Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Do you notice when you start to stray from God? It's never intentional; it just kind of happens slowly. Nobody wakes up going, you know what, I think I'm going to neglect my relationship with God today. But most of us have probably seen this happen in our lives, where everything is centered around Him—and then He slowly starts to get pushed to the margins until all of a sudden our relationship with Him has gone a little dry. Our devotionals have become shorter, our prayers have become less frequent, and we just don't really notice His presence around us.
The Reign of Saul and the Rise of David
This is the place that Israel had gotten during the reign of King Saul. When Saul was put into power, he was a God-fearing Jew. But throughout his reign he started to make everything more about what he could do, rather than focusing on what God wanted to do through him and through the people of Israel. Slowly, God's presence had been pushed to the margins of his life. Then we see, when David ascends into power, all of this changes. David is a man after God's own heart—a man who keeps God at the center of all that he did. Our verse today gives us a great tip on how we can keep God at the center of our lives, just like David.
It comes from 1 Chronicles chapter 16, verse 24. "Publish His glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things He does."
Bringing the Presence Back to the Center
One of the first things that David does when he becomes king is have the Ark of the Covenant—the place where God's presence dwelt among Israel—brought back to the city of Jerusalem. It actually hadn't been in Jerusalem for quite some time. This was a statement David was making. He was saying that God was going to be at the center of his reign, that as king, God needed to be at the center of his life and the life of all the Israelites. There was nothing that was going to cause him to forget that God was in the midst of the people.
Intentional Gratitude
I think we can learn something very important from these words, about what made David so aware of God's presence, and so attuned to when it had drifted outside of the Israelites' daily lives. It's this idea of publishing God's good deeds. David knew the importance of intentional gratitude as part of his relationship with God. What I mean by that is David wasn't just generally thankful for God—the type of person who prays, God, thank you for my life and all the good things, without actually stopping to think, well, why am I thankful? What are all those good things? David was specific. He found all of the little ways that God was moving in his life, whether he was in a mountaintop moment or down in the valley. He was aware of where God was in all of it.
You don't believe me? Just open up the psalms. We see these very specific poems written out, crying out to God—Lord, I see you here. Lord, you've done this in my life, and I know you're going to do it again. He was intentionally looking for where God was. That's what helped him take note of when God's presence would start to drift.
Take Stock and Investigate
I think we could all learn from that—to be more aware of how God is moving in even the most minuscule ways in our lives. When we're taking stock of all of those things, it helps us notice, you know what, I don't think I've seen God move lately. I wonder why that is. Then we can investigate and go, oh, it's because I've let the Word of God take a backseat in my life. It's because my prayer life has become stagnant and I'm just lifting up the same repetitive prayers. It's because I'm not plugged into community with people who keep me accountable and who encourage me to go deeper in my relationship with God.
As soon as we notice those things, it kicks us back into saying, God, I want to put Your presence back at the center of my life. I want all of us to be looking for those ways that we could publish His good deeds, that we could share with the world all that He is doing, because it will ensure that our lives stay centered around Him. Don't let yourself slip into this place of neglecting God's presence in your life. If you feel like you're in that place right now, please don't feel any condemnation. But make a move like David did—bring that presence back into the heart of your life, take stock of everything that He is doing, and declare that to everybody around you. God's goodness is on the move, and that is a message worth sharing with the world.
