2 Sam 15:25, And the king said to Zadok, "Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then He will bring me back again, and show me both it and His habitation.
This morning we are presented with the king of Israel having to flee Jerusalem because of the uprising that was led by his son, Absalom. David was dealing with the reality of what had been foretold by the Prophet Nathan, when he confronted David about his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, Uriah. This was the consequence that David had brought down upon his own head through the heinous sin that he had committed. 
Please refer back to 2 Sam 12:7-12, where Nathan brought this to the attention of the king. There was no delight or perverse pleasure in this proclamation by the prophet. He literally was dealing with a life and death situation if David were hardened in his heart and unwilling to be contrite before the Lord. Kings throughout history have killed the messengers who would bring such proclamations of their wrongdoings into such light as Nathan was called to do. His life was on the line, fully dependent upon how David would receive the Word of the Lord highlighting the consequences of his terrible actions. 
But David was not hardened of heart. His was a broken heart of humble contrition and unfeigned penitence and repentance. David was urgently seeking for the Lord’s forgiveness in order to find the delight of Jehovah shining upon him once more. David received the Word of the Lord through the mouth of the prophet with absolute recognition that this was all because of the sin that David had committed. 
The Lord was to be honored and obeyed. David had let his physical urges distract him from that course of walk with God. Therefore, he received the judgment of The Lord with the recognition that Jehovah was righteous and just. David knew that he had to abide by everything that was required of him in order to be reconciled again with God in the walk that was the core reality of David’s life.
2 Sam 12:7-12, Nathan then said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. 'I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! 'Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 'Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' "Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. 'Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.'" 
	We want to spend a little time with the heart of David, even as he was fleeing the forces of Absalom, his own son. David’s delight, molded and shaped through so many years of being a shepherd in the wilderness, and then having to flee and hide there as well in order to escape the continual manhunt of Saul, was upon the Lord. 
David delighted in the Lord. That is why he was so penitent and humble in the shame of his sinful actions. He did not try to make excuses or shift the blame. He realized that the relationship which he had damaged with the Lord could only be repaired by utter submission to God. That was what he wanted with all his heart.
	Please note that in fleeing, David was still greatly concerned for the testimony of the Lord being where it needed to be, in Jerusalem. He sent the Ark of the Covenant back to the city of God with the statement that if he found favor from the Lord, he would return there as well. 
Note the fact that he did not assume anything. Neither did he say that it would be inevitable that he would continue to rule from Jerusalem. He left it all up to Jehovah to rule and overrule in all the affairs of David’s life. What he desired, with all his heart, was to be in the presence of the Lord as stipulated by the placement of the Ark where God so ordained it to be. 
	His longing, as stated throughout so many of the psalms, was to be in the place where God dwelled. That is the reason that he was so desirous to build the Temple of The Lord in Jerusalem. He wanted God to have a glorious and permanent house in the midst of His people. 
The tent of meeting was, by the time of David, rather old and worn after years and years of being set up and then dismantled in the wanderings throughout the desert and then the various places it was set up in the Promised Land. David wanted Jehovah to have a settled and enduring home of distinction and reverence and glory in the midst of the nation He had created. That was the heart of this king unto The Lord.
	Consider what is before us in Ps 26:5-8. Ps 26:5-8, I hate the assembly of evildoers, And I will not sit with the wicked. I shall wash my hands in innocence, And I will go about Thine altar, O Lord, That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And declare all Thy wonders. O Lord, I love the habitation of Thy house, And the place where Thy glory dwells. 
	First of all, David stated point blank that he absolutely shunned those who are the workers of evil. Having gone through the horrible situation with his blatant abuse of power and devising evil intent toward Uriah, David was aghast and sickened by his role in it all. Rather than delighting in the evil that fills man’s heart, David was seeking to know the Lord in greater measure because of Jehovah’s loving kindness and forgiveness and restoring power at work in this entire situation. 
David was repentant, confessing his atrocious sins to God. That attitude of humble submission is never seen in the dens of iniquity, in the assembly of the wicked. Rather, they continually urge each other on into greater measures of vile and sinister behavior, like packs of wild beasts enflaming each other to greater measures of devastation and destruction. 
	David wanted to be in the presence of the Holiness and the Righteousness and the Splendor and the Glory of the Lord. He wanted nothing to do with wickedness and those who practiced it. He had gone through that way and had tasted the effects of those corrupt and wicked actions. 
Rather, he craved after the courts of the Lord with thankfulness and with joy and with pleasure and with gladness in The Lord. It was in the presence of God that he found true satisfaction and enjoyment in that relationship of bringing praise and honor and glory to Jehovah with the every fiber of his being. That is where he delighted to be, declaring the wonders and the majesty of The Lord God Almighty!
