2 Samuel 1:16-2:4
For David had said to him, "Your blood be
on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed
the Lord’s anointed."—2 Samuel 1:16
David was talking with
an Amalekite who claimed he had killed Saul. Apparently, the Amalekite
knew that Saul was God’s anointed leader. Instead of David celebrating
the death of Saul, he had the Amalekite killed. Then David mourned:
David took up this
lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, and ordered that the men of Judah
be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):
"Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your
heights. How the mighty have fallen! Tell it
not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice. O mountains of
Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain,
nor fields that yield offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil. From the blood of
the slain, from the flesh of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied. Saul and Jonathan—
in life they were loved and gracious, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than
eagles, they were stronger than lions. O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who adorned your garments with ornaments
of gold. How the mighty have fallen in
battle! Jonathan lies slain on your
heights. I grieve for you, Jonathan my
brother; you were very dear to me. Your
love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. How the mighty
have fallen! The weapons of war have
perished!" —2 Samuel 1:17-27
One of the things that
God has communicated to my heart in the past is to not keep a record of wrongs.
I know that God doesn’t want me to keep track of all the bad things that
people have done to me. Years ago,
someone in another church had critiqued me quite often on a wide variety of
issues. It was a pretty constant pressure in my life. This person wasn’t trying to make an effort
to be understanding of a hard situation I was going through. There were instances where this person
reproved me in front of other people in the church about issues that were grey
areas, but they had made them into black-and-white issues. Keeping a
record of wrongs was easy to do. I was
able to pray for this person, after many moments of anger in my soul. Then I was able to talk about a lot of issues
directly with this person. I did my best
not to accuse or be defensive. I simply
told how I was hurt. Then I began a
process of honoring them, not gossiping about them, and even taking their
advice when I surely didn’t feel like it.
One of the encouraging
things about getting older is that your memory gets worse. I know that
seems like an odd thing to say. As my
memory has gotten worse, I’ve forgotten about many hurts that have happened to
me. An event will happen that will trigger a memory about a hurt that I
experienced. I will think to myself, “I
totally forgot about that!” And there are other moments as well I’m sure
that my memory has failed me.
I talk with Max when he
disobeys Miriam. About 95% of the time I can remember the specific
details of what he did wrong, unless I wasn’t there at the time. I’ll
usually ask questions to make sure that he knows that what he did was wrong,
and exactly why he was going to be disciplined. There are times that I
ask questions because I don’t remember what happened, but I don’t want him to
know that I don’t remember, because if he knows that will open the door for him
to interject some extravagant false story so he can get himself off the hook.
“Max”, I’ll ask as if I’m totally in control of the situation. I probe with a question like, “Did mommy tell
you to do anything a few minutes ago?”
I give him my best poker face.
He’ll give me an answer. “Did you
do it?”, I’ll ask as if I know the
answer, but I really don’t remember the exact details. One of the keys to
the success of this parental maneuver is to never act surprised at their
answers. Acting surprised is a sign of
weakness to the other team. If they see
that you’re weak, then they’ll go in for the kill. You can always gather information from your
spouse for clarification, then proceed.
When you look at what
Saul did to David, I doubt that David would have forgotten about those hurts.
David probably didn’t forget when Saul threw a spear at him, twice (1
Samuel 18:11; 19:10). Who knows?
Maybe David was just a really optimistic person and said to himself,
“Maybe Saul was just trying to kill a really big spider on the wall.”
David probably didn’t forget when Saul promised to give his daughter,
Merab, to him in marriage (1 Samuel 18:17-19).
Later, Merab was given to Adriel, instead of David. That’s some
messed up stuff right there. Saul tried
to have David killed by fighting the Philistines. He told David that if he brought back 100
foreskins of the Philistines then that would be the “price” for marrying his
daughter, Michal. Saul wanted David to die by the hand of the Philistines
(1 Samuel 18:25). He probably didn’t
forget Saul separating him from his best friend, Jonathan (1 Samuel
19:20). By now, if I were David, I would
be counting the hurts. He probably
didn’t forget Saul travelling the whole country with his military, looking for
him in order to kill him (1 Samuel 21-31). Things were so bad that it
says in 1 Samuel 18:29, “So Saul was David’s enemy continually.” (ESV) When Saul died I would have already been
celebrating. I would have already
prepared invitations to send out to my friends to celebrate. But how did David respond to a man that hurt
him so much? He mourned.
How could someone mourn
over a person that brought so much pain? How can we exercise the same
composure to mourn over the fall of someone who hurt us instead of celebrating?
I think David, at this point in his life, at a high point, trusted God
for his future. I think it was that
simple. Think about it. The times
that David got in trouble (i.e. hiding from Saul in the land of the Philistines
instead of staying in Judah like God told him, committing adultery with
Bathsheba, etc.) he didn’t seemed to be trusting God for his future. When
he trusted God, he didn’t reach out to grab something that God didn’t want him
to have, or reach out to grab something God wanted him to have at a later
time. He didn’t have to grab the kingship. God would provide it. It’s no wonder that David’s name is listed in
Hebrews 11, along with Moses and Abraham, as those who had great faith.
In the course of time,
David inquired of the Lord. "Shall I go up to one of the towns of
Judah?" he asked. The Lord said, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I
go?" "To Hebron," the
Lord answered. So David went up there
with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of
Carmel. David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and
they settled in Hebron and its towns. Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and
there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. –2 Samuel 2:1-4a
One of the encouraging
things that I like about God is that He gives second chances, and third
chances, and fourth chances, and fifth chances… Last week, John showed a
graph of King Saul’s life. His life was
progressing upward but took a dramatic fall, never to return to a place of
righteousness. But the main problem for Saul was that his heart really
didn’t belong to God. That’s what led to
his demise.
King David had some ups
and downs. After he was anointed to be king of Israel, he didn’t try to
become king in his own timing. He waited for God. Not only did he wait for God, but he served
Saul in the process of waiting. He was trusting God for His perfect
timing. This was one of his “up”
moments. One of his “down” moments came
in 1 Samuel 27 when he lived in the land of the Philistines for 1 year and 4
months. In 1 Samuel 22:5, God told David to go to Judah. But David became afraid of Saul, didn’t trust
God, and fled to the land of the Philistines.
So, in 1 Samuel 2, David
was trusting God again. Today is a new day. God gives you new chances to trust him, new
chances to follow him, new chances to obey him, new chances in forgiving
others, and new chances to take the righteous path.
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