Whatever Seems Right

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

WHATEVER SEEMS GOOD

2 Sam 15:16-26

16 The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17 So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away. 18 All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king. 19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland. 20 You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your countrymen. May kindness and faithfulness be with you." 21 But Ittai replied to the king, "As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be." 22 David said to Ittai, "Go ahead, march on." So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him. 23 The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the desert. 24 Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, "Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD's eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him."

NIV

We are still in the narrative of the dispute between King David and his son Absalom, who wants to take over or overthrow his father and become the king of Israel. However, there is a truth within this narrative that is presented to us in two different ways. The first is within the conversation between David and Ittai. David thought that because Ittai was a foreigner, not being an Israelite, that he should not be burdened with having to wander away from the comfort of the city to somewhere unknown. Ittai’s response is our truth we should take to heart. He said, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will be your servant be”. Is that not our confession of faith to our Lord and Savior, Jesus? “ As surely as our Lord lives”, and he does live, “Whether it means life or death,” we will follow our Lord. The Lord may lead us into comfortable places, or he may lead us into uncomfortable places, but it is our confession of faith that he is our Lord and that means whether he takes us here or there, whether it be pleasant or painful, we will be there with Him, by His side, praising His name, doing whatever he leads us to do. This same truth is illustrated for us in the statement David made that he wants to know that if he finds favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring him back to Jerusalem to see the dwelling place of the LORD’s ark. But if the LORD says that He is not pleased with David, then he is ready; “let him do to me whatever seems good to him”. There again is this truth that we take to heart. First, we would hope the Lord is pleased with us. After all, we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are believers, Christians. However, could there be some question in our hearts as to how we live our lives, whether we live subject to the leading of the Lord, or our own leading? That is, do we find ways to please ourselves in how we live? Do we decide where we live, work, play, worship, and yes, even what kind of service we do for the benefit of the kingdom? On the other hand, do we seek the direction of our Lord for all things in our lives? Do we say to the Lord, "No matter where you lead, we will follow. "If it is do this or that, whatever position you put us in within your church, we will serve with all our hearts." "Do with us whatever seems right and good to You". 

Worship

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

WORSHIP

2 Sam 15:7-15

7 At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, "Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the LORD. 8 While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: 'If the LORD takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.'" 9 The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he went to Hebron. 10 Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'" 11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. 12 While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom's following kept on increasing. 13 A messenger came and told David, "The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom." 4 Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, "Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword." 15 The king's officials answered him, "Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses."

NIV

This story is unfolding regarding the conspiracy of Absalom to overtake the throne from his father, King David. However, there is a truth we should focus on from the heart of David. When Absalom asked the king to let him worship the LORD in Hebron, David was thrilled to hear his son wanted to worship the LORD. He told him to go in peace. It is always a good thing to want someone to worship the Lord. This should be our desire for others to want to worship the Lord. We must understand that attending church is good, but that does not imply worship. We can worship the Lord anywhere, any place, any time, for he is always with us. In fact, the Spirit dwells within us and He leads us in the way of righteousness, leading us to Jesus, and giving us this overwhelming desire to worship our Lord and Savior. Although Absalom was being deceptive as he asked to be allowed to worship in Hebron, we cannot be deceptive in our worship. That is, we cannot just go through the motions, especially when we are with others at church, so we look like we are worshiping, but our hearts are not in worship, but somewhere else. The second truth is that when David learns of the motive of Absalom, he is concerned about all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem. His heart was for his people, wanting to protect them from Absalom’s motive of taking over Jerusalem, and in the process, he would have killed anyone who followed David. This teaches us that we should always have a concern for the lives of others in our presence, which would include those who worship within the local church. When we think of protecting their lives, we think of their eternal lives, and that would include encouraging their faith, their walk with Jesus, and building them up so that we all have unity in the faith. Let us always look after one another in love, for love always protects, trusts, and hopes, and let us worship with our whole hearts in truth and in spirit. 

