tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15361490551423710122024-02-08T08:55:14.210-05:00ECV Bible GuideAlyssahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00493693688097065604noreply@blogger.comBlogger515125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-19162500752470241152012-04-08T00:00:00.001-04:002012-04-08T00:00:04.750-04:002 Samuel 23:1-7<div>1 These are the last words of David:</div><div> “The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse, </div><div> the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High, </div><div>the man anointed by the God of Jacob, </div><div> the hero of Israel’s songs:</div><div>2 “The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; </div><div> his word was on my tongue. </div><div>3 The God of Israel spoke, </div><div> the Rock of Israel said to me: </div><div>‘When one rules over people in righteousness, </div><div> when he rules in the fear of God, </div><div>4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise </div><div> on a cloudless morning, </div><div>like the brightness after rain </div><div> that brings grass from the earth.’</div><div>5 “If my house were not right with God, </div><div> surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant,</div><div> arranged and secured in every part; </div><div>surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation </div><div> and grant me my every desire. </div><div>6 But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, </div><div> which are not gathered with the hand. </div><div>7 Whoever touches thorns </div><div> uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; </div><div> they are burned up where they lie.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘when he rules in the fear of God’--David was a fearless king. He faced enemies who seemed much stronger than him, constant war, insurrection, even plague; and he never flinched. His only fear was a fear of God. It’s not so much that he was scared of God, as that he deeply respected God. And he valued his relationship with God. He knew the one thing that would allow him to survive everything else was maintaining his deep connection with God.</li><li>‘surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation’--I wonder if David has in mind a particular episode of trouble from which God saved him, was thinking of all of his troubles as a unit, or is looking forward to a further rescue even beyond death.</li><li>‘thorns, which are not gathered with the hand’--you don’t grasp on to a thorn; you drop it as soon as you feel the prick. God never dropped David. Since God held David firmly in God’s hand his entire life, David can go to the grave with a clean conscience, knowing that God loved him and was pleased with him.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: David takes time at the end of his life to recount what he has learned and what his relationship with God has been like. Take time today to reflect on Lent and write down a summary of how it was for you. What have you been praying for? What were highlights of things God did? What were you disappointed about? What have you learned during this time? How have you grown? Ask God to show you what he would like you to take away from this season and carry over into the next. </li><li>For your six: Pray today that your six would one day have a story like David’s of how they came to know, trust, and love God. Ask God to show himself to your six today. Pray that the story of Easter would be captivating, make sense, and be something that draws your six towards God. </li><li>For our church: Thank God for what he has done in our church during Lent. Pray that we would grow closer to God and see God more clearly than we ever have before. Pray that our church would have the same confidence in and joy of God’s presence as David articulated in some of his last days in Psalm 108:1-5:</li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>“My heart is confident in you, O God; </div><div>no wonder I can sing your praises!</div><div>Wake up my soul!</div><div>Wake up, O harp and lyre!</div><div>I will waken the dawn with my song.</div><div>I will thank you, Lord, in front of all the people. </div><div>I will sing your praises among the nations. </div><div>For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. </div><div>Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. </div><div>Be exalted, O God above the highest heavens.</div><div>May your glory shine over all the earth.” </div><div></div></blockquote><div><ul><li>For families: What has Lent been like for your family? What are things you have seen God do? Look back to your posters, if you made any, at what you have been praying for, at what God has done and what you think he might be calling your family to do as a project. What do you notice as you look back at these things? Can you see ways that individuals in your family have grown in their relationship with God in this time? Can you see ways you have grown? Are there things you want to make sure you take as you move into the next season of your life? Find a way to write this down or make this concrete in some way. Spend some time sharing and wrapping up this time together. Listen together to God and see what God has to say about this time for you as a family.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-81983733374435186542012-04-07T00:00:00.000-04:002012-04-07T00:00:04.408-04:001 Kings 2<div>1 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.</div><div>2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’</div><div>5 “Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.</div><div>7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.</div><div>8 “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”</div><div>10 Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. 11 He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘the way of all the earth’--despite Bathsheba’s kind wishes in yesterday’s passage, David will not live forever. In this regard, he’s just like everyone else. He lived life on a grander scale than most, but he’s not actually larger-than-life.</li><li>‘do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace’--it’s a tad disappointing that practically David’s final act is to order a string of executions. It’s chilling, like that scene in The Godfather when Michael Corleone has all of his father’s old enemies killed at the very same time he’s standing as godfather to his nephew. I think it has to be done, though. Even David could not quite control Shimei or, even more, Joab. There’s no way Solomon could be safely established with those two running amok. David himself probably should have taken care of them long ago. Since he didn’t, Solomon must, to start his reign with a clean slate and a free hand.</li><li>‘show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead’--there’s also someone David didn’t quite have the chance to reward properly during his own lifetime. At least it’s not just killings David is leaving to Solomon.</li><li>‘Then David rested with his ancestors’--I like that David’s death is described as ‘resting.’ David has had a long and busy life. In one way or another, he’s been on the move since he was a teenager. It’s about time he got some rest.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: It’s hard to know what to make of David’s death-wish list that he gives to Solomon. It would have been so much nicer to get to the end of David’s life and find pretty picture of happily-ever after, but even to the very end everything is not so neatly wrapped up. David has somehow learned to navigate the tides of life’s complications and still find God in the midst of problems not being entirely solved. How do you respond to the messiness of life? What are some problems you are facing that just don’t seem to be getting solved? Ask God for more of him in those situations. Ask God to give you a glimpse of the bigger picture and how to navigate the challenges you are facing while not losing sight of God. Ask God to use these situations to draw you closer to himself. Tell God you want more of him. </li><li>For your six: David calls Solomon into his position as king, leaving him with clear words of direction. Ask God to call your six into what he has for them. Pray God would clearly guide your six. Pray that God would be a part of whatever pressing decisions your six currently face. </li><li>For our church: A large part of Solomon’s ability to have his throne firmly established was because he was following in the footsteps of his father and building upon what had happened before him. New England has an incredible legacy of God doing great things. Pray that our church would be a part of that and would learn from and build upon what has happened before us. Pray that we would follow in the footsteps of great people of faith and movements of God that have happened right here. </li><li>For families: Parents, are there things now, in life, that you want to pass on to your kids? Often we wait until the end of our lives or until we are under some type of pressure to think about these things. Spend some time thinking about what you want to be passing on to your kids, both now and at the end of your life. What are some of your hopes for them? What are things you want to say to them or encourage in them now? Choose a couple of these things and talk with your kids about them. Ask your kids if there are qualities or skills they see in you that they really want to take on for themselves. Pray together that God would help you be a family that walks faithfully before God with all your heart and soul.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-76936617123885479802012-04-06T00:00:00.001-04:002012-04-06T00:00:11.580-04:001 Kings 1:28-53<div>28 Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him.</div><div>29 The king then took an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 30 I will surely carry out this very day what I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.”</div><div>31 Then Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground, prostrating herself before the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”</div><div>32 King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, 33 he said to them: “Take your lord’s servants with you and have Solomon my son mount my own mule and take him down to Gihon. 34 There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.”</div><div>36 Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so declare it. 37As the LORD was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!”</div><div>38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon mount King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” 40 And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.</div><div>41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, “What’s the meaning of all the noise in the city?”</div><div>42 Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.”</div><div>43 “Not at all!” Jonathan answered. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king. 44 The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king’s mule, 45 and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That’s the noise you hear. 46 Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne. 47 Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!’ And the king bowed in worship on his bed 48 and said, ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.’”</div><div>49 At this, all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed. 50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’”</div><div>52 Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.” 53 Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘Call in Bathsheba’--I don’t exactly understand the ins and outs of what’s being described here. I was under the impression that Bathsheba was already in the room.</li><li>‘’May my lord King David live forever!’--it’s interesting that even as they plan together for who will take over once David dies, Bathsheba offers this wish that he would live forever.</li><li>‘have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him’--in many ways, Adonijah has the upper hand: he is older; he has the support of the other brothers; and he has the master strategist Joab on his side. But Solomon has two practically unbeatable advantages, in Nathan and David. David gives Solomon his own limousine and the throne itself. And Nathan anoints him. Thus, it becomes immediately clear that Solomon is both David’s choice and God’s.</li><li>‘Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites’--when Joab took command of the army after Amasa’s death, Benaiah took Joab’s old job as commander of the Kerithites, Pelethites, and other special forces. </li><li>‘so that the ground shook with the sound’--Solomon’s people are blowing trumpets and pipes and doing whatever else they can to express their support as loudly as possible. </li><li>‘all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed’--the spectacle works. Adonijah’s guests are intimidated, and they all suddenly remember that they’re late for another appointment.</li><li>‘took hold of the horns of the altar’--Adonijah figures that no one would be willing to shed blood in such a holy place.</li><li>‘Solomon replied’--up until now, everyone--David, Bathsheba, Nathan, Zadok, Benaiah--has been acting on Solomon’s behalf. This is the first time he speaks for himself. Solomon rises to the occasion, behaving like the king he will soon be.</li><li>‘Adonijah came and bowed down’--he’s surrendering, and recognizing Solomon as king.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: Contrasting David’s response here to his response several years earlier when Absalom tried to take the throne is impressive; if he had a therapist I’m sure she would agree that David is progressing well. In contrast to the time with Absalom, David doesn’t react to or seem afraid of Adonijah. He has learned that he doesn’t need to feel threatened by such situations—something I can see it might take a little while to learn. What situations are you in that feel threatening? What relationship or scenario causes you to suddenly feel like you need to protect your sense of self, your well-being, or your livelihood? Ask God to give you a sense of abundance and security in those situations. Tell God that you trust God to provide for you and to look out for your best interest. Ask God to show you how you might respond next time a threatening situation occurs.</li><li>For your six: Adonijah’s poor guests get caught in the middle of a potentially fatal family feud. I’m guessing they attended the feast because it sounded like a fun, inviting party with friends—only to find out later it was a palace coup. Who do your six spend the most time with? Where do they go to celebrate and have a good time? Ask God to give your six friends who are looking out for their best interest. Pray that your six wouldn’t end up in volatile situations like Adonjiah’s guests did.</li><li>For our church: Solomon effectively sends Adonijah to his room for a time out. It seems like maybe we are all prone to have some childish outbursts whether we like it or not. Pray that God would give us an incredible amount of maturity to deal with all the ups and downs that life can bring. Pray that God would keep our church clear-headed and focused on God.</li><li>For families: Talk about any of the ways that you see each other growing in your relationship with God and in faith during this Lenten season. What are some things you see as a family member that others might miss? Talk about the ways in which you see each other taking that first step toward more faith. Pray for each other that God would walk with each of you and help you take the next steps.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-44421759245327245032012-04-05T00:00:00.001-04:002012-04-05T00:00:06.491-04:001 Kings 1:1-27<div>1 When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. 2So his attendants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.”</div><div>3 Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.</div><div>5 Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)</div><div>7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah.</div><div>9 Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, 10 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.</div><div>11 Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David knows nothing about it? 12 Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: “Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14 While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and add my word to what you have said.”</div><div>15 So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. 16 Bathsheba bowed down, prostrating herself before the king.</div><div>“What is it you want?” the king asked.</div><div>17 She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the LORD your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20 My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.”</div><div>22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. 23 And the king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.</div><div>24 Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne? 25 Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite. 27 Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king’--I get the impression that there was some sort of scandal over Abishag. Rumors persisted even to the time of the writing of this history that David had an affair with a much younger woman at the very end of his life. The author is assuring us that Abishag was only David’s nurse; David was too weak to keep himself warm or get out of bed, for goodness’ sake. It does seem odd, though, that even as he’s denying there’s anything to the rumors, he focuses an awful lot on how young and pretty she is.</li><li>‘He was also very handsome’--it seems that David has no shortage of good-looking, older sons who feel it’s their right to be king. If there’s one thing we’ve learned through this story, it’s that it doesn’t work that way with God or with David. You need more than a birth certificate and a nice head of hair to be the kind of king God is looking for.</li><li>‘His father had never rebuked him’--unfortunately, it seems that David never learned the trick of avoiding over-indulging his older sons.</li><li>‘But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet’--at the very end, David’s most loyal supporters are splitting up. Many of these men have been with David all the way since the outlaw days when they were running from Saul. All of them stuck with David during Absalom’s rebellion. But now half of them are siding with Adonijah and half with Solomon. Abiathar and Joab go one way, Zadok and Benaiah the other. Each of the sons has one of David’s faithful priests and one of his best generals.</li><li>‘near En Rogel’--En Rogel is in Judean territory. Just like Absalom did, Adonijah is appealing to his tribal base in his claim for the crown (Walton et al).</li><li>‘He invited all his brothers’--Adonijah takes Absalom’s tactic and adapts it. Absalom also made his move with a party for all of the brothers, but he caused a panic when he killed one of them. Adonijah instead uses the big family banquet to entice his brothers into supporting him over Solomon. It creates the impression of all against one, instead of one against all.</li><li>‘Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother’--it’s curious that Nathan talks to Bathsheba rather than Solomon himself. I think it must mean that Solomon is too young to be fully in charge of his own affairs. His mother has to act as his agent.</li><li>‘our lord David knows nothing about it’--David is bedridden, and perhaps Joab is restricting the news that gets to him.</li><li>‘I will come in and add my word’--this conspiracy is too strong even for just one of Bathsheba or Nathan to counteract. They need to work together to convince David of the seriousness of the situation.</li><li>‘Is this something my lord the king has done’--I don’t think that Nathan seriously suspects David’s involvement in Adonijah’s actions. He’s trying to remind David that, bedridden as he is, he’s still the king; and he has the power to do something about what’s happening.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: When hearing the troublesome news, Bathsheba doesn’t get worked up into a frenzy but instead goes straight to David to discuss what’s been going on and clarify what he had said. Bathsheba’s immediate go-to-David response seems like a helpful model for how we might approach God. Whatever is on your mind or in front of you today, try going to God with it—to get perspective, to talk about it, to ask him to change it, or to thank him for it. Today, try as often as you can, whatever comes your way, to go directly to God to check in with God about it.</li><li>For your six: It’s peculiar how similar Adonijah’s banquet-throwing-to-assert-the-throne tactics are to his older brother Absalom’s. It almost seems like in it’s in his blood—and maybe it just so happens it is in his blood. We seem to inherit both good and bad from our families. Ask God to bless your six’s families and to protect your six from and put a stop to any unhelpful patterns that keep getting passed down from generation to generation. Ask God that the behaviors that come naturally to your six would point them toward God.</li><li>For our church: David pretty diligently preparing to transfer power over to Solomon, only to have Adonijah throw a huge wrench in the plan. Ask God to help our church in both the making and executing of plans. Pray that God would give us grace, agility, and wisdom to best respond when plans suddenly change. </li><li>For families: Do you have any elderly family members who are nearing the end of their lives? Spend some time talking about these people. We can often push these people aside as having little to offer. They might have limited capacities, do things really differently, or just be difficult to hang out with. But sometimes God might want to use these people to give you bits of wisdom you might not get anywhere else. Spend some time as a family praying for any aging family members you have. Ask God how he sees these people. Ask if God would like you to spend time with any of these people and if there are any things God would like you to ask them in this season of their lives. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-75972049505078326222012-04-04T00:00:00.001-04:002012-04-04T00:00:05.271-04:001 Chronicles 29<div>1 Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for human beings but for the LORD God. 2 With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: 4 three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the skilled workers. Now, who among you is willing to consecrate yourself to the LORD today?”</div><div>6 Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the LORD in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.</div><div>10 David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,</div><div> “Praise be to you, LORD, </div><div> the God of our father Israel, </div><div> from everlasting to everlasting. </div><div>11 Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power </div><div> and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, </div><div> for everything in heaven and earth is yours. </div><div>Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; </div><div> you are exalted as head over all. </div><div>12 Wealth and honor come from you; </div><div> you are the ruler of all things. </div><div>In your hands are strength and power </div><div> to exalt and give strength to all. </div><div>13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, </div><div> and praise your glorious name.</div><div>14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 15 We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16 LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 18 LORD, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. 19 And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”</div><div>20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the LORD your God.” So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the LORD and the king.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘I now give my personal treasures’--everything David has mentioned up until now has been collected from the state’s resources. Now, David is pitching in what must be a very large portion of his own wealth.</li><li>‘gold of Ophir’--Ophir was particularly famous for fine gold.</li><li>‘They gave toward the work on the temple’--inspired by David, all the rest of the people throw themselves and their resources into the project as well. Even David can only do so much on his own.</li><li>‘Wealth and honor come from you’--even while David and the others are giving so generously toward the building of the temple, David wants to remember that he is not out-giving God. They owe everything they have to God.</li><li>‘Our days on earth are like a shadow’--our lives are so short and insubstantial that, like a shadow, they don’t even make an impression in the ground.