No worries …

Psalm 71: 5&6

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.  From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.  I will ever praise you.  NIV

The thing I learned about David yesterday was this:

When Samuel anointed him with oil as a young boy, the Holy Spirit came upon David.  Two things about that.  First, because I’ve always read the story with the knowledge that David was to be king — it is told from an omniscient perspective after all … the reader gets to learn what God is saying to Samuel as well as what Samuel is thinking — I’ve always assumed that the anointing was a sign to David that he would be king.

But, Samuel doesn’t say that to him.  He thinks it, he knows it, God says it, but, no-one says it to David.  Instead, as he is anointed, the Spirit of the Living God departs from Saul and comes on David in power.

Second, David is part of the lineage of Christ.  Before Christ’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit did not inhabit every believer.  Instead, I’m learning, it came and went in power to achieve God’s purposes.  It came upon David at the time of his anointing, and remained on him throughout, I think, his life.

So, as David (if he is the author of this Psalm) writes these verses, he has the same experience that we do today with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  When I accepted Christ as my Savior, there was no oil involved, but the oncoming of the Holy Spirit was undeniable.

It is through the experience of living with the Holy Spirit, that destiny, that David is able to write these words that are so meaningful to me today.

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. God is my confidence, not my own actions, or anything or anyone else here.  God has been with me since my youth … He is trustworthy.  I needn’t worry.  God is my hope.

From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. God ordained my life and the lives of each of His children.  We aren’t accidents.  He brought us forth for the purpose of communing with us.  I am God’s child.

I will ever praise you.

That’s what I’ll think about today.