And so those conversations gave birth to a test program that we started last fall called the Emerging Leaders Team. And what we did, was we identified a handful of young adults who had displayed some good leadership qualities in their lives and we invited them to take take part in this program where we would train them to be effective leaders in their homes, in their church, or in any other realm of life where God may lead them. 

But one of the cool things we did with them, is we had them form a shadow board – kinda like our church board, but without the weight of all the responsibilities. On this shadow board, they could discuss all the same real-life issues facing our current church board – and they could learn to make those decisions without any real risk of making a poor decision.

And so they held board meetings just like our church board does – and they used the same agenda and discussed all the same issues – and I think it was a great learning experience for them! However, we also gave them the freedom to bring up any other issues that they would like to discuss. We thought perhaps they would have concerns or see issues that our current board might not be aware of…. Well, they did!

And this is why I’m sharing all this with you today. One of the issues that they wanted to look at was the issue of mentorship. They identified that there were many people in our church (themselves being part of that group) who were really interested in having some older, wiser people in their lives who would be willing to share some of their wisdom and life experiences.  They wanted a mentor who could share some Godly wisdom and advice – or at the very least, could encourage them and give them some practical support as someone who has “been there/done that” as they face the difficult issues of life.

And of course, this isn’t just a good idea – this is a Biblical idea! Actually, it’s many Biblical ideas! Biblical mentoring touches on many Biblical commands: things like encouragement, discipleship, fellowship, accountability, prayer, studying God’s Word, maturing together in the Lord. A mentoring relationship provides such a great framework for so many of these life-building activities that God commands us to do together!

So when the ELT shadow board identified this need for mentoring in our church, I was very happy to encourage them to put together a game-plan for how this might happen. And they did just that. They put together a committee to look at what mentoring might look like in our church and how people might become either a mentor or a mentee. They looked at what kind of training mentors might need and how to get people involved in the process. Overall, they did a really fantastic job and they presented this all to our church board. Well, our church board looked over everything they did and were totally excited to make this happen. In fact, everyone of our elders are planning to play a key role in the mentor-training process… But I’ll tell you more about that later! 

Right now, I just want to tell you about the next few weeks. For the next few weeks, our Sunday morning messages will be revolving around some of the Biblical principles of mentoring. My message today will be a bit of an introduction and I’ll hope to define what exactly mentoring is and how that ties in with our call to make disciples!

And then our next two messages will be brought by a couple of different young guys who were on the Emerging Leaders Team and the mentorship committee who helped think through all these principles and processes. They’re going to share a bit of their own experiences with mentoring – along with some further Biblical foundations for mentoring.

And then after all that, we’re going to invite everyone of you to get involved in some way in a mentoring relationship! And of course, we’re going to explain all the details for all of this as we go along.

So let’s begin with this: What exactly is a mentor and what does a mentoring relationship look like? 

Well, for some of you, perhaps what comes to mind is this passage from Psalm 71.

18 Now that I am old and gray,
do not abandon me, O God.
Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,
your mighty miracles to all who come after me.

Psalm 71:18

For a lot of us, we have this idea of mentoring that it’s some old, wise grey-haired person bestowing life-changing wisdom upon some young person. And there is SOME reality to that. There is certainly an element of mentoring where someone more experienced in life is able to speak into the life of someone less-experienced. But you don’t have to be “old and gray” to speak into someone’s life. You don’t have to be 83 years old to be a mentor.

The key part of this verse is not the “old and gray” part – but it’s the part about proclaiming God’s power to this new generation – His mighty miracles to all who come after us.

Another passage from the Psalms conveys the same idea – Psalm 78:4…. 

We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.

Psalm 78:4

The idea here is that we are to convey God’s truth to the next generation. The things that we have learned and experienced from God – his glorious deeds, his power, and his mighty wonders – those are the things that we are to tell the next generation!

We actually talked about this quite a bit in the final message from our BLESS series just a couple weeks ago. The final S in BLESS reminds us to tell our story to the people around us – specifically, telling the story of what God has done in our lives!

In that message, we looked briefly at the story of Peter & John sharing about Jesus in the temple – even though they were commanded not to by the religious leaders. They said (In Acts 4:19)

19 But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? 20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:19-20

In a significant way, this is what mentorship is all about – it’s telling the next generation about everything we have seen and heard as we have learned to follow Jesus.

But mentoring isn’t just about conveying information. It’s almost more about applying information – specifically, it’s about applying God’s truth to everyday life. And this isn’t something you can easily teach in a classroom or even in a Sunday morning sermon. It’s something that’s better caught than taught. It’s more about showing someone by example how to do this.

In some ways it’s a lot like our modern-day apprenticeships.

Now most people are familiar with the concept of apprenticeships – where an expert in a certain field (also known as a journeyman) takes a young apprentice under his wing and teaches them everything they need to know about how to succeed in their given field. 

For a few weeks each year, the apprentice takes some classes and learns the basic concepts – but then for the rest of the year, they work alongside the expert and he shows them by example, how to actually do everything that they have just learned.

Mentoring certainly has some similarities to this, but there are a few differences. For one, you don’t have to be an expert or a journeyman to be a mentor. As I touched on earlier, you don’t have to be “old and grey” to be a mentor. Anyone can be a mentor to someone.

Secondly, unlike an apprenticeship, mentoring isn’t a formal program of training and it’s not intended to pass along any particular skill set. Of course, mentoring may have some structure to it – perhaps even with clearly defined goals and objectives – but it’s not really a training program per se.

Mentoring is really more about the relationship between the mentor and the mentee – and how, through that relationship, the mentee learns to apply God’s truth to their lives.

There’s a Christian mentoring organization that defines mentoring like this:

“Mentoring is the initiative to join someone’s life journey and become one of God’s instruments to help that person become all that God wants them to become and do all that He wants them to do.” ~ Mentorlink

Now as far as definitions go, that’s quite a mouthful, I know, but it does capture the idea well. A more simplified version might be:

Mentoring is an intentional relationship with the purpose of helping the mentee apply God’s truth to the various issues of life.

I think that’s getting pretty close to the heart of mentoring. It’s not just telling someone about what God has done in your life. It’s not just conveying good, Biblical information. It’s not just teaching them principles from God’s Word. (Although it may include all of those things!)

The heart of mentoring is developing an intentional relationship with the purpose of helping the mentee apply God’s truth to all the various issues of their life.

And I think we see this in action many times through the Bible. Now, you actually won’t find the word “mentor” or “mentorship” in the Bible (at least not in the translations that I’ve seen), but the idea of mentorship is spread through the Scriptures.

For example, there’s Moses & Joshua. The Bible tells us that Joshua was Moses’ assistant from the time he was a youth. He spent the bulk of his life working alongside Moses – learning from him and seeing how God worked through him.  Then when Joshua was somewhere between 70 & 90 years old, Moses died and Joshua took over as the leader of Israel – which means, that for maybe 50 to 70 years, Moses mentored Joshua – showing him by example how to obey God, how to repent, how to forgive, how to raise a family, how to lead a nation. There is SO MUCH that Joshua learned by observing and interacting with Moses over all those years that he never would have learned in a classroom or through some training program. Joshua learned through his relationship with Moses.

And that’s certainly not the only example. We see Elijah mentoring Elisha – teaching him and showing him how to be God’s prophet!

I think we see Naomi mentoring Ruth – showing her by example how to honour God with her life. Or we could talk about Paul & Timothy, or Barnabas & Mark, or perhaps the best example – Jesus & his 12 disciples.

In all of these stories, there was an intentional relationship where the mentor helped the mentee apply God’s truth the various issues of life.

And really, this is a big part of what discipleship looks like. These are not just a few “one-off” examples. This is really something that I believe God wants all of us to engage in. I think we all need a mentor and we all need to be mentoring someone else. 

Or to put it another way, we all need someone to help us grow as a disciple of Jesus, and we all need to help someone else grow as a disciple of Jesus.

The Great Commission – as found in Matthew 28:18 – give us pretty clear marching orders:

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

And it’s that verse 20 that is really what we’re trying to accomplish in the mentoring process. Making disciples goes far beyond just helping someone accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Making disciples involves helping others – showing them by example as we live in relationship with them – how to obey all the commands God has given us.

How do we obey God’s commands as we start a business? How do we obey God’s commands as we develop a relationship with the opposite sex? How do we obey God’s commands in regards to how we manage our finances? How do we obey God’s commands as we experience the painful stuff of life?

It’s helpful and important to hear some Biblical principles preached from the pulpit on Sunday – but when you have a relationship with someone who has already been putting those principles into practice in their life and you can talk to them and see what that looks like in their life, it’s so much easier to start applying those things in your own life.

Because then, it’s not just head knowledge. You have a living example before you showing you how it’s done. You can learn from their mistakes. You can benefit from their experience.

Whenever we do a child dedication here at the church, I always like to read from Deuteronomy chapter 6. And it talks specifically about parents talking to their kids about God’s commands throughout the day as they go through their everyday life. And I think that really sums up what mentoring is all about. Let me read that passage for you.

4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

The idea here is that if we want our kids to know and love the Lord, we have to show them by example and explain to them with our words, how God’s commands impact every area of our everyday life.

Mentoring is really just an extension of that. Mentoring is like having a spiritual parent showing us by example and explaining to us with their words, how God’s commands impact every area of our everyday life.

It really doesn’t matter how old we are or how young we are. We need to have people in our lives who can show us and help us understand how to apply God’s Word to our lives! 

And at the same time, it doesn’t matter how old we are or how young we are, we all have the ability to show others and help them understand how to apply God’s Word to their lives!

All of us can be mentored, and all of us can be a mentor to someone else.

So what does that look like? Well, let me close by giving you two examples from my own life – one where I was the mentor and one when I was the mentee.

One of the most significant mentors in my life was a guy named Gord. As I worked out at camp – both as a camp counsellor during the summer and then later full-time as the discipleship director at the camp, Gord intentionally developed a relationship with me where I could see how God’s commands impacted his life – as he lead the camp, as he raised his daughters, as he loved his wife, as he served his church, and as he preached the Gospel wherever he went. He was very intentional about talking about God’s commands as we worked at the camp, or as we traveled to speak at Bible colleges or as we played the construction game or as we shared a Pepsi together. And not only did he talk about God’s commands, I could see how he himself applied those commands to his own life. I had a living example of what he was talking about. 

And the impact of that relationship, which has now spanned over two decades, has dramatically helped shape the person that I’ve become today. I know first-hand the value of mentorship.

The other example that I would share from my life was as a mentor with a young guy named Greg. I believe I first met Greg when he was about six years old – and I have had a mentoring relationship with him to some degree or another since he was about 14 when I became his youth pastor.

I remember for a time, Tuesdays nights were “spaghetti & Pepsi with Greg nights” – where Greg would come over and just spend time with our family.  I don’t think we did a Bible study or anything like that – but we talked about life and what God was teaching us. I tried to be intentional to talk about how I was applying God’s commands to my life – and hopefully, as Greg observed how I loved my wife and raised my kids and worked at the church and experienced the painful things of life, he could see some how I applied God’s commands to my own life.

Now I’m sure I didn’t do that perfectly – Jesus is the only perfect mentor – but I believe God was able to use me in some way and to some degree to help shape Greg into the person that he is today. And what’s super cool is that now, Greg has been doing that for my kids as they grow up, and to a certain extent, my kids have started doing that with his kids! It’s actually really awesome!

And I share all that with you, not to hold myself up as the model for mentoring or anything like that, but to show you how powerful mentoring can be!

And over the next couple of weeks as Darian and Greg bring the Sunday morning messages, we’re going to continue to look at how powerful mentoring can be in the process of making disciples!

But for today, I just want to leave you with one last challenge to think about.

All of us already have a variety of relationships in our lives. Maybe it’s our relationship with our spouse, or our relationship with our kids, maybe a relationship with a co-worker or a relationship with a good friend –  maybe it’s a relationship with someone that you’ve connected with here at church.

But I would encourage you to try to be just a little bit more intentional in that relationship this week. Whether you’re doing some yard work with your kids or meeting up with a friend for coffee or just spending some time with your spouse – see if you can share with them a little bit about how you’re working to apply God’s commands to your own life. As Deuteronomy 6 says:

“Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:7b

Talk about how God’s commands are impacting every part of your everyday life. Share with them the things that you’re learning about who God is and how you’re working to trust him more. And as you tell them about all that, they’ll be sure to watch and see what that looks like in your life. And again, you don’t have to be perfect! Nobody is. But just be honest. 

It’s probably just as important (or maybe even more important) for someone to see how you deal with failure as it is to see how you do everything right!

But when you are intentional about using your relationships to show others how to apply God’s truth to their lives, even if we don’t do that perfectly, God works through that in some amazing ways!

So give it a try! See what God will do through you this week!

This chapter contains what theologians call the “Davidic Covenant” – which is an incredible promise that God made to David – but it also includes some amazing promises for us! It’s one of the foundational covenants of the Old Testament that help us understand who Jesus is and what He came to do.

I read this week that there are about 40 difference references throughout the Bible that all point back to this chapter – so this is certainly a chapter worth studying!

And of course, one brief sermon won’t explore all the depths and insights to be found in this chapter, but we can certainly find a few good nuggets this morning – and perhaps you can do some mining on your own this week! 

Now just to give you an idea of where we are in this story – We are still in the very early years of David’s rule as king over Israel. He has recently conquered the fortress of Jerusalem and has made it his capital city. He has build a palace for himself within it’s walls and he has also brought into the city the Ark of the Covenant (which is the symbol of God’s own presence dwelling among His people).

At this point, there’s not much for war going on right now. The Philistines have certainly been a thorn in David’s side in the past, (and the will be again just in the next chapter) but at the moment, things are pretty quiet.

So with all that in mind, we read in 2 Samuel chapter 7 – starting at verse 1:

When King David was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all the surrounding enemies, 2 the king summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!”

3 Nathan replied to the king, “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

2 Samuel 7:1-3

And we’ll pause here for now. First of all, in this passage we are introduced to the prophet Nathan. This is the first time we have met him in David’s story – but it certainly won’t be the last! Nathan will play several key roles in David’s story from this point on. 

We are told that he is a prophet of God and based on the context of this story as well as the other stories to come, it seems he is also a trusted friend of the King – one of the guys in David’s inner circle of advisors.

And so here, David calls in Nathan and shares with him what has been on his mind. He says in essence – “Hey Nathan – what do you think? Is it right that I should be living in this beautiful palace while the Ark of God is out there in a tent?” Now David doesn’t specifically say what he wants to do about that, but the answer is implied! If David is living in a beautiful palace – the Ark of God should certainly reside somewhere equally beautiful, if not even better!

From what we will read later on, we know that David has in mind to build God a magnificent temple – a permanent home for God to live among his people. We don’t know if David shared the blueprints in his mind with Nathan or not – I kinda expect that was probably part of their conversation but it just didn’t get recorded in the Bible. But none-the-less, Nathan thinks this sounds like a great idea! And so he says to David, “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

The trouble is, it seems Nathan forgot to actually ask God about this plan! Probably not his finest moment as a prophet of God, because here he is, giving David God’s blessing on this project without first consulting God! That’s not really the way you want to do things! But for whatever reason, it seems that Nathan just assumed that God would be in favour of this plan.