</li><li>‘that you test the heart’--it’s not so much the dollar value of their donations that matters. It’s their faith, their gratitude, their love of God, and their desire to accomplish something great together.</li><li>‘the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel’--God promised Abraham--and his son Isaac and grandson Israel--hundreds of years ago that God would make them a great nation, give them the land, and make them an overflowing blessing to the rest of the world. Now, it looks like those promises are finally coming true.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: The Israelites are so inspired by the vision of the temple that they are willing to give anything and everything to make it happen. They seem to offer up whatever they have to God. What are things right in front of you that you can offer up to God? It could be money, a degree, a house, a skill or talent. Spend a moment asking if God wants you to give over any of those things to him for a purpose right now. Tell God you want to give that thing, and ask God to use it for his good. If you feel resistant to what God brings up, that’s okay; talk to him about that.</li><li>For your six: As the Israelites were responsive to God, they found themselves part of a plan much bigger than themselves. Ask God to show your six the big plans he has for them, and pray that they would feel compelled toward it.</li><li>For our church: I love that David asks God to help the Israelites ‘keep their hearts loyal’ to him. He seems to be aware that humans are prone to forget and to be sort of wishy-washy. Ask God to help keep our church loyal to pursuing God no matter what happens. Just like New England will always want the Celtics to win and always want the Lakers to lose, pray that our church would have the same immediate enthusiasm and commitment to whatever God is doing—that we would always turn to what God wants and always turn away from what he doesn’t want.</li><li>For families: Spend some time talking as a family about some of the things you give toward financially. For parents, share with your kids why these things are important to you. Often, giving can be of our time and our talents, too. Share about those things as well. Spend some time praying together about whether there are things God would want you to give toward and in what ways. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-19591682523402103102012-04-03T00:00:00.001-04:002012-04-03T00:00:04.569-04:001 Chronicles 28<div> 1 David summoned all the officials of Israel to assemble at Jerusalem: the officers over the tribes, the commanders of the divisions in the service of the king, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors and all the brave fighting men.</div><div>2 King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. 3 But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’</div><div>4 “Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel. 5 Of all my sons—and the LORD has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. 6 He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. 7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’</div><div>8 “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.</div><div>9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”</div><div>11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. 12 He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things. 13 He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the LORD, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service. 14 He designated the weight of gold for all the gold articles to be used in various kinds of service, and the weight of silver for all the silver articles to be used in various kinds of service: 15 the weight of gold for the gold lampstands and their lamps, with the weight for each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand; 16 the weight of gold for each table for consecrated bread; the weight of silver for the silver tables; 17 the weight of pure gold for the forks, sprinkling bowls and pitchers; the weight of gold for each gold dish; the weight of silver for each silver dish; 18 and the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense. He also gave him the plan for the chariot, that is, the cherubim of gold that spread their wings and overshadow the ark of the covenant of the LORD.</div><div>19 “All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the LORD’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”</div><div>20 David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished. 21 The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing person skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘the footstool of our God’--I like this. David knows that even his grand plans don’t amount to something worthy of being a house for God. At best, it’s an ottoman.</li><li>‘he has chosen my son Solomon’--just like David, Solomon has many older brothers, perhaps more qualified than him. But being king in this nation isn’t about being the oldest, or looking the best, or even having the right father. Solomon will be king in the same way David became king: by God’s choice.</li><li>‘with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind’--this is a nice combination of David calling his son to follow in his footsteps and David letting Solomon be his own person. Wholehearted devotion is David’s thing, and he wants it to be Solomon’s as well. But Solomon will apply it differently from David. David is a soldier and an artist; Solomon will be a thinker.</li><li>‘if you forsake him, he will reject you forever’--David is reminding Solomon not to take God or the kingship for granted. Saul was chosen just as much as David or Solomon, but God wasn’t afraid to take the kingdom away from him. God promised David that the house of David would last forever, but God doesn’t necessarily need Solomon to make that happen; God can find another way to put a descendant of David on the throne.</li><li>‘the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts’--David is completely consumed by this temple project. He’s thought of every detail, from the smallest room to the exact weight of gold for all the furnishings.</li><li>‘instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites’--the Levites are the tribe that specializes in religious service, the priests being the Levitical family particularly responsible for conducting religious ceremonies. The temple David has in mind will vastly increase the responsibilities of the Levites. So, having thought through every detail of the building itself, David has also taken a crack at reorganizing their job duties.</li><li>‘as a result of the LORD’s hand on me’--the same God who inspired David’s music and empowered him to kill a giant has also made him into an architect.</li><li>‘the LORD God, my God, is with you’--this job is far too big for Solomon. But that doesn’t matter. It’s not too big for God, and God will be right there with Solomon all the way.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: What’s going on right now in your life that makes you feel afraid or discouraged? David knew that in the face of the daunting project of building the temple--not to mention running a country--Solomon needed a steady stream of encouragement. If David were living now, he’d be sending repeated text messages to Solomon reminding him again and again to be ‘strong and courageous.’ Just as David spoke the words to Solomon, picture God saying those words directly to you: “__________, be strong and courageous”. Take some more time to listen to God, asking God to remind you of any specific ways that he would like encourage you.</li><li>For your six: Ask God to really know the hearts of your six. Pray that he would give them hearts that are opened and turned toward God. Ask God to bless all the ways, even the most covert, in which your six are actually seeking after God. </li><li>For our church: I know the saying goes that ‘the devil is in the details,’ but this passage shows us God in the details too. With the temple, God has even the smallest of things, from the serving-ware arrangement to the lampshades, figured out and perfectly arranged. Whether you love details or hate them, in the end you know that they matter, for good or ill. Ask God to take care of all the details of our church’s big dreams and plans. Pray that for every great, big plan that God gives us he would equally take care of the millions of things that need to come together for it to actually happen. For the situations where we find ourselves stuck in the details, ask God to give us a way out. Ask God that to give our church the ability to be impossibly great at the details.</li><li>For families: Everyone needs encouragement sometimes, and families can be great places to get that encouragement. What feels like a big challenge to you? How can your family encourage you? Let your family know about ways of encouraging that work well for you when you are facing a big challenge. Pray that God would make you a family that is great at seeing opportunities to encourage one other. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-30324610699401158322012-04-02T00:00:00.003-04:002012-04-02T00:00:02.767-04:001 Chronicles 22<div>1 Then David said, “The house of the LORD God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”</div><div>2 So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God. 3 He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed. 4 He also provided more cedar logs than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David.</div><div>5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.</div><div>6 Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God. 8 But this word of the LORD came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’</div><div>11 “Now, my son, the LORD be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the LORD your God, as he said you would. 12 May the LORD give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. 13 Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.</div><div>14 “I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. 15 You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work 16 in gold and silver, bronze and iron—skilled workers beyond number. Now begin the work, and the LORD be with you.”</div><div>17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. 18 He said to them, “Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the LORD and to his people. 19 Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the LORD.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘The house of the LORD God is to be here’--you may remember that ever since David built his own palace, he’s had building a house for God on his mind (Monday, April 4th, 2 Samuel 7). Ever since the wanderings in the desert in the time of Moses (about 400 years earlier), God’s ‘dwelling’ has been a tent. David wants to give God a more permanent address in Jerusalem. When they first discussed it, God’s response to David, ‘No, thanks. I like my tent just fine.’ At the time, God told David that the real priority was for God to build David a house--that is, a royal dynasty--not for David to build God one. I think David feels that that job is now complete. He has no more enemies, and there is peace on every side. All of his external enemies have been quelled or conquered, and all of the conflict within his family and within Israel has also been resolved. So, David turns once again to the idea of building God a house. I get the sense that David is still much more excited about this project than God is, but this time around God doesn’t stop him. Perhaps God senses from David a positive change in attitude. It’s not so much that David thinks he can help God out here, but that David is so grateful for all of the ways God has helped him. The temple is like a great, big thank you card from David to God.</li><li>‘gave orders to assemble the foreigners’--I don’t think this means that every single foreigner will be put to work on the temple. After all, much of David’s family and many of his most important warriors are foreigners; it’s hard to imagine a bunch of generals, queens, and princesses picking up chisels and cutting stones. The foreigners referred to here are probably the prisoners of war from David’s various battles; they’ll be made into a work detail for this huge public work detail David has in mind.</li><li>‘more cedar logs than could be counted’--it might sound funny for the king to bother himself with such small things as nails and two by fours, but actually in David’s time and place wood and iron were quite hard-to-get commodities. It would take a lot of time, money, and diplomacy to gather enough of them for the building David has in mind.</li><li>‘So David made extensive preparations’--God had said quite explicitly that David would never build God a house. David is technically abiding by their agreement, but he can’t help himself: he has to play a role in this temple. So, while he doesn’t actually break ground on the building site, he puts everything in place for the future.</li><li>‘because you have shed much blood’--at least in the story we read, that’s not exactly what God said. The earlier story we read was from the Samuel version of David’s story, and this passage is from the Chronicles version. So, maybe the Chronicler is introducing a different conversation between God and David on the same subject, or maybe Chronicles and Samuel have a different interpretation of the same conversation. There is some commonality between the two; in both versions, God is saying that David will be too busy fighting wars (with God’s help) to spend time building a temple. However, there seems to be a moral edge in Chronicles that’s missing in Samuel; the intimation here seems to be that David’s hands are too bloody with which to build a temple. Maybe God did, in fact, say this to David at another time. Or maybe David misunderstood God’s reasoning.</li><li>‘He is the one who will build a house’--again, this isn’t precisely what God said, at least in Samuel. God did indeed say that a descendant of David would build God’s house, but he didn’t say it would be David’s immediate heir. In fact, many people, including Jesus himself, think that the ‘Son of David’ God had in mind was Jesus, not Solomon. In that line of thinking, God never had a temple in mind. He was essentially telling David, ‘Look, I don’t care so much about palaces and temples; I care about people. So, I’m going to build your family up; and then someday a son of yours will build my family up.’ Nonetheless, Solomon may be a little foreshadowing of Jesus; and Solomon’s temple may be like a metaphorical architectural model for the ‘house’ Jesus will someday build.</li><li>‘Do not be afraid or discouraged’--David isn’t an easy act to follow. And David wants Solomon not only to take over from him, but to exceed him, accomplishing something he never did. That could be daunting.</li><li>‘ordered all the leaders of Israel to help’--this isn’t something Solomon can do on his own. He’ll need everyone’s help to pull it off. David is calling on them to back Solomon as solidly as they did him--in fact, even more.</li><li>‘Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God’--I’m not sure exactly how excited God is about this temple idea. But I bet that God is entirely pleased by this encouragement from David. The truly great thing about David is that he has almost always thrown everything he has--heart, soul, body, slingshot, cedar planks, and iron nails--into seeking and following God. Even more than the temple, that’s the legacy worth Solomon and these other leaders continuing. </li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: It took David awhile but he eventually accepted the reality that it wasn’t his job to build the temple. He didn’t give up on his dream, but he learned to check in with God to see what his part in it all was. What are the all the roles that you are currently trying to fulfill in your life? My guess is that there are lot. Ask God to show you specifically what role he wants you to play. Pray that he would make it clear what things are yours to do and what things are somebody else’s to look after. Pray some of David’s word from Psalm 16:</li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>5 LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;</div><div> you make my lot secure.</div><div>6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;</div><div> surely I have a delightful inheritance.</div><div>7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;</div><div> even at night my heart instructs me.</div><div>8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.</div><div> With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><ul><li>For your six: David is able to see and encourage Solomon’s gifts and talents before Solomon has even had the chance to show them. Take some time today to listen to God for your six. Ask God if there is anything he wants to show you about your six’s gifts, skills, and direction in life. Find a way to share those things with your six.</li><li>For our church: David has big dreams in mind. He thinks beyond himself and his own lifetime, and instead aims at leaving a lasting legacy on God’s behalf. Pray that our church would just as audaciously dream beyond ourselves and 2011, and that we would leave a godly legacy in New Haven, New England and, why not the entire world for centuries to come? Pray that God would use our church in remarkable ways to connect more people with God’s love and goodness than can even be imagined.</li><li>For families: Take some time to bless the members of your family today. Pray for each other, lay hands on one another, and practice just blessing each other with good things from God. If you see specific gifts or talents in your family members, call those talents out and bless your family members to use them for God’s purposes. Prayers of blessing can take different formats, but are often simple. For example, “I bless you with health, I bless you with the ability to love others well, etc...”</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-55124210552896819962012-04-01T00:00:00.000-04:002012-04-01T00:00:03.408-04:001 Chronicles 21<div>Sunday, April 1st: </div><div>1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”</div><div>3 But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”</div><div>4 The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.</div><div>6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him.7 This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.</div><div>8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”</div><div>9 The LORD said to Gad, David’s seer, 10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”</div><div>11 So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Take your choice: 12 three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”</div><div>13 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”</div><div>14 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.</div><div>16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.</div><div>17 David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? LORD my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”</div><div>18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.</div><div>20 While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.</div><div>22 David said to him, “Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.”</div><div>23 Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.”</div><div>24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”</div><div>25 So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels of gold for the site. 26 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.</div><div>27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. 29 The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.</div><div><br /></div><div>Points of Interest</div><div>‘Satan rose up against Israel‘--this is a surprise appearance. I guess now that all of David’s human enemies have been taken care of, a spiritual one appears. Satan is a powerfully evil spiritual being who is a genius at finding and exploiting character flaws, particularly through temptation and accusation; in fact, his name means, ‘Accuser.’</div><div>‘incited David to take a census’--it’s a little curious that this, of all things, is Satan’s nefarious plan. A census seems innocuous enough, boring even. I must be missing something, though, because Joab immediately recognizes the census as a foolish and reprehensible idea.</div><div>‘from Beersheba to Dan’--that is, from the far south to the northern tip.</div><div>‘May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over’--Joab points out that with David, it’s never been about the number of his troops, but about God’s support. Time and again, when he was running from Saul, when he faced Goliath, as far back as the lion and the bear in his shepherding days and as recently as Absalom’s rebellion, David has been outgunned, but with God’s help he has emerged victorious. Perhaps that’s why the census is such a bad idea. Having relied on God all this time, David now decides that he’d rather depend on the numbers of his army.</div><div>‘are they not all my lord’s subjects?’--counting them doesn’t change how many of them there are anyway.</div><div>‘Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering’--he doesn’t have the heart for the job and stops before he’s done.</div><div>‘Gad, David’s seer’--it seems like David has developed a personal staff as well as his government administration. Zadok and Abiathar are the national priests; Ira is David’s household priest (verse 26 from yesterday’s passage). Nathan is the national prophet; Gad is David’s personal prophet.</div><div>‘three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, or three days of the sword of the LORD’--by taking the census, David has said he’d rather rely on his numbers than God. God is now saying, ‘Well, let’s see how your numbers stack up against just one of the terrible things that can happen.’</div><div>‘Let me fall into the hands of the LORD’--just as after Uriah’s murder, even now, David trusts that God will ultimately prove merciful.</div><div>‘with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem’--David and his councilors come upon something truly terrifying: a huge destroying angel, with a drawn sword, apparently on his way to Jerusalem. What they don’t know is that God has just instructed him to stop. They catch sight of him just as he is about to sheath his sword, but it probably looks to them like he is drawing it instead.</div><div>‘I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong’--it does seem unfair that the people are paying for David’s mistake. However, if you’ll remember from the beginning of our story, before Saul, the people didn’t have kings, but were governed directly by God. Against God’s objections, they insisted that they wanted a king instead. I guess an unavoidable part of the whole monarchy package is that the lives of everyone hinge on the decisions of one man. Even with a pretty good king like David, that can sometimes come back to bite you, as it does in this instance.</div><div>‘let your hand fall on me and my family’--granting what I say above about the inevitable pitfalls of having a king, it’s still good to see David respond with humility, sorrow, and a desire to take the punishment for his actions on himself. All along, through his ups and downs, David’s saving grace has been that he’s a different sort of king. He’s generally humble before God, and he usually sees himself as the people’s servant rather than their master. With this census, he has momentarily forgotten both of those things. Upon seeing the suffering that results, he snaps back to his old self.</div><div>‘No, I insist on paying the full price’--out of deference to the king and in light of the emergency circumstances, Araunah is willing to cede his threshing floor to David as eminent domain. But David wants to be very certain here not to take advantage of one of his subjects. Assuming royal privilege is what has gotten into trouble in the first place, after all.</div><div>‘with fire from heaven’--by sending fire from heaven, God is dramatically demonstrating acceptance of David’s offering.</div><div>‘he put his sword back into its sheath’--I bet everyone breathed a big sigh of relief here.</div><div>‘at that time on the high place at Gibeon’--the tabernacle is the tent that represents God living among humans. It’s a little surprising to hear that the tabernacle is at Gibeon. Last we heard, the ark of the covenant was in Jerusalem; and the ark and the tabernacle should go as a set. Did the tabernacle and the ark somehow get separated? Is the ark on tour? Regardless, the reason it’s significant here is that offerings are only supposed to be sacrificed on the altar found in the tabernacle. But the official altar is too far away for David to get to it under the circumstances; you don’t want to keep an angel with drawn sword waiting. Still, breaking the normal rules must have been a bit unsettling. After all, last time they departed from the proper ritual, by carrying the ark on an oxcart, Uzzah ended up dead. In this case, however, it’s the sword-wielding angel himself who suggests the new altar.