elohim: to walk in his ways, to guard his laws and guard his commands, as it is written in the Torah of Moses, so that you do wisely in all that you do." -1 Kings 2:3

Guard the commandments! Do what Scripture says! Honor YHWH! Keep the Torah!

The best wisdom one of Israel's greatest kings could impart to his heir - and to us - was to keep the commandments of Scripture. It wasn't a bullet-point breakdown of how to defeat Goliath. He didn't give Solomon tips on running the nation. He didn't give a generic, "just love everybody," piece of advice. He didn't talk about practicing self care or how to be a mighty warrior. He focused on the quintessential foundation for how to live. He knew that if Solomon would guard the commandments then he would also be able to defeat Goliath, he would rule with excellence, he would find rest in keeping the Sabbath; David knew that if his son would follow Scripture's instructions he would be mighty in YHWH.

The New Testament tells us that David was a man after YHWH's own heart (Acts 13:22). I've heard sermons and teachings on this topic. I've done Bible studies to learn more about David and to become more like him, also pursuing the heart of the Creator. So let's not miss the wisdom in his final advice. What message did David use some of his very last breaths to share with us? To walk in the ways of YHWH and guard his commandments!

More about keeping the commandments:
Torah Keeping in the New Covenant
Is it Possible to Keep the Torah Today?
Keeping the Law: The Ten Commandments as Marriage Vows
Scripture Defines Sin as Not Keeping the Commandments
How Much of the Torah Do Believers Already Keep?

Diligently Guarding the Commandments

Let's talk about diligence today...recently I read one of the worst books I have ever read. It was tremendously awful.

The story was about a Christian couple who decides to implement the Sabbath day into their lives, but not once do they mention turning to Scripture see what it says about the Sabbath or how it should be honored. They had a rough idea about this but really fell short when it came to diligence.

They spent a lot of time on articles, read books (from other religions) on the Sabbath, and conduct Facebook polls but they don't turn to the Word! Because they don't turn to truth they are left with a confused muddle of an idea on how to honor Shabbat. They shuffle around days they observe it, or skip it altogether, according to what fits best in their schedules. Their Sabbath day activities range from work meetings to family time at home to grocery shopping to going to carnivals. Sometimes they have work to do or do yard work. They schedule other commitments on the Sabbath, and then just "start later." It wasn't surprising that they weren't overjoyed with the production and at the end of the book they weren't sure if they would continue to honor the Sabbath.

Honoring the Sabbath day is a key ingredient to having more peace and joy, and of course to pleasing the Creator. This couple had that ingredient, so what went wrong? It was when they stopped at the idea of the Sabbath day, and brushed aside the details. They had a rough idea of the importance of a day of rest, but the instructions were not guarded.

"Diligently guard the commandments of Torah." -Joshua 22:5

What does diligence mean to you? Is it paying attention to seemingly insignificant details? Is it being consistent? Is it putting time and energy into this effort? Is it showing great care for this task of guarding the commandments? 

Having diligence can make or break a task...if you were following a recipe would it be a good idea to be diligent about it or would you just haphazardly do what you want and hope things come out correctly? Would you say salt and sugar look enough alike that you can sub one for the other? You could have a perfect cookie dough mixed up, but if you aren't diligent about checking the recipe for how long to bake them you could end up with burnt cookies and be very disappointed that this isn't the product the creator of the recipe promised. So often in recipe reviews you will see someone announce that they made some major changes in the recipe and that it turned out awful. If that's the case, the blame is on the one making the changes, not the one who made it.

We aren't just instructed to guard, but to guard diligently. Diligence with a recipe means you would do what it says. It would be totally unreasonable to expect a recipe to turn out like it's supposed to if you don't crack the eggs or turn on the stove. Same thing with Scripture's instructions, if we want the blessings that come with Sabbath then we need to do that how we are instructed. Be diligent with the details.