Devotional Reading Plan

BONUS Day 6: Learning to See God in All Things

By His grace, God chose David to be king of Israel. Israel's enemy Goliath tested David in battle. He was faithful over a few things, and the Lord promoted him to more incredible things. David was a beloved lover of God. He was a leader who expanded Israel's territory. He was the eighth son of Jesse, but the Lord made David His firstborn; the son who received the greater inheritance.

Despite all of his victories, David experienced defeat, sorrow, and loss. He fought a giant and ran from the king. He earned the people's respect and trust but lost it when his lust for a woman began a downturn in his legacy. He battled his son over control of the nation, but through it all, David learned to see the hand of God in all things.

Before we go on, let me take a quick detour. Most of the world's languages separate numbers from letters, but not Hebrew. It uses letters—the Hebrew alphabet— for numbers. Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numeric value. For example, aleph, the first letter has a value of one. Bet, the second letter has a value of two, and so on. Because of this, numbers can spell words, and words add up to numeric values. So both words and numbers are significant as we study the mysteries of the Messiah in the Bible.

In Hebrew, the number fourteen is written with the letters yud and dalet, which spells yad, meaning "hand." Fourteen is the number of the hand. God redeemed Israel from Egypt with a "mighty hand and outstretched arm (Deut. 26:8)." It was God's hand (14) that redeemed Egypt on the fourteenth day of Nisan and the Jewish people from the hand of Haman (book of Esther) on the fourteenth day of Adar. And when Jesus gave His life on the cross, He also dies on the 14th day of the month of Nisan because it's the hand of God working redemption through Jesus. He is God's hand revealed in history to redeem and to rescue us.

But there is more! God's hand was revealed with the Messiah, but God's hand can also be hidden. We find an example in the book of Esther where we find a struggle between good and evil, and the hidden hand of God isn't seen but is at work on behalf of the people who belong to Him. While God revealed Himself to Moses in a thornbush, He worked in the background (hidden) in many events in the life of David and others, including you and me.

David's entire life prepared him to see the hand of God and to trust the hand of God in all things. Whether facing Goliath or having to flee from his son Absalom, David chose to see God in all things and trust Him no matter what his situation and circumstances were. And that is a powerful example to you and me—to trust Him even when we can't see His hand clearly in our lives and worship just as David did through all of it. God is in the details.

We need to learn to see God's revealed hand and His hidden hand in all things. David learned to see the hand of God in all things. And when you learn to see God in all things—the good and the blessing—even in the tough times, then you'll understand God works all things out together for good (Rom. 8:28). That kind of faith is what's going to birth a new hope in your heart and your life. Looking for God in all things allows you to go through any situation and circumstance.

And there's more! The hidden and the revealed connect to Jesus' first and second coming. The first coming of Jesus revealed God's hidden hand in the first coming of Jesus. People didn't recognize Him. They didn't understand who He was. At the second coming, He will fully be revealed, and He will defeat the enemies of God and establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. May that day come speedily and soon.

In closing, May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance to you and give you Shalom, give you peace, nothing missing, nothing broken in the name of Yeshua, Jesus, our Messiah, Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace. Amen. Shalom. Shalom.