</div><div><br /></div><div>Taking it Home</div><div>For you: One last time, we respond to the day’s reading with a psalm. If you need them, you can look to the note at the beginning of the week for suggestions about what to do with the psalm.</div><div>Psalm 38</div><div> 1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger</div><div> or discipline me in your wrath.</div><div>2 Your arrows have pierced me,</div><div> and your hand has come down on me.</div><div>3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;</div><div> there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.</div><div>4 My guilt has overwhelmed me</div><div> like a burden too heavy to bear.</div><div> 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome</div><div> because of my sinful folly.</div><div>6 I am bowed down and brought very low;</div><div> all day long I go about mourning.</div><div>7 My back is filled with searing pain;</div><div> there is no health in my body.</div><div>8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;</div><div> I groan in anguish of heart.</div><div> 9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord;</div><div> my sighing is not hidden from you.</div><div>10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;</div><div> even the light has gone from my eyes.</div><div>11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;</div><div> my neighbors stay far away.</div><div>12 Those who want to kill me set their traps,</div><div> those who would harm me talk of my ruin;</div><div> all day long they scheme and lie.</div><div> 13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,</div><div> like the mute, who cannot speak;</div><div>14 I have become like one who does not hear,</div><div> whose mouth can offer no reply.</div><div>15 LORD, I wait for you;</div><div> you will answer, Lord my God.</div><div>16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat</div><div> or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”</div><div> 17 For I am about to fall,</div><div> and my pain is ever with me.</div><div>18 I confess my iniquity;</div><div> I am troubled by my sin.</div><div>19 Many have become my enemies without cause</div><div> those who hate me without reason are numerous.</div><div>20 Those who repay my good with evil</div><div> lodge accusations against me,</div><div> though I seek only to do what is good.</div><div> 21 LORD, do not forsake me;</div><div> do not be far from me, my God.</div><div>22 Come quickly to help me,</div><div> my Lord and my Savior.</div><div>For your six: I’m impressed by David’s ability to stay in it. He is kind of like a marathon runner, who just keeps at it. In the face of his own mistakes, God’s punishment, and incredible pain and frustration, David just keeps pressing in and connecting with God...even when he might not be on the best of terms with God or at all like what God is doing. Pray that your six would have the same endurance to push through to connection with God. Pray for any ways that your six have been hurt by churches or people of faith or have had troubling experiences of God that make it hard for them. Ask that God would be with them through their struggles and questions and that he would reveal himself to them. </div><div>For our church: Pray that God would give our church the tenacity to plead before him, like David did. Pray that collectively as a church we would lift up large concerns and boldly ask God to come through for us, for our city, and for the world. Ask God to raise up people who feel specifically called to help lead our initiatives to pray together. </div><div>For families: It can be easy to want to rely on how things look in this world rather than exercising faith in what God can do. Talk with your family about things you each want to see happen, things that seem impossible based on the numbers or facts of this world. Then talk about some things God has come through on in the past that have seemed impossible. Pray together that God would give you the faith to believe for this thing you want regardless of how it might look on the outside.</div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-57897026462769460092012-03-31T00:00:00.001-04:002012-03-31T00:00:05.966-04:002 Samuel 21:15-22:51<div>15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.”</div><div>18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.</div><div>19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.</div><div>20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.</div><div>22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.</div><div></div><div><b>2 Samuel 22</b></div><div>1 David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said:</div><div>“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; </div><div>3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, </div><div> my shield and the horn of my salvation. </div><div>He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— </div><div> from violent people you save me.</div><div>4 “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, </div><div> and have been saved from my enemies. </div><div>5 The waves of death swirled about me; </div><div> the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. </div><div>6 The cords of the grave coiled around me; </div><div> the snares of death confronted me.</div><div>7 “In my distress I called to the LORD; </div><div> I called out to my God. </div><div>From his temple he heard my voice; </div><div> my cry came to his ears. </div><div>8 The earth trembled and quaked, </div><div> the foundations of the heavens[l] shook; </div><div> they trembled because he was angry. </div><div>9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; </div><div> consuming fire came from his mouth, </div><div> burning coals blazed out of it. </div><div>10 He parted the heavens and came down; </div><div> dark clouds were under his feet. </div><div>11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; </div><div> he soared on the wings of the wind. </div><div>12 He made darkness his canopy around him— </div><div> the dark rain clouds of the sky. </div><div>13 Out of the brightness of his presence </div><div> bolts of lightning blazed forth. </div><div>14 The LORD thundered from heaven; </div><div> the voice of the Most High resounded. </div><div>15 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, </div><div> with great bolts of lightning he routed them. </div><div>16 The valleys of the sea were exposed </div><div> and the foundations of the earth laid bare </div><div>at the rebuke of the LORD, </div><div> at the blast of breath from his nostrils.</div><div>17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; </div><div> he drew me out of deep waters. </div><div>18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, </div><div> from my foes, who were too strong for me. </div><div>19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, </div><div> but the LORD was my support. </div><div>20 He brought me out into a spacious place; </div><div> he rescued me because he delighted in me.</div><div>21 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; </div><div> according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. </div><div>22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; </div><div> I am not guilty of turning from my God. </div><div>23 All his laws are before me; </div><div> I have not turned away from his decrees. </div><div>24 I have been blameless before him </div><div> and have kept myself from sin. </div><div>25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, </div><div> according to my cleanness in his sight.</div><div>26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, </div><div> to the blameless you show yourself blameless, </div><div>27 to the pure you show yourself pure, </div><div> but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. </div><div>28 You save the humble, </div><div> but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. </div><div>29 You, LORD, are my lamp; </div><div> the LORD turns my darkness into light. </div><div>30 With your help I can advance against a troop; </div><div> with my God I can scale a wall.</div><div>31 “As for God, his way is perfect; </div><div> the LORD’s word is flawless. </div><div> He shields all who take refuge in him. </div><div>32 For who is God besides the LORD? </div><div> And who is the Rock except our God? </div><div>33 It is God who arms me with strength</div><div> and keeps my way secure. </div><div>34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer </div><div> and causes me to stand on the heights. </div><div>35 He trains my hands for battle; </div><div> my arms can bend a bow of bronze. </div><div>36 You make your saving help my shield; </div><div> your help has made me great. </div><div>37 You provide a broad path for my feet, </div><div> so that my ankles do not give way.</div><div>38 “I pursued my enemies and crushed them; </div><div> I did not turn back till they were destroyed. </div><div>39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; </div><div> they fell beneath my feet. </div><div>40 You armed me with strength for battle; </div><div> you humbled my adversaries before me. </div><div>41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, </div><div> and I destroyed my foes. </div><div>42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— </div><div> to the LORD, but he did not answer. </div><div>43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; </div><div> I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.</div><div>44 “You have delivered me from the attacks of the peoples; </div><div> you have preserved me as the head of nations. </div><div>People I did not know now serve me, </div><div>45 foreigners cower before me; </div><div> as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. </div><div>46 They all lose heart; </div><div> they come trembling from their strongholds.</div><div>47 “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! </div><div> Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! </div><div>48 He is the God who avenges me, </div><div> who puts the nations under me, </div><div>49 who sets me free from my enemies. </div><div>You exalted me above my foes; </div><div> from violent people you rescued me. </div><div>50 Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; </div><div> I will sing the praises of your name.</div><div>51 “He gives his king great victories; </div><div> he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, </div><div> to David and his descendants forever.”</div><div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘he became exhausted’--David isn’t as young as he used to be. He doesn’t have the stamina to fight a long battle anymore. This guy Ishbi-Benob is no Goliath--his spearhead is only half as heavy as Goliath’s was--and yet David can’t handle him on his own. </li><li>‘These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath’--this chapter feels to me a bit like the tying up of loose ends. David has only four remaining enemies, these sons of Rapha. One by one, they are hunted down and defeated by the Mighty Men. And with the defeat of the last son of Rapha, David finally has complete peace on every side.</li><li>‘the horn of my salvation’--the horns of an animal are a common image of strength in the Bible’s poetry.</li><li>‘He mounted the cherubim’--you may or may not remember from the description of the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6) that cherubim are God’s angelic attendants. Apparently, at least for the purposes of this song, David imagines these angels as being in animal form. Not only are they God’s servants or guardians, but steeds God can ride as well. Some people think that the people of David’s day pictured the cherubim as being like sphinxes or griffins; but we’re not really sure.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: Chapter 22 is like a medley of a number of David’s psalms, recounting the ways that God has worked over the course of David’s life. If you were to compile your own list of the ways God has helped you or the different seasons you’ve had with God what would it look like? Start at the beginning of your life--or maybe even just the beginning of this week--and reflect on what God has been doing in your life. If you’re still in the middle of a season where you haven't seen God ‘rescue you’ or don’t feel like he has brought you into a ‘spacious place,’ that’s okay; it doesn't have to be rosy. Use the time to be honest with God about how things are going, telling God the ways in which you really do need him to rescue you.</li><li>For your six: The image of God reaching down from on high to take a hold of us might be one of my favorites. It’s a comforting image of God looking out for us and a reminder that God is the one who willingly and actively pursues us. Pray that God would increase the ways that he is reaching out to your six. Pray that your six would see how God is working, and know that God sees them and is drawing them out of whatever deep waters they may be in.</li><li>For our church: David recounts how God took him from a place of angst, trouble, and heartache to a place that felt spacious, abundant, and resourced. Ask God to give our church a sense of that same abundance. Pray that we wouldn’t feel tired, down, over-responsible, and driven, but instead that we would feel connected to the bigness of God’s love and generosity. Pray that the decisions we make, programs we run, and initiatives we start would be based upon and would reflect God’s abundance.</li><li>For families: Look at the poster that your family made listing your Lent prayers (if you don’t have a poster, just talk about your prayers). Take time to praise God for the things he is doing to fulfill these prayers. Also, take time to praise God for all the other things he is doing that you maybe weren’t even praying for or expecting. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-6228539451987508372012-03-30T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-30T00:00:10.412-04:002 Samuel 20<div> 1 Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted,</div><div> “We have no share in David, </div><div> no part in Jesse’s son! </div><div>Everyone to your tents, Israel!”</div><div>2 So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.</div><div>3 When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but had no sexual relations with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows.</div><div>4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the time the king had set for him.</div><div>6 David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bikri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your master’s men and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.” 7 So Joab’s men and the Kerethites and Pelethites and all the mighty warriors went out under the command of Abishai. They marched out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.</div><div>8 While they were at the great rock in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his military tunic, and strapped over it at his waist was a belt with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it dropped out of its sheath.</div><div>9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.</div><div>11 One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!” 12 Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt there. When he realized that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him. 13 After Amasa had been removed from the road, everyone went on with Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.</div><div>14 Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maakah and through the entire region of the Bikrites, who gathered together and followed him. 15 All the troops with Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Maakah. They built a siege ramp up to the city, and it stood against the outer fortifications. While they were battering the wall to bring it down, 16 a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here so I can speak to him.” 17 He went toward her, and she asked, “Are you Joab?”</div><div>“I am,” he answered.</div><div>She said, “Listen to what your servant has to say.”</div><div>“I’m listening,” he said.</div><div>18 She continued, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Get your answer at Abel,’ and that settled it. 19 We are the peaceful and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”</div><div>20 “Far be it from me!” Joab replied, “Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not the case. A man named Sheba son of Bikri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Hand over this one man, and I’ll withdraw from the city.”</div><div>The woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown to you from the wall.”</div><div>22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.</div><div>23 Joab was over Israel’s entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; 24Adoniram was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 25 Sheva was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><div><ul><li>‘a troublemaker named Sheba’--as the last chapter ends, after the collapse of Absalom’s rebellion, all of the tribes are clambering over one another trying to show that they’ve always been loyal to David. They’re all so insistent that they start to get on one another’s nerves. Sheba uses the confusion of this moment of bad temper to start yet another rebellion.</li></ul></div></div><div><ul><li>‘He provided for them but had no sexual relations with them’--these ten concubines have been through a lot. And it would just be too much, for everyone, for them to be passed back and forth between father and son. So, David gives them a quiet retirement.</li><li>‘the king said to Amasa’--as part of the peace settlement after the battle with Absalom’s forces, the king makes Amasa, Absalom’s general, the commander of the army.</li><li>‘he took longer than the time the king had set for him’--Amasa’s weakness as a general seems to be slowness to muster. Just as he let David get across the Jordan to a fortified position, he’s now letting Sheba get away.</li><li>‘Take your master’s men’--that would be Abishai’s brother Joab’s men. In the reorganization of the military caused by Amasa’s promotion, Joab is made the commander of special forces: the Kerithites, the Pelithites, and the Mighty Men.</li><li>‘Amasa came to meet them’--Joab’s special forces roll out quickly and catch up with Sheba, but Amasa finally arrives with the bulk of the army before Joab’s men have a chance to engage in battle.</li><li>‘Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand’--Joab is what I call a complicated man: one part voice of reason, one part psychotic killer. He often shows better military and even political judgement than David: he’s the one who brokered the earlier peace between Absalom and David; he kept his head during the whole Rabbah campaign and Uriah incident when David did not; he kept the army together and avoided a wider war during the battle with Absalom. Again and again, he proves himself a good general and statesman. And yet, he’ll murder a personal rival without so much as a blink of an eye. There’s no way he’s going to let this young upstart give him orders.</li><li>‘whoever is for David, let him follow Joab’--regardless of what David might say about it, Joab regains command of the army.</li><li>‘Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Maakah’--what at first looked like a widespread rebellion turns out to be just Sheba’s own clan. Joab is able to quickly contain him.</li><li>‘Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy!’--this reminds me of a mafia godfather saying, ‘I’m a family man, a simple importer of olive oil.’ The guy who just poked the king’s son through with javelins and stabbed his rival in the gut with a hidden dagger is saying, ‘Who, me? I’m a man of peace.’ To his credit, though, he has proven willing to avoid unnecessary bloodshed in battle.</li><li>‘they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab’--he may be family and all, but in the end, the town is not willing to die for the sake of Sheba’s ill-conceived, slapdash rebellion.</li><li>‘Adoniram was in charge of forced labor’--the soldiers of defeated armies were often assigned hard labor as a punishment. The point of this paragraph as a whole, by the way, seems to be that David has re-established control. His administration is firmly in place again.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: As we’ve done all week, we’re responding to today’s passage with a psalm of David. See the beginning of the week for some thoughts about how to use the psalm.</li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Psalm 5</div><div>1 Listen to my words, LORD, </div><div> consider my lament. </div><div>2 Hear my cry for help, </div><div> my King and my God, </div><div> for to you I pray.</div><div> 3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; </div><div> in the morning I lay my requests before you </div><div> and wait expectantly. </div><div>4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; </div><div> with you, evil people are not welcome. </div><div>5 The arrogant cannot stand </div><div> in your presence. </div><div>You hate all who do wrong; </div><div> 6 you destroy those who tell lies. </div><div>The bloodthirsty and deceitful </div><div> you, LORD, detest. </div><div>7 But I, by your great love, </div><div> can come into your house; </div><div>in reverence I bow down </div><div> toward your holy temple.</div><div> 8 Lead me, LORD, in your righteousness </div><div> because of my enemies— </div><div> make your way straight before me. </div><div>9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; </div><div> their heart is filled with malice. </div><div>Their throat is an open grave; </div><div> with their tongues they tell lies. </div><div>10 Declare them guilty, O God! </div><div> Let their intrigues be their downfall. </div><div>Banish them for their many sins, </div><div> for they have rebelled against you. </div><div>11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; </div><div> let them ever sing for joy. </div><div>Spread your protection over them, </div><div> that those who love your name may rejoice in you.</div><div> 12 Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; </div><div> you surround them with your favor as with a shield.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><ul><li>For your six: You have to think it was rather devastating for David to have Sheba turn on him just as the trouble with Absalom was ending. ‘Who’s next?’ he must have wondered. Ask God to comfort your six over any ways that they have been abandoned by people--whether it was recently or long ago. Pray that they wouldn't continue to carry that feeling of abandonment, but that God would give them a sense of belonging. Ask God to take away any feelings of loneliness they might be experiencing and to give them a strong community of support. </li><li>For our church: The woman from Abel Beth Maakah becomes an unlikely ally to Joab and his troops. Ask God to give our church alliances with unlikely people, institutions, and sectors of society. Pray that God would make the dream our church has of influencing secular culture a reality, and that he would do so through unique and creative partnerships. </li><li>For families: Take a look at your family’s Lent poster on the project God is calling you to as a family in this time. Have you already taken any actions on this? How is it going? Ask God to show you any unlikely people that might help you take the next step toward his idea for your family. If you sense that he’s giving you a name, go talk to that person and see what they might offer.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-21723369934159518282012-03-29T00:00:00.001-04:002012-03-29T00:00:04.641-04:002 Samuel 18:19-19:8<div>19 Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the LORD has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.”</div><div>20 “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”</div><div>21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.</div><div>22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.”</div><div>But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”</div><div>23 He said, “Come what may, I want to run.”</div><div>So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.</div><div>24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it.</div><div>The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer.</div><div>26 Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!”</div><div>The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.”</div><div>27 The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.”</div><div>“He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”</div><div>28 Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the LORD your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”</div><div>29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”</div><div>Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”</div><div>30 The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.