And of course, we do this all the time, don’t we? If something seems good and right in our minds – I think quite often we just assume that must be God’s will for us then! And often it is – God has already reveal much of his will for our lives in His Word and so many times that’s enough guidance for us to sort out what God would have us do. We know it’s God’s will for us to love our neighbors as ourself or to speak the truth in love or to honour our father and mother or to confess and repent when we sin. God has made those things clear for us in Scripture. But in things that are not specifically addressed in the pages of the Scriptures, we would be wise to ask God first – before we move ahead with our assumptions about God’s will! 

Because sometimes the things that seem good and right in our minds – may not be what God has in mind for us! And as we will see, that happens to be the case in our story today.

Let’s read on in verse 4.

4 But that same night the Lord said to Nathan,

5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has declared: Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? 6 I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. 7 Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’

2 Samuel 7:4-7

And we’ll pause here just briefly… While it wasn’t a bad or wrong idea for David to want to build the Lord a permanent home – we can see here that it simply wasn’t God’s desire for David to do that. It seemed like a good idea – but it wasn’t God’s idea. God had never asked for such a thing! And perhaps more to the point, God had never put that on David’s to-do list! 

As we will see in the verses just ahead, God certainly HAD a to-do list for David, but building a temple wasn’t on the list! Let’s read on in verse 8.

8 “Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth! 10 And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past, 11 starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.

2 Samuel 7:8-11a

In these verses we see that God had a todo list for David – which included him being the leader of God’s people, Israel – and destroying their enemies so that they could live securely in the Promised Land.

But more significantly, it seems these verses tell us more about God’s todo list than David’s! God very clearly reminds David that…

It was God who took David from tending sheep and raised Him up to be King over Israel.

It was God who went with David – destroying all of David’s enemies before his eyes!

It was God was was going to make David as famous as anyone else on earth.

It was God who would provide a homeland for his people – planting them in a secure place.

And it was God who would give them rest from all their enemies.

While it seems that David was eager to do something nice for God in building him a magnificent temple – God really didn’t need anything from David. And maybe David had begun to forget that.

Maybe as David looked out from his secure position within in the fortress of Jerusalem (knowing that all his enemies had been subdued) – maybe he began to take a bit more credit for his accomplishments than he ought! Maybe as he sat in his beautiful palace of cedar and looked down at the tent where the Ark of the Covenant was – maybe David thought he ought to help God out a little – forgetting that it was God who had placed David where he was!

Now again, I don’t know all that was going on in David’s heart and mind – but God certainly seems to make it clear that He didn’t really need any favours from David. He didn’t need David to build him a house. In fact, it was the other way around. Let’s read on in verse 11.

“‘Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 12 For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’”

2 Samuel 7:11b-16

Wow! What a promise! And what a turn-around of events! What began as David wanting to build God a house, ended up with God promising to give David a house – a dynasty of Kings! God made David an eternal, unconditional promise that his family and their rule over Israel would be secure for all time!

This promise of God is known as the Davidic Covenant. And it’s a prophecy really – God is telling David what He (the Lord) is promising to do in the future. And like many prophecies – there is a near future fulfillment and further future fulfillment of this promise.

In this case, the near future fulfillment would the reign of King David’s son, King Solomon – who at this point had not yet even been born. But when David would die many year from now, his son Solomon would take the throne – and as God says in verse 13…

“He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name.” 2 Samuel 7:13

And of course, as we read later in the book of Kings, we see that’s exactly what happened! Solomon would actually get to do what David had wanted to do. He would build an incredible temple for the name of the Lord. And we also read about how when Solomon was old, his heart turned from the Lord and God had to discipline him – but he did not remove him from the throne – just as God promised in these verses.

But this promise to David wasn’t just about Solomon. There was a further future fulfillment to this prophecy as well – as we see in verse 16.

16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’”

2 Samuel 7:16

Obviously this is no longer talking about Solomon – who would live and then one day die! But somewhere along the way, one of David’s descendant’s would become and then remain king for all time! And of course, the details of who and when this would be were not laid out for David at this time – but we are told very clearly later on in the Bible who this would be.

In Luke chapter 1, when the angel announces to the virgin Mary that she was about to have a child – look at what he says:

30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Luke 1:30-33

Jesus Christ is very clearly the descendant of David who would reign over Israel forever! And not just over Israel – but over all. In Revelation 11 we read of a future time when:

“The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he will reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 11:15b

And so this promise to David way back about 1000 years before Christ was born, was the first hint that God would send his Son, Jesus Christ, to be born as a descendant of David – and he would one day be King over all for all eternity!

This was an incredible promise to David and also for the people of Israel. What a great assurance than no matter what might happen in the world – no matter what world powers would arise or what catastrophes would strike their nation – they would never be wiped out. They would never cease to exist as a people. They knew that in the end, their King would be king over all!

And as followers of Jesus Christ, we have that same assurance! Not matter what happens to us in the here and now – no matter what trials we go through or what disasters befall us – we know that in the end, our king is going to be king over all!

There’s that old hymn – Blessed Assurance – and this is exactly what it’s talking about! Blessed Assurance – Jesus is mine! Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! What a comfort! What a hope we have because we know how the story ends! 

It’s incredible to have the promises of God. And I think David thought so too. Take a look at his response to all this… starting in verse 17.

17 So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the Lord had said in this vision.

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed,

“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord?

20 “What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord. 21 Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.

2 Samuel 7:17-21

David is just blown away! If he had earlier forgotten what God had done for him – he was surely reminded of that now. He humble acknowledges that he is nothing. His family is nothing.  He even states in verse 20 (and I’m paraphrasing here:) You know what I’m really like, Lord. You know my sinful heart – you know my tendencies to rebel and do things my own way – but yet You continue to bless me more than I could even ask!

I love how David says in verse 19 – “Do you deal with everyone this way, Lord?” Are you this good to everybody?

And the answer to that is “Yeah. He is!” Goodness is defining characteristic of God! David would write in Psalm 145…

7 Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness;
they will sing with joy about your righteousness.

8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

9 The Lord is good to everyone.
He showers compassion on all his creation.

Psalm 145:7-9

We sang earlier about the goodness of God! And I know sometimes we go through things that are not so good – things that are hard – things that hurt – things that seem to be lacking the goodness of God.

But even in those times, the Lord is still merciful and compassionate – slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love! He loves you more than you can imagine – and quite possibly – more than you can see in those difficult moments.

But it is true – the Lord is good to everyone! We all have the opportunity to experience His goodness and his unfailing love – if we so choose. But that’s just it. We have have to choose to accept his goodness. He doesn’t force it upon us – we can choose to reject him if we want. But the bottom line is that God is eager to share his goodness with us. I mean, just think of what he did for David and for Israel as a nation? David continues in verse 22…

22 “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! 23 What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations and gods that stood in their way. 24 You made Israel your very own people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God.

2 Samuel 7:22-24

And I’m sure that if David had lived in the New Testament era he would have continued with something like “And what other God would have come to earth as a man – to suffer and die on a cross – taking the punishment of every sin of every person on earth – and then rise again from the dead three days later? What other God has ever done that?”

There is no other God like our God. 

There is only one God who redeems his people. One God who call us His own! One God who suffered and died and rose from the grave so that we could live with Him forever!

And so David concludes by saying this in verse 25…

25 “And now, O Lord God, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. Confirm it as a promise that will last forever. 26 And may your name be honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is God over Israel!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.

27 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, I have been bold enough to pray this prayer to you because you have revealed all this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings!’ 28 For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 And now, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you have spoken, and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

2 Samuel 7:25-29

Such a fitting response to the goodness of God! May that be the prayer of each one of us as we reflect on the goodness of God in our lives and on all of his wonderful promises to us!

I know that life isn’t always sunshine and lollipops! There are hard things that we go through – things that hurt – things that have the potential to crush our spirits. But I just want to encourage you that even in the hard times – God is still good! He has given you great and mighty promises – and he will keep those promises – just as he kept his promises to David!

So may we respond to Lord as David did.

And now, O Lord God, I am your servant; do as you have promised… And may your name be honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is God over Israel! (and over Penhold and over Red Deer and over every other place that we might call home). For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!

At this point in the book of 2 Samuel, David is the newly appoint King over all Israel. He has just conquered the fortress of Jerusalem and has made it his capital city – and as part of that process, he also wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem as well.

Now the Ark of the Covenant (Or the Ark of God as it is called in 2 Samuel) symbolized God’s presence among His people. It was basically a gold-plated wooden chest that normally resided within the Tabernacle in the inner room called the Holy of Holies – but for the last several years, the Ark had been at the home of a man named Abinadab. It had been taken there after the Philistines captured the Ark and then, shortly thereafter, returned it back to the Isrealites.

And so now, after several years of basically being forgotten about, David determined to bring the Ark of God back to Jerusalem. However, David neglected to carefully follow the instructions of the Lord – as given to Moses way back when the ark and the whole Tabernacle were first put together.

You see, because the Ark of the Covenant represented the very presence of God – it was to be treated with the utmost respect and reverence. It was never to be touched by anyone other than the priests – and when being transported, it had to be carried by the Kohathite family from the tribe of Levi – and it was only to be be carried on it’s built-in carrying poles.

However, when David attempted to move the Ark to Jerusalem – the Ark was placed on a cart pulled by some oxen and guided by Abinadab’s sons (who were not part of the Kohathite family from the tribe of Levi, but were from the tribe of Judah). And then, as they were moving the Ark, one of the oxen stumbled, and one of Abinadab’s sons – Uzzah – instinctively reached out his hand to steady the Ark, and God immediately struck him dead!

What was intended to be a great day of celebration for Israel as they brought the Ark to Jerusalem – had turned into a very sobering reminder of the awesome power and holiness of God – something that the Israelites had seemed to have forgotten. And that’s about where we left off last time – with Uzzah lying dead beside the Ark – and everyone in the processional not really sure what to do next.

So we’re going to look at the rest of the story today. We pick up the story now in 2 Samuel chapter 6 – starting today at verse 8.

8 David was angry because the Lord’s anger had burst out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah (which means “to burst out against Uzzah”), as it is still called today. 

2 Samuel 6:8

And I’ll just pause here for a moment. Isn’t it interesting that David’s first reaction to all this is anger!? Not shock or confusion or even fear at this point – but anger. 

Now the text isn’t very clear about who David was angry with. Was David was angry at himself, or angry at Uzzah or angry at the Lord – we’re not sure – it just says that he was angry because of that had happened! But the way I read this, I kinda assume that David was angry at God. 

• Maybe David thought that God was over-reacting to something so simple and so innocent as Uzzah reaching out his hand to steady the Ark when the oxen stumbled. 
• Or maybe David took it personally that God would interrupt and really de-rail David’s big day – making him look bad in front of all the people! 
• Or maybe David just couldn’t understand why – in the middle of this parade designed to honour and glorify God – why would God strike someone dead! Didn’t God realize that David was doing this all for him!?

Well, we’re not really told the reasoning behind David’s anger, but I think I can relate to any of those possibilities. And maybe you can too.

How often do you and I get upset with God when God allows something that interrupts or derails our plans? Or how often do we take it as a personal slight when God allows us to experience the consequences of our own actions? How often do we accuse God of being unfair or being uncaring when bad things happen to us or our loved ones?

I expect we all know what it’s like to get angry at God.

I’m reminded of the story of Jonah – he was pretty angry at God too. Remember that? God told him to preach to Ninevah and to tell them that they would be destroyed if they didn’t repent. And of course, Jonah was pretty eager to see them be destroyed (as they were the cruel enemies of the Isrealites), but after Jonah preached to them, they repented and turned from their sins – and God determined not to destroy them after all. And this made Jonah furious!

 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

Jonah 4:1-4

And that’s such an important question for us to ask ourselves when we get angry at God. “Is it right for me to be angry about this?” Is it right for me to be angry at God?

I think if we’re honest with ourselves – we’ll find that the answer is no. If we’re really honest with ourselves, we’ll find that it’s usually our own selfishness that is rising up within us – causing us to become angry with God.

That was certainly the case for Jonah – and I think it was also the case for David.

You see, in order for us to be angry with someone – we have to hold the belief that they did something wrong. We don’t get angry with someone for being loving or doing right. We get angry when we believe they did something wrong – that they have acted somehow less than loving – less than good – less than right. 

So to be angry with God, we have to believe that God did something wrong. And that simply doesn’t line up with what the Bible teaches about the character and person of God.

In part one of this chapter we looked at the holiness of God – and part of God being holy is the fact that He never does wrong. We looked at James 1:13…

“God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.” James 1:13b

It is simply not in God’s character to sin or to do wrong. And so with that knowledge, if we know that God cannot do wrong, how could we possibly be justified in being angry with him?

And so I would encourage you this morning, that the next time you find yourself angry with God for whatever reason – I’d ask you the same question that God asked Jonah: “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

And if it’s not – perhaps you need to re-evaluate with whom (or even if) you should be angry?

Well, I’m not sure if David asked himself that question or not, but it seems that that his anger soon dissipated – or at least quickly changed into fear. Take a look at verse 9.

9 David was now afraid of the Lord, and he asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of the Lord back into my care?” 10 So David decided not to move the Ark of the Lord into the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath. 11 The Ark of the Lord remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire household.12 Then King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s household and everything he has because of the Ark of God.”

2 Samuel 6:9-12

After seeing Uzzah being struck down by the Lord, David became afraid of God and decided not to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem after all. At this point, David didn’t exactly know why God had struck Uzzah down – and so he needed some time to figure out what he had done wrong and how he could do things differently.

And so in the meantime, he left the Ark at the house of Obed-Edom – and it stayed there for about 3 months – but while it was there, God blessed Obed-Edmon greatly. And this is an important detail. When the Isrealites treated the symbol of God’s presence with the proper reverence and respect – according to the instructions of the Lord – God was eager to bless them!

And I think this is what helped David see that there is a big difference between being afraid of the Lord – and having the fear of the Lord.

You see, at this point, David was afraid of the Lord. He didn’t want the Lord’s presence anywhere near him. That’s why he left the Ark with Obed-Edom – rather than continuing to bring it into the city of David.

But when David was afraid of the Lord – staying distant from Him – he also missed out on God’s blessings!

What was needed was not to be afraid of the Lord – but to have the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord doesn’t mean that we are afraid of Him – it means that we understand his power and his holiness – and are thus careful to approach him the manner that He has prescribed!

It’s a little bit like electricity. I have a healthy respect for electricity as I really don’t like to be electrocuted. However, I am not afraid to have electricity running all through-out my house. Having that power is a huge benefit for me – I’d hate to be without it. So I just know that when I need to wire a switch or something like that, there are certain precautions I need to take! I need to recognize it’s power and treat it with due respect.

That’s kinda what it means to have the fear of the Lord. We don’t have to be afraid of God. I mean, God loves us like crazy – and in fact, loves us so much that he died on a cross for us! He has made a way possible for us to be with him – and when we choose to be with him, we receive his incredible blessings!

But we have to recognize that He is still God! He is all powerful. He is holy. He deserves and demands our utmost honour and respect and obedience. We have to come to him on His terms. We need to have the fear of the Lord.

And I think David began to see that. As he saw how Obed-Edom was blessed because of the presence of the Lord, He began to realize that He didn’t need to be afraid of the Lord, but He certainly did need to have the fear of the Lord.

Now the Bible doesn’t record what David did during this those three months while the Ark was with Obed-Edom, but if we flip over to 1 Chronicles 15 (which a parallel passage to 2 Samuel 6), we see that he must have done a little bit of research and he learned that He had been very wrong in how he had tried to moving the Ark.