Conspiracy

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

CONSPIRACY

2 Sam 15:1-6

15:1 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?" He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel." 3 Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." 4 And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice." 5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

NIV

This is the beginning of a great conspiracy of Absalom to overtake the throne of his father, David. It is not going to end well, as we later learn, during what might be called a preparation for battle, Absalom is killed as he hangs from a tree. However, for now, he is trying to make himself the ruler, the judge of the people’s complaints or cases they bring to King David. It is always a bad idea to be involved in a conspiracy. We know how the Pharisees and priests, along with the whole Sanhedrin, conspired against Jesus. Although that may well have been God’s will so that Jesus would get to the cross. We have seen conspiracies in the church over the years, and we wonder why believers would engage in such an activity. We wonder if we can conspire on a personal level to gain our own way or to make ourselves better than someone. Perhaps it comes down to what our motive is for anything we say or do. Absalom’s motive was to become the king, to take the place of his father. What is our motive for anything or everything we say or do? Are we engaged in any conspiracy in order to gain something for ourselves? How could we, since we are commanded to love one another, just as Jesus loved us? Absalom wanted his own way, to win the hearts of the men of Israel. We are not supposed to want our own way, but to walk the path the Lord has laid out for us humbly. Whatever our path, it is the path he has shown and directed us so that we are all doing his bidding for the benefit of the whole assembly of believers. This is especially true within the local church. Yet, we have witnessed divisions, dissentions, hurt feelings, bad-biting, or gossip that may well come from a conspiracy to gain personal attention or popularity. We have witnessed men leave churches, mounting a conspiracy with others to start their own church. But the issue comes back to the personal level, and we should never try to overturn, or overpower, or make ourselves look better than another, for that is not love. Let us never conspire in any way for any reason.  

Being Kissed

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

BEING KISSED

2 Sam 14:23-33

23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24 But the king said, "He must go to his own house; he must not see my face." So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king. 25 In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. 26 Whenever he cut the hair of his head — he used to cut his hair from time to time when it became too heavy for him — he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard. 27 Three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. The daughter's name was Tamar, and she became a beautiful woman. 8 Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king's face. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come. 30 Then he said to his servants, "Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. 31 Then Joab did go to Absalom's house and he said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?" 32 Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I sent word to you and said, 'Come here so I can send you to the king to ask, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there!" ' Now then, I want to see the king's face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death." 33 So Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

NIV

We have finally come to the place of reconciliation. That is the story here as Absalom bowed with his face to the ground before the king. David was Absalom’s father, but it is not recorded that he bowed before his father; however, he did bow before his king. We do wonder why we are told that Absalom had no blemish in him. He was a very handsome man, and that might give us a better understanding of his bowing before his king. It does not matter how good we look, or our well our financial portfolio looks, or our position in the body of Christ, or any other advantage we might think we have, we still need to bow face down before our King. There was reconciliation between David and Absalom; however, even with bowing with his face to the ground, it was the king who kissed Absalom. That would have required the king to raise Absalom up from his face to the ground to kiss him. We have been reconciled to God, and the story is the same. First, we must come to the presence of the Lord God Almighty, bowing before him, and accepting his grace, Jesus, as our Lord and Savior. Because we have bowed ourselves before Him, it is through the work of Jesus on that cross, He did all the work and reconciled us to Himself. It is a free gift, but we believe it comes to the one who bows before the King of kings, Almighty God. This takes absolute humility; there can be no pride, no self-righteousness, only bowing our face to the ground. Of course, we don’t physically do that, as Absalom did, but we must bow our hearts and minds, and maybe we should consider lying face down or on our knees, even if we have already been reconciled and our King has raised us up and kissed us. It is overwhelming  to think that our King has kissed us. 

All Things Are Possible

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

2 Sam 14:18-22

18 Then the king said to the woman, "Do not keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you." "Let my lord the king speak," the woman said. 19 The king asked, "Isn't the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant. 20 Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation. My lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God — he knows everything that happens in the land." 21 The king said to Joab, "Very well, I will do it. Go, bring back the young man Absalom." 22 Joab fell with his face to the ground to pay him honor, and he blessed the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant's request."

NIV

We have not yet come to the conclusion of this story about David, Joab, and Absalom, but we are faced with several truths within the words of this woman who spoke to King David. First, was David just that smart, to know that Joab brought this woman and gave her the words to say so that he would relent about avenging the death of Amnon on Absalom, or was that truth revealed to him by the LORD? We would believe it was the LORD, as we know how Lord Jesus used these kinds of parallels in stories to make a point. Secondly, this woman said that David had the wisdom like that of an angel of God, that he knew everything that happened in the land. This is prophetic about our Lord Jesus because he knows everything that happens in this land, or the earth. Thirdly, we see this petition laid out before the king, for the express reason of getting a change made in the present situation. We could see this as prophetic in some sense. First, that we can lay out our petition before our Lord, the King of kings, so that he might make a change in our present situation. That could be our sickness, or infirmity, or some change in our service to him, or our financial situation. There are so many ways our situation might need to be changed, but then we also know that our Lord is Sovereign and his way will always be best. In that case, we should learn to be content in whatever situation, yet Jesus told us to ask him anything, and as the words of David are just as prophetic, Jesus says if we ask in his name, he will say, “Very well, I will do it”. We can come to our Lord because he wants us to come to him in faith, believing that what we ask for will be done. We cannot have doubts or disbelief, thinking that he can do it, but will he do it? He said, Ask and he will do it. We know that a father asked Jesus to drive out the evil spirit from his son. He said if you can do anything, and Jesus said, somewhat snarky, “If you can?” then he said, “Everything is possible for him who believes”. There it is, everything is possible, we need only believe. Through this woman, Joab got David to change his heart; he believed it was possible because he knew his king. We know our King, and we know that all things are possible if we believe. 

