"When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,
'I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,
and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn...'" -Kings 2:1-3
The world says "be a man" but what does that actually mean? If I were to sum up for myself what I believe the world is saying to me as a man it is this: "Live for yourself. Think only of your own needs. Sacrifice everyone & everything to get what you want. Be the most important person in the room. Get all of the attention and praise you can for being you. In other words, be a child." But the words of King David to his newly appointed heir stand in complete opposition to this. They are poignant heart felt words, filled with all the heartbreak and wisdom of a man who truly knew what it meant to be a man for better and for worse.
David tells his son to show himself a man and then goes on to explain exactly what he means. He tells him to be strong, to keep the charge of the LORD, to walk in HIS ways, to keep HIS statutes, HIS commandments, HIS rules and testimonies. And then He tells him why: So he will prosper in everything that he does and everywhere he goes. SO to recap: The world says live for yourself. David tells his son to live for God. The world says make your own rules, do what you want, be your own boss make a name for yourself by being the most important person you can be. David says, submit to the laws statutes rules and commandments of God and you will prosper.
These two world views could not be more different from each other. And I am humbled by that very obvious reality. For while I daily strive to follow the instruction of scripture to be a man (like David) I live in a world that defines being man as being a child. And while I strive to daily rely on the strength of God in every circumstance I live in a world that says be the strongest I can be at any cost. And I guess the point that I am trying to make is this. If I want to be a real man then I need to recognize what a man actually is. I need to surround myself with men who value being a real man. I need to saturate my mind with examples of real men. And as cliche as it may sound in this post modern age "real men follow Jesus". I'll take it even a step further.
Real men are saturated with, dependent on, fulfilled by and confident in Jesus Christ: His ministry, his person and his sacrifice. In other words real men submit...to God...no matter what. And this submission is practical, it is consistent, personal and active. We don't typically think of submission when we think of being a man. We think of others submitting to us and not the other way around. A common argument in marriage often revolves around the idea of a wife not submitting to her husband or a husband not loving her as Christ does. But the truth that Paul repeatedly conveys in his epistles is the reality that to love is to submit...to God. It is to rely on Him for our needs as a man. It is to sacrifice for the benefit of another at the cost of ourselves..speaking as a man.
And I guess the reason I am writing this is because God in His providential leading has led me to the place of having to take care of our family on my own (with certain help from others when they are available). With my wife Cindy being diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma and beginning Chemo in the next few days or so I have been put in the unusual position of having to rely on the Lord as a man in ways I have never had to before. And it is correcting me in ways I didn't know I needed to be before. It is redirecting my mind and my heart away from the worldly influences I did not previously realize my actions were being influenced by. It is showing me things about myself I never knew I needed to know. It is instilling in me the reality that weakness is not the disability I always thought it was, or the detriment the world says it is. And I guess I just needed to communicate that to someone else. Who knows maybe there's someone out there reading this who needs to hear it. I know I do.
Now you may ask, what does this have to do with David's words to Solomon. And the short answer is this. Standing on the cusp of death David understood the singular reality that in order to be a truly strong man and by extension a good & strong king, he needed to be a man who could take orders from his King, the true King of Israel, the true captain of his soul, the real commander of his being. You see if you or I desire to be strong in this life we must first learn to be weak and dependent, frail and incapable no matter what the world tells us. We must learn to be served by God in the gospel, to accept his help and his care, his instruction his power and His provision if we are to properly love others, serve others and care for them. If we are to lead we must first be led. If we are to be men (and women) of God we must choose to do what the First Adam failed to do and follow the example of Christ and do what He succeed in doing , in the power of His Holy Spirit. We must submit to the word of God, and not just the parts of the Bible we like either. We must be led by the Holy Spirit and submit to the full counsel of God's Word. We must submit one to another in the fear of the Lord because that is what it means to walk by faith and that is what it means to walk with God to rely on Him for your every need. That is what it means to be a christian.
