My classes finished up Friday last week, I leave to go home and spend time with family this Friday. I've purposed for this week to be a time of spending as much time in the prayer room I can each day so that I can journal and process all of the things the Lord has been speaking to me about over the course of the past 4 months.
I had two different theology classes over the semester, each a quarter long. The first class I took was "The Hymns of Revelation" which is all of the songs from the book of Revelation. Studying context to them, how they apply, and when we'll be singing them. It was an excellent class. The second class, which was my favorite so far, was "Life of David." Such a encouraging class, to study the life of David, to look into the seasons of his life, and find myself in the story! We had an excellent teacher, he has been specifically studying the life of David for the past 10 years. So he knows his stuff =] One of the most encouraging things about the class was the realness of David as a man. He was a real man, that really had alot of issues, and the Lord still used Him powerfully as king over Israel.
David, receiving the promise of being anointed king at 17 years old, wasn't made king until age 30! Going through early promotion with his victory over Goliath, being brought into king Saul's courts, being loved by Saul as one of his own sons. Not long after Saul rejecting David and trying to take his life. David would spend the next seven years of his life being chased through caves and dessert by 3,000 men. Talk about mid life crisis! This wasn't two months, six months, or even a year, but SEVEN YEARS! The Lord's leadership in training David was quite a bit different than any of us would have thought, or chosen. After the years of running, David is made king over Gibeah, which is only a twelfth of the kingdom. He knew the promise over his life was to be king over all of Israel, his mighty men knew the promise and tried to get him to take the throne by force. All of Israel knew the promise over his life, but David knew that the Lord would be the one to move him into his secondary calling as king over Israel. David stayed in the partial fulfillment of the promise, faithfully serving Gibeah for seven years! What a testimony of his faith in the Lord. Why was David able to be steadfast in his love for the Lord through those years? Because David knew that the promise to be king over Israel was secondary to his PRIMARY calling in life, to love the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the truth that carried David through the roughest places of life. Finally at age 30 when David was anointed king over Israel in the city Jerusalem, he was able to serve faithfully as a king because he had some of the most intense training. A lifetime of being refined by life circumstances, and learning how to love God well through those times. This was his identity, a man after God's own heart.
Both of those classes I had twice a week. I also had a class studying the Sermon on the Mount, which was only once a week over the course of the entire semester. I'm not sure if I have words for this class at the moment. To much conviction and heart issues to like it. When studying the Sermon on the Mount the hardest part is that just studying it demands change in your lifestyle. So I was in constant place of processing the concepts of this class and categorizing them in my heart. This is the class that none of us will ever graduate from. I'll be working on this the rest of my life.
There's alot going on. Hannah is here in KC with me for a few days, so it's been nice showing her my places that I like, and she's gotten to meet some of 'my people.' It has been a fun few days. I'll check back in when I know which way my head is screwed on.
Grace and Peace.