Starting at verse 11 it says…

11 Then David summoned the priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and these Levite leaders: Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12 He said to them, “You are the leaders of the Levite families. You must purify yourselves and all your fellow Levites, so you can bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13 Because you Levites did not carry the Ark the first time, the anger of the Lord our God burst out against us. We failed to ask God how to move it properly.” 14 So the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to Jerusalem. 15 Then the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

1 Chronicles 15:11-15

It seems that somewhere during those three months while the Ark was at the house of Obed-Edom – David had an ‘ah-ha’ moment and he realized that he had failed to ask God how to move the Ark!

His intentions had been good – and he was doing a good thing for God – but he wasn’t doing it God’s way. And that’s where he got into trouble. 

David’s neglect to carefully seek and then follow the will of God had cost Uzzah his life! I can only imagine how sorrowful David was when he realized that. His failure had cost a man his life!

And that’s such a good reminder for us. Even when it doesn’t result in physical death, our sin – our neglect to do things God’s way – can be incredibly damaging to us and to the people around us. 

And I think the even more powerful reminder is that David wasn’t intentionally sinning! He wasn’t purposely rebelling against the Lord – but he had neglected to study the Word of God and learn what God wanted him to do or to not do. All of the instructions for moving the Ark of God were all recorded in the Torah – the books of the Bible that David (as king of Israel) should have been very familiar with. 

Actually, in Deuteronomy, God specifically commanded that any kings of Israel had to write out their own copy of God’s laws and had to keep it with them at all times – reading it daily! Let me show you…

18 “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees.”

Deuteronomy 17:18-19

I’m guessing at this point in his life, David hadn’t really done that – or he would have know how the Ark was to be moved! And as a result, David’s ignorance of the Word of God caused him and others to sin – and in the case of Uzzah – even to die!

You know, we usually think of David as being someone who was intimately familiar with the Word of God.

We read passages like Psalm 119…

9 How can a young person stay pure?
By obeying your word.

10 I have tried hard to find you—
don’t let me wander from your commands.

11 I have hidden your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.

12 I praise you, O Lord;
teach me your decrees.

13 I have recited aloud
all the regulations you have given us.

14 I have rejoiced in your laws
as much as in riches.

15 I will study your commandments
and reflect on your ways.

16 I will delight in your decrees
and not forget your word.

Psalm 119:9-16

That’s the Bible-loving David that we usually think of. But I wonder if it was this incident of incorrectly moving the Ark (resulting in Uzzah’s death) that perhaps spurred David on to become that person! Maybe when David realized the high price of his ignorance, he determined to learn all that He could about God and his Word – so that this would never happen again! As verse 11 says… 

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

Now of course, I don’t know for sure that it was this incident is what motivated David to really get to know the Word of God and hide it in his heart – but it’s certainly possible. I think that’s something that we all need to strive for! It’s so important for us to know the Word of God – lest we and others suffer for it! Don’t wait until you or others have paid the price before you really get to know the Word of God!

But now that David knew exactly how God wanted the Ark to be moved, he once again made plans to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. Going back to our passage in 2 Samuel 6, we read in verse 12.

So David went there and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David with a great celebration. 13 After the men who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 2 Samuel 6:12b-13

I can imagine that after Uzzah was struck dead the first time they tried to move the Ark, everyone was a little bit on edge when they made the second attempt. I imagine that everyone – especially the Levites who were carrying the Ark – breathed a sigh of relief, when after the first six steps – everyone was still alive!

And so they all stopped right there and offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God! And from there, the rest of the day was a huge celebration! It says in verse 14…

14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. 15 So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.

16 But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him.

17 They brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. 18 When he had finished his sacrifices, David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 19 Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people returned to their homes.

2 Samuel 6:14-19

It was a great day of celebration before the Lord – complete with gifts of bread, raisins, and dates! Everyone was filled with joy and thanksgiving – everyone that is, except for David’s wife Michal.

While everyone else had joined in with David, praising God and dancing and celebrating in the streets, Michal the daughter of Saul, stayed at home – and as verse 16 says… 

“When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him.” 2 Samuel 6:16

And at first glance, we probably wonder “What’s her problem? Did she just wake up grumpy that day or what?” Well, let’s read on to get the rest of the story. verse 20

20 When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!”

21 David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. 22 Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” 23 So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life.

2 Samuel 6:20-23

Now there is a lot of stuff going on in this part of the passage, but in a nutshell, Michal thought that David had not acted very ‘kingly’ in his worship of the Lord! For one, he had not been wearing his royal robes – he just had a linen garment like the many other priests that were there that day – he looked pretty much like everyone else in the crowd. Secondly, his dancing and leaping were not really the behaviours of royalty. We can’t even imagine the queen of England ever leaping or dancing – and apparently, neither could Michal. She despised David for not acting the part of the king – which, as queen, also reflected on her! And that’s probably more the issue. She thought David’s ‘foolish’ behaviour made her look bad.

But David was not concerned about his appearance to his people or to his wife for that matter. He was concerned about his appearance before God! And he was willing to look entirely foolish to his entire kingdom – if it meant praising and glorifying God. He was going to honour the Lord as whole-heartedly as he could – and if that made him look foolish – then so be it!

And that’s a great reminder for us too. I think too often, we tone-down our worship or even our conversations about God because of what other people might think. For example, even in the church, our western Canadian culture has taught us (men in particular) that it’s not normal to enthusiastically sing about how much we love God! Somehow that’s not manly! And so we don’t sing. We don’t clap. We don’t raise out hands. And I’m not saying that we have to do that – or that worship with dancing is better than worship without.

That’s not the issue at all. But the point is, are we letting other people’s views of us impact how we worship God? 

• What’s more important to us – how people view us – or how God views us?
• Is it more important that we keep up appearances – or that we honour and glorify God?
• Are we afraid of man – or do we have the fear of the Lord?

And that’s really the issue – are we afraid of man – afraid of what others might think of us… Afraid of what they might say or do? Or do we truly fear the Lord? Is His opinion of us the only one that truly matters?

And whether we apply that to our worship or how we share our Christian testimony at work or how we educate our children or how we conduct our business – it all comes down to the same question:

Are we afraid of man – or do we fear the Lord?

And I hope that for our church – for each man and woman and child here today – that we would each choose to fear the Lord.

As one of his first acts as King, David set out to conquer the Jebusite fortress of Jerusalem – one of the last unconquered strongholds within the borders of the Promised Land. And as we read last time, David successfully conquered this fortress and made it his new capital city. He renamed the city – The City of David – and build a palace for himself within it’s walls. And now, as David moves into his new home in the capital, he also desires for the Lord to make His home there as well!

You see, over the last 40 years, it seems that the Israelites had kinda neglected their relationship with God! Specially, the Ark of the Covenant (which was to represent the very presence of God) had been more or less forgotten about – and wasn’t even kept in the same place as the tabernacle! And we’ll talk more about that in a bit – but today we’re going to see how David determines to fix all that! He knows how important it is to have God at the centre of all life – and so he wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant back into the center-focus and attention of all the people of Israel.

Now our main text for today is 2 Samuel chapter 6, but as we work through our passage today, we’re going to be looking at a lot of different Scriptures from a lot of different places. And I actually want to start in 1 Chronicles chapter 13 because it basically gives us the same story, but with a bit more background than what we read in the 2 Samuel account. So let’s begin at 1 Chronicles chapter 13, starting at verse 1.

David consulted with all his officials, including the generals and captains of his army. 2 Then he addressed the entire assembly of Israel as follows: “If you approve and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send messages to all the Israelites throughout the land, including the priests and Levites in their towns and pasturelands. Let us invite them to come and join us. 3 It is time to bring back the Ark of our God, for we neglected it during the reign of Saul.”

4 The whole assembly agreed to this, for the people could see it was the right thing to do. 5 So David summoned all Israel, from the Shihor Brook of Egypt in the south all the way to the town of Lebo-hamath in the north, to join in bringing the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

1 Chronicles 13:1-5

So after consulting with his officials, his generals and captains – as well as the whole assembly of Israel – everyone agreed that it was time to bring back the Ark of God – because it had been neglected during the 40 year reign of Saul. They would send messages throughout the land and the whole nation (including the priests and Levities – who had been chosen by God to serve in the tabernacle) – they would all join together in restoring the Ark of God to it’s proper place.

Now there are probably a few questions that you might have as you read all this:

For one, why did the Ark of God need to be brought back? Where was it, how did it get there, and why wasn’t it were it belonged? Or for that matter, where did it belong anyway? Or perhaps an even more basic question might be: What exactly was the Ark of God and why was it so important to the people of Israel?

To answer those questions, we have to go way back when God first rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. When God first brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He made a covenant with them that He would be their God and they would be his people. As part of that covenant, God gave them some very specific instructions on how they (a sinful people) could have a relationship with Him (a Holy God). 

A significant part of those instructions involved building the tabernacle and all of it’s furnishings. There were altars and candlestick holders, tables with special bread, wash basins and all kinds of things. We can read all about those things in the book of Exodus. 

And everything about the tabernacle was very symbolic – as I mentioned at our Good Friday service – it all pointed towards Christ and how he would die on the cross for our sins and make a way for us to be right with God. But of course, that hadn’t happened yet at this time – and so all the stuff that went on at the Tabernacle was symbolic of what Christ would do for us.

But of all the different furnishing in the tabernacle, the central piece was the Ark of the Covenant (or the Ark of God as it’s referred to in Samuel.)

Let me just read for you God’s instructions to the Israelites regarding the construction and the purpose of Ark. This is in Exodus 25:8…

8 “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. 9 You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.

10 “Have the people make an Ark of acacia wood—a sacred chest 45 inches long, 27 inches wide, and 27 inches high. 11 Overlay it inside and outside with pure gold, and run a molding of gold all around it. 12 Cast four gold rings and attach them to its four feet, two rings on each side. 13 Make poles from acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 Insert the poles into the rings at the sides of the Ark to carry it. 15 These carrying poles must stay inside the rings; never remove them. 16 When the Ark is finished, place inside it the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you.

17 “Then make the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide. 18 Then make two cherubim from hammered gold, and place them on the two ends of the atonement cover. 19 Mold the cherubim on each end of the atonement cover, making it all of one piece of gold. 20 The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it. 21 Place inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the Ark. 22 I will meet with you there and talk to you from above the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover over the Ark of the Covenant. From there I will give you my commands for the people of Israel.

Exodus 25:8-22

So physically speaking, the Ark of the Covenant was a gold-plated wooden chest with these solid golden cherubim on the lid – which I’m sure would have looked pretty impressive! But of course, symbolically, it was even more significant! This represented the physical location where the infinite Creator of the universe would dwell among his people. It was here that a Holy God would be present among a sinful people. That’s pretty awesome!

And so as you might imagine, the Israelites were expected to treat the Ark of the Covenant with extreme reverence and respect! After all, it was like the throne of God! The Ark was to be located in the Holy of Holies – an inner room within the tabernacle that no one but the high priest was allowed to enter – and only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Furthermore, when the Ark was being transported (since it was to go with them as they wandered in the wilderness and eventually travelled through and conquered the Promised Land) – the Ark was only to be carried by the Kohathites (who were a family within the tribe of Levi) – and actually, not even they were allowed to touch it. In Numbers 4, we read:

5 When the camp moves, Aaron and his sons must enter the Tabernacle first to take down the inner curtain and cover the Ark of the Covenant with it. 6 Then they must cover the inner curtain with fine goatskin leather and spread over that a single piece of blue cloth. Finally, they must put the carrying poles of the Ark in place.

15 The camp will be ready to move when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the sacred articles. The Kohathites will come and carry these things to the next destination. But they must not touch the sacred objects, or they will die.

19 “This is what you must do so they will live and not die when they approach the most sacred objects. Aaron and his sons must always go in with them and assign a specific duty or load to each person. 20 The Kohathites must never enter the sanctuary to look at the sacred objects for even a moment, or they will die.”

Numbers 4:5-6, 15a, 19-20

So you can see that the Ark of the Covenant was to be treated with extreme respect and reverence – even those who carried it from place to place were not allowed to even look at it uncovered – let alone touch it – or they would die!

And of course, the purpose of all this was to emphasize the absolute holiness of God! And maybe this is another concept that we need to define a little bit.

To be holy means to be set apart – or to be separate from – the root word of holy actually means to cut or to separate.

And so when we say that God is holy, we are saying that He is set apart or separate from… Separate from what? From two things really.

1. 1. First of all, He is separate from his Creation. God is not like anything or anyone He has created. That includes angels and people. Even though we are created in His image, God is totally unique and separate from His creation. He is holy.
   2. He is separate from anything sinful or evil. Part of what it means for God to be holy is that He is morally perfect – there is no hint of evil in Him, nor can there be. As James reminds us:

“God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.” James 1:13b

Habukkak 1:13 says…

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

Habukkak 1:13

God’s holiness means that He is consistently and deeply opposed to sin. His goodness is in direct conflict with anything and everything evil.

And so, as sinful human beings, this puts us in an awkward spot to say the least! How can we, with our corrupt and sinful attitudes and actions – ever be in the presence of such a holy God?

Well, that’s exactly the point that God was making through the symbolism and the stipulations surrounding the Ark. Sinful people simply could not be in the presence of God.

At least, not without God making some sort of provision for that. But we’ll talk more about that a little bit later. For now, we’d better get back to our story. We actually haven’t even started reading our account from Samuel – so let’s go there now.

Reading from 2 Samuel chapter 6 – starting at verse 1.

Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. 2 He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. 3 They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house, which was on a hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were guiding the cart 4 that carried the Ark of God. Ahio walked in front of the Ark. 5 David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

2 Samuel 6:1-5

At first glance, this seems to be a great moment in the history of Israel. David is bringing back the Ark of God – and everyone is celebrating and praising God!

But you may have noticed that something is not quite right. As we read through those passages in Exodus and in Numbers, you probably noticed that God designed the Ark to be carried by the Kohathites on long carrying poles. The Ark was designed with those gold rings on its feet that had long carrying poles through them – and God’s instructions seemed pretty clear that only the Kohathites from the tribe of Levi were to carry the Ark or any of the sacred objects of the tabernacle for that matter!

But here we have the son’s of Abinadab who were from the tribe of Judah – not Kohathites from the tribe of Levi – and they are transporting the Ark of God on a cart – rather than carrying it by the poles as God had specifically instructed them!

I’m sure their intentions were good and honourable – but they had neglected to follow God’s instructions. They had ignored God’s provision for how they were to carry the Ark and had devised their own way to do it.

This was not unlike what had happened several years earlier – an incident that had caused the Ark of God to be left in Abinadab’s care in the first place.

I don’t want to take too long to review all that, but as a quick summary:

Back when Samuel was just a kid, the Isrealites had taken the Ark of God into battle against the Philistines – treating it like a good luck charm to help them win the battle – rather than treating it with the awe and respect it deserved as the symbol of the presence of God among them! As a result of their arrogance, they were defeated by the Philistines and the Ark was captured!

Of course, God used this as an opportunity to illustrate his holiness to the Philistines – and he caused plagues to strike the Philistines in every Philistine town where they took the Ark! Before too long, the Philistines determined that they didn’t want to keep the Ark around any longer and so they decided to send it back to the Israelites! Now of course, they had no idea how God had instructed the Ark to be moved – nor did they have any Kohathies among them to carry it even if they did! And so their solution was to put the ark on a new cart – hitch it to some cows and send it on its way.

