POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 3).

DECEMBER 24^TH.
TEXT: 1 Chronicles 13:1-5King James Version (KJV)

 13 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.

² And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:

³ And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.

⁴ And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

⁵ So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

 

The closing part of verse 3 of our text says “that they may gather themselves unto us:” This statement reveals trouble waiting to happen. When it come to the issue of worship with the Almighty God, it is dangerous to come before Him uninvited. This is the truth of the matter. He had said that they that worship must worship the Father in spirit and in truth and none of us is able to worship God in spirit and in truth except the Father stirs us up to do so (see Philippians 2:12-13).  When they gathered themselves by the wonderful opinion of David and the approval of the leaders, they went in their strength, and we know the tragic end of this worship.

 It is not enough to plan a worship event, we must take time out to wait on the Lord to get divine direction on how He wants us to come before Him. Too many individuals and organizations are fame and popularity driven and in the process they want to do everything possible “gather people unto themselves.” This people will do whatever they can to bring or should I say lure people to their meeting. It is not always that the crowd in a meeting is a sign of the success of that meeting. Again, when we put together an event, it is not to gather people unto ourselves but unto the Lord and it must be according to His requirement. Whenever we are careful to gather unto the Lord by His leading and instructions, we position ourselves for a glorious encounter with the Lord. This season, please do all you can to be positioned for a life transforming encounter with the Lord. Shalom!