</div><div>31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The LORD has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”</div><div>32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”</div><div>The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”</div><div>33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”</div><div><br /></div><div>19:1 Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” 2 And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.” 3 The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. 4 The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”</div><div>5 Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. 6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. 7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.”</div><div>8 So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,” they all came before him.</div><div>Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘You are not the one to take the news today’--this is considerate of Joab. Joab is the one who actually killed Absalom, and he is convinced it was the right thing to do. But he’s under no illusion that David will be happy about it. He doesn’t want young and eager Ahimaaz to bear the brunt of David’s displeasure.</li><li>‘Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.”’--while kind to Ahimaaz, this puts the Cushite in a difficult spot. Maybe Joab thinks that this Cushite will be more capable of delivering the news with the required gravity, while Ahimaaz is a bit over-enthusiastic; or maybe he just cares less about what happens to this Cushite. Then again, David’s later interaction with the lookout might indicate that Joab is just trying to get his signals right. If the messenger is someone he knows, David will expect good news; if it’s a stranger, he’ll know there’s bad news involved. If David is prepared well for the bad news, he’ll be less shocked, and perhaps be less likely to do something rash to the messenger. If David is expecting good news, but gets bad news, who knows what might happen? Cush, by the way, is modern Sudan; this man has traveled a long way to end up in David’s army.</li><li>‘sitting between the inner and outer gates’--for purposes of defense, the outer walls of a city would be quite thick, and there would be a series of gates. I think that here, though, the point is that David is eager to hear the news; he can’t stand to be fully inside the city. It’s like he’s standing by the screen door, waiting.</li><li>‘If he is alone, he must have good news’--David can’t wait to hear the message, but instead takes his signals from what he can see from a distance. What he sees makes him cautiously optimistic. If the battle went truly poorly, you might see whole groups of soldiers retreating to the city. </li><li>‘the first one runs like Ahimaaz’--Ahimaaz overtakes the Cushite, which would be more impressive if this were a race. Ahimaaz is a very speedy messenger, but he’s much less competent on the whole message part of being a messenger. David is eagerly looking for news on two subjects: 1) Did his army win the battle? and 2) Did Absalom survive? Ahimaaz has only half an answer for him. Ahimaaz’s very incompetence perhaps saves his life, though. He doesn’t even know the bad news that would give David a nasty shock.</li><li>‘If only I had died instead of you’--David’s first reaction is as a father, rather than a general; of course, no parent wants to outlive their child. </li><li>‘Now go out and encourage your men’--David’s reaction isn’t entirely fitting to the occasion. All of David’s soldiers have put their own lives at stake to protect David’s life, and now--after the fact--he’s saying that he wishes they hadn’t succeeded. The army has done their duty and done it well, but they’re left feeling as if they’ve done something wrong. Joab reminds David that his position doesn’t afford him the luxury of a personal reaction to his son’s death, at least in public. His soldiers’ duty was to fight for him; and now his duty is to congratulate them on a job well done.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: For those of you just jumping in at this point in the week, in our ‘For you’ section this week, we’re reflecting on and praying from psalms. </li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Psalm 143</div><div>A psalm of David.</div><div>1 LORD, hear my prayer, </div><div> listen to my cry for mercy; </div><div>in your faithfulness and righteousness </div><div> come to my relief. </div><div>2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, </div><div> for no one living is righteous before you. </div><div>3 The enemy pursues me, </div><div> he crushes me to the ground; </div><div>he makes me dwell in the darkness </div><div> like those long dead. </div><div>4 So my spirit grows faint within me; </div><div> my heart within me is dismayed. </div><div>5 I remember the days of long ago; </div><div> I meditate on all your works </div><div> and consider what your hands have done. </div><div>6 I spread out my hands to you; </div><div> I thirst for you like a parched land.</div><div>7 Answer me quickly, LORD; </div><div> my spirit fails. </div><div>Do not hide your face from me </div><div> or I will be like those who go down to the pit. </div><div>8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, </div><div> for I have put my trust in you. </div><div>Show me the way I should go, </div><div> for to you I entrust my life. </div><div>9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, </div><div> for I hide myself in you. </div><div>10 Teach me to do your will, </div><div> for you are my God; </div><div>may your good Spirit </div><div> lead me on level ground.</div><div>11 For your name’s sake, LORD, preserve my life; </div><div> in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. </div><div>12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; </div><div> destroy all my foes, </div><div> for I am your servant.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><ul><li>For your six: Joab reminds David that regardless of David’s own conflicted emotions upon hearing about Absalom’s death, all of David’s men currently need encouragement from him. Ask God to encourage your six today. Pray that they would feel cheered by good news and hopeful about their circumstances in life. Ask God if there is something you could do specifically to encourage them. </li><li>For our church: David’s response to Absalom’s death makes me think that David would have gladly forgiven Absalom if Absalom had just come home and said he was sorry. Despite all the competing interests and conflict, we get the picture that David really loved his son. Ask God to make our church one that really, really loves people, even when it’s most difficult. </li><li>For families: Is there anything that’s happened in your family that is hasn’t been forgiven? Whether it’s something that’s fresh or that has been pushed aside for a while, if it’s still bothering you consider bringing it up today and telling your family member how you feel. Ask God for the right words to use in this conversation. Try your best to both give and receive forgiveness. And pray that the air would be cleared between you.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-29130338556553510812012-03-28T00:00:00.001-04:002012-03-28T00:00:00.878-04:002 Samuel 17:15-18:18<div>15 Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do such and such, but I have advised them to do so and so. 16 Now send a message at once and tell David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords in the wilderness; cross over without fail, or the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.’”</div><div>17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel. A female servant was to go and inform them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city. 18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left at once and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 19 His wife took a covering and spread it out over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it. No one knew anything about it.</div><div>20 When Absalom’s men came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”</div><div>The woman answered them, “They crossed over the brook.” The men searched but found no one, so they returned to Jerusalem.</div><div>21 After they had gone, the two climbed out of the well and went to inform King David. They said to him, “Set out and cross the river at once; Ahithophel has advised such and such against you.” 22 So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, no one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.</div><div>23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.</div><div>24 David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of Jether, an Ishmaelite who had married Abigal, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab. 26 The Israelites and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.</div><div>27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils, 29 honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.”</div><div>18:1 David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 David sent out his troops, a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.”</div><div>3 But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”</div><div>4 The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.”</div><div>So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.</div><div>6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.</div><div>9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.</div><div>10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”</div><div>11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”</div><div>12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”</div><div>14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.</div><div>16 Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.</div><div>18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘Do not spend the night at the fords in the wilderness’--Hushai seems to be a little uncertain as to whose advice, Ahithophel’s or his, will ultimately prevail. Just to be safe, David should put a little space between Absalom and him.</li><li>‘Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel’--these are the sons of the two priests. David’s people have set up a little communication network to get news to David without arousing suspicion: Hushai goes to the Tabernacle, ostensibly to make a sacrifice but really to pass a message to Abiathar and Zadok; the priests send a servant on ‘an errand’ out of town; she passes the message along to Jonathan and Ahimaaz; they carry it to David. Despite the precautions, they almost get caught.</li><li>‘He put his house in order and then hanged himself’--once David crosses the Jordan, Ahithophel knows the game is over. He doesn’t need to stick around to see the end.</li><li>‘David went to Mahanaim’--Mahanaim was Ish-Bosheth’s capital. I guess, from the fact that both Ish-Bosheth and David choose it as a base, that it must be strategically located for defense, for gathering forces, or both.</li><li>‘Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army’--Amasa is a cousin of Joab and Absalom and a nephew of David.</li><li>‘Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim’--now that he has a base of operations, David’s loyalists begin to gather him. Interestingly, one of these significant allies is from Rabbah, the town that David just conquered not so long ago (March 7th, 2 Samuel 12:15-31).</li><li>‘brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery’--David’s men left town in a hurry with no supplies or equipment. These allies are helping David gather the necessary provisions from scratch.</li><li>‘It would be better now for you to give us support from the city’--as it turns out, the fearsome warrior who eats giants for lunch (see yesterday’s passage) doesn’t even participate in the fighting. His generals think it would be too risky. Battle is unpredictable, and if some accident were to happen to David, the whole thing would be over. It’s best just to keep him safe.</li><li>‘Be gentle with the young man Absalom’--Absalom may be a usurper, but he’s also still David’s son.</li><li>‘David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel’--perversely, David ends up having to fight against his own national army. When it gets down to the fighting, Israel’s army is no match for the ad hoc forces David is able to gather. Maybe it’s a matter of experience and training, David having retained the loyalty of the most battle-hardened troops. Maybe Israel’s army doesn’t have their hearts fully in it, fighting against their own king as they are. Maybe God favors David. Maybe all of the above.</li><li>‘Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree’--Absalom is known for his flowing mane (2 Samuel 14:25-26). Embarrassingly, his beautiful head of hair proves to be his downfall.</li><li>‘I would not lay a hand on the king’s son’--this guy has been paying attention. The man who grieved the deaths of Saul and Abner and Ish-Bosheth, and executed the purported killers of Saul and Ish-Bosheth, is unlikely to be happy with the one who kills his own son, rebel though his son may be.</li><li>‘I’m not going to wait like this for you’--basically, ‘Look, I don’t have time to argue with you.’ Joab has shown before that he is going to do what he thinks is necessary, come what may.</li><li>‘Then Joab sounded the trumpet’--Joab’s decision to kill Absalom is not completely heartless. He’s trying to save lives. He suspects that if Absalom were dead, the rebellion would crumble; and he’d like to kill as few of his own army’s soldiers as possible.</li><li>‘threw him into a big pit in the forest’--Joab may be, from his perspective, simply doing what needs to be done. But he can’t be too proud of it, if he’s trying to hide the evidence of it in the forest.</li><li>‘He named the pillar after himself’--it strikes me as somewhat less than completely dignified that Absalom commissioned a statue of himself. I think for the monument to have its desired effect it really needs to have been someone else’s idea. Poor Absalom so wants to be remembered--and is so afraid that he won’t be--that he throws his own party. His fears aren’t unfounded, though; in the end, the only trace of him left is indeed the ridiculous sculpture he built for himself. Sadly, he may be better off that way. What could he be remembered for, exactly? Killing his brother? Starting a civil war against his father? Apparently, the only thing truly remarkable about him is his hair--and even that betrays him in the end.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: Today’s psalm is Psalm 62. </li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Psalm 62</div><div> 1 Truly my soul finds rest in God; </div><div> my salvation comes from him. </div><div>2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; </div><div> he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.</div><div> 3 How long will you assault me? </div><div> Would all of you throw me down— </div><div> this leaning wall, this tottering fence? </div><div>4 Surely they intend to topple me </div><div> from my lofty place; </div><div> they take delight in lies. </div><div>With their mouths they bless, </div><div> but in their hearts they curse.</div><div> 5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; </div><div> my hope comes from him. </div><div>6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; </div><div> he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. </div><div>7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; </div><div> he is my mighty rock, my refuge. </div><div>8 Trust in him at all times, you people; </div><div> pour out your hearts to him, </div><div> for God is our refuge.</div><div> 9 Surely the lowborn are but a breath, </div><div> the highborn are but a lie. </div><div>If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; </div><div> together they are only a breath. </div><div>10 Do not trust in extortion </div><div> or put vain hope in stolen goods; </div><div>though your riches increase, </div><div> do not set your heart on them.</div><div> 11 One thing God has spoken, </div><div> two things I have heard: </div><div>“Power belongs to you, God, </div><div> 12 and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; </div><div>and, “You reward everyone </div><div> according to what they have done.”</div><div></div></blockquote><div><ul><li>For your six: Pray for your six’s relationships with their family members. David and Absalom aren’t exactly the picture of a wonderful father-son relationship, and, as we see, that causes more than a few problems for the both of them. Pray that your six’s families would be sources of support and blessing and not conflict. </li><li>For our church: I’m impressed by David’s ability to lead and delegate well. He is remarkably able to organize his impromptu army and march them into battle quickly and effectively. Ask God to give our church the same kind of efficient, organized system of getting things done. Ask God to somehow give us supernatural help in all the coordination that has to happen here week in and week out. If you are part of a Sunday team, a small group, or some other program or ministry, pray for the leaders who have been appointed to oversee that area. </li><li>For families: Ask everyone in your family to share about things they do to help make your home and family run well. Talk about why these things are important. Pray for each person and for what they contribute to your household. If there are areas that are not running well right now, talk about those too, and ask for God’s input on how they could run better. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-31439484595052449852012-03-27T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-27T00:00:02.573-04:002 Samuel 16:15-17:14<div>15 Meanwhile, Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. 16 Then Hushai the Arkite, David’s confidant, went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”</div><div>17 Absalom said to Hushai, “So this is the love you show your friend? If he’s your friend, why didn’t you go with him?”</div><div>18 Hushai said to Absalom, “No, the one chosen by the LORD, by these people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and I will remain with him. 19 Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not serve the son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you.”</div><div>20 Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?”</div><div>21 Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.</div><div>23 Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice.</div><div><br /></div><div>17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “I would choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David. 2 I would attack him while he is weary and weak. I would strike him with terror, and then all the people with him will flee. I would strike down only the king 3 and bring all the people back to you. The death of the man you seek will mean the return of all; all the people will be unharmed.” 4 This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.</div><div>5 But Absalom said, “Summon also Hushai the Arkite, so we can hear what he has to say as well.” 6 When Hushai came to him, Absalom said, “Ahithophel has given this advice. Should we do what he says? If not, give us your opinion.”</div><div>7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “The advice Ahithophel has given is not good this time. 8 You know your father and his men; they are fighters, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Besides, your father is an experienced fighter; he will not spend the night with the troops. 9 Even now, he is hidden in a cave or some other place. If he should attack your troops first, whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.</div><div>11 “So I advise you: Let all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba—as numerous as the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, with you yourself leading them into battle. 12 Then we will attack him wherever he may be found, and we will fall on him as dew settles on the ground. Neither he nor any of his men will be left alive. 13 If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the valley until not so much as a pebble is left.”</div><div>14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘No, the one chosen by the LORD’--Absalom knows of Hushai’s close connection with David. One way or another, it makes him suspicious--and, as we know from Sunday’s passage, rightfully so--of Hushai’s loyalty. Either Hushai is still working for David, or he’s a turncoat, in which case, what’s to stop him from someday switching sides again? Hushai cleverly answers that nothing has changed; he serves the king, not David, and right now Absalom is the one sitting on the throne.</li><li>‘all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious‘--nobody wants to pick sides if they think there’s still a good chance that Absalom and David will patch things up. Sleeping with his father’s concubines would be Absalom’s crossing of the Rubicon; there’s no going back from there. People would then know it’s time to back either David or Absalom.</li><li>‘he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel’--this fulfills Nathan’s prediction that David would someday understand just what he had done to Uriah (March 6th, 2 Samuel 12:1-14). It also turns Absalom into the very thing he despises. This whole thing starts because Amnon rapes his sister; and now Absalom is raping his father’s wives.</li><li>‘I would attack him while he is weary and weak’--momentum and the element of surprise are in Absalom’s favor. If he were to make a quick thrust, he could succeed. As time goes by, the fragility of Absalom’s position will start to show, and David will have the chance to gather his strength.</li><li>‘Summon also Hushai the Arkite’--Absalom’s entire fate hangs on this decision; so he wants to hear as much advice as possible before making a final decision.</li><li>‘as fierce as a wild bear’ --Hushai evaluates the situation differently. To him, Absalom’s main challenge is David’s fearsome reputation as a general and a warrior in his own right. If Absalom goes for the quick knockout punch and fails, it will only serve to enhance David’s reputation as someone who cannot be defeated; then everyone will defect back to David. Hushai is probably not wrong in this regard. And yet it doesn’t change the fundamental soundness of Ahithophel’s advice. The truth is that Absalom only has one shot, and his chances of success are small regardless. However, his odds are somewhat better if he makes the quick punch, as Ahithophel suggests.</li><li>‘he will not spend the night with the troops’--Hushai reminds Absalom that David spent years hiding in the wilderness. If they go for the quick strike, they can’t even be guaranteed to find him; they’ll have shot their wad for no reason.</li><li>‘from Dan to Beersheba’--Hushai’s conclusion is that Absalom should aim for overwhelming force instead of going for the quick strike. It sounds like a good idea, except for the tiny detail that Absalom has very little chance of being able to muster overwhelming force.</li><li>‘The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better’--Hushai’s constant harping on just how fearsome David is--‘Did I ever tell you about the time he felled a giant with just a pebble, and then cut off the giant’s head? I’ve never seen anything like it’--saps Absalom’s enthusiasm for a fight. Suddenly, waiting sounds good. Unfortunately, it’s too late for second thoughts; he’s already crossed the Rubicon. He follows enough of Ahithophel’s advice to get himself into trouble, but not enough to actually see it through.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: Today’s psalm is Psalm 61. </li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Psalm 61</div><div> 1 Hear my cry, O God; </div><div> listen to my prayer.</div><div> 2 From the ends of the earth I call to you, </div><div> I call as my heart grows faint; </div><div> lead me to the rock that is higher than I. </div><div>3 For you have been my refuge, </div><div> a strong tower against the foe.</div><div> 4 I long to dwell in your tent forever </div><div> and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. </div><div>5 For you, God, have heard my vows; </div><div> you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.</div><div> 6 Increase the days of the king’s life, </div><div> his years for many generations. </div><div>7 May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever; </div><div> appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.</div><div> 8 Then I will ever sing in praise of your name </div><div> and fulfill my vows day after day.