Resounding Pulse: A Heart that Echoes our Savior

By Joanna French

So often, we read the Bible out of duty rather than love—if we read it at all. Don’t you want more? People in the Bible are more than just characters in stories; they are real historical figures from whom we can learn. Often, we allow their distance in time to affect how we see them. What would happen if we stopped allowing these people to be fairytales and claimed for ourselves the power of their testimonies and the wisdom they gleaned? What would change in us if we could find not only a new outlook on these men and women but on the God who they loved? Resounding Pulse will empower you to do just that. Join Joanna as she walks through the lives of many Bible legends, their joys, their struggles, and how the lessons from their experiences are applicable in our own lives. Its eclectic style reads like a devotional but with a splash of personal testimony and encouragement. This journey, if you are willing to go all in, will enable you to identify and unlock the power of a heart that echoes our Savior. Let’s go, let’s grow!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638144878

Book preview

Chapter 1

Faith in the Presence of Giants

If you’re new to Scripture, the following story will be new and interesting to you. But if you are not, you may already see where I’m going with this. How can we talk about desiring God’s heart without first talking about David?

For those of you who don’t know anything about David, he was a shepherd boy whom God chose to be king. Jesus Christ is in the line of King David. David was a shepherd, and he spent much of his time in the pastures playing his harp and writing psalms, or songs, to God.

I seriously relate to David. His story is one of my favorites in the Bible. Cliché, I know, but bear with me. Here is a man who nobody would’ve picked, in whom no one saw value, yet God chose him. Here is a man whose faith could not be shaken. Like many of us who love God greatly, he fell short in big ways.

Because David is one of my favorites, we will come back to his life. For now, I want to focus on the fact that this man, despite all his flaws, was a man after God’s own heart.

How do I reach the point where God says, Joanna, a woman after My own heart? How do you reach that point for yourself?

How do I know David was a man after God’s own heart? Well, the Bible tells me so. More specifically, the king who came before David—Saul—refused to obey God. He would rather be wealthy or popular. So when God told Saul he was no longer going to be king, He said He would replace Saul with a man after His own heart (Samuel 13:14 NIV).

David had many great qualities. Even if you don’t know the Bible, you probably know the story of David and Goliath.

But do you know why David fought Goliath?

It wasn’t for money. It wasn’t for glory. No, they were benefits to fight Goliath, but the real reason David fought was an unbreakable love for God. He loved and trusted God in a way we could only pray to have.

When David walked from home to the battlefield to bring his brothers loaves of bread, he heard Goliath mocking God. Immediately, he took a stand.

Let’s go there:

David said to Saul, Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.

Saul replied, You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.

But David said to Saul, Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.

Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you.

David said to the Philistine, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.

As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. (1 Samuel 17:32–37, 45–50 NIV)

See, when the Philistines defied Israel’s armies, they weren’t just defying the army but Israel’s God. They were bigger, they were stronger, they were better trained; they had more experience and more people.

Absolutely none of that scared David. He knew who was before him; it was the same God who went with him when he fought lions to defend his parents’ flock.

If we truly desire after God’s heart, we become bold—bold enough to, with a resounding call, say that our God is big enough. God will never forsake us. As such, we are never alone.

We, like David, must look to our past to see what God has done in our lives. We must strengthen our faith by the remembrance of His faithfulness. In the end, it was not the stone that killed Goliath; it was David’s faith. This faith came from stories of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—stories of the miracles like rams in thickets and parted waters. These stories were paramount in the beginning of David’s journey. He must have looked to these when he first wrestled a lion. However, at this point in his life, David’s faith was not based on someone else’s story of God’s faithfulness. It was based on his own experiences.

Throughout the Bible, we see time and time again that this combination: faith heritage + faith in action = miraculous stories. There is no mountain too great, no heartbreak too big, and no one too powerful for us when we stand on the faithfulness of God for His glory.

Next, we are going to, from about halfway into a story, talk about the no matter what kind of faith. This bold faith is made from a respectful yet firm opposition to anyone who would put himself above God, even the king.

The young men in this story lived with an even if kind of faith. Why do I call it that? Because of their words, but more on that later.

Background: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Jews taken to live in the very corrupt nation of Babylon. They were taken to serve the Babylonian king. The king changed everything about their world, even their names, with the goal to indoctrinate them into the Babylonian culture. Back in Judah, their names were Hannaniah, Azariah, and Mishael. He changed all that but could never change their love of the Lord.

Now, Babylon was a hot mess. No, seriously, a hot mess. It was a huge place with dozens of different cultures. Each culture had a different god, and you could have your god if you worshipped their gods too. It. Was. Bad.

These young men were still faithful. They still served the God of the Bible. They lived in a way to have no other god. This steadfastness could not have been easy, given where they lived. But it was about to get exponentially harder.

In the book of Daniel chapter 3, we begin this story:

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up in the plain of Dura in the providence of Babylon. Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. So all these officials came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Then a herald shouted out, People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command! When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.

Um…excuse me?

This is really a thing that happened though! Bear with me as we think about the logistics. So many people would have been there. Many of them were Jews. All of them worshipped other gods.

Now this big shot, big-headed king makes a statue of himself and calls everyone to worship it or die. But when the music plays, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not bow down. Now back to the story:

Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what God will be able to rescue you from my power.

This is an intense moment, I’ll admit. But I want you to focus with me on their reply for one second:

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But EVEN IF [emphasis added] he doesn’t we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." (Daniel 3:1–6, 13–15, 16–18 NLT)

Bam! These boys do not play.

The king was obviously furious. This story has a fantastic ending. But that line is the one I want to focus on: Even. If.

These men were taken from their home in their teen years, thrown into a new culture, had their names changed, and were expected to conform. They clearly did not get the memo. I love them for that. They were never disrespectful; they were just firm. They stood in holy defiance and said even if God doesn’t show up, we worship God alone.

Exodus 2 tells us to have no other gods before the Lord. Our buddies here do not take that lightly. I think this story begs us to ask ourselves the question: Do you have an even if sort of faith? Even if I am not healed, even if I lose my job, even if I go to jail…I serve the one true God. Do we have that kind of faith? Do we have a faith that can withstand the fire?

This is something with which I frequently wrestle. Oh, it’s so heavy on my heart!

God,

Let us have a faith like that. An even if, no matter what kind of faith that looks to, loves, and adores You above all. Help us to love You fiercely. Help us to meditate on Your words so they become our strength. Let us grow to trust You.

You see, their faith didn’t start with fiery furnaces; it started with a love for God and His unfailing Word. It started at home and grew with time and the witnessing of God’s faithfulness in their own lives, much like David. Oh, how I want my faith to grow from daily Bible reading and Sunday morning church. I want it to be made of real stuff—the stuff you cannot break. I want it to be alive, bold, and unapologetic.

I want that for myself, my husband, my children. I want that for you too. Do you want that kind of unbreakable faith? Pray these words over your life.

What would change in your life? How would your heart’s own pulse echo that of your Savior?

Lord God,

I want to have a faith that cannot be broken. I want