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“If the Great Commission is true, our plans are not too big; they are too small.”

Pat Morely

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TODAY’S READING: 2 Samuel 22–23; Psalm 57

The last words of David revealed his simplicity. We find David endearing, even in his faults, because he was uncomplicated, he was childlike without being childish. There was no guile in David; there was just passion. As his life closed and his voice sang his last song, he pointed us to the missionary heart of God one more time.

It doesn’t seem that David considered himself first a warrior, a man of blood. Even though much of what we know of him was battle related, David’s last words revealed that he saw himself in a different light: “Thus says David…the sweet Psalmist of Israel: ‘The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me…” (2 Sam. 23:1–3). It seems that David took the most joy in that God spoke to him, that he spoke to God, and that God spoke through him. The Hebrew Bible “associated David with 73 psalms, later translations increase the number… The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll claims that David wrote 4,050 psalms and songs, all given him by divine inspiration from the Lord.”[1] We think of David as a warrior, while David thought of himself as a worshiper.

David’s worship has constant missionary themes. Second Samuel 22 records David’s thoughts for the Lord on the day when “the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies” (22:1). This song mirrors Psalm 18 in which David sang about his deliverance from Saul, but the addition of “all his enemies” leads scholars to believe this was David’s last song to go with his last words. If that is true (and it seems that it was), then we cannot overlook the importance of the last stanza of David’s last song. Here is how David ended his life’s work, here is the capstone to over 4,000 songs of praise to Jehovah (vv. 44–50, emphasis added):

You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people; You have kept me as the head of the nations. A people I have not known shall serve me. The foreigners submit to me; as soon as they hear, they obey me. The foreigners fade away, and come frightened from their hideouts.

The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God [Elohim] be exalted, the Rock of my salvation! It is God [Elohim] who avenges me, and subdues the peoples under me; He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord [Jehovah], among the Gentiles.

With his last breath, David sang about God and the nations. His first words to us (“that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,” 1 Sam. 17:46) and his last words (“I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles,” 2 Sam. 22:50) are pure passion for the glory of God among all peoples. And in the middle, when he was delivered from Saul and established as king, it was the same song, different verse: “Be exalted, O God [Elohim], above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth… I will praise You, O Lord [Jehovah], among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations… Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth” (Psalm 57: 5, 9, 11). David’s whole life centered on worshiping and exalting the God of all peoples, the God who must be honored and glorified in all the earth, the God who is worthy of the praise and glory of every tongue.

While we will undoubtedly make new friends in heaven, the old ones of earth will be ever precious. When we get to heaven and join with the ranks of the redeemed, including the Phu Thai of Laos, I’m sure we will see one band of rowdy, rugged worshippers. They will all be soldiers, they will all be childlike, they will probably be more enthusiastic than anyone else, and they will be decidedly multicultural. They will be David’s mighty men, and it’s impossible to find a more culturally diverse band (with the possible exception of the crew at Pentecost) in all the Scriptures. They will be leading the praise, and right in the middle of them will be David with a little sparkle of pure joy in his eye, as the angel choir starts singing one of his old, old songs. And I’m willing to bet the song will say much about Jehovah and much about the nations.

[1] The Chronological Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008. 398.

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Prayer Focus: Laos (112 UPGs)

Today’s Unreached People Group: Phu Thai
Population: 214,000
Language: Phu Thai
Primary Religion: Buddhism
Evangelical: 0.40%
Estimated Workers Needed: 4

[Source: Joshua Project]
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