</div><div></div></blockquote><div><ul><li>For your six: Hushai was able to strategically use his position and skills. He recognized that he had influence and saw how he could leverage it for good. Ask God to use the gifts, talents and skills of your six in ways that matter--maybe not as sneakily or deceptively as Hushai did, but with just as much impact. Ask God to make your six aware of the unique influence they have and to give them a sense of their purpose in the world. </li><li>For our church: Ask God to give our church the wisdom to recognize good advice when we hear it. Pray that God would protect us from ruinous advice like Absalom received in today’s passage, instead putting us in the hands of trustworthy people who will help strengthen our church. </li><li>For families: We all find ourselves in situations where we’d appreciate some good advice. Have you or a family member been in any situations like that recently? What was going on? Who did you turn to for advice? Why did you choose them? Think and talk about the qualities of people who give good advice. Pray that God would continue to give them wisdom and discernment when giving advice, and that God would develop these qualities in you and your family members. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-27921896953277291042012-03-26T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-26T00:00:07.248-04:002 Samuel 16:1-14<div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote></div><div>1 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.</div><div>2 The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?”</div><div>Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”</div><div>3 The king then asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?”</div><div>Ziba said to him, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’”</div><div>4 Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.”</div><div>“I humbly bow,” Ziba said. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.”</div><div>5 As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. 6 He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. 7 As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! 8 The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The LORD has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!”</div><div>9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”</div><div>10 But the king said, “What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’”</div><div>11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, who is of my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. 12 It may be that the LORD will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.”</div><div>13 So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt. 14 The king and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li>‘steward of Mephibosheth’--Mephibosheth is Jonathan’s son, the one with two broken legs. Out of respect for Saul and love for Jonathan, David sort of adopts Mephibosheth, granting him land, the right to eat with the king at the palace, and Ziba’s services to take care of all of the heavy labor at the farm.</li><li>‘He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded’--David left Jerusalem in a hurry without proper provision. Ziba provides for his food and transportation needs.</li><li>‘He is staying in Jerusalem’--Mephibosheth lives in Jerusalem, eating at the king’s table everyday. He hasn’t, however, evacuated with David. Perhaps he’s hoping his family can make a comeback during all of the turmoil.</li><li>‘All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours’--Mephiboseth’s absence contrasts badly with Ziba’s thoughtful generosity. David decides that he’s been rewarding the wrong person.</li><li>‘The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul’--actually David did his best to avoid bloodshed in the house of Saul. He did, however, take the throne from the family of Saul. I suppose it would be asking too much to expect this relative of Saul to make the distinction. He’s been waiting a long time for David to get his comeuppance. I imagine he’s all the more pleased that David has been betrayed by someone from his own household.</li><li>‘If he is cursing because the LORD said to him’--I don’t think David is claiming here that God did indeed tell Shimei to do this. He’s basically saying that Shimei’s cursing is none of Abishai’s business, nor even David’s; it’s between Shimei and God.</li><li>‘It may be that the LORD will look upon my misery’--David knows that public opinion is fickle. Of course, people will curse him when things are looking down. If things make a turn for the better, the cursing will stop on its own.</li><li>‘throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt’--Shimei certainly does take the liberty David has given him to the limit. Abishai is something of a hothead; but in this case I might, along with him, be tempted to take Shimei’s head off after a certain amount of dirt was showered on me.</li></ul></div></div><div><div><b>Special Week 5 ‘Taking It Home’ Instructions</b></div><div>This week in our ‘Taking it Home’ section, things will look a little different. We’re going to delve a little deeper into the life of David by reading his prayers recorded in the book of Psalms. Every day the ‘For you’ section will be a Psalm written by David, perhaps during this very time of his life. While our passages in 2 Samuel tell us much about the events going on in David’s life, the Psalms add a level of richness to the story, as they give us a compelling look at how David responded to the events and reached out to God. Each day, read through the Psalm a few times--paying attention to:</div><div>What strikes you about David’s response in the Psalm in correlation to the story? What can you learn from this?</div><div>How do you resonate with his prayers? Is there a part that sticks out the most to you? </div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, try making David’s Psalm your prayer to God for the day.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li>For you: Today’s psalm is Psalm 3. </li></ul></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Psalm 3</div><div>1 LORD, how many are my foes! </div><div> How many rise up against me! </div><div>2 Many are saying of me, </div><div> “God will not deliver him.”</div><div>3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, </div><div> my glory, the One who lifts my head high. </div><div>4 I call out to the LORD, </div><div> and he answers me from his holy mountain.</div><div>5 I lie down and sleep; </div><div> I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. </div><div>6 I will not fear though tens of thousands </div><div> assail me on every side.</div><div>7 Arise, LORD! </div><div> Deliver me, my God! </div><div>Strike all my enemies on the jaw; </div><div> break the teeth of the wicked.</div><div>8 From the LORD comes deliverance. </div><div> May your blessing be on your people.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><ul><li>For your six: Man, was it a good day for Ziba. I imagine it would be like returning home from the office after getting the biggest raise ever and saying “Honey, guess what happened to me today.” Good days--they are just so good, and sometimes hard to come by. Pray that God would come through for your six today in a way that leaves them resolutely feeling, ‘Today was a good day.’</li><li>For our church: David seems remarkably unconcerned about the insults coming his way. He seems to be connected to God in way that gives him such strength, peace, and purpose that the insults don’t matter. Ask God to help our church connect with God in a similar way. Pray that God would give us a sense of our purpose as a church. Pray that we would be so focused on it that we wouldn’t be bothered by small and unimportant things. </li><li>For families: Has anyone ever called you a name or said mean or hurtful things about you? How did that make you feel? Words have great power to lift us up or bring us down, but God is even more powerful than people’s words. Pray that God would tell each of you who he says you are and write down anything you hear. You could even write this up nicely for each person in your family and put it in a little frame in their room. Come back to God’s words for you the next time someone says something that hurts your feelings. Pray that God’s words would be more powerful and would drive out any power that the other words have over you.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-63170302131303462892012-03-25T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-25T00:00:01.063-04:002 Samuel 15<div>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 they receive justice.”</div><div>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 people of Israel.</div><div>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.’”</div><div>9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he went to Hebron.</div><div>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.</div><div>13 A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.”</div><div>14 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 on us and put the city to the sword.”</div><div>15 The king’s officials answered him, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.”</div><div>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 the edge of the city. 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.</div><div>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 people with you. May the LORD show you kindness and faithfulness.”</div><div>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.”</div><div>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.</div><div>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 wilderness.</div><div>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.</div><div>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.”</div><div>27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Do you understand? Go back to the city with my blessing. Take your son Ahimaaz with you, and also Abiathar’s son Jonathan. You and Abiathar return with your two sons. 28 I will wait at the fords in the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.</div><div>30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. 31 Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”</div><div>32 When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go with me, you will be a burden to me. 34But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘Your Majesty, I will be your servant; I was your father’s servant in the past, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice. 35 Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king’s palace. 36 Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear.”</div><div>37 So Hushai, David’s confidant, arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘In the course of time’</b>--we skipped a chapter, in which Joab brokers peace between David and Absalom. David allows Absalom to return to Jerusalem, and offers him protection from revenge on the part of Amnon’s people. But Absalom is now kept out of any government affairs.</li><li><b>‘Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men’</b>--Absalom is apparently next in line for the kingship. He is the third oldest son. He himself eliminated Amnon, the oldest. We never hear anything about Kileab, the second; whether he died early, is unfit somehow to rule, or is simply uninterested is unknown. So, Absalom has the right combination of seniority and fame to make a claim. But, because of his assassination of Amnon, he’s being frozen out. He’s tired of waiting to be let back into David’s good graces and decides he’ll make something happen himself. The first step is to get himself on the front page of the news. He does the Iron Age equivalent of Dukakis’ publicity stunt driving the tank, with the difference that it actually works for Absalom. By the time he’s done, the word around town is, ‘He may have murdered his brother, but you have to hand it to the guy: he looks great on a chariot.’ If you’re tracking with our story, however, you’ll recognize that the author is signaling that there’s a problem with Absalom. It’s not necessarily a good thing that Absalom has that natural leader look. It puts him in company with Saul and with David’s oldest brother Eliab, both of whom looked very kingly but were rejected by God for being substandard king-making material. Meanwhile, the very fact that David is again and again willing to make the unkingly choice—use a sling instead of a sword, dance with his ephod showing, wear sackcloth—gains him the long-lasting respect of God and the people.</li><li><b>‘If only I were appointed judge in the land’—</b>step two in Absalom’s campaign is to position himself as the ‘Washington outsider.’ If he were in charge, he’d eliminate all of that government red tape and get rid of the politics as usual atmosphere of the capital.</li><li><b>‘would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him’—</b>step three is a straight-out charm offensive.</li><li><b>‘Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the LORD’—</b>apparently, David has been keeping a close eye on Absalom. He needs an excuse to get out of Jerusalem and away from all of the prying eyes at court. Hebron is his birthplace. So, he’s asking David to let him go home, get back in touch with his roots, and spend some time with God in the more comfortable and low-stress atmosphere away from Jerusalem. Hebron would be to Absalom as Kennebunkport is to the Bushs, or Hyannis is to the Kennedys. Or, at least, that’s how he’s presenting it to David.</li><li><b>‘Absalom is king in Hebron’</b>—Hebron is also the place from which David made his bid for the crown, and that’s really what Absalom has in mind.</li><li><b>‘We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom’—</b>it’s unclear to me whether David is panicking or being prudent here. On the one hand, Absalom has taken David by surprise, has some well-placed allies, is well-organized, and executes his plan well. So, maybe it’s wise of David to step back to regroup. On the other hand, Absalom’s rebellion is more a matter of theater than of actual power; in the end, it consists of little more than some horns, some shouting, and two hundred influential people who are being presented as his supporters when they’re actually unwitting dinner guests.</li><li><b>‘he left ten concubines to take care of the palace’</b>—I suppose someone needs to be left behind to feed the cats and water the plants, but I don’t think I’d want to be these women. The fact that David is leaving them at the palace suggests that he’s making a tactical withdrawal, rather than retreating outright. David fully expects to return. In the meanwhile, though, they’re entirely defenseless.</li><li><b>‘All his men’</b>—that would be the king’s bodyguard company, like we discussed David being for Achish on March 26th (1 Samuel 28:2).</li><li><b>‘all the Kerethites and Pelethites’</b>—the Kerithites and Pelethites are two crack units, probably of foreign mercenaries. The best guess is that the Kerithites are from Crete and the Pelethites are Philistines; thus, both companies are what we might loosely call ‘Greeks.’ (‘Cherethites and Pelethites.’ The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980). The Kerithites and Pelethites fit the profile of a typical foreign-born king’s company—and they’re referred to as his bodyguard in 2 Samuel 20:23—but they’re listed here separately from ‘David’s men’ referenced in the note above. Even if distinct from the king’s company, they’re particularly closely attached to the king; they’re commanded by one of his highest-ranking Mighty Men (not quite one of the Three, but greater than the Thirty). Besides his bodyguard and the Kerithites and Pelethites, David has with him his original 600 from the outlaw days, here called ‘the Gittites.’ So, all in all, while it’s a little unclear at this point who controls the national army, we do know that David has maintained the loyalty of four elite units: not a bad core.</li><li><b>‘As surely as the LORD lives’—</b>Ittai is apparently a Philistine, newly arrived from Gath. David gives him the chance to break contract, letting him know that he might be safer or get paid better with Absalom. As a hired gun with nothing invested in this fight, why should Ittai make life difficult for himself? Ittai swears by God--David’s God, the LORD--that he will stick with David. While David’s own son uses a fake religious ceremony as cover for rebellion, this stranger genuinely calls upon God as witness to his loyalty.</li><li><b>‘Take the ark of God back into the city’-</b>-David doesn’t consider himself to have a monopoly on God. Whether he wins this contest or not, whether Absalom ends up king or he does, he wants the ark, the symbol of God’s presence, to be in Jerusalem.</li><li><b>‘LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness’-</b>-Ahithophel may be Bathsheba’s grandfather (Baldwin). If so, it’s curious that he would side with Absalom, as one would expect that his own grandchildren would lose out if Absalom succeeds. Whatever his relationship to the royal family, he is definitely a wise and respected counselor. Knowing the good advice Ahithophel has given him over the years, David is afraid of what might happen with that brilliant mind turned against him.</li><li><b>‘you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice’</b>--apparently, Hushai is another of David’s counselors. David sends him to Absalom as a spy and fifth columnist. I think the idea is that it will be harder for Absalom to make a good decision if he is getting contrary advice from two people with such reputations for wisdom.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you: </b>Absalom seems pretty convinced that his father would never give him what he wants (He clearly never read the tip from last Friday, March 16th, about Baanah and Rekab and how taking things into your own hands often doesn’t go the best). I wonder though what it would have been like if Absalom had explicitly asked David for what he wanted. How do you feel about asking God for things? You probably can relate to how good it feels when someone takes the time to ask you something; more times than not it feels good to be asked for your thoughts, opinions, and help--even if it’s help you can’t even quite pull off. I wonder if God is the same. Practice today asking God for the things you need and want. And like any good asking goes, wait and expect that God will respond to your request. </li><li><b>For your six: </b>Whether he is panicked or prudent in his fleeing of Jerusalem, having to gather his entire staff and march to a place of refuge all because of a rebellious child has to be a pretty humbling experience for David; it probably puts into question his ability to be father, let alone a king. Are there ways that deciding to follow God would be particularly humbling and therefore challenging to your six? Ask God to give your six the joy and courage to follow after him. Pray God would remove any ways that pursuing him threatens them and call their sense of identity into question. </li><li><b>For our church: </b>David wants people to worship God, regardless of whether or not he is still around or personally involved. Ask God to give our church the same stance; pray that we would care more than anything else about people being able to connect with God, and that we would feel excited for any of the ways that that might happen, even if we’re not directly involved. </li><li><b>For families: </b>Thinking back to Monday’s ‘Taking It Home For Families’ tip about good ideas from God that God doesn’t want us to act on quite yet. Spend time praying together and asking God for these things. If it feels unfair to you or you worry you might never get what God promised, tell God that and ask God to provide for what you need. Encourage each person in your family not to give up on things but to continue to ask for the things they want even if the answer is ‘not yet.’</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-2949148107240679812012-03-24T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-24T00:00:03.321-04:002 Sam 13: 23-39<div>23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king’s sons to come there. 24 Absalom went to the king and said, “Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his attendants please join me?”</div><div>25 “No, my son,” the king replied. “All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go but gave him his blessing.</div><div>26 Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us.”</div><div>The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?” 27 But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king’s sons.</div><div>28 Absalom ordered his men, “Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I given you this order? Be strong and brave.” 29 So Absalom’s men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king’s sons got up, mounted their mules and fled.</div><div>30 While they were on their way, the report came to David: “Absalom has struck down all the king’s sons; not one of them is left.” 31 The king stood up, tore his clothes and lay down on the ground; and all his attendants stood by with their clothes torn.</div><div>32 But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother, said, “My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom’s express intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar.33 My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”</div><div>34 Meanwhile, Absalom had fled.</div><div>Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of him, coming down the side of the hill. The watchman went and told the king, “I see men in the direction of Horonaim, on the side of the hill.”</div><div>35 Jonadab said to the king, “See, the king’s sons have come; it has happened just as your servant said.”</div><div>36 As he finished speaking, the king’s sons came in, wailing loudly. The king, too, and all his attendants wept very bitterly.</div><div>37 Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned many days for his son.</div><div>38 After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. 39 And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon’s death.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘Two years later’</b>--I guess Absalom is a ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ kind of guy.</li><li><b>‘when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor’</b>—this would be like the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a chance to rest after a hard season’s labor, to celebrate a job well done, and to thank God for another abundant year.</li><li><b>‘All of us should not go’</b>--after inviting all of his brothers, Absalom goes on to invite the king, anticipating that David would decline. Rather like never having the President and Vice-President in the same airplane, David is avoiding having the entire royal family in one place, lest the nation be left leaderless in the case of some tragedy. He offers a more gracious excuse for declining, though, basically saying, ‘No, you and your brothers go on ahead and have your fun without me.’</li><li><b>‘we would only be a burden to you’</b>--when I was in high school, the President (it was Reagan) spoke at our school on a campaign stop. Not only on the day, but for a couple of weeks before, there was total chaos. The place was crawling with secret service agents, advance campaign staff, political advisors, White House staff, and reporters. A helipad was installed in our football practice field, and all of our landscaping was redone. It’s quite an undertaking to host a head of state.</li><li><b>‘please let my brother Amnon come’</b>--as the oldest son and therefore probably the Crown Prince, Amnon would be a part of the king’s retinue. Absalom is asking David to send Amnon as his representative.</li><li><b>‘Why should he go with you?’</b>--David seems a bit suspicious, but Absalom outlasts him in the ‘Why?/Why not?’ game.</li><li><b>‘When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine’</b>--Absalom wants them to strike when Amnon and those loyal to him would most have their guard down. This plan has the added benefit of being embarrassing. The last picture of Amnon would be as a drunken fool. Absalom wants Amnon not just to die, but to experience at least some of the shame he inflicted on Tamar.</li><li><b>‘strong and brave’</b>--I wouldn’t exactly call it an act of heroism to strike down a drunk man. Then again, they are about to kill a prince. Maybe it’s not so much the actual ‘fight’ as the aftermath they’re afraid of.</li><li><b>‘all the king’s sons got up, mounted their mules and fled’</b>--the rest of the princes, perhaps not aware of the private feud between Amnon and Absalom, think that Absalom is executing a palace coup. Step one would be eliminating all competition.</li><li><b>‘not one of them is left’</b>--while the princes scatter in a panic, rumors of this supposed coup make it to the palace.</li><li><b>‘Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother, said … “Only Amnon is dead”’</b>-- Jonadab certainly has a way of inserting himself into the middle of palace intrigue, doesn’t he? A confidant of Amnon in the last passage, he also seems to be well-informed about Absalom’s plans.</li><li><b>‘ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar’</b>--note that he doesn’t say, alleged rape,’ or, ‘that thing between Amnon and Tamar.’ Regardless of what he’s said before, at least now Jonadab is calling it what it was.</li><li><b>‘Meanwhile, Absalom had fled</b>’--Amnon may very well have deserved to die. That doesn’t mean Absalom had the right to kill him. He has just assassinated the Crown Prince. This could spark wider feuding among the various parties and sub-families in the royal family, or even a civil war.