So they did that and those cows carried the Ark straight back to Israelite territory and it came to a stop at a place called Beth-Shemesh. But again, the people of Israel seemed to have forgotten God’s instructions and several of them looked inside the Ark – which was totally against God’s commands – and so God put those Israelite men to death!

In the aftermath of this, we read in 1 Samuel 6 – verse 19

And the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done. 20 “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?”

21 So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it!”

So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord. They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it. 

1 Samuel 6:19b-7:1

And I think that question in verse 20 is such a relevant question even for us: Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? And the answer is no one. No sinful man or woman can stand in the presence of a Holy God. It is only by the grace and the specific provision of God that we may – and we’ll touch on that again a little bit later.

But with this incident in mind, you would think that David and the Israelites would have been very careful to follow the instructions of the Lord as they moved the Ark towards Jerusalem – but apparently, the only thing they remembered was how the Philistines had transported the Ark – and it was the Philistines example that they followed by putting the Ark on a new cart – rather than following the clear and specific instructions of the Lord.

And so, as the Ark traveled along in the new cart, and David and all the people sang and celebrated, we read in 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 6:

6 But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. 7 Then the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God.

2 Samuel 6:6-7

As God had done with the men at Beth-Shemesh who had forgotten the holiness of the Lord and looked into the Ark, so God had done with Uzzah. God had promised back in book of Numbers – that if anyone touched the Ark of God – the penalty would be death.

Now I’m sure that Uzzah had nothing but good intentions. The oxen had stumbled and perhaps the Ark of the Covenant was starting to slide off the cart – it was likely just his initial reaction to reach out and steady the Ark. There was no malicious or evil intent, I’m sure!

But regardless of his intent, Uzzah sinned against the Lord none-the-less! The issue wasn’t just that he touched the Ark as the oxen stumbled, he never should have been near the Ark in the first place! There should have been no oxen involved in the process! The Ark should have been carried on poles by the Kohathities in the manner prescribed by God.

You see, Uzzah’s death wasn’t just about the one action of one man touching the Ark, this was about the Israelites ignoring the provision of God in order to do things their own way – the way they thought was best. Uzzah just happened to be the unfortunate fellow that received the brunt end of God’s stern reminder to them all that God’s way was the only way.

And we’re going to pause our story here for today and we’ll finish it up in the weeks to come, but I think this is a good place to reflect on our own lives. Because don’t we do the same thing all the time?

Don’t we tend to ignore God’s specific instructions for how he wants us to live – and rather choose to do things our own way? Don’t we tend to copy the behaviours of the people around us – following popular culture, rather than following the specific instructions of God? We’re not much different from the Israelites – copying the methods of the Philistines in how they moved the Ark.

And even more specifically, this story is such a great reminder for us that as sinful people, we cannot come up with our own way to be right with God. We cannot enter into the presence of a Holy God by simply trying to be a good person or attending church or reading our Bible daily. None of those things are the way God has prescribed for us to come to him. Because none of those ways deal with the problem of our sin!

Remember, our God is a holy God! He is consistently and deeply opposed to sin. His goodness is in direct conflict with sin. And that’s a good thing!

Sin is utterly and completely destructive to our lives. Even without the Scriptures to tell us that sin is destructive, I know all of us have experienced the pain and suffering that comes from sin – either as the result of our own sin or that of someone else’s.

And so it’s a good thing that God that holy and that He opposes sin. But as sinful people – born with a sinful nature and prone to sinful thoughts and behaviours – that’s a big problem! 

We asked the questions earlier: Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? Not me. Not you. Not anyone! At least, not without some sort of provision by God.

Thankfully, God has made a provision for us for how we can come to him. And that way is through Jesus Christ. And he is the only way.

Jesus Himself said:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Just as the Israelites had one way to carry the Ark of God – we too have one way to our Heavenly Father – and that is through God’s provision of Jesus. Specifically, we have to trust and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died on a cross for our sins and was raised to life again.

Failure to accept God’s provision will result in death. Not simply a physical death – as Uzzah experienced – but a spiritual death. We will remain separated from God forever. We will have no relationship with Him and will not be able to stand in his presence or experience his goodness!

And so this morning, I just want to encourage you, that if you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the privilege of standing in the presence of a Holy God – would you consider doing that today? I’d love to talk to you more about that after the service.

And for those of us who have already done that, let us take this opportunity to thank and praise the Lord for the provision of His Son, Jesus Christ – without whom, we would have no hope of ever being with our Creator.

2 Samuel 5:4 says..

4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all. 5 He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

2 Samuel 5:4-5

Now you’ll noticed that when David ruled over just Judah – his capital city was the city of Hebron. This was certainly a significant city in Judah – actually I read in my devotions this week that this was where Abraham spent a lot of time. He built an altar there and when his wife Sarah died – she was buried in that area. This was also the city that Caleb (one of the 12 spies that gave a good report to Moses) – this was the city that was given to him as his inheritance from the Lord. Later it would become one of the cities of refuge and would belong to the descendants of the high priest. So Hebron had a long and important history for the Israelites.

However, when David began to rule over all Israel, he moved his capital city to Jerusalem. This was a city that up until this point had not really been a significant city for the Israelites. In fact, at this time, Jerusalem wasn’t even an Israelite city! It was a fortress within Israelite territory but it was controlled by the Jebusites – some of the original inhabitants of the land. 

However, today we’re going to see that conquering this fortress and making it his new capital city would be David’s first priority as the new king of Israel.

Our passage begins today in 2 Samuel chapter 5 – verse 6. it goes like this:

6 David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. 2 Samuel 5:6a

Now before we go any further into our passage today, I want us to take a quick look at the history of Jerusalem and gain a little more understanding as to why David has now decided to attack this city.

The first mention of Jerusalem is actually in the book of Joshua. You might remember that battle where Joshua prayed that the sun and the moon would stand still while he finished the battle – well that was a battle that Joshua fought against an alliance of several Kings led by the King of Jerusalem. Now that particular battle took place at Gibeon – and not at Jerusalem – so even though the king of Jerusalem and his armies were defeated, the city of Jerusalem was not taken over by Joshua at this time.

In fact, even though Joshua did conquer much of the Promised Land, they were never really able to dislodge the Jebusites from Jerusalem. It says in Judge 1:21…

The tribe of Benjamin, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live in Jerusalem among the people of Benjamin.

Judges 1:21

And this was still true even by the time David came on the scene. The Jebusites and the Israelites must have come to some sort of peaceful arrangement where they could both co-exist – an arrangement that had apparently lasted for decades if not centuries!

In fact, back in 1 Samuel 17 when David killed Goliath – we see that he took Goliath’s head to Jerusalem for some reason! We’re not told exactly why – but apparently the Israelites and Jebusites had a good enough relationship where they could each come and go freely within each other’s cities.

So my question is: why now does David determine that his first act as King of Israel is to attack and try to conquer this city?

Well, there are probably a few good reasons.

First of all, God had given this city to the Israelites as part of their inheritance in the Promised Land!Specifically, the city of Jerusalem had been given to the tribe of Benjamin.

In Joshua 18 we read how Joshua divided up the Promised Land by casting sacred lots in the presence of God and he allotted each tribe certain towns and areas. In verses 21-28 we read: 

These were the towns given to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve towns with their surrounding villages. 25 Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite town (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen towns with their surrounding villages.

This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

Joshua 18:21-28

Interestingly, Saul happened to be from the tribe of Benjamin – and yet we don’t see any evidence that he ever did anything to try to conquer Jerusalem for his nation or for his tribe. Perhaps after decades of living peacefully with the Jebusites, the Israelites had just grown accustomed to having them there! Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal that the Jebusites were living in what should have been their city?!?

Well, I think maybe David would disagree on that point. As would God. God had actually commanded the Isrealites to completely destroy the Jebusites way back in the time of Moses! In Deuteronomy 20 we read:

16 In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. 17 You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

Not only was God executing judgement on these nations for their sinful ways, He was also commanding their removal so that Israel wouldn’t follow in their sinful footsteps! He knew that if they were allowed to remain among them, the sinful influence of these nations would lead the Israelites to sin deeply against the Lord! And of course, that’s exactly what happened later on – years after the time of David – Israel followed the practices of idolatry that they saw in the nations around them and eventually Israel became as pagan and sinful as the people God told them to destroy in the first place!

As Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 15,

“…bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33b

And this is certainly true for us today! Not to say that we need to go on some kind of ‘holy crusade’ to remove all the sinners from our lives, but we do need to be careful what influences we allow to shape our lives and the lives of our kids!

I’m sure we don’t realize the half of it, but so much of our values and our priorities and the core beliefs we have about the world, God, and ourselves – so much of that comes from the people we spend time with.

And that’s not just limited to our real life interactions either! Certainly we are influenced by our friends and family, by our teachers and our co-workers – but today, more than ever, we are also influenced by  the people we hang out with through youtube or instagram, through tv & books, music and movies. 

Think of the YouTube channels you follow, or the podcasts you listen to, or even the radio host personalities you have playing in the background. How much time do you give to those people to influence you? Or think of the books you read or the tv series you watch. You are giving all those people (from the characters on paw patrol to your favourite youtube personality) you’re giving all of them hours and hours of time to influence you and your kids – and you can’t help but pick up on their values, their priorities and their beliefs.

Now that can be a good thing or a bad thing – depending on who you’re spending time with. They will either lead you to adopt godly values, kingdom priorities, and true beliefs – or they will lead you to adopt worldly values, worldly priorities, and worldly beliefs. 

My point is that when we spend significant time with the people in our lives (real or virtual) – those people (and even those fictitious characters) will surely impact our values, priorities and beliefs. And so we need to be very careful to choose wisely who we will allow to influence us and our children in that way. We truly do become the people we hang out with! 

So let’s make sure that we don’t allow bad company to corrupt good character! Let’s surround ourselves and fill our lives with people who will influence us (and our kids) to become more like Jesus Christ.

That was certainly God’s strategy with the Israelites and I think it was at least part of the reason why David chose to attack Jerusalem at this time – to remove the sinful influence of the Jebusites from among the nation of Israel.

But of course, removing the Jebusites would be no easy task. There was a reason that the Jebusites were still entrenched in their city. It was a well-defended fortress! We read in 2 Samuel 5 verse 6.

6 David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe.

2 Samuel 5:6

This was probably another good reason why David wanted to take Jerusalem as his capital city – it was a very secure and easily defended fortress.  There are deep valleys on three sides of Jerusalem – naturally making it very difficult to attack – and easy to defend. It also had a good water supply – so they could withstand a very long siege without running out of water!

And so these Jebusites – much like the inhabitants of Jericho – felt there was no way that anyone could get into their city! They wouldn’t even have to to try to defend it – even the lame and blind would be a sufficient force to keep David out! Or so they thought. We read on in verse 7…

7 But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.

8 On the day of the attack, David said to his troops, “I hate those ‘lame’ and ‘blind’ Jebusites. Whoever attacks them should strike by going into the city through the water tunnel.” That is the origin of the saying, “The blind and the lame may not enter the house.”

2 Samuel 5:7-8

Now this is another passage that has several Hebrew words and sayings that have proven difficult to understand and translate. David’s statement about hating the lame and the blind, the attack through the water tunnel, and the eventual popular saying about the blind and lame not being allowed to enter the house – those are all phrases that could be interpreted in a few different ways. And so this morning, I won’t get into all the different proposed translations or explanations of these verses.For now we’ll just take them at face value for how they’re translated here – and I’ll leave it to you to look into it further if you want or you can come talk to me after the service. But either way, it doesn’t really change the meaning or the purpose of the passage.  And that purpose is made clear in the next two verses:

9 So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working inward. 10 And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.

2 Samuel 5:9-10

And that, I think, is the main point right there. The Jebusites thought they were untouchable – but they failed to recognize that the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with David. And because of that – David was unstoppable. David conquered the city, expanded it, made it even stronger than it was before, and made it his home. And he didn’t do that simply because he was a skilled warrior or brilliant strategist – he was able to do those things because the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.

And that’s such an encouragement for us today – because very same Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is with us too! We may not have a literal fortress to conquer like David did, but we face our fair share of fortresses in life none-the-less.

Maybe our fortress is a fortress of baggage that we carry with us from past experiences? Perhaps it’s a fortress of failures or addictions? Maybe the fortress that we face is related to our health or the health of a loved one? Maybe it’s a broken relationship? Maybe it’s a lack of purpose or meaning in our life? Maybe it’s an unfulfilled dream.

There can be all kinds of things that just seem to have a stronghold in our life – things that we can’t get past or simply don’t know how to deal with.

And sometimes all we can hear is the voice of the lame and the blind Jebusites – mocking us and taunting us. Saying we’ll never beat this thing. We’ll never conquer this fortress.

And you know – maybe they’re right! In our own strength or with our wisdom – maybe we can’t get past this fortress! But God can! He is the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies – and nothing is to difficult for him!

Jeremiah 32:17 says…

17 “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” Jeremiah 32:17

There is no fortress too strong, no problem too difficult, no task too impossible, no situation too hopeless – that God can’t overcome!

And that actually leads us into our last couple of verses for the day. They might sound a little inconsequential at first – but I love the great truths that we see here. It says in verse 11 & 12…

11 Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters and masons. And they built David a house. 12 So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted His kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

2 Samuel 5:11-12

Like I said, it sounds a little inconsequential at first. In verse 11, the King of Tyre sends a bunch of supplies and workers to David to build him a house in Jerusalem. Ok, that’s nice. So what?

Well, because of this, David has a realization. He recognizes something that maybe he hadn’t seen before. And this is it: David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that God had exalted His kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

There are two very key truths in there.

#1. David recognized that the Lord had establishing him as King over Israel. David’s kingship wasn’t the result of David’s hard work or his charismatic personality. It wasn’t because the people of Israel held a vote and decided that David was the best man for the job. No, David was established as King over Israel because God had made it so. This was God’s doing. God had established him as King.

The second great truth is the reason why God chose to do that – for the sake of His people Israel. God had a plan and purpose for David. He was to be king – not for his own glory or benefit – but for the benefit of God’s people Israel. God had done all these things for David – not for just David’s sake – but for the entire nation of people that God had chosen and loved dearly!

And those truths have such application in our lives. First of all, I think about our church.

It so important that we recognize that God is the one who has established our church. It’s very cool to see how our church has grown and how we fill this building and how our programs and services seem to be doing good things! But It’s not our church – and it’s not our hard work or charismatic personalities that have caused it to grow have a positive impact in our community. That’s God’s doing! God has established his church – and he will continue to do so. Why?

Not for our sake! Not for our egos or our personal enjoyment or satisfaction! God has establish this church for the sake of his people – the ones who know and love him – and the one’s who don’t yet – but one day will! God has established this church for the sake of those people – His people!

It’s so important that we recognize that and acknowledge that! Otherwise, we risk making it all about ourselves – and how our church can benefit us! How it can benefit me! But that’s never been God’s intention for his church. We are to be a blessing to others. We exist for the benefit of others. We need to make sure we don’t lose sight of that!

And that takes us to an even more personal application.

Just as God had establish David as king of Israel – so too, has God established you and I in our situation – whatever that situation is. He’s placed us in this geographical location, he’s given us homes and jobs and families – he’s put us in positions of influence – he’s arranged our circumstances (some enjoyable and some not) – but’s it’s God who has established us in those places and all those circumstances! We’re not where we are because of our hard work or charismatic personalities or even by accident – we’re where we are because God has placed us here.