But no one not even myself can do any of this on our own without first visiting and revisiting the gospel of Jesus Christ on a daily basis and the reality of what He did for us in our place. To be truly strong we must first be truly weak. To be truly weak we must see ourselves for who we really are. That is why we need the gospel. In that moment when David was confronted by Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba he was inevitably confronted with the reality of who he really was as a man and his need for God. He finally saw the truth and it broke him utterly and completely. Some might even say he never really fully recovered from it. But just the same in that moment he also saw and was confronted with the God of grace and mercy. And you might say he never really fully recovered from that either.
I cannot help but think that these two realities (the reality of David's sinful mortality and the reality of God's abundant grace were both present in David's thoughts in that moment when he spoke to the son of his forbidden wife Bathsheba. I cannot help but think that he trembled a little inside as he recalled his own failings and the mercy of God as he exhorted the son of the woman he took from Uriah. And it is that thought even now that humbles me and ministers to me as I write this. Who am I to receive the commandments of God? Who am I to receive the Gospel of His beloved son? Who am I to receive the the awesome privilege of caring for the needs of our family, of sitting beside my precious wife as she begins her chemo? Who am I that God would allow such an extraordinary opportunity to show Himself strong on our behalf? It is too much to bear if I think about it too long. But here we are.
And the one thing that is sustaining me right now are those simple words from that experienced dying father to his young inexperienced son: "Show yourself a man". Oh how I want to. And I am sure you do as well (if you are a man reading this or even a woman). But I know even if I don't, even if I utterly fail to do what David is saying to do (and I will at some point) there is one who has not failed. And He never will. He has gone before me on my behalf to do what I could never do for myself, in spite of me. And it is He who urges me on even now to forget the failings of my past, to move forward in His strength in faith that He is who He says He is. It is he who gives me the strength in this adversity to carry on.
Precious saints of God (or whoever is reading this) will you come with me in prayer and in daily practice to that everlasting living final Davidic King and hear the words of His Spirit as he speaks to us through His servant David in the scriptures, "Be strong, and show yourself a man (a woman or a child),and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn..."? Let's choose to walk together as joyful submissive patient pilgrims and actively trust in the power and wisdom of the One who went before us, who speaks to us daily to be strong in His might no matter what that looks like. Let's show the world what it really means to be a man or a woman in this world by submitting to the One who gave us His very life.
The world says "be a man" but what does that actually mean? If I were to sum up for myself what I believe the world is saying to me as a man it is this: "Live for yourself. Think only of your own needs. Sacrifice everyone & everything to get what you want. Be the most important person in the room. Get all of the attention and praise you can for being you. In other words, be a child." But the words of King David to his newly appointed heir stand in complete opposition to this. They are poignant heart felt words, filled with all the heartbreak and wisdom of a man who truly knew what it meant to be a man for better and for worse.
David tells his son to show himself a man and then goes on to explain exactly what he means. He tells him to be strong, to keep the charge of the LORD, to walk in HIS ways, to keep HIS statutes, HIS commandments, HIS rules and testimonies. And then He tells him why: So he will prosper in everything that he does and everywhere he goes. SO to recap: The world says live for yourself. David tells his son to live for God. The world says make your own rules, do what you want, be your own boss make a name for yourself by being the most important person you can be. David says, submit to the laws statutes rules and commandments of God and you will prosper.
These two world views could not be more different from each other. And I am humbled by that very obvious reality. For while I daily strive to follow the instruction of scripture to be a man (like David) I live in a world that defines being man as being a child. And while I strive to daily rely on the strength of God in every circumstance I live in a world that says be the strongest I can be at any cost. And I guess the point that I am trying to make is this. If I want to be a real man then I need to recognize what a man actually is. I need to surround myself with men who value being a real man. I need to saturate my mind with examples of real men. And as cliche as it may sound in this post modern age "real men follow Jesus". I'll take it even a step further.
Real men are saturated with, dependent on, fulfilled by and confident in Jesus Christ: His ministry, his person and his sacrifice. In other words real men submit...to God...no matter what. And this submission is practical, it is consistent, personal and active. We don't typically think of submission when we think of being a man. We think of others submitting to us and not the other way around. A common argument in marriage often revolves around the idea of a wife not submitting to her husband or a husband not loving her as Christ does. But the truth that Paul repeatedly conveys in his epistles is the reality that to love is to submit...to God. It is to rely on Him for our needs as a man. It is to sacrifice for the benefit of another at the cost of ourselves..speaking as a man.