</li><li><b>‘Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur’</b>--this is Absalom’s maternal grandfather. Like when David’s father Jesse went into exile in Moab, Absalom is seeking family protection outside of Israel.</li><li><b>‘for he was consoled concerning Amnon’s death’</b>--David’s judgment of Absalom is softened by the fact that it was not, in the end, a coup, and by the fact that Amnon’s death wasn’t exactly unjustified. Plus, as time goes by, he simply misses Absalom. However, the fact remains that Absalom is a murderer and traitor. So, David can’t easily welcome him back.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> David and his family perform a poor life decision hat trick: it’s not often you get murder, incest, and fratricide within one week’s Bible Guide passages. It seems like Absalom had a fairly sizeable number of friends, family members, and neighbors who would join him for his dinner party. Nothing ruins a good party, though, like murdering your brother in the middle of it. Absalom could have been enjoying a pretty rich relational world if only he weren’t so obsessed by Amnon. Who are the people you spend your time with? Are they at work? at church? in your neighborhood? in a sports league? Ask God to help you pay attention to them. Are there ways that you are distracted by one person or dynamic, such that you neglect all the others in your midst? Ask God to place you in a community of people who will uplift you, encourage you, and help you follow after him. </li><li><b>For your six:</b> Since Jonadab knew about it, apparently Absalom had expressed his intention to kill Amnon. Maybe he said it sarcastically, or under his breath, or at an inappropriate time; somehow no one seemed to follow up. What are things your six often talk about? What are the comments they make repeatedly or topics they seem to bring up again and again? Ask God to help you pay attention to the things your six say--both the words they say and the meaning beneath those words. </li><li><b>For our church:</b> Who knows what reconciliation between Absalom and Amnon would have looked like, or even if it were possible at all? These two feuding brothers paint yet another picture of the incredible mess of grief, misery and despair that results when two parties are at odds. Pray for God to bless our church with peace and reconciliation so that we could then actively play a part in creating peace and reconciliation in our cities, countries and the world. Forgive the Miss American pageant cliché, but ask God even for world peace--or, at least, that God would help us learn how to get along ourselves. </li><li><b>For families</b>: Is there a time in your family when you purposefully connect and have time together? In today’s society, it’s easy to get distracted or try to multitask to get everything done, inadvertently not listening fully to others. Ask God for some time today to listen to each other--and to God--without distractions. Is there anything someone in your family has said recently that you have not followed up on? Consider finding time to do that today.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-8601034465151881662012-03-23T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-23T00:00:04.961-04:002 Samuel 13:1-22<div>1 In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.</div><div>2 Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.</div><div>3 Now Amnon had an adviser named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. 4He asked Amnon, “Why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?”</div><div>Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”</div><div>5 “Go to bed and pretend to be ill,” Jonadab said. “When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.’”</div><div>6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand.”</div><div>7 David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him.” 8 So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. 9 Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat.</div><div>“Send everyone out of here,” Amnon said. So everyone left him. 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. 11 But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.”</div><div>12 “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. 13 What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” 14 But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.</div><div>15 Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!”</div><div>16 “No!” she said to him. “Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me.”</div><div>But he refused to listen to her. 17 He called his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her.” 18 So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. She was wearing a richly ornamented robe, for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore. 19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.</div><div>20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman.</div><div>21 When King David heard all this, he was furious. 22 And Absalom never spoke to Amnon again; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar’</b>--Amnon is David’s oldest son, and Absalom is also among the older siblings; both of them were born during the time when David was king of Judah in Hebron. I gather that Tamar is a full sister to Absalom and a half sister to Amnon. I imagine that it could have been confusing to live among a large gaggle of siblings, half-siblings, stepmothers, and step-siblings constantly moving into and out of the royal court. However, Amnon, Absalom, and Tamar all seem to be fairly close in age, raised together as brothers and sisters at a time when the court was much smaller and less sophisticated. The fact that Amnon would develop this obsession with his sister seems highly unnatural. I wonder if this is an advanced version of David’s own illicit obsession. David fell in love with the wife of a brother-in-arms, someone who should be like a sister to him, not a lover. Amnon falls in love with an actual sister. David was raised as a simple shepherd and had to work his way over time to being an egocentric star. Amnon was born a prince; self-indulgence comes naturally to him.</li><li><b>‘Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother’</b>--Amnon’s cousin Jonadab is maybe a lifelong friend, maybe a social climber, maybe both. In any case, unlike David’s counselors like Nathan the prophet and even Joab, Jonadab makes no effort to help Amnon actually figure out what is best here. He simply helps Amnon get what he wants.</li><li><b>‘Let her prepare the food in my sight’</b>--Amnon deftly plays on the sympathy we tend to have toward loved ones who are sick. Everyone will be extraordinarily attentive to his comfort and deferential to his whims.</li><li><b>‘Bring the food here into my bedroom’</b>--he continues to play the role of sick child well. Claiming that having so many people around is tiring him out, he asks that everyone else be sent away and that Tamar serve him in bed: ‘I just need a little peace and quiet.’ Not suspecting he has lustful feelings toward his own sister, everyone thinks of this as a benign and relatively normal request. At worst, they think, Amnon is something of a high maintenance patient.</li><li><b>‘Come to bed with me, my sister’</b>--Amnon seems to be under the delusion that Tamar shares his feelings: ‘Finally, we’re alone together.’ But she’s shocked and horrified--and she realizes too late the vulnerable position she is in.</li><li><b>‘he will not keep me from being married to you’</b>--I think Tamar is just trying to buy time here, by pretending to be in favor of the relationship as long as it’s handled properly. She hopes that cooler heads would prevail if she can just get out of that room. It’s unlikely that, upon consideration, Amnon would even have the boldness to ask David for such a thing; and there’s absolutely no chance David would grant it.</li><li><b>‘Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred’</b>--predictably, the satisfaction of his obsession doesn’t match his expectations. How could it? Still captive to his narcissism, rather than repent as David eventually did, he blames the whole thing on Tamar.</li><li><b>‘Get this woman out of my sight’</b>--as so often in the case of rape, there are no witnesses. So, it becomes a he said-she said scenario. As the more powerful one, Amnon is able to control the situation in his favor.</li><li><b>‘the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore’</b>--through no fault of her own, Tamar is no longer qualified to wear her clothes. She tears them off in grief and protest.</li><li><b>‘Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you?’</b>--Absalom seems to have had his suspicions of Amnon, perhaps lurking in the back of his mind for a while. Absalom probably just didn’t think that Amnon would ever have the right combination of audacity and opportunity to do anything.</li><li><b>‘Don’t take this thing to heart’</b>--at first blush, this sounds heartless. As it turns out, Absalom himself very much does take it to heart. I wonder if he’s not so much saying here, ‘It’s no big deal,’ as he’s saying, ‘It’s not your fault, and don’t worry; I’ll take care of you.’</li><li><b>‘Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house’</b>--she would need to marry beneath her station to find someone willing to take someone who is not a virgin. Instead of debasing herself in that way, she becomes a spinster aunt in her brother’s household.</li><li><b>‘When King David heard all this, he was furious’</b>--this is a strangely impotent fury. I recognize that parents try to avoid taking sides or picking favorites among their children; but when one child accuses another of rape, isn’t some sort of action called for? This is the second instance in a disturbing trend. Just like when Joab murdered Abner, in the face of unjustified violence by a powerful close relative, David does nothing.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it home: </b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you: </b>Does reading about what happened to Tamar make you angry? It’s just so unfair. It doesn't make sense why such a bad thing needed to happen. Has something terrible and inexplicable ever happened to you? Maybe it’s not as extreme as what happened to Tamar, or maybe it is. Talk to God about this issue. Tell God the pain and frustration it’s caused you. Ask God to stand with you in the midst of the questions and pain. I think he’d be up for the conversation. </li><li><b>For your six:</b> Pray today for your six’s romantic relationships. Are they married, dating, single? How is it going for them? I doubt that their relationship situations are quite as complex as Amnon and Tamar’s--let’s hope not--but they probably have their own set of challenges, drama, and heartbreak which relationships inevitably bring. Pray that your six would find God helpful in their relationships and that God would resource your six with everything they need to thrive relationally. </li><li><b>For our church:</b> Ask God to make our church a place of refuge and advocacy for the innocent and vulnerable. Pick a group in society today which seems particularly vulnerable (homeless, battered women, human traffic victims, refugees) to pray for. Ask God to use people in our church to bring God’s hope and restoration to this particular group. </li><li><b>For families:</b> Think about all the different relationships between individuals in your family. How do you each relate to the other members? It’s interesting how each of our personalities sometimes brings out different aspects of others’ personalities. Give each person an opportunity to share honestly about a part of themselves that others might not think of at first glance. Thank God for the ways God has made all of you unique and ask God to show all of you new ways of respecting and loving one another. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-78422073898117110402012-03-22T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-22T00:00:01.531-04:002 Samuel 12:15-31<div>15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.</div><div>18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”</div><div>19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.</div><div>“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”</div><div>20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.</div><div>21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”</div><div>22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”</div><div>24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to 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.</div><div>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.”</div><div>29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 David took the crown from their king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David 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. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘the LORD struck the child’</b>--here we go with God striking people again, and this one bothers me even more than the others. With Saul and his evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:1-13, Monday, March 14th), there was some ambiguity as to whether God was actively harming Saul. With Uzzah (2 Samuel 6, last Sunday’s passage), the punishment was swifter and more severe than I’m completely comfortable with, but at least I could see what Uzzah had done to provoke God’s reaction. This time around, a baby gets struck. I can understand that God would not want to allow David and Bathsheba to murder Bathsheba’s husband and then just form a nice little family and move on as if nothing had happened. But I have a problem with the fact that the baby, obviously a victim and not a perpetrator in the whole affair, bears the brunt of the punishment. I have to confess that I wonder if the narrator is mistaken here, wrongly interpreting the child’s death as the action of God; but I have no basis for that hypothesis beyond my own discomfort with the story. I keep coming around to the thought that God and I seem to place different values on matters of life and death. To my mind, there’s nothing worse than death. But God seems to consistently employ death as the better option in certain situations. That could be because God rates the alternatives more unacceptable than I do, or it could be because God knows death isn’t as bad as I think it is. Apparently, God considers it so important that this particular child never be king that God is willing to kill him--either because God knows how awful it would be were this child to become king, or because God knows that death isn’t a terribly awful fate for this child. I’m still not able to say, ‘Oh, now I see how striking this child was really a great idea.’ But at least it gives me a possibly fruitful way to talk with God about it: God, how do you and I see death differently, and what can I learn from it?</li><li><b>‘The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground’</b>--apparently, as when he danced in his skimpy ephod a bit too vigorously for Michal’s taste (again 2 Samuel 6, last Sunday’s passage), David is behaving less dignified than a king--even a king with a dying child--is expected to act. I take this as a good sign that David is recovering from his self-indulgent phase and returning to what we always liked about him. He’s back to his theme: ‘I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.’ David is, once again, willing to look like a fool, banking everything on his passion for God.</li><li><b>‘The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live’</b>--it’s worth noting, for all of my angst about the God striking the child, that the child’s own father puts his hope in God’s goodness. David considers himself to blame for what has happened, and he turns to God as the one who may just be able to bail him out.</li><li><b>‘I will go to him, but he will not return to me’</b>--I find this a poignant way of putting it, both sad and hopeful. They will meet again, but only by David following his son into death.</li><li><b>‘The LORD loved him’</b>--this is a surprise turn of events. David and Bathsheba have another son, and this one--for unexplained reasons--is a particular favorite of God. I wonder if God simply wants to honor the change of heart God sees in David and Bathsheba. The first child was conceived in an atmosphere of selfishness, greed, lust, lies, betrayal, murder, and neglect of duty. This one comes to life in the midst of humility, quiet sadness, and tender care. This is a child God wouldn’t mind seeing as king.</li><li><b>‘sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah’</b>--God has his own nickname for Solomon. It means, ‘God-loved’ (Baldwin).</li><li><b>‘Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah’</b>--all of this time, Joab has continued the campaign against the Ammonites.</li><li><b>‘Otherwise I will take the city’</b>--this is both wise and kind on Joab’s part. He’s seen, with David under Saul and with Abner under Ish-Bosheth, how things get hairy when a general becomes more successful and popular than the king he serves. He’d rather avoid a song like, ‘Joab Defeated the Ammonites, While David Stayed Home,’ making it to the top of the charts. Plus, he’s giving the newly revived David the chance to get back in the game.</li><li><b>‘So David mustered the entire army’</b>--this whole, sad debacle started when David decided not to show up for work. Now, we’re back on track.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it Home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> David fasts as a way to turn his heart and attention back toward God. Have you been fasting from something during this season? How is your fast going? Is there something specific you are fasting for? What have you been learning, and what has God been teaching you? If you aren’t fasting from anything specific, pick something today that will help you direct your attention to God. </li><li><b>For your six:</b> God’s willingness in this passage to let the child die is, at best, unsettling. God can do things that are pretty hard to understand. How do your six view God? If you don’t know, consider asking them. Do they see God as loving and kind? Distant and aloof? Angry and ready to strike down babies, the elderly, and anyone in between? Pray that God would give your six an understanding of who God actually is. Ask God to take away any views they have of God that might misrepresent him and get in the way of them turning to him.</li><li><b>For our church: </b>Instead of ignoring, repressing or excusing it, David lets the weight of what has happened hit him. He lets himself be troubled by this horrible situation, and rightly so: it is troubling. Pray that our church wouldn’t shy away from troubling situations, but would wrestle through and come before God with them. Pick a recent troubling issue in the news, any one that struck you as less than ideal. Don’t worry; I’m sure there are lots to choose from. Pray about that troubling issue today, asking God to show his power and redemption in that situation. </li><li><b>For families:</b> Talk together about fasting. The thing I find most important about fasting is what I am fasting for, not what I am giving up. Talk together about something that would be worth fasting for--maybe some of your Lenten prayers from your poster. Consider fasting from something together as a family as a way of saying, “God, we are really serious about these things.” Talk about the choices you might face to do something or not while fasting. Check in, support each other, and see how God responds in your faith experiment.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-3141842756207714662012-03-21T00:00:00.001-04:002012-03-21T00:00:02.448-04:002 Samuel 12:1-14<div>1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.</div><div>4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”</div><div>5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”</div><div>7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’</div><div>11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”</div><div>13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”</div><div>Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘The LORD sent Nathan to David’</b>--David has gone to truly terrible lengths to keep his affair hidden, but he can’t hide it from God. And God is unwilling to simply let it pass.</li><li><b>‘There were two men in a certain town’</b>--rather than directly accuse David, Nathan uses a metaphorical story. It’s probably safer this way for Nathan. In David’s current mood, who knows how he would respond to a direct accusation? Using a metaphor also gives David a better chance of getting to the truth of the matter; even a moment’s freedom from thinking of the immediate personal implications might help. The implied question at the end, ‘What would you do with a situation like this?’ gives David that space to think, and it forces him to give an answer.</li><li><b>‘David burned with anger against the man’</b>--David doesn’t immediately piece together that they’re speaking metaphorically, and he is genuinely shocked by the situation: ‘Could someone really do such a thing?’ he wonders. He, of course, has just done much worse himself. I don’t think David is being hypocritical here. His reaction comes from a genuine, strong concern for justice. He simply hasn’t noticed how very far he has currently fallen from his own principles. He is not living up to being the kind of man he wants to be, and the kind of man that he’s shown in the past, with God’s help, he is actually pretty capable of being.</li><li><b>‘the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over’</b>--David is so outraged upon hearing of this situation that he needs to talk himself down a little: ‘Okay, okay, the death penalty may be a little extreme here. How about quadruple damages?’ Ironically, in the actual situation, death might indeed be the fairest punishment for David. Far more than a lamb, David owes Uriah a life. In fact, by David’s own reckoning, he owes Uriah four lives. He has taken far more from Uriah than he could ever pay back.</li><li><b>‘your master’s wives into your arms’</b>--apparently, some of those many wives he has accumulated used to be Saul’s. And that would make sense in light of these political marriages being like the signature to a treaty. Other nations would simply re-establish the same treaty with David they used to have with Saul, and they’d seal the deal with the very same wife. It would at the very least keep the moving costs down.</li><li><b>‘I would have given you even more’</b>--not only has David been wicked toward Uriah, but he’s also been ungrateful toward God. God has given him everything he could ever possibly want and more. As David was strolling on his roof, practically everything he could see whichever direction he turned was his, given as a gift from God--everything except Bathsheba, that is. During the hard times, David trusted God to provide everything he needed; and God came through. Perversely, now that times are good, he doesn’t have that same reliance on God’s goodness.</li><li><b>‘Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house’</b>--David resorted to violence to take care of his problem. As they say, though, a sword has two edges. Now that he has taken the sword out of its sheath, he’ll feel its bite as well.</li><li><b>‘I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you’</b>--what goes around comes around. David will experience the same pain, betrayal, and indignity to which he subjected Uriah.</li><li><b>‘The LORD has taken away your sin’</b>--this reminds me of what God says about the covenant with David’s descendants: "When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by human beings, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him." God still loves David, forgives him, and lets him keep his kingdom. But God does not wink away the consequences of the serious wrong David has done. And apparently it’s a good thing. Imagine what trouble David and his children could get into if their actions were completely unchecked.</li><li><b>‘the son born to you will die’</b>--it makes sense to me that David and Bathsheba would be punished for what they’ve done. But their child is just an innocent bystander, another victim even. When it is David who might very well deserve death, why is it his baby who actually dies? We’ll talk more about this one tomorrow.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> Part of what gets David into trouble is losing his sense of gratitude toward God. Thanking and admiring God, even in the hard times, used to be a hallmark of David’s songs to God. What’s your relationship with praising God like? Does it come naturally? Or does it feel challenging? How has it been lately: better, the same, or harder than usual? Today do whatever you can to thank God, as often as possible. If praising God feels really difficult here are some ways you could start: 1) Thank God for the all the people and things in your life for which you are grateful. 