This Sunday we will complete our 10-week sermon series on the life of the man after God’s own heart. And like Sunday mornings, this fall’s ABC classes have followed David as he grows from young shepherd boy to old king. It has been a wonderful study! 60 Park folks from their teens to their nineties have been a part of one of the two classes and we have learned much, talked a lot and shared wonderful laughter and fellowship as we have watched David travel from high mountain tops to deep valleys on his journey across the generations.

This past Wednesday we immersed ourselves in 2 Samuel 22, the first seven verses of which will be the preaching text for Sunday. In this hymn, David reflects on his long life with the one who “delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.”

Many of the images of God that David draws are from his experience as a warrior king: fortress, shield, refuge, the one who sets me free from my enemies. Other images are taken from David’s many days our in God’s creation; as a shepherd boy or in the battle camp. In each instance, David found in his own experience of life pictures that added to his understanding of God. He writes:

He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of his presence
bolts of lightning blazed forth.
The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.

Even on a November day like today when the thick clouds are dark and threaten rain, when bare branches dance in the wind and people on the sidewalks cower beneath upturned coats and collars, God is showing himself to us. Have you seen God today?

Such is our God. He chooses to be known by us. “His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Romans 1:20) And if in the wonders of creation, how much more in the gift of the Son?

Have you seen God today? I have. In the least expected way.