And I guess the reason I am writing this is because God in His providential leading has led me to the place of having to take care of our family on my own (with certain help from others when they are available). With my wife Cindy being diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma and beginning Chemo in the next few days or so I have been put in the unusual position of having to rely on the Lord as a man in ways I have never had to before. And it is correcting me in ways I didn't know I needed to be before. It is redirecting my mind and my heart away from the worldly influences I did not previously realize my actions were being influenced by. It is showing me things about myself I never knew I needed to know. It is instilling in me the reality that weakness is not the disability I always thought it was, or the detriment the world says it is. And I guess I just needed to communicate that to someone else. Who knows maybe there's someone out there reading this who needs to hear it. I know I do.
Now you may ask, what does this have to do with David's words to Solomon. And the short answer is this. Standing on the cusp of death David understood the singular reality that in order to be a truly strong man and by extension a good & strong king, he needed to be a man who could take orders from his King, the true King of Israel, the true captain of his soul, the real commander of his being. You see if you or I desire to be strong in this life we must first learn to be weak and dependent, frail and incapable no matter what the world tells us. We must learn to be served by God in the gospel, to accept his help and his care, his instruction his power and His provision if we are to properly love others, serve others and care for them. If we are to lead we must first be led. If we are to be men (and women) of God we must choose to do what the First Adam failed to do and follow the example of Christ and do what He succeed in doing , in the power of His Holy Spirit. We must submit to the word of God, and not just the parts of the Bible we like either. We must be led by the Holy Spirit and submit to the full counsel of God's Word. We must submit one to another in the fear of the Lord because that is what it means to walk by faith and that is what it means to walk with God to rely on Him for your every need. That is what it means to be a christian.
But no one not even myself can do any of this on our own without first visiting and revisiting the gospel of Jesus Christ on a daily basis and the reality of what He did for us in our place. To be truly strong we must first be truly weak. To be truly weak we must see ourselves for who we really are. That is why we need the gospel. In that moment when David was confronted by Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba he was inevitably confronted with the reality of who he really was as a man and his need for God. He finally saw the truth and it broke him utterly and completely. Some might even say he never really fully recovered from it. But just the same in that moment he also saw and was confronted with the God of grace and mercy. And you might say he never really fully recovered from that either.
I cannot help but think that these two realities (the reality of David's sinful mortality and the reality of God's abundant grace were both present in David's thoughts in that moment when he spoke to the son of his forbidden wife Bathsheba. I cannot help but think that he trembled a little inside as he recalled his own failings and the mercy of God as he exhorted the son of the woman he took from Uriah. And it is that thought even now that humbles me and ministers to me as I write this. Who am I to receive the commandments of God? Who am I to receive the Gospel of His beloved son? Who am I to receive the the awesome privilege of caring for the needs of our family, of sitting beside my precious wife as she begins her chemo? Who am I that God would allow such an extraordinary opportunity to show Himself strong on our behalf? It is too much to bear if I think about it too long. But here we are.
And the one thing that is sustaining me right now are those simple words from that experienced dying father to his young inexperienced son: "Show yourself a man". Oh how I want to. And I am sure you do as well (if you are a man reading this or even a woman). But I know even if I don't, even if I utterly fail to do what David is saying to do (and I will at some point) there is one who has not failed. And He never will. He has gone before me on my behalf to do what I could never do for myself, in spite of me. And it is He who urges me on even now to forget the failings of my past, to move forward in His strength in faith that He is who He says He is. It is he who gives me the strength in this adversity to carry on.
Precious saints of God (or whoever is reading this) will you come with me in prayer and in daily practice to that everlasting living final Davidic King and hear the words of His Spirit as he speaks to us through His servant David in the scriptures, "Be strong, and show yourself a man (a woman or a child),and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn..."? Let's choose to walk together as joyful submissive patient pilgrims and actively trust in the power and wisdom of the One who went before us, who speaks to us daily to be strong in His might no matter what that looks like. Let's show the world what it really means to be a man or a woman in this world by submitting to the One who gave us His very life.
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