And he’s done so for a reason. God has a plan and purpose for your life – right now – where you are today. And it’s not all about you. Now certainly, God loves you like crazy and and wants you to experience real abundant life – but that real abundant life is not about your comfort or enjoyment! God has designed life in such a way so that our greatest purpose and pleasure in life – is loving and serving others. That’s what brings glory to Him! God has established us (wherever we are and in whatever situation we find ourselves) for the sake of his people – for the people around us whom God dearly loves!

So what does that mean in real practical terms?

Well, for one example, for me, God has established me as a dad – why? so I can love and serve my kids (aka – the people that God dearly loves). And when I do that, I am fulfilling my God-given purpose which brings great glory to God.

And of course, that’s just one example – maybe God has established you in a difficult work situation. Why? So that you can love and serve others – which brings great glory to God.

Or maybe God has established you in the midst of some relationship conflict. Why? So that you can love and serve others – which brings great glory to God.

Wherever God has established you – He’s done so for a reason – so that you can love and serve others – which brings great glory to God.

This morning, I can’t help but think about Andrew – and how God had established him in such a way that he would cross paths with Jim. And for the past several years, Andrew has been doing exactly what God established him to do – to love and to serve Jim – for the glory of God.

And so this morning, I would just encourage you – that where ever God has established you – in whatever situation God has placed you in – to fulfill your God-given purpose to love and serve the people that God brings into your life. In doing this, you will experience real joy and abundant life – God will be glorified!

But in all that time – David never seemed to resist or resent God’s timeline. He never rushed to put himself in the position of King. He never tried to manipulate the circumstances in order to hurry God’s promise along! He just trusted that God would fulfill his promise in his own good time.

And I think that’s one of the character traits of David that I admire most! Even when he had clear and abundant opportunity to move himself closer to the throne of Israel (a position that was promised to Him by God!) – he never chose to sin against God by taking matters into his own hands. 

David even declared this when he spared Saul’s life back in 1 Samuel chapter 24 when Saul was hunting for him to kill him! David said to Saul…

9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’

1 Samuel 24:9-10

And this was a guiding principle for David – he would not lift his hand against King Saul. God had put Saul in power and David would wait patiently for God to remove him. And this also applied to Saul’s son, Ishbosheth as well. Actually, just a little further in this very chapter where David spared Saul’s life, we see that Saul asked David to show this same kindness to the rest of his family. Saul says to David in verse 19…

19 Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. 20 And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule. 21 Now swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!”

22 So David promised this to Saul with an oath. 

1 Samuel 24:19-22a

So not only has David vowed never to harm the King – he has also vowed not to kill his descendants after him (as many kings would have done!) It was not uncommon back then for the new king to destroy the whole family and close friends of the old king – so they would never posse a threat to the kingdom. But David promised he would not do that. He would never lay a hand on Saul or his family – and he would just trust God with the outcome!

However, not everyone in David’s camp agreed with that policy! We’ve already mentioned in previous messages how there were several occasions when David’s men urged him kill Saul when he had the opportunity. 

And today we’re going to see, that even now with Saul dead, the people loyal to David – on more than one occasion – resorted to going behind David’s back to attack and destroy Saul’s family.

And actually, we already saw that happen last week – as David’s army commander Joab murdered Abner – who was Saul’s cousin and the commander of Israel’s armies. So we’re going to start today by looking at how David responses to that – and then we’ll look at yet another incident of David’s supporters harming the family of Saul – and how David responded to that. 

So just to give you a really quick summary of where we are, before we get into today’s passage: 

After the death of King Saul – the nation of Israel was split in it’s loyalties. The tribe of Judah followed David made him their king – while the other 11 tribes of Israel followed Saul’s son Ishbosheth and made him their king.

This lead to a civil war within Israel. David’s army was led by Joab and Ishbosheth’s army was led by Abner. Early on in this civil war, Abner killed Joab’s brother in battle – and so Joab has been seeking revenge ever since. 

As the war went on, David’s side was become stronger and Ishbosheth’s side was becoming weaker, and so Abner, seeing the writing on the wall, came to David and proposed a plan for peace – which it seems David accepted and their agreement effectively ended the war. 

But as it happened, Joab wasn’t there for this meeting, but he came into the city just as Abner was leaving. Joab was furious that David let Abner go in peace – and so Joab secretly called Abner back and met him at the city gates – as if he was going to speak to him privately – and Joab murdered Abner in revenge for his brother’s death.

Now this foolish decision by Joab really could have completely derailed this peace process! You can imagine if something like this happened in the middle east today! If the general of one army had gone to some peace talks and ended up murdered by the other general – that would totally put an end to any peace talks for a long, long time!

And so David has to figure out how to navigate this difficult situation he has on his hands. How does he preserve the peace that has just been established – and how does he deal with Joab? Well, let’s take a look. We’re in 2 Samuel chapter 3 – verse 28.

28 When David heard about it, he declared, “I vow by the Lord that I and my kingdom are forever innocent of this crime against Abner son of Ner. 29 Joab and his family are the guilty ones. May the family of Joab be cursed in every generation with a man who has open sores or leprosy or who walks on crutches or dies by the sword or begs for food!”

30 So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because Abner had killed their brother Asahel at the battle of Gibeon.

31 Then David said to Joab and all those who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on burlap. Mourn for Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the procession to the grave. 32 They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king and all the people wept at his graveside. 33 Then the king sang this funeral song for Abner:

“Should Abner have died as fools die?

34 Your hands were not bound;
your feet were not chained.
No, you were murdered—
the victim of a wicked plot.”

All the people wept again for Abner. 35 David had refused to eat anything on the day of the funeral, and now everyone begged him to eat. But David had made a vow, saying, “May God strike me and even kill me if I eat anything before sundown.”

36 This pleased the people very much. In fact, everything the king did pleased them! 37 So everyone in Judah and all Israel understood that David was not responsible for Abner’s murder.

38 Then King David said to his officials, “Don’t you realize that a great commander has fallen today in Israel? 39 And even though I am the anointed king, these two sons of Zeruiah—Joab and Abishai—are too strong for me to control. So may the Lord repay these evil men for their evil deeds.”

2 Samuel 3:28-39

Now I don’t want to spend the whole sermon on these verses, but there’s just a couple things to point out before we move on to chapter 4. First of all, we can see that David makes sure that everyone knows that he was not the one who had plotted Abner’s death! This was not an act of war – this was murder – a murder that David had no part of!

And to further make this point, David arranges a state funeral for Abner – even though Abner was the general on the other side of this civil war, David honours him by mourning him, by burying him in David’s capital city – Hebron, by personally singing a song at his funeral, and by fasting in honour of him on the day of the funeral. David does all these things to show all of Israel that he had no part of this murder. He was not the type of King that was going to further his own kingdom by treachery and deception.

And of course, this was very pleasing to all the people! This was the kind of king they wanted! They wanted a king that was honourable and who had integrity! And David was that king. He had shown that – not only in this incident – but really, throughout his life! In all his dealings with Saul and in everything he did – David had established a pattern and reputation for being a man of integrity!

And isn’t that how you and I want to be known? Isn’t that the kind of reputation we want to have? Isn’t that the kind of person that we want to be? I’m sure we do. And I’m pretty sure that’s what God wants too. Proverbs 11:20 puts it pretty clearly…

The Lord detests people with crooked hearts,
but he delights in those with integrity.

Proverbs 11:20

Integrity is defined as “the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished” – in other words, there are no gaps, no holes, no two pieces that have become disconnected.

But sometimes that’s exactly what happens in our lives – our actions become disconnected from our words and beliefs. They are gaps or holes in our character! What we say we believe doesn’t always seem to line up with what we actually do.

So to be a person of integrity means that we constantly work to make sure we repair those gaps. It means we work hard to do what we say. That our actions line up with our words and our beliefs. And I know that we may not always do that perfectly – even David didn’t – but that’s what we need to strive for.

To be a man or woman of integrity – a person that God delights in! A person like David – not like Joab!

And that brings us to the second little point I want to bring out. verse 38 says…

38 Then King David said to his officials, “Don’t you realize that a great commander has fallen today in Israel? 39 And even though I am the anointed king, these two sons of Zeruiah—Joab and Abishai—are too strong for me to control. So may the Lord repay these evil men for their evil deeds.”

2 Samuel 3:38-39

It’s interesting that David refers to his own trusted army commander as an ‘evil man’ who had done an evil deed – he acknowledges in the verses prior to this that Abner was murdered – not just killed in war – he was murdered. 

David very clearly considers Joab to be guilt of murder – but yet, even though David was the king and probably the one person who could’ve executed judgement – David apparently did nothing to punish Joab or bring justice to this situation. He claims in verse 39 that Joab and his brother were too strong for David to control. He would just have to leave justice in the hands of God.

And I kinda wrestle with this statement by David. Was David really unable to execute judgment on Joab – or was this just an excuse to spare his highly skilled and highly valuable army commander? It seems that while David is quick to execute judgement on many people – including some folks that we’re just about to meet in the next chapter – when it comes to people close to him (like his army commander – and later on his own son), David seems very reluctant to act justly – and his inaction will end up costing him greatly. But we’ll talk more about that on another day.

For now, let’s keep going into chapter 4 – which reads like this:

When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, heard about Abner’s death at Hebron, he lost all courage, and all Israel became paralyzed with fear. 2 Samuel 4:1

Now you’ll remember that Ishbosheth has always really just been a puppet king for Abner. Abner had been the one calling the shots – and so now with Abner dead – both Ishbosheth and all of Israel became paralyzed with fear! Already they had been losing ground against David – and with Abner gone now – they really began to lose all hope! But let’s keep reading:

2 Now there were two brothers, Baanah and Recab, who were captains of Ishbosheth’s raiding parties. They were sons of Rimmon, a member of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in Beeroth. The town of Beeroth is now part of Benjamin’s territory 3 because the original people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim, where they still live as foreigners.

2 Samuel 4:2-3

Now there are a lot of names and places in these two verses – but the key thing to remember in all this is that these two brothers Baanah and Recab are captains in Ishbosheth’s army – and they are from Ishbosheth’s own tribe – the tribe of Benjamin. They are trusted kinsmen.

But it’s at this point, that the story has a little footnote of explanation that doesn’t really seem have any relevance to our story! Verse 4 reads:

4 (Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, she dropped him, and he became crippled.)

2 Samuel 4:4

Now this information will certainly come into play a little later on in our study – chapter 9 I believe it is. But why now are we are introduced to this son of Jonathan who was crippled on the day that Saul & Jonathan were killed in battle? And this is all we read about Mephibosheth for now… Just this one little verse in the middle of chapter 4. There’s no further mention of him in this chapter – so why is this little footnote here?

It’s probably to show that there was only one other living relative of Saul at this time – and he couldn’t possibly take over as king because of both his age and his crippledness. I think the author is trying to emphasize that Ishbosheth really is the only remaining qualified person from Saul’s family who could rule.

So with that in mind, the story continues with Baanah and Recab. Verse 5.

5 One day Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ishbosheth’s house around noon as he was taking his midday rest. 6 The doorkeeper, who had been sifting wheat, became drowsy and fell asleep. So Recab and Baanah slipped past her. 

2 Samuel 4:5-6

Now I’ll pause here for a minute because if you’re following along in a different translation, you may have read something fairly different. The NET for example, puts it this way:

5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite—Recab and Baanah—went at the hottest part of the day to the home of Ish Bosheth, as he was enjoying his midday rest. 6 They entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat…

2 Samuel 4:4-6a… NET

The idea here is that sometimes soldiers would be paid not only in silver or gold, but they would also be paid in wheat. And so here, that was their excuse for going into the house – to get paid their wages in wheat.

So it’s interesting that these two passages get translated fairly differently – one where the doorkeep falls asleep after sifting wheat – and the other where the men enter the house pretending that they are going to collect their wages in wheat. The original language isn’t too clear on what exactly happened, but regardless of the translation differences, the idea is clear that these men enter the house deceptively. They are somehow sneaking in with ill-intent – as we will see in the next verses:

7 They went into the house and found Ishbosheth sleeping on his bed. They struck and killed him and cut off his head. Then, taking his head with them, they fled across the Jordan Valley through the night. 8 When they arrived at Hebron, they presented Ishbosheth’s head to David. “Look!” they exclaimed to the king. “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!”

2 Samuel 4:7-8

It seems these two brothers – Recab and Baanah – had the same idea that Abner had – if Ishbosheth’s kingdom was going down, they wanted to be on David’s good side when that happened. And so they murdered their own king – brought his head to David – and offered it to him as if they were handing him the kingdom!

This sounds very much like the time that Amalekite brought King Saul’s crown and armbands to David after claiming that he had killed the mortally wounded Saul after his battle with the Philistines. That Amalekite thought he would surely be rewarded for clearing David’s path to the throne – just Recab and Baanah no doubt did as well.

We can see that they obviously thought they were doing David a favour – they say: ”Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!” 

It’s clear that they didn’t really understand that David never considered Saul to be his enemy – nor did he ever want to take revenge against Saul’s family! David had vowed that he would never do that!

And so, David responded as we might expect from a man of integrity. verse 9

9 But David said to Recab and Baanah, “The Lord, who saves me from all my enemies, is my witness. 10 Someone once told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That’s the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?”

12 So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron. Then they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

2 Samuel 4:9-12

Upon the bold confession of these two men, David promptly carried out justice against them for their murderous act – putting them to death immediately.  This was the same ‘reward’ he gave to the Amalekite man who had killed Saul – and it probably should have been the reward given to Joab for murdering Abner. But as I mentioned earlier, David’s failure to act in that regard will end up costing him dearly later on.

But for now, David’s execution of these men again show him to be a man of integrity – that he was not someone who would reward deception and treachery. He would not reward others for doing what He vowed he himself would never do.

And as a result of all this, all of Israel acknowledge that God had chosen David to be their king. We read in chapter 5 now:

Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s leader.’”

3 So there at Hebron, King David made a covenant before the Lord with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel.

4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all. 5 He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

2 Samuel 5:1-5

And we’ll pause here for today – with God’s promise to David finally being fulfilled all these years later! David is finally king over all of Israel. I’m sure to David – it seemed like it took forever! But David patiently waited and trusted God – and in His own good and perfect time, God’s promise came to pass.

And what a good reminder for us today! God’s promises will always come to pass. Sometimes it may seem like it takes forever… And there may be setback after setback – and we may be tempted to take matters into our own hands – but can I encourage you: Trust God. He is a God of complete integrity! He will always do what He says. We never have to doubt that.

So at this point, there is a civil war within Israel: The house of Saul – led by Saul’s son Ishbosheth is at war the house of David to determine who will be the rightful king of Israel. But the story doesn’t really revolve around David or Ishbosheth as much as it revolves around their army commanders.

As I’ve already mentioned, Abner was the commander of Ishbosheth’s army and Joab was the commander of David’s army.

To make this all a bit more complicated, we read in 2 Samuel chapter 2 that Abner had killed Joab’s brother in battle! Of course, this was very much in self-defence – Abner even told Joab’s brother to go fight someone else, but he refused and so – in the end, Abner was forced to defend himself and Joab’s brother was killed! 

So Joab now holds a grudge and is seeking revenge against Abner for killing his brother. And as you might imagine, this grudge-match between these two army commanders had grown into a full blown civil war! The first verse of chapter 3 sums this up by saying:

That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David.