Discernment

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

DISCERNMENT

2 Sam 14:9-17

9 But the woman from Tekoa said to him, "My lord the king, let the blame rest on me and on my father's family, and let the king and his throne be without guilt." 10 The king replied, "If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you again." 11 She said, "Then let the king invoke the LORD his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed." "As surely as the LORD lives," he said, "not one hair of your son's head will fall to the ground." 12 Then the woman said, "Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king." "Speak," he replied. 13 The woman said, "Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son? 14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. 15 "And now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, 'I will speak to the king; perhaps he will do what his servant asks. 16 Perhaps the king will agree to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to cut off both me and my son from the inheritance God gave us.' 17 "And now your servant says, 'May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you.'"

NIV

Although all that this woman said was from the mouth of Joab, which we will see that David finally figured out, there is something in this narrative that she said to David that is simply not true. This woman told David that he is like an angel of God, discerning good from evil. In some sense, we should be able to discern evil from good, but only because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, gifting us with discernment. When we think of the testimony of God regarding all mankind before the flood, that their hearts were bent toward evil all the time, how can that be any different in the time of David, and for that matter, in the present age? We believers would not agree that our hearts are bent toward evil all the time, but we also cannot say that our hearts are bent toward God all the time. If we even think that we never have any evil or sinful thoughts or deeds within us, we would be just like the Pharisees, filled with self-righteousness, pride, and hypocrisy. Sometimes we might try to appear all holy and righteous in front of other believers, for who wants to admit to having any unrighteous thoughts or deeds. We have heard people criticize certain government officials for not being transparent, yet we wonder just how transparent we are with each other. David was praised for being able to discern good from evil, but we must praise the Lord for giving us that ability, although sometimes we might blur the line between the two. The  Apostle Paul was more honest about his not just blurring the line, but right out crossing it when he testified that what he wants to do, he does not, and what he does not want to do, he does. Let us always be open to the discernment of the Spirit concerning our hearts and minds, that we might have an honest assessment within. 

Seeking and Giving Forgiveness

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

SEEKING AND GIVING FORGIVENESS

2 Sam 14:1-8

14:1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom. 2 So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, "Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don't use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him." And Joab put the words in her mouth. 4 When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, "Help me, O king!" 5 The king asked her, "What is troubling you?" She said, "I am indeed a widow; my husband is dead. 6 I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. 7 Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, 'Hand over the one who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir as well.' They would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth." 8 The king said to the woman, "Go home, and I will issue an order in your behalf."

NIV

Joab is a wise servant of King David, as well as knowing all that goes on in the kingdom of Israel, especially in regards to the family of the king. He has set up a scenario that will cause David to make a proper judgment for the woman, but in essence, for his own situation with his son Absalom. Of course, that will be the rest of the story, yet we still have a lesson to learn from this portion. Although this is just a ploy to get David to see the story is about him and his son Absalom, who had his brother Amnon killed because he had disgraced his sister Tamar. From the previous verses about David wanting to console Absalom, we wonder if the Hebrew word, because of the negative application, did not mean, he wanted to avenge himself against Absalom, and that is why Joab set up this ruse to get David to see the truth about himself. Nevertheless, the lesson is still about forgiveness rather than revenge. This does not, or should not, set aside justice for a crime of murder, but then Jesus taught that to hate another faces judgment just as someone who killed another. Could we then say that if we harbor any kind of anger or hatred toward another, forfeiting the opportunity to forgive, we are in danger of judgment on that final day? Does this coincide with when Jesus said to those who professed they did so much in his name, that he never knew them? How can a believer say they love the Lord and not forgive? Jesus made it clear that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven, and if we are not forgiven, then we are in danger of judgment and  of the fires of hell. Strong language, but truth, so we must always be in a constant state of forgiveness, which also means living humbly before our Lord and others. It is when we think more about ourselves, our being hurt, our feelings being offended, that we are thinking more highly of ourselves than we should, then either unforgiveness or revengefulness starts to creep in. Let us always seek forgiveness and give forgiveness.