2) Thank God for the good things that have happened this past week or month. 3) Praise God for the qualities he has that you really like. In the midst of all that thanking and praising, if you do feel like God is somehow holding back on you, ask for the thing that you want. God seems to remind David that he is generous, and willing to give even more if asked.</li></ul></div><div><ul><li><b>For your six: </b>While it’s a little hard to understand exactly how and why it works, David needs God to take away his sins. It seems that without that forgiveness, David would get stuck in this moment in his life. God is incredibly quick and willing to remove David’s sin once David confesses it. Ask God that your six would turn to God to take away their sin. Pray that that offer would make sense and be compelling, and that your six would find incredible benefits in taking God up on this offer.</li><li><b>For our church: </b>Nathan uses a story to get David’s attention. Ask God to make us good storytellers. Pray that God would give us wisdom, creativity and understanding, so that we could communicate God’s promises in captivating stories that make sense to people. </li><li><b>For families:</b> Have you ever felt like God or someone else truly forgave you for something? What was that like? Is there any area of your life where you could ask God or another person for forgiveness? Is there any area where you could extend forgiveness to someone else? Try it and share how it goes. Forgiveness is like dropping the charges against someone, letting God be the one to deal with the person, and giving up the right to do that yourself.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-5381685160296966062012-03-20T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-20T00:00:04.839-04:002 Samuel 11<div>1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.</div><div>2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”</div><div>6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.</div><div>10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”</div><div>11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”</div><div>12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.</div><div>14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”</div><div>16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.</div><div>18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”</div><div>22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”</div><div>25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”</div><div>26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘when kings go off to war, David sent Joab’</b>--we skipped a few chapters in which David himself leads the army in a stunning series of victories over pretty much all of the surrounding nations. It’s getting to the point where other armies are wondering why they should even bother trying to resist David, since he’ll clearly come out on top anyway. Constant success is becoming humdrum for David as well. While all of the other kings go off to war as usual, David plays hooky, sending Joab in his place.</li><li><b>‘walked around on the roof of the palace’</b>--in a warm climate, at the top of a hill where there might be a nice breeze, the roof would be a good place to get some fresh air.</li><li><b>‘From the roof he saw a woman bathing’</b>--like not pulling down the shades in an apartment, Bathsheba bathing in full view of David could be a purposely seductive act, or it could just as likely be simple absent-mindedness. She might not be aware that anyone else is around or can see her or is even awake. Then again, if it’s an accident, they do end up sleeping together rather quickly.</li><li><b>‘the wife of Uriah the Hittite’</b>--Uriah is another of David’s famous Thirty. He’s not just a soldier in David’s army, but part of David’s elite unit, and most likely someone who lived in close quarters with David during the difficult times when they were on the run from Saul. I don’t know whether or not it’s at all relevant, but Uriah is one of David’s non-Israelite men.</li><li><b>‘She came to him, and he slept with her’</b>--it’s hard to believe David would do such a thing. The same man who twice refused to save his own life, saying, ‘Far be it from me to touch the LORD’s anointed,’ without giving it a second thought sleeps with the wife of another man--and not just any other man, but an old army buddy. David reminds me of rock stars who, upon finally hitting the big time, go into a self-indulgent phase. They suddenly think it’s their right to trash hotel room after hotel room, abandon their wives and children, drive their fancy cars through other peoples’ backyards, stage Bed-Ins, and release drivel like Revolution 9 and Zooropa. Not only can they afford it; they think they deserve it. Even more, they often think they deserve people applauding them for it. David seems to have that same sense of entitlement here: ‘I’ve worked hard and been good my entire life. Why shouldn’t I enjoy just one night with this beautiful woman?’</li><li><b>‘Go down to your house’</b>--they have a bit of a timing problem. Uriah has been away at war long enough that the baby could not be his. So, David, hoping to cover his tracks, finds an excuse to bring Uriah home, hoping to get Uriah and Bathsheba in bed together.</li><li><b>‘Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants’</b>--even drunk, Uriah is an honorable man. As a soldier on duty, he sleeps in the barracks with the rest of the men, instead of taking advantage of his privileges by spending a night at home.</li><li><b>‘Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down’</b>--David out-Sauls Saul. Saul tried to kill David, and now David is trying to kill Uriah, for being too good a soldier. Even worse, David is punishing Uriah for David’s own mistake. And, chillingly, he’s making Uriah carry his own death warrant; he knows that Uriah is too reliable and honorable to fail to deliver it or to read it himself.</li><li><b>‘Why did you get so close to the wall?’-</b>-David’s order to get Uriah killed in battle necessitates what would usually be bad strategy on Joab’s part. He has to put the whole battle and many other men at risk in order to make sure Uriah dies. This is, to say the least, a significant breach of military ethics. Joab is reminding David that he’s following David’s own direct orders. It’s David’s fault that the battle went badly.</li><li><b>‘But the thing David had done displeased the LORD’</b>--Only David, Bathsheba, and Joab know what has happened. A scandal has been averted. Everything looks okay on the outside, but that most definitely does not mean that everything is okay. </li></ul></div><div><b>Taking It Home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> So maybe it goes without saying that impregnating your friend’s wife probably isn’t the best idea; and in case you were thinking of also killing your friend, that mostly likely will only complicate matters and not get you what you’re looking for. While David’s outer indulgent, adulterous, murderous act is terrible in its own right, it even more makes me wonder what’s going on in his heart that could lead to such things. If only he could have been aware of and do something to address his heart’s state before joining the list of baby daddies and murderers! Take some time today examining your heart. What might your actions and behavior lately be telling you about your internal state? Have you been indulging yourself, like David did? Are you saying and thinking and doing things that just don’t seem like you, in a bad way? Spend some time focusing not on the acts themselves, but on what’s happening for you beneath the surface. Pray some of David’s prayer:</li></ul></div><div><b>Psalm 139: 23-24</b></div><div>Search me, God, and know my heart;</div><div> test me and know my anxious thoughts.</div><div>See if there is any offensive way in me,</div><div> and lead me in the way everlasting</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Psalm 51: 10-12; 17</b></div><div>Create in me a pure heart, O God, </div><div> and renew a steadfast spirit within me. </div><div>Do not cast me from your presence </div><div> or take your Holy Spirit from me. </div><div>Restore to me the joy of your salvation </div><div> and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me</div><div>Restore to me the joy of your salvation,</div><div> and make me willing to obey you...</div><div>The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.</div><div> You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.</div><div><ul><li><b>For your six:</b> A few weeks ago, when David was helplessly fleeing through the hill country of Judea it was hard to picture him ever doing anything half as bad as what Saul was doing, and yet here we see him committing even worse versions of the very sins that were done to him. Ask God to protect your six from following David’s pattern of repeating sins that were done to them. It seems to be a pattern to which we are all so easily susceptible. Ask God to break in and transform any pain inflicted on them, and pray that they wouldn’t unconsciously transmit the pain they experienced to others.</li><li><b>For our church:</b> Ask God to protect us from the complacency that got David into such trouble. Ask God to increase our focus, passion and commitment to follow God.</li><li><b>For families:</b> Discuss any situation in which you’ve tried to cover up something that you weren’t particularly proud of. What happened as a result of trying to cover it up? Often, situations like these can result in more and more covering up, trapping us in layers of lies. Discuss the benefits of being honest about a situation up front, instead of hiding it or letting it get out of control. Pray that God would point out to you when you are trying to cover something up and give you courage to tell the truth.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-59048335828386665432012-03-19T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-19T00:00:04.914-04:002 Samuel 7<div>1 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”</div><div>3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”</div><div>4 But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:</div><div>5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’</div><div>8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.</div><div>“‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by human beings, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”</div><div>17 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.</div><div>18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:</div><div>“Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign LORD, is for a human being!</div><div>20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign LORD. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.</div><div>22 “How great you are, Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? 24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.</div><div>25 “And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight.</div><div>27 “LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘Nathan the prophet’</b>--it seems we finally have a replacement for Samuel as official court prophet.</li><li><b>‘while the ark of God remains in a tent’</b>--it’s not necessarily a shameful thing that the ark is in a tent. As I mentioned yesterday, it’s always been that way. During the time of Moses, God custom-ordered a tent, called the tabernacle or the tent of meeting, from the Israelites; and the ark had been kept in that tabernacle ever since. No one had ever even thought of doing it differently. But as David reflects, he realizes that for the first time ever the Israelites are peacefully settled in the land, and the ark is safe and secure; and now he himself has a beautiful new home. Isn’t it now a little unseemly for God to live in a tent, while the rest of Israel, David very much included, have their own nice houses? Maybe it’s time for God to settle down.</li><li><b>‘Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it’</b>--at first, Nathan gives God’s endorsement of this idea. As it turns out, though, God’s not entirely keen on the idea. Does God change his mind? Does Nathan hear wrong? Does Nathan simply assume at first that God would like the idea--why wouldn’t he?--without even asking?</li><li><b>‘Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?’</b>--David’s instinct reminds me of when someone wins the lottery or gets their first big contract as a professional athlete and decides to build their mom--who sacrificed all of those years, working two jobs to make ends meet--a dream house. It’s a really nice thought, and I’m sure quite a few of those mothers really appreciate both the new house and the thought behind it. I bet there are others that, in the end, prefer the old family home. God is in the second camp. God hasn’t been sitting around wondering, ‘When is someone going to build me a house?’ God likes the tent.</li><li><b>‘I have been moving from place to place’</b>--one of the reasons God likes the tent is the impression it gives of constant movement. God doesn’t, of course, actually live in the tent; nor would God actually live in the temple David wants to build. But to whatever extent these dwellings represent the idea of God being present among us, God prefers the dynamic picture of the tent to the static temple. God doesn’t want to be pinned down to one particular place.</li><li><b>‘I took you from the pasture’</b>--God reminds David of their relative importance. Without God, David would just be Jesse’s youngest boy, the butt of his brothers’ jokes, taking care of his father’s sheep. Without David, God would pretty much still be God.</li><li><b>‘the LORD himself will establish a house for you’</b>--God is playing on multiple meanings of ‘house’ here. David is offering to give God a house, a temple. If David really understood how their relationship worked, he would instead be asking God for a house, a royal dynasty.</li><li><b>‘He is the one who will build a house for my Name’</b>--someday, a descendant of David will indeed build a house for God, but now is not the time and David is not the person.</li><li><b>‘When he does wrong, I will punish him’</b>--this can sound like something of a downer. But if you think about it, it’s probably a necessary safety check. God has just promised David and his descendants unconditional backing forever. This might be too much power for a person to handle responsibly, unless they know that there would indeed be consequences if that power were misused.</li><li><b>‘Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation’</b>--having spoken prematurely the day before, Nathan is now conscientious to pass along to David only what he has heard from God, and all of what he has heard.</li><li><b>‘the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem’</b>--like David, the entire nation of Israel was basically plucked from out of nowhere, with nothing very obvious to recommend them, and chosen as an object of special attention from God. The idea is that they serve as a sort of pilot project. God would practice with and demonstrate with Israel the kind of relationship God eventually wants with every nation. It’s not as if Israel is the only nation God really cares about; but they do have the honor of being picked first.</li><li><b>‘Your covenant is trustworthy’</b>--a covenant is a strong and enduring alliance. I liken it to a blood brotherhood; David and God are bound together for the long haul.</li><li><b>‘who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family’</b>--David sees that God is, of course, right. David is not the big shot, giving God that big, new house God has always wanted. Rather, David is the humbly grateful recipient of overwhelming benefits from a powerful and good God.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you: </b> In this story, we get the picture of David being a little overeager to help and almost over-responsible, as if it’s up to David for good things to happen in the world. We live in a city full of very well-intentioned, successful, driven people; and it’s easy to follow suit without the slightest blink of an eye. What are the ways in which you feel driven? In what areas do you feel a lot of pressure and responsibility? Consider that if there are situations where you feel guilty, worried, and burdened that you’re carrying pressure God might not want you to have. Spend some time thinking about the important plans you have. Ask God to show you what, if anything, you should be doing about them. Maybe his response will be similar to the one he gave David, “Great idea, but not now.” Ask God to make it clear what you are responsible for and what you are not. </li><li><b>For your six:</b> Pick a few of your six and spend time trying to listen to God on their behalf. What Nathan heard from God for David was quite powerful and also quite different from what he came up with on his own. Like Nathan, if you think you hear something from God, find a way to run it by your six.</li><li><b>For our church:</b> David finally taking the throne as king brings about a season of rest, stability, and prosperity for the entire country. Ask God for our church to play a part in bringing rest to our city. Pray that our presence would help make our city a place of stability and prosperity for everyone in it.</li><li><b>For families:</b> Have you ever sensed that God thinks something is a good idea, but doesn’t want you to do it yet? Talk about some of these things with your family, find out what things they have heard are good ideas, but aren’t yet ready to do. These could be big dreams from God or things related to growing up that you might do when you’re older. Discuss how God is preparing you all to take the next step, and pray that each of you could wait well in the meantime.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-43807464612545818482012-03-18T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-18T00:00:02.324-04:002 Samuel 6<div>1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.</div><div> 6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.</div><div> 8 Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.</div><div> 9 David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.</div><div> 12 Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.</div><div> 16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.</div><div> 17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.</div><div> 20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”</div><div> 21 David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”</div><div> 23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘to bring up from there the ark of God’</b>--having won peace like they haven’t had for a while, David musters the troops for a completely different reason: to worship God together. The ‘ark’ is basically a very ancient , very holy souvenir chest. The Israelites built it during Moses’ time, according to God’s specifications, and filled it with remembrances of the ways God rescued them and provided for them in their desert wanderings.</li><li><b>‘enthroned between the cherubim on the ark’</b>--as we’ve mentioned a couple of times over the course of this guide, the surrounding nations made physical representations of their gods, called ‘idols.’ These idols weren’t thought of as mere pictures of the gods, but as local manifestations of the gods. The LORD God prohibited the Israelites from making this sort of physical representation, certainly of other gods, but even of the LORD himself. God wanted the Israelites to think of God being right in the midst of them, directly, without any physical proxy necessary. So, the ark, instead of being a representation of God, was fashioned to look like God’s throne, as if God was sitting right in the midst of them.</li><li><b>‘between the cherubim’</b>--cherubim are angelic attendants. There were sculptures of cherubim on either side of the ark.</li><li><b>‘brought it from the house of Abinadab’</b>--just like the Philistines would carry their idols into battle, the Israelites would bring the ark. About twenty years ago, just before Saul became king, the Philistines captured the ark from the Israelites, more or less in the same way as David just captured the Philistine idols in yesterday’s passage. But the temple and town in which the Philistines held the ark started to experience all sorts of misfortune; so they put it on a cart and sent it back to the Israelites. None of the Israelites who found it quite knew what to do with it; so Abinadab has been keeping it safe. David now wants to return it to its proper place in the worship life of the Israelites.</li><li><b>‘celebrating with all their might before the LORD’</b>--they put as much effort into praising God as into battle.</li><li><b>‘The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act’</b>--this is meant to be a royal parade, a triumphal procession of God on his throne, celebrating his victory and entering in glory into his people’s new capital. The pageantry is ruined by the way in which they carry the ark, hauling it on the back of a bumpy oxcart. It’s like throwing Santa into the back of a U-Haul for the finale of the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, but much, much worse. God didn’t ask for this parade, but he seems to think that if they’re going to do it, they should do it well. Uzzah is acting lazy, and casually disrepectful; the ark is a sacred item, meant to be touched only by the high priest, but Uzzah is treating it like so much luggage. Still, it’s a bit shocking that God strikes him dead for it.</li><li><b>‘Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out’</b>--now everyone is in a bad mood. God is angry that his throne is being mistreated. David is angry--whether at God or Uzzah or both is unclear--because his parade is ruined by someone being struck dead. And the big day quickly unravels.</li><li><b>‘ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite’</b>--having only made it partway from Abinadab’s house to Jerusalem, the ark once again ends up in temporary storage in a random, nearby house. A Gittite is someone from Gath, the Philistine city in which David once sought refuge from Saul. Obed-Edom is a Philistine expatriot living in Israel.</li><li><b>‘the LORD blessed him and his entire household’</b>--God suddenly and mercilessly cuts Uzzah down for throwing out a hand to steady the ark. Now, God casually brings a steady flow of goodness in Obed-Edom’s direction, apparently in gratitude for Obed-Edom’s hospitality. The overall impression I get from this set of interactions is that God wants the ark to be a source of blessing to people, but that doesn’t mean that God or the ark can be taken for granted. I’m still in awe that God would be willing to kill someone to make his point; but I can understand that God would want to make the point that God’s goodness toward us should not be taken as license for complacency. In any case, seeing the positive effect on Obed-Edom’s family encourages David to try again to bring the ark to Jerusalem.</li><li><b>‘those who were carrying the ark of the LORD’</b>--this time around, they carry the ark by hand, by its carrying poles, as would be appropriate for a throne, and for the ark; and it works like a charm. God doesn’t actually seem to be asking all that much here. The consequences for not doing that little bit do still seem to be dismayingly severe, though.</li><li><b>‘Wearing a linen ephod’</b>--David is dressed like a simple priest instead of like a king. </li><li><b>‘she despised him in her heart’</b>--apparently, particularly when someone is dancing energetically, ephods can be a little revealing. Michal finds David’s actions and clothing to be embarrassingly uncouth.</li><li><b>‘inside the tent that David had pitched for it’</b>--throughout the wandering in the desert, both the ark and the people stayed in tents. When they finally arrived in the promised land, the people, naturally, built more permanent homes. The ark, however, remained in a tent throughout the past 400 years, except, of course, for the past 20 years, when it was kept in Abinadab’s and Obed-Edom’s homes; but that was during a time when it was out of service, as it were. David now restores it to its proper setting.</li><li><b>‘he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins’</b>--this is a big, fun, abundant feast. There’s plenty of meat for everyone to eat, with a new sacrifice being offered every six steps; and everyone gets their own little gift of more party food.</li><li><b>‘returned home to bless his household’</b>--after the big, public ceremony, David returns home, hoping to continue the celebration with his family.</li><li><b>‘I will become even more undignified than this’</b>--it’s not okay for the ark to be treated unceremoniously, but David has no scruples about looking foolish himself. This reminds me of our very first passage, when God tells Samuel, ‘People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’ It’s David’s very willingness to not behave like a king that makes him a good king, in God’s eyes, at least.