2 Samuel 3:1a

That’s certainly not the kind of succession plan any kingdom wants to have! The transition from King Saul to King David was not going smoothly – and sadly, as we pointed out in our last message, Abner really was the driving force behind all this conflict. Had he accepted God’s choice of David to be King – this entire civil war could probably have been avoided! But as it was, Abner’s selfish ambition plunged the nation into a needless war that resulted in great bloodshed, and as we will see next week, ultimately his own demise.

So we’ll pick up today where we left off last time. Chapter 3, verse 1.

That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David. As time passed David became stronger and stronger, while Saul’s dynasty became weaker and weaker. 2 Samuel 3:1

Even though Ishbosheth and Abner had the support of 11 tribes of Israel, and David only had the 1 tribe of Judah behind him – over time it became clear who was the stronger leader. Whether it was David’s leadership or his military skill or perhaps it was just the people’s opinion and support of their respective leaders – whatever it was (perhaps a combination of all those factors) David became stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul become weaker and weaker.

But interestingly, even while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker compared to David, Abner’s position within Saul’s house, grew stronger and stronger. If you jump down to verse 6, we read:

As the war between the house of Saul and the house of David went on, Abner became a powerful leader among those loyal to Saul.

2 Samuel 3:6

Now to be clear, this wasn’t just Abner gaining popularity among those he lead – but rather, this was Abner intentionally positioning himself to become more and more powerful. I think the New Living Translation kinda fails to capture that idea – but the NIV makes it more clear:

6 During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. 

2 Samuel 3:6 NIV

Abner was intentionally doing things to put himself in a position of more and more power & influence.

 As we noted even back when Abner was helping Saul chase down David through the wilderness for all those years – Abner’s primary interest was his own welfare – not the welfare of the kingdom or the welfare of Saul – but his own welfare. And that will become even more clear in the verses ahead.

But before we get there, let me jump back to verses 2 through 5 – which we skipped over for a moment. These verses don’t really contribute much specifically to our story today, but they certainly contribute to the story of David in general – and so I just want to touch on them briefly. Verse 2

2 These are the sons who were born to David in Hebron:

The oldest was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel.

3 The second was Daniel, whose mother was Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel.
The third was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur.

4 The fourth was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith.
The fifth was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital.

5 The sixth was Ithream, whose mother was Eglah, David’s wife.

These sons were all born to David in Hebron.

2 Samuel 3:2-5

Now as I just glance at these verses, it seems to me that the writer of 2 Samuel is deliberately pointing out how David’s sons all came from different women. And this isn’t even all of them. We will read about his first wife, Michal, later in this chapter – and Bathsheba will come on the scene much later on.

And of course, this was never God’s design! The Bible is clear that God designed for marriage and  family to work best with one man and one woman for life. Anything outside of that leads to strife and suffering. This becomes very evident in David’s family – and we’ll read some specific stories about this later on.  We’ll read how Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar. And how Absalom later kills Amnon in revenge for what he did to Tamar – and all that eventually leads to Absalom leading a revolt against his father, King David, and getting himself killed. We’ll also read about Adonijah’s attempt to steal the kingdom from his brother Solomon after David passes on.

It’s just an enormous mess caused by David’s failure to live according to God’s design. And if there’s one lesson for us in all this mess, it’s this: When we choose to live in any way outside of God’s plan and design for our lives – we will experience pain and sorrow. And that’s not even taking into account God’s discipline and how he tries to correct us – that’s just the natural consequences of rebelling against the design of God!

It’s like trying to defy gravity! You can choose to step off the roof of your house if you like – but if you do, you’re going to experience the natural and painful consequences!

Same principle applies here: If you choose to disobey God’s instructions regarding marriage (for example), you can expect some natural and painful consequences because of that choice. If you choose to disregard God’s instructions regarding being honest and truthful, well, you can also expect some consequences because of that choice.

Anytime we choose to act against God’s design and plan for our lives – we will reap the natural, painful consequences of that choice.

Galatians 6:7 tells us…

7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Galatians 6:7-9

Just like how when we understand and follow the laws of nature – like gravity or momentum – we can stay safe and even use those things to our advantage. In a similar way, when we understand and follow the laws of God – we will avoid a lot of pain and suffering in our lives – and we can live the kind of lives that God designed us to live – full of joy and peace and satisfaction!

God’s way and God’s design for our lives really is best! He knows that He’s talking about! He doesn’t give us a bunch of rules just to make our lives miserable – He’s actually just trying to tell us how life works best!

So I guess my encouragement to you is to listen to Him. Trust that God knows what He’s doing. If he says in His Word to do something or to not doing something – it really is to your advantage to obey!

Anyway – that’s a bit of a rabbit trail, but I hope you put some thought into that! We need to learn to trust that God’s way truly is best! 

But to get back to our passage, we continue reading in verse 6…

6 As the war between the house of Saul and the house of David went on, Abner became a powerful leader among those loyal to Saul.

Or as the NIV puts it “Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul.”

 7 One day Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, accused Abner of sleeping with one of his father’s concubines, a woman named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah.

8 Abner was furious. “Am I some Judean dog to be kicked around like this?” he shouted. “After all I have done for your father, Saul, and his family and friends by not handing you over to David, is this my reward—that you find fault with me about this woman? 9 May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t do everything I can to help David get what the Lord has promised him! 10 I’m going to take Saul’s kingdom and give it to David. I will establish the throne of David over Israel as well as Judah, all the way from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.” 11 Ishbosheth didn’t dare say another word because he was afraid of what Abner might do.

2 Samuel 3:6-11

Now there are a few things that we need to point out in this passage. First of all, this is a very serious accusation that Ishbosheth makes against Abner. This was not just about sexual promiscuity or anything like that. To sleep with a former king’s concubines was paramount to declaring yourself to be king. This is actually exactly what Absalom does later when he tries to steal the kingdom from his father, David. Absalom sets up a tent on the roof of the palace so all of Jerusalem can see what he’s doing and he goes in and he sleeps with David’s concubines so that everyone knows he intends to be king!

And so when Ishbosheth accuses Abner of sleeping with one of King’s Saul’s concubines, he’s really accusing him of treason – of declaring himself to be king!

But what’s interesting here, is that we’re never actually told if Abner did this or not. Ishbosheth accuses him of doing this – but we’re never told if the accusation is true. And there are arguments that could be made for both cases.

Based on the previous verse saying how Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul – it certainly wouldn’t be unexpected or out of character for Abner to make a bid for the throne. He knows that Ishbosheth is a weak leader – very much a puppet king controlled by Abner anyway – and so perhaps Abner did make this strategic move to take over the kingdom. And of course, as you read the passage, Abner never actually denies the accusation either! He just gets really mad!

But even that can be interpreted two ways. Obviously, Abner is furious and declares that he is going to do everything he can to hand the kingdom over to David! So that might be evidence that this is a false accusation… Perhaps Abner is so indignant and hurt that Ishbosheth would make this false accusation against him, after all that Abner had done for Saul and his family. That would certainly make sense.

But then again, maybe this angry reaction isn’t about Abner’s hurt feelings by a false accusation… Perhaps it’s more of a reaction to Ishbosheth’s questioning of Abner – in essence standing up to Abner. Perhaps that’s what made Abner so mad! Perhaps Abner was upset that his puppet king dare question the puppet master!

But then we have to ask the question: Well, then why would Abner vow to hand the kingdom over to David? Wouldn’t that be defeating his own purposes of one day becoming King if that was his intent?

Perhaps – but again, remember what we read in verse 1 – even though Abner was growing more powerful in the house of Saul – the house of Saul itself was growing weaker and weaker in it’s fight against David.

So at this point, Abner probably realizes that it’s only a matter of time until David gets control of the entire kingdom of Israel anyway. So where does that leave Abner?

Well, that depends. If Abner can be the guy to hand the kingdom over to David – perhaps David would look favourably upon him and even reward him in some way? Perhaps he’d become the new commander of David’s army?

And so really, this could be a winning strategy for Abner either way. Whether he can take over as king and then negotiate peace with David as equals – or whether he can be the guy to somehow just hand the kingdom over to David under Ishbosheth’s nose – either way, he has a good chance of coming out on top.

And so we read in verse 12.

12 Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.”

13 “Good,” said David. “I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

2 Samuel 3:12-14

And just to refresh your memory – back when Saul was still pretending to like David in his younger days, he offered his daughter Michal to David in marriage if David would kill 100 Philistines. Of course, Saul was hoping that David would be killed by the Philistines in the process,  but in the end, David killed 200 Philistines and Saul was obligated to give his daughter to David in marriage.

However, when Saul began to openly try to kill David, David had to flee from his home – leaving Michal behind. And so while David was on the run from Saul, Saul gave Michal in marriage to another man named Paltiel.

But now, David demands that his wife be returned to him. Quite often in those days, two warring nations that were coming together for peace would arrange some sort of marriage between the ruling families – where the king or king’s son of one nation would marry the daughter or of the king of the other nation. This would symbolize and hopefully guarantee future peaceful relations between those nations. 

And so this is perhaps what David is doing here. At least partly. I imagine that David still loved Michal dearly – we have no reason to believe otherwise. And since Michal was the daughter of Saul (and David was already married to her anyway) – this would be a clear, symbolic gesture for the whole nation to see that David was eager to pursue peace with Saul’s family. So this would be a win-win for David for sure!

And Ishbosheth seems to think this was a good idea as well.  Verse 15 says…

15 So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish. 16 Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So he went back. 2 Samuel 3:15-16

Again, this is just another little reminder of what we talked about earlier – it was never God’s design for multiple wives or multiple husbands. God knows that this would only lead to great hurt and families being torn apart. That’s why God tells us so clearly in Mark 10:7…

7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:7-9 NIV

God doesn’t define the boundaries of marriage as one man and one woman for life for no good reason! He gives us this command because He knows that if we try to live otherwise, we’re inviting all kinds of hurt and sorrow into our lives! Paltiel was certainly experiencing that – as I’m sure David and Michal had earlier when they were torn apart.

Now, to be clear, God is certainly eager to forgive us and to redeem the choices that we’ve made! God’s just amazing like that! He can take the biggest, most painful mess that we’ve made for ourselves – and he can redeem that to bring about so much good! I mean, that’s really the heart of the Gospel!

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

John 3:16-17 NIV

The whole reason Christ came to the earth and died on the cross and rose again was to save us from the consequences of our own sin! He came to redeem us and to give us a second chance at life!

So no matter how badly we’ve messed up or how much pain we’ve cause ourselves and others – God can forgive and redeem all that!

But of course, all that being said, it’s so much better for us if we can follow God’s design for our lives in the first place – and avoid all that pain and mess!

That’s one reason why it’s so important to teach our kids to know and to trust what God says in his Word when they are young! If they can learn to trust God early in life, they will save themselves from so much sorrow as they grow up!

But again, I digress. Let me get back to our story – but I do urge you to teach your kids to trust the Lord while they are young! 

So anyway, after David is reunited with his wife Michal, Abner continues to make good on his promise to hand the kingdom over to David. We read in verse 17…

17 Meanwhile, Abner had consulted with the elders of Israel. “For some time now,” he told them, “you have wanted to make David your king. 18 Now is the time! For the Lord has said, ‘I have chosen David to save my people Israel from the hands of the Philistines and from all their other enemies.’” 19 Abner also spoke with the men of Benjamin. Then he went to Hebron to tell David that all the people of Israel and Benjamin had agreed to support him. 2 Samuel 3:17-19

Now I find this rather interesting. First of all, Abner acknowledges that the elders of Israel have wanted to make David their king for some time now! He also acknowledges that the Lord had chosen David to be King over Israel! But yet, who was it that stood in the way of both of those things!? It was him, Abner! He was the one who established Ishbosheth as King – and he was the one who led Israel’s armies against the armies of David! He’s the reason Israel had been thrown into civil war. And now, he presents himself as the solution to the problem – as if he wasn’t he problem in the first place! Can you believe this guy? But that’s not all. Let’s read on – verse 20.

20 When Abner and twenty of his men came to Hebron, David entertained them with a great feast. 21 Then Abner said to David, “Let me go and call an assembly of all Israel to support my lord the king. They will make a covenant with you to make you their king, and you will rule over everything your heart desires.” So David sent Abner safely on his way.

2 Samuel 3:20-21

Now for the sake of time, I’m going to stop here for today. There’s a lot more to this story and so we’ll take at least one more Sunday to work through it, but I do want to point out one last thing.

I find it interesting that again, Abner presents himself as the solution to the problem! In his mind, he is the king-maker! He is the one who has the power to give David everything his heart desires! That was the same approach he had with Ishbosheth earlier – He was the one to give Ishbosheth the Kingdom – and he was the one who could take it away!

From what I’ve read in these chapters, I’d say that Abner really had an over-inflated sense of power and control – which is sadly ironic because, as we’re going to read next week, before this day was through, he wouldn’t even be alive any more. In reality, he had absolutely no power or control.

Which is really the case for all of us! As humans, we continually strive to have power and control over our own lives! We try to manipulate and control the people around us, we work hard to make sure things work out in our favour (be it in our relationships, or our job, or whatever it is) – and we invest so much time and energy into trying to control our own lives. In reality, we have no real power or control. 

The Bible is clear that power and control ultimately belong only to God.

As Job so eloquently put it (in the Old King James Version)

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb,
and naked shall I return thither:
the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job 1:21

I think Job understood – much more so than Abner – that all power and authority originates with God. God is the one who establishes kingdom and dynasties – and it’s God who brings them down.

The Lord giveth – and the Lord taketh away!

And that’s true in all realms of our life – whether it’s our job, or our families, or our relationships, or our health – and ultimate even our very lives – the Lord giveth – and the Lord can take away. 

And really, I think understanding that can be a great relief for us. I mean, who else would we want to have control over our lives –  a good, all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God who loves us so much that He was willing to die for us? Or ourselves – prone to foolish, selfish, and sinful choices?

I think we can have a great sense of peace knowing that it’s our God who has all the control, power, and authority over all these things. We need not fight against him for control of our lives – or even fight against anyone else for that matter! We can simply trust our God – and trust His goodness – to work all things together for good.

And of course, when I say that “God will continue to do amazing things through this church” – I’m not actually talking about this building. You see, as wonderful as it is, this building is not actually the church.

And I know that might seem a bit confusing… the english language doesn’t really convey the idea of church very well.

I mean, really, when you think about it, we use the word ‘church’ in all kinds of different ways. For example, we might say.,..

• • “Let’s go out for lunch after church.”
  • “We need to fix the church roof.”
  • “We want to reach the unchurched families in our community.”
  • “Kids, please change out of your church clothes before you go play.”

And you can see why this can be confusing! Judging by those four statements, the church is an event, its a building, its a social status, and its a type of clothing.

I don’t think any of those convey the true definition of what the church really is. If you look at how the Bible talks about the church – it sounds like something very different. Let me show you a few examples:

• • • “But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.” Acts 12:5
    • “Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem.” Acts 15:2
    • “After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too.” Colossians 4:16
    • “Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them.” Acts 14:27

In these verses, church doesn’t sound like an event, a building, a social status, or a type of clothing. Look at the action verbs there – Praying, deciding, reading, meeting together – those all sound like things that people do. Building don’t pray and events don’t read. People do these things. 

