2 Samuel 20: Wisdom and the Warrior

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Prayer:

God of all wisdom, protect us from the wisdom of our own talents. Give us ears to hear your wisdom in surprising places and give us the humility to seek it from you

Reflection:

The saying goes, "if you are a hammer, every problem becomes a nail." That is the wisdom of Joab. He is a warrior and he solves all of his problems like a warrior. When he loses David's trust, he kills the one to whom David turns. The person he seeks hides in a city, 'well destroy the city!' Thankfully for Israel, he slowed down and listend to that wise woman whose skill and thoughtfulness saved the entire town. Wisdom has the power to save like that. We must seek it.

Questions:

• What talents of yours do you tend to trust in difficult situations? If used thoughtlessly, could your confidence in them make you vulnerable to folly?
• Who are "the wise women" in your life to whom you should listen?

2 samuel 19: The Return of the King

Prayer:

Jesus, we trust that you will return to establish the full reign of your Kingdom. Please give us patience, perseverance to live hopefully and courageously for you and for this world. Help us to steward our gifts and talents so that we when you return you find this world better than how we found it.

Reflection:

The return of David to Jerusalem is full of beautiful detail that reveals the character and wisdom of David. We see him once again reflecting the man after God's own heart. His return is a picture of Jesus return. Would we be like Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth, whose conflict with Ziba lost the right to a relationship with David set everything aside so that when David returned, David would find that Mephibosheth was waiting for him. Mephibosheth showed his grief by not shaving. He showed his commitment to David by relinquishing any claim to what would be his. It wasn't the stuff of the king that he wanted, for he wanted to once again be with the king. Would that also be our heart.

Questions:

• What tangible evidence is there in your life that you are waiting for Jesus and his blessings?
• What do you think of how David responded to Shimei who cursed him before?
• Was Joab right in rebuking David?

2 Samuel 18: A father who failed

Prayer:

Father, it is clear that your purpose is for us to be in this confusing and broken world until you bring us home. Until that day, may our values be your values; our affections, your affections and our actions led by your Spirit.

Reflection:

There is a sadness in reading about David's fatherly affection for Absalom for the sadness seems not driven so much by fondness, but by regret. The nation of Israel is paying a dear price for David's failure as a father. Amnon and Tamar are just symptoms of a lack of involvement by David in the life of his kids. He wished it would get better with Absalom, but David the warrior wouldn't even fight the good fight for his kids. Now, his nation fights for him, and yet his heart betrays his leadership, or should we say his fatherly guilt betrays his leadership.

Questions:

• Are there situations in your life that you know of that are messy and grievious whatever decision is made? What do you think of how David handled this situation in chapter 18?
• How do you think David's conflicting concerns effected his leadership?
• The seeds of this war were laid in David's family life. How have you paid the price of poor leadership in your family of origin? What opportunities do you have today to offer the kind of leadership that your most immediate family needs?

2 Samuel 17: Our God He works

Prayer

Father God, your word is so valuable. May we always rely on what you have to say, the advice you have to give so that we can live according to your plan and purpose; so that we can live knowing we are following you. Give us a deeper desire to know you that we might come into a better understanding of who you are. Father, teach us to know you through your Holy Scriptures.

Reflection

David’s life is being threatened but God protects him with the advice given by Hushai. The men seeking David’s life have a choice to follow as they seek the advice of different men (Ahithophel or Hushai) concerning the best approach to capturing and killing David. We find in 2 Samuel 17:14 that the Lord was frustrating the advice of Ahithophel in order to eventually bring disaster on Absalom. David is informed of this next approaching attack and narrowly escapes with his life. Have you noticed that not everyone has our best interest in mind? That others don’t want what’s best for us but what they perceive is in their best interest? It’s important for us to remember, God is always working in the midst of all the chaos. While others don’t necessarily care about our well being, God always does. He’s working and planning to keep us near Him. Wherever you find yourself, whatever is going on please remember our God He works. He works to bring about His work in our lives.

Questions:

• What’s the best advice you’ve ever given? Received?
• Read Acts 4:12. This passage tells us where our hope and help can be found. Think about the importance of the salvation God provides and reflect on how this truth assists us during times when we are under attack.
• David was under constant attack. Imagine living during this time with David, constantly on the run. Or maybe during the time of the apostles, right after Jesus appeared and then ascended into heaven. Can you imagine the strength we’d experience during our trials today having witnessed like David the power of God working in His life? Or the ability to press on after witnessing the power of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? How might your life be different living with this powerful understanding that our God still works like this today?

Posted by Joe Stecz

2 Samuel 16: Obedience to God

David was the shepherd boy who became a champion in battle, and the unjustly accused and pursued, who twice spared the life of his oppressor. He was anointed as king of the entire Hebrew nation, glorified as a warrior and mighty general and the object of women's desires and wealthy beyond imagination.

At the pinnacle of his career when it is finally time to rest on his laurels, we find him in Chapter 16. He is -- again -- running for his life. This time, his own son seeks the throne. David takes handouts from his old servants and is humiliated by Saul's kinsman who pelts him with rocks, showers him with dirt and heckles him for miles along the trail. Surely, it is time for David to give up on God, isn't it? After all, if God had really been behind all of David's past success, He would never let David come to such a pitiful end, would He? It would be very easy (and perhaps typical) for any of us to conclude that all that past glory must have been something that David earned or deserved by his own merit. David knew better.