</li><li><b>‘And Michal daughter of Saul had no children’</b>--this is a sad end to David and Michal’s relationship. After all of this time, they finally realize that Michal doesn’t want David to be different from her father; she wants David to be a new and improved version of her father. So, they quietly part ways. David has plenty of other wives to spend time with and have children with. It would be easy enough for David and Michal to simply avoid one another. Politically speaking, this means the end of the House of Saul. If David were to have a son with Michal, that son, being descended from both Saul and David, would have the inside track on inheriting the crown. But it’s not to be.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> David doesn’t let much, if anything, get in his way of following God. He portrays an attitude of being willing to do absolutely anything for God. Do you feel just as sure? Or do you feel some interest in God but have some hang-ups along the way? Tell God that you want him to be your number one priority, and that you are willing to do anything for him. If that seems like a stretch, say it out loud as if just to try it on for size, paying attention to ways you feel resistant; then talk with God about those areas of resistance.</li><li><b>For your six:</b> Michal drastically misunderstands and resents David’s decisions in following God. Are there ways you feel misunderstood or resented by your six for your decision to follow Jesus? Do you feel too weary to even talk about it? Ask God for help in communicating. Next time the opportunity presents itself, talk to your six about what God has recently been doing in your life. </li><li><b>For our church:</b> While God, being God, is supernatural, powerful, and bigger than we can quite comprehend, I wonder if there are ways in which God is somewhat like us, simply wanting to be appreciated and recognized. We all know how terrible it feels to do a lot of work, give a nice gift, or go out of the way to show someone love only to find that no one even notices or cares. Ask God to fill our church with a spirit of incredible gratitude. Ask God to give us a special awareness of the ways God has been working. Pray that our response would be to thank him.</li><li><b>For families: </b>Talk about what it means to you to worship God. What are ways you like to worship God? Do you like to dance, sing, raise your hands, sit quietly, or something else altogether? Put on one of your family’s favorite worship songs and worship in the best way you know how. Have fun!</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-26840082551950691042012-03-17T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-17T00:00:05.014-04:002 Samuel 5<div> 1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’”</div><div> 3 When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.</div><div> 4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.</div><div> 6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.</div><div> 8 On that day David had said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies.” That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.”</div><div> 9 David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward. 10 And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.</div><div> 11 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 12 And David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.</div><div> 13 After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. 14 These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.</div><div> 17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; 19 so David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?”</div><div>The LORD answered him, “Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.”</div><div> 20 So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.” So that place was called Baal Perazim. 21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.</div><div> 22 Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; 23 so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. 24 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” 25 So David did as the LORD commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘you were the one who led Israel’</b>--it’s a little hard for me to tell whether this admission is freely given or forced upon them by circumstances. Are they finally able to tell the truth now that they’re no longer afraid of Saul and his family, or are they flattering David since he now holds all the power? Regardless, it’s the truth, and it’s been a long time coming. Ever since he defeated Goliath, many years ago now, David has done most of the work of defending the country; he’s finally getting the recognition to match his work.</li><li><b>‘The king and his men marched to Jerusalem’</b>--I think this would again be the king’s company, which in David’s case would be his 600 companions from the desert, the Mighty Men. David doesn’t draft the whole national army for this one, but just uses his own personal forces. Because of this, the city belongs to him personally, and is often called City of David. This, by the way, is the first time David is referred to simply as ‘the king.’ Finally, Samuel’s anointing takes full effect.</li><li><b>‘You will not get in here’</b>--Jerusalem is a hilltop fortress, famously difficult to attack for any army; and David has brought a relatively small number of men, too few to attack the walls or effectively besiege the city.</li><li><b>‘the fortress of Zion’</b>--Jerusalem is the name of the city; Zion is the name of the mountain on which it is located.</li><li><b>‘use the water shaft’</b>--David apparently figures out that the weak point in Jerusalem’s defenses is the water main, bringing fresh water up from the valley below. David and his men climb through the water shaft to get around the defenses and attack the Jebusites by surprise from inside the city.</li><li><b>‘David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David’</b>--David is interested in Jerusalem as a new capital, for several reasons. <b>First</b> of all, it’s fairly well-protected (though he himself has just proven that it is not completely impregnable). <b>Secondly</b>, it’s fresh. Not having been in Israelite hands before, it has no associations with either Ish-Bosheth’s kingdom or David’s Judean kingdom; it’s a capital that belongs to everyone, rather like Washington, D.C., which was built on previously uninhabited land so that no state could claim the capital as its own. <b>Thirdly</b>, it’s central. It’s located on the border of Benjamin (Saul’s tribal land) and Judah (David’s tribal land). <b>Fourthly</b>, it’s at the intersection of two major highways (Walton et al). This makes its placement ideal both for trade and for efficient movement of armies.</li><li><b>‘from the terraces inward’</b>--there not being much available land on mountaintops, the area of Jerusalem was expanded by a system of artificial terraces (Walton et al).</li><li><b>‘Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David’</b>--Tyre is one of the major cities of the Phoenicians, a coastal civilization in what is now Lebanon. The Phoenicians are today most famous as the inventors of the first alphabet. They’re also the founders of Carthage, Rome’s main rival for dominance of the Mediterranean later on in history. At the time of David, they are already a powerful maritime merchant nation. They specialize in trading hardwood and purple dye.</li><li><b>‘cedar logs and carpenters’</b>--it being a very dry climate, what we might call full-sized trees were quite rare in the entire region in which our story is set. Pretty much the only source of wood were the cedars of Lebanon, which Hiram controls. Having a monopoly is usually advantage enough; but it just so happens that as well as being the only wood around, cedar--as anyone with a cedar chest or a bureau with cedar drawers can attest--makes a very attractive, high quality wood. So, the cedars were in spectacularly high demand. In fact, they were so highly coveted over such a large area, for temples and palaces particularly, that already by David’s time the forests were quite depleted (Walton et al). So, this is quite a lavish gift from Hiram. It’s an offer of strong friendship between their two nations.</li><li><b>‘David took more concubines and wives’</b>--the establishment of David’s rule over the entire nation would provoke a whole new round of diplomacy, probably on a larger stage and scale than ever before. All of these treaties would be sealed with yet more marriages between David’s house and the royal houses of the other parties. It makes political sense; but it sure does seem like David’s new palace is getting filled with new wives more quickly than it can be built.</li><li><b>‘When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel’</b>--for many years now, the Philistines have been able to maintain the upper hand because of the division between Saul and David. If David is able to completely consolidate his power, he would be an uncomfortably formidable opponent. So, the Philistines try to attack him and destabilize him before he has the chance to really establish himself.</li><li><b>‘went down to the stronghold’</b>--I think ‘down’ here simply means down the mountain from the site of the palace complex and main fortress. David uses an outlying, smaller fortress as a staging area. Rather than waiting to be besieged by the Philistines, he takes the fight down to them.</li><li><b>‘The Philistines abandoned their idols there’</b>--rather like David would take the ephod with him (see March 23rd, 1 Samuel 23) for good luck and guidance, other armies would bring the images of their gods with them. The Philistines are in such headlong retreat that they can’t even stop to grab their gods before they run.</li><li><b>‘Do not go straight up, but circle’</b>--this is much more sophisticated advice than the yes or no answers David has gotten in the past (like in the above-referenced 1 Samuel 23). Is God saying more to David, or has David somehow gotten better at hearing what God has to say?</li><li><b>‘the LORD has gone out in front of you’</b>--it’s not just that David and his men are that good. David has supernatural help, the anointing--the favor of and power of God--we talked about in our first passage.</li><li><b>‘struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer’</b>--this is a complete rout. The Philistines hoped to nip David’s power in the bud. It turns out rather the opposite. The Philistines never quite recover from this defeat, and we don’t hear from them again for quite a while.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Taking it home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> At one point David was shepherding herds of sheep in the hill country of Judea and leading smaller bands of men into random battles. Now he is shepherding an entire nation and leading battles to capture treasured cities. God doesn’t seem to let anything go to waste, but instead uses every aspect of David’s life to prepare for this next leg of the journey. In what ways has God been using your past circumstances to prepare you for what you are facing today? How does knowing that God is going to use everything you are experiencing now as a way to prepare you for what’s next change how you view your current circumstances? Are there particular seasons of your life over which you feel a lot of regret? Ask God to redeem these experiences. </li><li><b>For your six:</b> Ask God to send his favor out in front of your six. Pray that God would go before your six this week, giving them supernatural help along the way.</li><li><b>For our church:</b> David captures a city that was deemed impossible to overcome. Pray that God would give our church the same boldness to go after things that most would consider impossible. </li><li><b>For families:</b> Talk about ways that God has grown each of you throughout your life. Particularly take time to look at your family’s Lent poster, and praise God for all of the ways that He’s been answering your family’s prayers in the past few weeks. Ask God to help you grow in hearing his voice and following his direction for your life. Take time now to practice hearing God’s voice; it might be through journaling, sitting quietly, going for a prayer walk, or talking though your dreams.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-51233984228188432002012-03-16T00:00:00.002-04:002012-03-16T00:00:03.896-04:002 Samuel 4<div>1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. 2 Now Saul’s son had two leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, 3 because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day.</div><div> 4 (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)</div><div> 5 Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. 6 They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.</div><div> 7 They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah. 8 They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to take your life. This day the LORD has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”</div><div> 9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”</div><div> 12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died’</b>--interestingly, it’s Abner’s death, far more than his defection, that alarms Ish-Bosheth. Maybe Ish-Bosheth doesn’t care so much about being king, but he does still care very much about staying alive. And, despite his accusations of Abner, Ish-bosheth trusted Abner to get him a good deal in the transition of authority. Now, all bets are off.</li><li><b>‘the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim’</b>--apparently Beeroth isn’t technically within Benjaminite territory, but having been abandoned by its original population, it was re-settled by the tribe of Benjamin (Walton et al). I don’t know why the author finds it necessary to explain these intricacies to us.</li><li><b>‘Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet’</b>--I think the author is letting us know, just before telling us what is sure to be a tragic story about Ish-Bosheth, that there is still a remnant of Saul’s family. It’s a sad remnant, though: one young man, disabled when he was dropped as his family fled from Saul’s final defeat.</li><li><b>‘they stabbed him in the stomach’</b>--Ish-Bosheth’s court is a sinking ship. With Abner and the leaders of the tribes already having defected to David, these two raiding captains are about all who remain with Ish-Bosheth. And they, his soldiers and members of his own tribe, turn on him most treacherously of all.</li><li><b>‘They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David’</b>--once again, as with the unknown Amalekite bringing him Saul’s crown, someone is trying to gain favor with David by bringing him proof of the death of his enemy. David wonders, ‘Didn’t you hear what happened last time?’ And this time, it’s even worse: first of all, Ish-Bosheth was harmless, already completely de-fanged by Abner’s change of loyalty; and secondly, rather than dying in battle, Ish-Bosheth is assassinated while asleep in his own bed.</li><li><b>'they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb’</b>--it’s perhaps not the most dignified of burials to have one’s head stuck into someone else’s tomb, but David is doing what he can to show Ish-Bosheth proper respect. I suppose there’s something fitting about Ish-Bosheth and Abner finding their final rest together.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> Families and their legacies seem to be pretty important. And, as Saul’s family dramatically shows, it seems like there’s often so much working against families staying together and fulfilling their destinies. Pray today that your family would endure and prosper, asking God to help your family leave its legacy.</li><li><b>For your six:</b> The key contrast between David and the raiding band leaders Baanah and Rekab is that David had learned not to take matters into his own hands, even when it seemed like something was right there for the taking. That distinction makes all the difference in the world. When Baanah and Rekab grab for something, instead of waiting for it to be given to them, they end up getting themselves killed. Ask God to give your six a propensity to turn towards God in their state of need, as we read of David doing below, instead of taking things into their own hands. </li></ul></div><div><b>Psalm 88: 1-13</b> excerpts </div><div> LORD, you are the God who saves me; </div><div> day and night I cry out to you. </div><div> May my prayer come before you; </div><div> turn your ear to my cry.</div><div> I am overwhelmed with troubles </div><div> and my life draws near to death. ...</div><div> I call to you, LORD, every day; </div><div> I spread out my hands to you.... </div><div>In the morning my prayer comes before you. </div><div><ul><li><b>For our church:</b> Things weren’t easy between David and Saul, Abner, and Ish-Bosheth. Each of them caused David much trouble in one way or another. And he had sharp disagreements with all of them. Yet, David possessed a remarkable ability to show them all respect all along the way. Pray that our church as a whole and each member of it would have a similar ability to honor any detractors or opponents we might have.</li><li><b>For families:</b> Are there any situations in your family that feel really hard right now? Talk together about these situations. Listen to how they affect each person in your family. Pray that God would be with you as a family as you work through hard things, and that God would help you grow closer together. Pray that God would help you love and honor your family members even when it is hard.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536149055142371012.post-62298749378183063532012-03-15T00:00:00.001-04:002012-03-15T00:00:04.382-04:002 Samuel 3:22-39<div>22 Just then David’s men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the soldiers with him arrived, he was told that Abner son of Ner had come to the king and that the king had sent him away and that he had gone in peace.</div><div> 24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he is gone! 25 You know Abner son of Ner; he came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing.”</div><div> 26 Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern at Sirah. But David did not know it. 27 Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.</div><div> 28 Later, when David heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. 29 May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.”</div><div> 30 (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)</div><div> 31 Then David said to Joab and all of Joab’s men, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner.” King David himself walked behind the bier. 32 They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb. All of Joab’s men wept also.</div><div> 33 The king sang this lament for Abner:</div><div> “Should Abner have died as the lawless die? </div><div> 34 Your hands were not bound, </div><div> your feet were not fettered. </div><div>You fell as one falls before the wicked.”</div><div> And all of Joab’s men wept over him again.</div><div> 35 Then they all came and urged David to eat something while it was still day; but David took an oath, saying, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”</div><div> 36 All of Joab’s men took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them. 37 So on that day all of Joab’s men and all Israel knew that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.</div><div> 38 Then the king said to his men, “Don’t you realize that a great commander has fallen in Israel this day? 39 And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer acco rding to his evil deeds!”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Points of Interest</b></div><div><ul><li><b>‘he came to deceive you’</b>--it’s no surprise that Joab would have a hard time trusting Abner. They’ve been fighting one another for years.</li><li><b>‘May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore’</b>--David is fuming because Joab, in order to avenge his brother and maybe even to save his own job, puts in jeopardy the treaty that will finally bring peace and unity to the nation, under David’s rule--not to mention the fact that Joab has just murdered someone, someone with diplomatic immunity no less, in cold blood. I’m not certain how seriously we are to take David’s curses here. He may just be venting, the equivalent of yelling a few profanities, angrily swiping everything off the desk, and slamming the door.</li><li><b>‘The king sang this lament for Abner’</b>--all told, Abner was a decent, honorable man. He was the enemy general, but he can hardly be blamed for siding with his family and the current dynasty. He was true to his word. He did his best, as a man of war, to keep the peace. And he even worked very hard to avoid killing Joab’s brother Asahel. Even Joab’s men grieve Abner’s death.</li><li><b>‘all of Joab’s men took note and were pleased’</b>--it’s interesting that Joab’s men, not Abner’s, are carefully watching David here. Joab’s action has put David in danger of losing the trust of his entire army--not just the new, formerly Saulite forces, but even Joab’s own men. His soldiers want to know that David is honorable, and that his word and his commitment to his men can be trusted.</li><li><b>‘these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me’</b>--David feels like he ended up with the wrong general out of the deal. Joab may be his man, but Abner was the better man. Unfortunately, he can’t figure out how to rid himself of Joab and Abishai. They’re too powerful, and he depends on them too much.</li><li><b>‘May the LORD repay the evildoer’</b>--this must have been a humbling beginning to David’s reign. He now, finally, has authority over the whole country, but he can’t even control his own closest friends, associates, and relatives. He’s a king, but at the mercy of his own nephew. It’s a good thing he learned how to trust God to protect him and provide for him all of those years when he was on the run, because he needs to depend on God just as much--maybe even more--now that he is king.</li></ul></div><div><b>Taking it home</b></div><div><ul><li><b>For you:</b> David’s world keeps getting more complex in his ascent to the kingship: the political realities, interpersonal relationships, and job responsibilities only increase both in quantity and intricacy. What’s a complex and overwhelming situation in your life right now? Pray some of David’s prayers during this time in which he asserts God’s power and knowledge above whatever stressful situations he faces. </li></ul></div><div><b>Psalm 103: 13-20 </b></div><div>13 As a father has compassion on his children, </div><div>so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; </div><div>14 for he knows how we are formed, </div><div>he remembers that we are dust. </div><div>15 The life of mortals is like grass, </div><div>they flourish like a flower of the field; </div><div>16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, </div><div>and its place remembers it no more. </div><div>17 But from everlasting to everlasting </div><div>the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, </div><div>and his righteousness with their children’s children— </div><div>18 with those who keep his covenant </div><div>and remember to obey his precepts.</div><div>19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, </div><div>and his kingdom rules over all.</div><div>Psalm 104</div><div>1 Praise the LORD, my soul.</div><div>LORD my God, you are very great; </div><div>you are clothed with splendor and majesty.</div><div>2 The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; </div><div>he stretches out the heavens like a tent </div><div>3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. </div><div>He makes the clouds his chariot </div><div>and rides on the wings of the wind. </div><div>4 He makes winds his messengers,</div><div>flames of fire his servants.</div><div>5 He set the earth on its foundations; </div><div>it can never be moved. </div><div><ul><li><b>For your six:</b> David looks powerful and in control; he’s the king after all. But it turns out that the title of king doesn’t protect him from powerlessness in the middle of a sticky situation. Are any of your six in situations which it looks like they ought to have firmly under control, but they just don’t? Pray that God would give them peace in the middle of their powerlessness, and that he would give them the authority to match their responsibilities.</li><li><b>For our church: </b>David hits the nail on the head in how best to respond to Abner’s death. David’s wise decision gains the trust and respect of an unlikely group of people. Ask God to make our church one that would gain trust and respect, even from those who are suspiciously watching our every move. </li><li><b>For families:</b> Is there anyone in your life you want to trust or be friends with, but something keeps getting in the way and it is hard to trust them? Do you know what’s making you feel that way? Could it be that you only know part of that person? Pray together for God to show you more about this person and how God sees them. Ask God what you should do.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com