Now of course, if we were Greek speaking Christians back when these verses were originally written, this wouldn’t even be an issue for us. We would understand that the english word ‘church’ used in these verses, or the word ‘ekklesia’ in greek, meant a gathering of people – or an assembly. It had the idea of people being called together for a public meeting. In the Greek language, that’s what an ‘ekkesia’ was – it wasn’t even anything to do with religion, it was just people called together for a public assembly.

So it seems from the language of the Bible that the church is simply people. 

If you’re my age or older, you might know the little poem – Here is the church, here is the steeple. Open the doors and here are the people. 

It’s a nice little poem, but I’m afraid it’s just not very accurate! The people are the church. The church is not a building. No steeple is required. The church is people.

And of course, the church isn’t just any people. The church isn’t simply anyone who shows up Sunday morning. The church is made up of specific people. So who are these specific people? Are you one of them? Let’s find out.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 2. Now there are a few different verses we could look up, but I think this verse does a good job of stating just who these people are that make up the church. This is what Paul writes to the church in the city of Corinth.

“I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” 1 Corinthians 1:2

From this verse here we see quite clearly that the church is God’s people. It’s God’s ‘ekkesia’ – God’s assembly. It’s the people who have been called by God to be His own holy people – people set apart for God’s special purposes. It is the people who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. It’s the people who have submitted their lives under the authority of God.

So if that describes you – congratulations! You’re are part of God’s church. 

And being part of God’s church is a tremendous privilege, because another way the Bible describes the church is as God’s own family. Look at Ephesians 1:5. Paul writes:

“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5

If we have put our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, then we are adopted into God’s family. I’m always amazed that God would even want to adopt me into His family. I mean, who am I that God would want to adopt me as his son? I’m just one of billions of people on this planet – But yet, God decided years before I was even born to adopt me into his own family – giving me all the rights and privileges of his own son. That’s amazing! But even more amazing, this verse says that it gave Him great pleasure to do that. God was thrilled to adopt me into His family!

And God feels the same way about you! He loves you so much that His Son Jesus Christ died on a cross for you and for me – taking the punishment for our sin – so that we could be adopted as God’s son or daughter. All we have to to do is believe and accept that Jesus did that for us.

What a privilege it is to be adopted into God’s family. And of course, this family has a name! This family is called the church. 

Sometimes when I explain this to kids, I tell them that when God adopts us into His family, we can think of “Church” as their new last name. I’m Dave “Church” and there’s Randall “Church” and over there is Phyliss “Church” and together, we are the Church family. And that’s really what we are – God is our Father and we are brothers and sisters in God’s family.

But here’s the thing – if the church is a family – that changes things.

• If the church is just a building – you can come in and then you can go out. End of story. Life continues just like it always has once you exit the room.
• If the church is just an event – you can come, enjoy all the wonderful programming, be inspired for the rest of the day, go home – Life continues as normal.
• If the church is a social status – you might have to keep up appearances in public of course, you have to look like a church-goer – but once you’re in the privacy of your own home – you can live however you like. Life continues as normal.

But if the church is a family… Then from the moment you are adopted, that is, the moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ – life does not continue as normal.

Because being in a family, means having relationships. It means you have a relationship with your Father in Heaven and you have a relationship with your brothers and sisters – your fellow believers.

If we have been adopted into God’s own family, then church isn’t just a place to go to on Sunday mornings. Church isn’t an event to attend one or two or three times a week.  Church is a family that you are now part on Sunday and on Monday… and on Tuesday and the rest of the week. 

Imagine if you adopted a wonderful little boy or girl into your family, but they only showed up at your house for 90 minutes each week on Sunday mornings. Somebody obviously doesn’t understand what adoption means! But that’s what so many Christians do!

When you’re adopted, you become part of a family. And that family becomes part of your life. You live life with them. This family relationship continues 24/7, seven days a week for the rest of your life.

And I don’t know what kind of family you had growing up – I imagine some of you probably had great families – and I imagine that some of you probably had no-so-great families. At the very least, I know no one grew up in a perfect family. So when I tell you that you’re adopted into God’s family, and this is a 24/7 – seven days a week relationship – you might have some mixed feelings about that. You might not be sure if this is this a good thing or if this is this a bad thing.

Well, let me tell you that according to God’s design, being in a family is a very good thing. The whole concept of a family was His idea! I want to pause here for a minute. I want to take a moment to be a little bit interactive. I’m going to give you just two minutes to have a discussion with people that you’re sitting beside and I want to you talk about this:

What is the purpose of family? Why do we need families? What is the benefit of being part of a family? Why do you think God thought it was a good idea to have a mom and dad – brothers and sisters – grandmas, grandpas, cousins, uncles and aunts? What’s so good about family? 

Or if that’s too difficult – here’s another way to look at it – how have you benefited from being in your family? (And this could be your biological family or whoever took care of you as you were growing up.) What sort of things have they done for you? And I’m sure we can think of some negative things – but let’s focus on the positive for now: Think about when you were a baby. Think about when you were a kid. Think about when you grew up and became an adult yourself. What has your family done to benefit you? Why do we need families?

Take just a few moments and chat with the people sitting around you – why do we need families?

[Group Discussion Time]

Being in a family is critical. None of us would survive our infancy without some sort of family to care for us. As babies, we needed someone to feed us, someone to cloth us, someone to change our diapers. All of us needed a family to care for us, to love us, to teach us, to prepare us for life!

And even once we’ve grown and become adults ourselves – I think most of us still highly value the relationships we have with our families. Now I know that every family is broken to some extend – (Some certainly more than others) – I get that. But generally speaking, even as adults, our families still care for us, they still love us, they still teach us, and they still help prepare us for life.

And I believe that’s God purpose for the church as well. No matter what stage of life we are in – whether we are just a new believer or if we’ve been part of God’s family for decades – we need our heaven Father and our church family to care for us, to love us, to teach us, and to prepare us for life.

You know what an impact your family of origin has had on your life. They have completely shaped the person that you’ve become. They’ve shaped your values, your beliefs, how you see the world – they’ve even shaped your skills and talents, your personality, your sense of humor. So much of who you are was shaped by the family you grew up in. 

And I believe that your church family should have an equal impact – perhaps even greater.

It’s God’s design that the church should totally re-shape your life. Let me show you just a few verses that illustrate for us the impact that our church family should have on our lives. 

These are just a few instructions that God gives us for how we are to interact with each other as a family. And as we read through these – imagine what it would be like to be part of a family that actually did all this….

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” Hebrews 10:24

Imagine if someone actually took a few minutes each day to think of ways to motivate you to engage to acts of love and good works…Wouldn’t that be great!? Wouldn’t that change how you lived your day-to-day life?

“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”

Romans 12:10

Doesn’t that sound good? Imagine if an entire church family loved you with genuine affection and they were delighted to honor you. Would you want to be part of that family?

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 

Life isn’t easy. We all face the tough stuff of life on a regular basis. Imagine having an entire church family that cares for you enough to help carry your burdens. To encourage you, to support you, to help you get through the tough stuff of life.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” James 5:16

Confessing our sins to each other isn’t fun – but I tell you, it truly brings healing. And as wounded sinners, we need that. Sadly, I think most times we tend to just live with our wounds for years or even decades – never addressing the hurt and really just letting it fester! But imagine being in a family that that gently and lovingly helps bring that healing to those wounds. Wouldn’t that change your life?

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” Ephesians 4:2

We’re not perfect people – we know that. But imagine having a family that actually makes allowance for each others fault. Not immediate condemnation whenever we make a mistake – but humble, gentle, patience correction. A family that knows how to give grace.

Now, if you were part of a family that actually did all this – would that make an impact on your life? Absolutely! I think that would completely re-shape your life! You would be a totally different person because of that family. 

I mean, having a family like that would be like living with Jesus!

I think that’s God’s intent. God wants us to have a church family that’s like living with Jesus. 

God wants to transform you into a totally different person – He wants to change your life. He doesn’t want us to stay the same – stuck in our old selfish, sinful ways. He wants to make us more like His Son – Jesus Christ.

And I believe the church is one of the key tools God has provided to help make that happen. God wants us to experience living with Jesus and that’s why He has given us each other. Ephesians 5:1 says…

“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.” Ephesians 5:1-2

Now of course, we’re not going to do that perfectly. We going to make mistakes along the way – but none-the-less, that’s our goal – to live like Jesus. To follow the example of Christ. To imitate God. To be the kind of church family that we believe God wants us to be.

When the Penhold Community Church and the Penhold Church of Hope were both started many years ago – I believe that was the purpose and the goal for both groups! To live like Jesus in our community! And now that we’ve come together – this is still what we want to do!

We want Penhold and all the surrounding areas to experience living with Jesus. We want to be that family that does all those things in those verses we read earlier.

• We want to think of ways to motivate each other to love and good deeds. 
• We want to love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honouring one another. 
• We want to share each others burdens and help carry the load that weighs each one down.
• We want to help bring healing where sin has only brought pain. 
• We want to patiently help each other grow – showing the same grace and love that God has shown to us.

So here’s my challenge for you this morning: If this sounds like the kind of family that you want to be a part of, then don’t just come to church next week. 

Don’t get me wrong! Let me clarify! I’d love to see you again next Sunday morning right here at 10:30am. But don’t just come to an event. Don’t just enter a building. 

Be part of this family on Sunday and on Monday and on Tuesday – in fact, live like Jesus all week long. 

To get really practical, I’d encourage you this week:

• Maybe spend some time thinking about how you can encourage someone here – thinking of ways to spur them on to love and good deeds. 
• Take some time to pray with someone – maybe even take them out for coffee. 
• If you have opportunity, help carry someone’s burdens – come along side them and walk with them through the hard times. 
• Maybe you need to be bold enough to confess your sin to someone – or to show God’s grace and mercy should someone confess theirs… 

That’s all part of being in this family!

So don’t just come to church – be the church all week where ever you go. You’ve been adopted into God’s own family – you’ve been called together by God to be his sons and his daughters. These are your brothers and sister. So let’s live like a family. Let’s imitate our Father and follow the example of Jesus.

For now, probably the key thing you need to know is that the nation Israel is currently in a bit of a state of civil war. In our passage today, Israel is still a very young nation – it’s had only one king thus far in it’s history and that king has just died. So now Israel is at a crucial conjuction. Who will lead Israel next?

One of the twelve tribes of Israel (Judah) has chosen David to be their new King – while all the rest of Israel has pledged their loyalties to King’s Saul’s son, Ishbosheth.

However, our passage today doesn’t really revolve around either David or Ishbosheth – but rather around their respective army commanders – Joab (the commander of David’s army) & Abner (the commander of Ishbosheth’s army).

Now before we read today’s passage, let me just re-read the last verses we looked at last week. This is kinda the setup for today’s story. 2 Samuel chapter 2, verses 8-11.

8 But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul’s son Ishbosheth. 9 There he proclaimed Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, the land of the Ashurites, and all the rest of Israel.

10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king, and he ruled from Mahanaim for two years. Meanwhile, the people of Judah remained loyal to David. 11 David made Hebron his capital, and he ruled as king of Judah for seven and a half years.

2 Samuel 2:8-11

So Saul’s army commander, Abner, has declared Saul’s son, Ishbosheth, to be king over Israel. And that’s not too surprising – since it was kinda expected in those days that the king’s son would rule after him. However, Abner’s deliberate rejection of David and instead establishing Ishbosheth as King, was certainly not just about maintaining tradition. If we look at Abner’s history – we find there is a lot more going on here than what meets the eye.

You may not have noticed him before, but Abner has been a significant character throughout the story of Saul & David. We actually first met him way back shortly after Saul became King. He’s first mentioned in 1 Samuel 14…

49 Saul’s sons included Jonathan, Ishbosheth, and Malkishua. He also had two daughters: Merab, who was older, and Michal. 50 Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz. The commander of Saul’s army was Abner, the son of Saul’s uncle Ner. 51 Saul’s father, Kish, and Abner’s father, Ner, were both sons of Abiel.  1 Samuel 14:49-51

This gives us some important information about Abner. Verse 50 tells us that Abner was Saul’s cousin – they were both grandsons of Abiel. This means that Abner was not just some random guy that became Saul’s army commander – but that he was a close blood relative – someone who potentially could become king if something should happen to the royal family.

This will most certainly come into play a little later on in our story – but it also gives us some extra insight and clarity into why Abner does what He does. He has a very vested interest in keeping Saul’s family in power! Of all the people in Israel, Abner was probably one of the people with the most to lose if David should become King!

And with that little bit of insight, it’s not surprise that Abner was all-too-eager to help Saul chase down and try to kill David for all those years! In fact, there are a couple of passages that suggest Abner may have been the driving force behind Saul’s suspicion of David.

Last week we read the story of how David spared Saul’s life in that cave and just cut off the hem of his robe…  Well, listen to what David says to Saul in the verses after that…

9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true.”

1 Samuel 24:9-10a

Evidently, Saul’s suspicion of David didn’t just come from Saul’s own mind – someone else was telling Saul that David was trying to harm him. Now of course, this passage doesn’t name names – but it had to be someone fairly close to Saul – someone that Saul would trust and believe. So here’s a thought: Could it be that that someone could have been Abner?

Well, hold that thought and let’s jump ahead another couple of chapters to a second time when David spared Saul’s life. In 1 Samuel 26, starting at verse 1, we read:

Now some men from Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah to tell him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks Jeshimon.”

2 So Saul took 3,000 of Israel’s elite troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 Saul camped along the road beside the hill of Hakilah, near Jeshimon, where David was hiding. When David learned that Saul had come after him into the wilderness, 4 he sent out spies to verify the report of Saul’s arrival.

5 David slipped over to Saul’s camp one night to look around. Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, were sleeping inside a ring formed by the slumbering warriors. 6 “Who will volunteer to go in there with me?” David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother.

“I’ll go with you,” Abishai replied. 7 So David and Abishai went right into Saul’s camp and found him asleep, with his spear stuck in the ground beside his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying asleep around him.

8 “God has surely handed your enemy over to you this time!” Abishai whispered to David. “Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t need to strike twice!”

9 “No!” David said. “Don’t kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the Lord’s anointed one? 10 Surely the Lord will strike Saul down someday, or he will die of old age or in battle. 11 The Lord forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed! But take his spear and that jug of water beside his head, and then let’s get out of here!”

12 So David took the spear and jug of water that were near Saul’s head. Then he and Abishai got away without anyone seeing them or even waking up, because the Lord had put Saul’s men into a deep sleep.

13 David climbed the hill opposite the camp until he was at a safe distance. 14 Then he shouted down to the soldiers and to Abner son of Ner, “Wake up, Abner!”

“Who is it?” Abner demanded.

15 “Well, Abner, you’re a great man, aren’t you?” David taunted. “Where in all Israel is there anyone as mighty? So why haven’t you guarded your master the king when someone came to kill him? 16 This isn’t good at all! I swear by the Lord that you and your men deserve to die, because you failed to protect your master, the Lord’s anointed! Look around! Where are the king’s spear and the jug of water that were beside his head?”

17 Saul recognized David’s voice and called out, “Is that you, my son David?”

And David replied, “Yes, my lord the king. 18 Why are you chasing me? What have I done? What is my crime? 19 But now let my lord the king listen to his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then may those involved be cursed by the Lord. For they have driven me from my home, so I can no longer live among the Lord’s people.

