Labor or Freedom

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

LABOR OR FREEDOM

2 Sam 12:24-31

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.   26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, "I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. 28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me." 29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 He took the crown from the head of their king-its weight was a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones — and it was placed on David's head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city 31 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking. He did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

NIV

While David was comforting Bathsheba, Joab was out doing the business of war against the Ammonites. He sent messengers to David, and he responded by leaving Jerusalem and going to war with the rest of his army. Interestingly, he captured the town of Rabbah and took a seventy-five-pound crown from its king and put it on David’s head. They put them all to work making bricks, which is also interesting, as it was this same work the Egyptians put on the Israelites. What do we learn from this narrative? The victor puts the defeated to hard labor is the point we should ponder. We are in war, although not in the sense that David and Joab were at war with the Ammonites. We war against the forces of this dark world, the rulers, principalities, and the evil forces in the spiritual realm. Our battle is not for land, but for our lives. However, because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, who wears the crown of crowns, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, he stands before us, and through his power, we have already become the victor. Some poor souls have been or are being defeated by the evil forces of this world, as with the Ammonites, they will be consigned to heavy labor, without the chance of freedom. But there is another problem that could exist within the church. If we are simply doing church, that is being religious, or having a form of Pharisaical righteousness, then we might be under some kind of labor to the law, without realizing we are living a defeated life. We have the power of the Holy Spirit available within so that we can live the victorious lives we have been given by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us walk in His light, fully armed in His armor, and standing our ground, as the victor over all the forces of this dark world. Let us stand humbly before our Lord who gives us that victory, who has set us free, and because Jesus set us free, we are free indeed. We will never be consigned to hard labor. What a joy to know the difference between labor and freedom.