One Thing King David Can Teach Us About Spiritual Breakthrough
What are you doing that might not matter before God?
Psalm 51 says: 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
King David got caught in his sin with Bathsheba. He was the king, and there probably weren’t a whole lot of people around him willing to call him to account for it, but God made sure that it did not go unnoticed.
As soon as David heard the words of the prophet Nathan, knowing how angry he got at Nathan’s parable (read that story here), he could do nothing but admit his sin. This is one of the reasons that parables have so much power, especially when we feel they are directed at us: we can either admit how they are being played out in our sinful lives, we can refuse to accept that we have done anything wrong, or we can attack the messenger. David chose wisely.
Psalm 51 came as a result of David’s repentant heart. It was an overflowing of understanding that sin has its consequences. The Bible portrays David as a man who was never afraid to go to God, even in circumstances where he knew he would have to accept certain judgments. He trusted in God and His mercy and hard decisions. His faith affected His heart, which affected His posture before God.
David understood what a lot of people miss: empty praise and offerings do not please God. God does not want us to come to church to satisfy a requirement; God does not want us to pray just to pray; God does not want offerings that continue to feel like an obligation. He wants us to see and feel the value in these things. God wants to see our heart grow in faith, because He is faithful.
Many people struggle in these areas. They take a leap of faith to come to church, to pray, and sacrifice financially, only to find that they are not seeing a spiritual breakthrough. So, what can be done?
I think we can take a cue from David: ask God to open something.
David asked the Lord to open his lips so that his mouth could declare what his heart was willing to say. It was not going to be easy, knowing that judgment had been cast against him, but if his lips were opened, it would bring the opportunity for that hardship of praise to be released.
What if we asked God to open our lips? Would an I hate you automatically come out? Or, if God opened our lips, might an I want to thank You or an I put my trust in You have the opportunity to see the light of day. If God opens our lips, and we’re intentional about asking God to open something, then our hearts are already turned toward Him, and there is a greater opportunity that we will speak with His best intentions in what we say. It may not always be filled with the greatest of faithful joy, but it leads in the direction of that spiritual breakthrough that we thought would never happen. Spiritual breakthroughs are often not won in a moment, but over a period or extended period of time.
So, what else can we ask God to open? What if we asked God to open our bank account? If our posture is toward Him first, what type of praise could come out of rearranging priorities for Him? Would an I’d rather buy this or But, I can’t live without that be the first thing that sprang out of that assessment? Possibly. But, a Do I really need that or How can this benefit Your Kingdom, Lord could be the question our faiths lead us to bring before the Lord. It might be a begrudging cry, filled with struggle, but the Lord is pleased when He is invited into the struggle. Through struggle and God’s response, anything that God is invited to open can be raised to new life.
God wants us to remember this: even a struggling prayer is not devoid of faith. We all struggle, and we’re all looking for a breakthrough. Maybe asking God to open something, knowing that it causes us to immediately put Him first, might be a path to reinvigorating a faith that has stagnated, or igniting a spiritual area that we’ve never explored before.
God seeks faith. That is what He wants to see when He returns. Faith allows us to put God first in what we value. Give God the opportunity to see that faith and you will be amazed at what an open __________ can become. Amen.
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