Instead of flying into a rage or withdrawing into a puddle of self-pity, how does David react? With gratitude, humility and faith instead of pridefully refusing his subordinate's assistance, he gratefully accepts Ziba's gifts and blesses him. Instead of vengefully lashing out at Shimei, he humbly acknowledges the fact that he has not lived the life that God would have him live. It mattered not that David was innocent of Saul's blood as Shimei accused. The important thing is that David knew that he was not blameless. He therefore submitted to Shimei's abuse not with self-flagellation, but with dignity and obedience. As a result, he arrived at his destination and refreshed himself.

We see here once again that true saving faith is not a cafeteria plan. We can't pick and choose the moments when we think God is in charge. We don't have God as our co-pilot from whom we take over the controls when things get frightening. David knew that true faith is 24-7. God is either the magnificent, omnipotent, omniscient, infinitely loving creator of the universe or He isn't. If He isn't, you should immediately stop reading the Bible, sleep late on Sundays, make as much money as you can and spend it all on yourself.

If, however, we accept that God is as wonderful and wondrous as the Bible tells us He is, we cannot make Him less than that. We must acknowledge that He is the supreme governor of all things and we must live according to the implications of His infinite sacrifice on our behalf. David knew quite a lot about God's love even before Jesus came and showed what infinite love looks like. If we too can begin to live as God's obedient and faithful children -- even in the very worst of times -- we will arrive at our desination and He will refresh us.

Posted by David Wilks

2 Samuel 12: Consequences

“You are the man!”
This was the prophet’s indictment of King David—the one who was so incensed by Nathan’s parable of the avaricious rich man. Yet David himself had been the thief in the allegory, for he had stolen Uriah’s wife. Thus all the anger that David mustered against the fictional protagonist fell back upon his own head.

Sometimes sin can bring us so low that we stop recognizing our own corrupt nature despite horrific manifestations. Even after we have put on the “new man” that Paul describes, we must still battle against the desires of the flesh. David had fallen to that state of self-deception, for he could not even see the wickedness of his ways when it was told to him in the simplest of tales. God was nevertheless gracious and brought the stinging word of rebuke from the prophet—the only thing that would get the king’s attention and break his trance of self-pleasuring sin. How wonderful that God loves his children so much that he will not allow us to languish in our own sin, but restores us!

And yet restoration is often not without consequence. David’s son died within a week of birth. The tragedy of the child’s death was compounded by David’s knowledge that he had caused Uriah’s death. David, like Jesus, prayed that punishment for sin would be taken from him, and yet the Lord did not relent. The child died. But with such death came a period of refreshment for David, because (we must somewhat read between the lines here) he had done everything he could, offered every prayer, fasting and act of self-denial he could, to protect the child’s life. Yet still the Lord had chosen to take it. David’s profound feats of devotion would clear his conscience not of the sin that had led to his judgment, but of any doubt that his repentance was not genuine.

Is there perhaps a double meaning in verse 23? David says of his child, “But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” In the broadest of senses, David states the obvious: the line between life and death can be crossed going forward but not going backward. But perhaps the meaning is more nuanced. Perhaps David is declaring a special knowledge that God gave to him that his child was in God’s care, enjoying the eternal bliss of divine love. And if so, what a comfort to parents bereft of their children at a young age that they are safely in God’s bosom. It certainly appears that God’s love for Solomon was made known at a young age (vv. 24-25). Perhaps David was similarly informed concerning his dead son.

Blessings would still come upon David’s house, for so the Lord had sworn. But tragedy and scandal would also encroach. So is our life in Christ. Our eternal blessing and position in Him is secure, although we must sometimes pay earthly penalties for our sins in this life.

2 Samuel 11: Danger – Hazardous to Humans

Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your mercy is great and you are faithful to us even when we are not. Forgive us for so often falling into sin. Lead us away from temptation and deliver us from the bad influences. Help us to recognize the signs when we are in danger. Strengthen us so that we may live rightly before you. Bring people into our life that can keep us accountable and strengthen us when we are weak. Amen.

Reflection

Temptation is not the problem, it is sin. David’s problem was not what he saw that only the only got the ball rolling. David’s problem was David; it was what he allowed to be conceived in his heart after what he saw. When David inquired about her, he was already too far down the path of sin to stop. Even when the messenger told him she was married, David was too far down the path of sin to stop. When she became pregnant, David was too far down the path of sin to stop. Sin is like that; with persuasive words it leads us astray and seduces us with smooth words. And like the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7, sin takes us further than we want to go and takes more than we want to give. The house of sin is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. Too many have stumbled down this path, never to get up again.

Ask Tim Haggard, he walked a path similar to David’s and it took more than he ever imagined. Temptation is dangerous and when we are tempted we should think of it as a warning sign of “Don’t go there.” We can think of it like the warning labels on the side of the household cleaners: “Hazardous to humans.” The only exception is that temptation has no useful purpose; unlike household cleaners sin can’t cleanup the mess that it makes.

Questions

• What temptations do you struggle with?
• Read Romans 8:1-17 - What hope do we have in defeating sin? What has set us free from the law of sin and death?
• How does Jesus treat the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11? What can we learn from his actions and response?
• One of the best ways to defeat sin and temptation in your life is to have people who can regularly keep you accountable. Do you have anyone in your life who can keep you accountable?

Posted by Aaron Miner