Next, we turn to a passage that is so hard not to sing as we read it together, Ps 27:4-6. As with many of the verses this morning, these scriptures fill our songbooks and our hearts with the refrain that was written by the Psalmist. This expresses that specific and wondrous desire of a heart filled with the delight of being in The Lord’s House. In the manifested presence of the Lord there is that bursting forth of those songs of praise and worship that fill our hearts and are expressed through our voices in songs of adoration and rejoicing and thanksgiving unto God, Our Savior and Our Lord.
	Ps 27:4-6, One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me; And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. 
	As declared so vitally and completely, the joining of those who are brought together in order to bring praise and adoration to God, take utmost delight in being in the presence of Jehovah. In gathering together, there is that sense that we never want to leave the sanctuary that we have before Yahweh. As we dwell upon Him in all His Glory and Majesty and Honor, there is that intense longing to know Him all the more. We take joy in spending dedicated and consecrated time with Him in His Word, in the praises of His Sovereignty and Mercy and Grace. 
We find our hearts and minds soothed and enlivened as we join our voices and spirits together in the unity of His adoration and the recounting of all His wondrous and miraculous works. There is utmost contentment and satisfaction in the bringing our sacrifices of love and praise and worship into the midst of the assembly of those who are so much enjoined together before Him and His throne of Holiness and Splendor. 
	Again, the Psalmist, in Ps 42:1+2, makes known just how much is the longing to be in the presence and the worship and the adoration of Jehovah. There is that sense that just as we need water for the maintenance of our physical lives, so we need the presence and the knowledge of His hand upon us for our very survival, both physically and spiritually.
	Ps 42:1+2, As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? 
	The heart of praise and adoration and joy in the Lord is further expressed, with exceeding delight in the presence before The Lord in Ps 43:3+4. Ps 43:3+4, O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Thy holy hill, And to Thy dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise Thee, O God, my God. 
	Again, the earnest necessity of seeking Jehovah is expounded by the Psalmist, in Ps 63:1-5, with the reality that God is as necessary for survival and life on this earth as is water in the desert. There is no life apart from this living relationship with God. 
	Ps 63:1-5, God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary, To see Thy power and Thy glory. Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee. So I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. 
	Then again, in Ps 84:1-4, there is that utmost aspiration after the fellowship with the Lord in His presence. This is what David expressed to Zadok in the hope of being able to return to Jerusalem and praise the Lord in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.
	Ps 84:1-4, How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in Thy house! They are ever praising Thee. Selah. 
	And it is again declared from the heart of the Psalmist in Ps 84:10. This is detailed with the recognition that the place of the Lord is the honorable and desirable habitat for those who know and rejoice in Him.
	Ps 84:10, For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 
	The joy of fellowship with Jehovah and with those who know and love Him is expressed once again in Ps 122:1-4. This is the heart of the declared elation of those who know and honor and praise and adore the Lord God Almighty, The Creator of Heaven and earth.
	Ps 122:1-4, I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that is built As a city that is compact together; To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord — An ordinance for Israel — To give thanks to the name of the Lord. 
	We bring this morning to a close with a measured and vital reality of today’s passage. David did not say that he would return to Jerusalem by any measure of his own force or action. He was very careful to attribute what would happen in terms of how God would work and if God would bring it all about. …If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then He will bring me back again…. David left the manner of his restoration to the working power of God.
	This is one reality that everyone of us needs to constantly hold before our walk on this earth as a child of God. We so often make plans and utter those declarations of what we are going to do, as if we were the ones in charge and what we say will come to fruition, no matter what! 
	However, there is that absolute reality that everything in our lives hinges on the pleasure and the plan and the purpose of God. We turn to the New Testament and the example that we need to hold in our hearts as detailed in the manner in which the Apostle Paul learned to walk and live on this earth. Consider what happened when Paul was desirous to return to Jerusalem and what would take place upon his return there as recounted in Acts 21:10-14.
Acts 21:10-14, And as we were staying there for some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, "The will of the Lord be done!" 
The Apostle desired only that the will of God would take place in his life, even if it meant that he was going to die for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. Therefore he was laying it all before God to be absolutely obedient to the course that God ordained for him. He did not seek to do anything on his own.
Then, in James 4:13-15, we have the manner declared as to how every Christian is to approach any plans that man may make. It all has to come into the light of whatever God determines is what we want to take place in our lives.
James 4:13-15, Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that." 
We may plan to do this or that, and there is nothing wrong with making those plans as long as we recognize and desire that if the Lord chooses to disrupt, interrupt, or utterly cancel those plans in His overruling power, then we are set in whatever He determines. 
We dare never try to force our ideas and our itineraries upon Him, but rather allow Him the full freedom to reroute, cancel, and change or completely shut down our campaigns and our so limited human strategies. Our heart needs to be set on His overriding working power to be established in the course of the path we walk. We always choose His way and His course over anything that we might have devised and determined to do. So be it!
And the king said to Zadok, "Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then He will bring me back again, and show me both it and His habitation. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Ps 72:18+19. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.