1 Samuel 26:1-19

Now there’s a lot of interesting things in this passage, but for our purposes today, notice how it almost seems a little bit out of character for David to so publicly and purposely humiliate Abner.  He says in verse 15…

15 “Well, Abner, you’re a great man, aren’t you?” David taunted. “Where in all Israel is there anyone as mighty? So why haven’t you guarded your master the king when someone came to kill him? 16 This isn’t good at all! I swear by the Lord that you and your men deserve to die, because you failed to protect your master, the Lord’s anointed!

1 Samuel 26:15-16a

Those are some pretty harsh word for Abner! Why would David say all that? Is it just because he’s feeling spiteful? If David’s beef is with Saul, why does he make such a big deal of Abner’s failure to protect Saul (especially since it was God who put them all into a deep sleep – so it was hardly Abner’s fault!)

My suspicion – and this is just my speculation – is that David knows that Abner has been goading Saul into chasing after him. That Abner is the one who has been telling the king that David is out to harm him. David says in verse 19…

If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then may those involved be cursed by the Lord. 1 Samuel 26:19b

David seems to be suggesting that Saul’s hunt for David is part of a human scheme. A plot and plan by someone against David – trying to prevent him from ever becoming King. Could it be that one of those schemers was Abner? Now we’re not told that specifically – but it sure seems to fit with what we’ve read already – and certainly with we’re going to read in the chapters to come.

So now, with Saul dead, it’s no surprise that Abner would be quick to install Saul’s son Ishbosheth as King – not even so much for Isbosheth’s sake but for his own. That will become clear for us in the chapters ahead, as we will see Abner continue to manipulate the royal family for his own purposes. But that will come out in another sermon for another day.

But for now, the kingdom of Israel is divided in their loyalties and are functioning really as two separate  nations – one led by David and his commander Joab – the other led by Ishbosheth and his commander Abner.

And so we read in 2 Samuel 2:12…

12 One day Abner led Ishbosheth’s troops from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 About the same time, Joab son of Zeruiah led David’s troops out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. The two groups sat down there, facing each other from opposite sides of the pool.

14 Then Abner suggested to Joab, “Let’s have a few of our warriors fight hand to hand here in front of us.”

“All right,” Joab agreed. 15 So twelve men were chosen to fight from each side—twelve men of Benjamin representing Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve representing David. 16 Each one grabbed his opponent by the hair and thrust his sword into the other’s side so that all of them died. So this place at Gibeon has been known ever since as the Field of Swords.

17 A fierce battle followed that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the forces of David.

2 Samuel 2:12-17

As Abner tries to solidify Ishbosheth’s position as King, he leads his troops down towards David’s territory. Joab, David’s commander, intercepts them with his troops at Gibeon. This leads to a face-off much like when Philistines & Goliath faced off against Saul and his armies – and a similar solution is proposed. But instead of David vs Goliath to determine the outcome, Abner suggests that 12 men from each side fight against each other in hand-to-hand combat. Joab agrees and and the resulting skirmish ends in a tie – with all 24 men killing each other!

It seems to be a pretty pointless endeavour and it really only serves to create greater animosity between the two sides! So at this point, not surprisingly, everyone jumps up and wades into a fierce battle.

In the end, Joab and his men defeat Abner and his men – quite soundly as we’ll see at the end of the chapter.

But it’s here that a little side story develops – one that will significantly impact the rest of David’s journey towards becoming king. We read in verse 18 now…

18 Joab, Abishai, and Asahel—the three sons of Zeruiah—were among David’s forces that day. Asahel could run like a gazelle, 19 and he began chasing Abner. He pursued him relentlessly, not stopping for anything. 20 When Abner looked back and saw him coming, he called out, “Is that you, Asahel?”

“Yes, it is,” he replied.

21 “Go fight someone else!” Abner warned. “Take on one of the younger men, and strip him of his weapons.” But Asahel kept right on chasing Abner.

22 Again Abner shouted to him, “Get away from here! I don’t want to kill you. How could I ever face your brother Joab again?”

2 Samuel 2:18-22

So it seems there’s a couple things going on here. First of all, it seems that Asahel is determined to fight (and hopefully kill) Abner! We’re not sure why he is so determined, but I wonder if he’s trying to prove himself as a great warrior. After all, his brothers Joab and Abishai had already achieved significant status. Joab was the commander of David’s army and Abishai was the guy who snuck down with David into Saul’s camp while everyone was sleeping. And so perhaps Asahel wanted to prove his own worth by taking out the commander of Saul’s army – that would certainly give him some status and credibility as a warrior. This might be why he rejected Abner’s advice to go chase some of the other young men and kill them! Sure, that would be a little notch on his belt, but nothing like killing the commander of the enemy army!

And as self-serving as it seems for Abner to tell Asahel to chase and kill someone else, it kinda seems like Abner really was trying to spare Asahel’s life! Abner was clearly a very skilled and able solider – having fought and won many battles throughout Saul’s reign – and he was pretty confident that he could defeat this young man chasing after him.

But to complicate things, this young man was the brother of Joab – the commander of David’s armies. It was one thing for Abner to kill one of Joab’s soldiers, but it was another thing to kill one of Joab’s brothers. And Abner didn’t want Joab to have a personal vendetta against him – which unfortunately was exactly what would happen. As we read on in verse 23, it says…

23 But Asahel refused to turn back, so Abner thrust the butt end of his spear through Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He stumbled to the ground and died there. And everyone who came by that spot stopped and stood still when they saw Asahel lying there.

24 When Joab and Abishai found out what had happened, they set out after Abner. The sun was just going down as they arrived at the hill of Ammah near Giah, along the road to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 Abner’s troops from the tribe of Benjamin regrouped there at the top of the hill to take a stand.

2 Samuel 2:23-25

So things have not gone well for Abner. His men have had to retreat from the battle, and Joab and Abishia are hot on his trail to exact revenge for killing their brother. And so he gathers his remaining troops to take a final stand on the hill, but things are not looking good. And so he calls down to Joab in verse 26…

26 Abner shouted down to Joab, “Must we always be killing each other? Don’t you realize that bitterness is the only result? When will you call off your men from chasing their Israelite brothers?”

2 Samuel 2:26

It’s a little bit ironic that Abner now appeals to Joab for a ceasefire – reminding him that they are fellow Israelites – they’re all brothers! It almost seems like he’s blaming Joab for all the blood-shed – while it was he himself who started the fight in the first place!

None-the-less, Joab agrees to the ceasefire. 27 says..

27 Then Joab said, “God only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t spoken, for we would have chased you all night if necessary.” 28 So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men stopped chasing the troops of Israel.

29 All that night Abner and his men retreated through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River, traveling all through the morning, and didn’t stop until they arrived at Mahanaim.

30 Meanwhile, Joab and his men also returned home. When Joab counted his casualties, he discovered that only 19 men were missing in addition to Asahel. 31 But 360 of Abner’s men had been killed, all from the tribe of Benjamin. 32 Joab and his men took Asahel’s body to Bethlehem and buried him there in his father’s tomb. Then they traveled all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.

That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David.

2 Samuel 2:27-3:1a

And this is where we’ll stop for today – at the beginning of a long civil war within Israel between the house of David and the house of Saul.

And you know, we often think of the Kingdom of Israel splitting into two nations after the time of Solomon – but really, as we see here, that split began many, many years before. It began with Abner’s stubborn & selfish refusal to accept the Lord’s will – his refusal to accept David as King. 

I don’t know when it all started for Abner – maybe it was when David killed Goliath and kinda put Saul (and Abner) to shame… Maybe as Saul’s jealousy and resentment towards David started growing, so did Abner’s? We don’t really know.

But we do know that that resentment grew and grew until Abner got to the point where he would rather start a civil war than allow David to become King.

And it’s kinda crazy to think that had Abner been able to put his own personal agenda aside and trust that God knew what He was doing – how much war and how many deaths could have been avoided? How differently the whole history of Israel could have been!

And this is just such powerful reminder for us to see how our little choices and the minor attitudes that we have can grow and expand and impact more people than we could ever imagine!

Church splits never happen because of ‘that one big issue’ – they always start with a little disagreement or a little stubbornness or a little self-righteousness – that just grows and spreads.

Marriages don’t fall apart over ‘that one big issue’ – it starts with a little bit of selfishness or a bit of resentment or unforgiveness – that festers and grows and deepens over time.

That’s just the nature of sin! It always starts small – and almost appears harmless – but if left unchecked, it always grows and the roots deepen and the consequences become more and more severe.

It’s like the Veggies Tales episode of the Rumor Weed – what starts as this harmless little plant, quickly grows to become this monstrous, destructive creature! That’s sin in our lives!

As James warns us so clearly:

14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

James 1:14-15

And we certainly see that clearly in the life of Abner! What began as a little bit of selfish ambition, grew and spread into years of civil war.

And so this morning, I would just want to encourage you (and to remind myself) not to allow that sin to grow. Whether it’s a little bit of selfishness, some resentment, some unforgiveness, jealousy, or whatever it is – don’t allow it to grow. Cut it off while it’s still small – before it grows out of control.

And perhaps the best way to do that is through confession – confession to God and confession to one another. 1 John 1:8 says…

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 

1 John 1:8-9

Isn’t that such good news! And likewise, James tells us:

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 

James 5:16

And that’s certainly true! Confession may feel like a difficult and sometimes painful thing to do – especially if we’ve let that sin grow and it’s become bigger and badder than we ever imagined!

But the surest way to stop it’s growth & it’s further destruction in our lives is through confession – both to God and to each other! And as the Scriptures assure us: If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 

Back in 2020/2021, we worked our way through the book of 1 Samuel – looking at characters like Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, eventually David. We concluded that book with the death of Saul after he was mortally wounded in a battle against the Philistines.

Now of course, years before Saul’s death, David had been chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to be the future king of Israel. That had happened when David was still a boy. But now David had grown up, had risen through the ranks of the armies of Israel (very successfully, I might add), and was now quite famous throughout the land of Israel. However, King Saul was so jealous of David’s success and popularity, that he had become determined to kill David. And so David and a band of his faithful men had been on the run from Saul that for the last several years – hiding out in Philistine territory – pretending to be allied with them so that Saul would leave them alone!

But now, the Philistines had just defeated Saul’s army at Mount Gilboa and both Saul and his three sons were killed. And that’s about where 1 Samuel concludes and 2 Samuel begins.

We read in 2 Samuel chapter 1 last Sunday how an Amalekite had brought David the news that Saul and his sons were killed in battle. This Amalekite even claimed to be the guy to put Saul out of his misery after he had been mortally wounded by the Philistines. Of course, we’re not entire sure if that was true, since 1 Samuel 31 says that Saul fell on his own sword and died – while this Amalekite claimed that he killed Saul after Saul asked him end his suffering and spare him from being captured by the Philistines.

But however it actually happened, this young Amalekite man tells David that he was the one to end the life of Saul and that he has now brought to David King Saul’s crown and royal armband.

And this is where we’re going to pick up the story today.

So we read in 2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 13:

13 Then David said to the young man who had brought the news, “Where are you from?”

And he replied, “I am a foreigner, an Amalekite, who lives in your land.”

14 “Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord’s anointed one?” David asked.

15 Then David said to one of his men, “Kill him!” So the man thrust his sword into the Amalekite and killed him. 16 “You have condemned yourself,” David said, “for you yourself confessed that you killed the Lord’s anointed one.”

2 Samuel 1:13-16

It seems this Amalekite sorely misjudged how David would respond to the death of Saul. It’s likely that this Amalekite was hoping for some kind of reward from David. After all, it was known that David was next in line for the throne of Israel and that Saul had relentlessly tried to kill David for years! Most other kings-in-waiting would have likely rejoiced that their enemy was dead and that the path was clear for them to ascend the throne.

But as we noted last week, that wasn’t the case for David. David had a deep respect for Saul – perhaps not because of Saul’s character or life choices, but simply because the Lord had anointed him as King! In fact, David had many opportunities to kill Saul himself – but he always refused to lift his hand against God’s anointed one – even if that anointed one was a big jerk!

Probably the best example of this is when David had the chance to kill Saul in a cave in the wilderness of En-gedi. Let me quickly read that for you – this is back in 1 Samuel chapter 24 and is such a clear example of David’s respect for Saul simply because He was God’s chosen King. It says this:

After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.

3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave!

4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the Lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.

5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the Lord’s anointed one, for the Lord himself has chosen him.” 7 So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul.

After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.

9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’ 11 Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.

12 “May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you. 13 As that old proverb says, ‘From evil people come evil deeds.’ So you can be sure I will never harm you. 

1 Samuel 24:1-13 

And you know, David stuck to that throughout Saul’s life. David always left Saul’s fate in the hands of God. God had placed him as King – and so David trusted that one day, God would remove him. It was not man’s place to end Saul’s life – not David – and not this Amalekite. 

As so, rather than reward this man for the evil he had done in killing Saul, David instead declared that justice would be carried out. This Amalekite had taken Saul’s life – and so his own life would be demanded.

And there is a lesson in this for us too. We might not have the same problems as David had – we don’t have a crazy king trying to kill us – but I’m sure we have a multitude of issues where we are tempted to take matters into our own hands. To solve our problems our own way – rather than trusting God to solve our problems for us. Many people in the Bible have fallen to this temptation as well!

• If you remember way back when Saul first became king, Saul had done this when he took matters into his own hands and offered the sacrifice that only Samuel as the priest was qualified to offer.
• Abram & Sarah tried to solve their problem of having no children (even though God had promised a son). They tried doing things their own way and getting Hagar pregnant – rather than waiting for God to act.
• Peter tried to solve the problem of Jesus being arrested by drawing his sword and slashing off the ear of the high priest’s servant.

All of these folks took matters into their own hands when it seemed that God wasn’t stepping in! And I know that we are all tempted to do the same! Instead of following God’s instructions and waiting patiently for God to act on our behalf, so often we are tempted to take matters into our own hands. To meet our own needs in our own way and in our own time – rather than just waiting on the Lord to take care of us! 

It’s one thing for us to say we trust in God – but it’s another thing to live that out! To put our trust into action by waiting. Psalm 27:14 says…

14 Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

At first glance it might seem like those are two totally disconnected statements, but they are not! Sometimes it takes great courage and bravery – to wait. We often think of courage and bravery as being willing to move forward into the unknown. But I think it takes just as much courage and bravery to stay put and to patiently wait for God to do what He says He’s going to do.

Like David, we need to have the courage to wait. And when we do, God will come through! In His time, and in His way – but He will come through.

For David, that meant waiting many years, while being hunted down by Saul, until finally God allowed Saul to be killed.

And when that happened, David didn’t rejoice at his enemy’s death (as many other people would have done) – instead, he mourned and wept and even fasted to show his sorrow. In fact, he even composed a funeral song – honouring both Saul and his son Jonathan – and taught it to the people of Israel. It says in 2 Samuel 1:17…

17 Then David composed a funeral song for Saul and Jonathan, 18 and he commanded that it be taught to the people of Judah. It is known as the Song of the Bow, and it is recorded in The Book of Jashar.

19 Your pride and joy, O Israel, lies dead on the hills!
Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen!

20 Don’t announce the news in Gath,
don’t proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon,
or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice
and the pagans will laugh in triumph.

21 O mountains of Gilboa,
let there be no dew or rain upon you,
nor fruitful fields producing offerings of grain.
For there the shield of the mighty heroes was defiled;
the shield of Saul will no longer be anointed with oil.

22 The bow of Jonathan was powerful,
and the sword of Saul did its mighty work.
They shed the blood of their enemies
and pierced the bodies of mighty heroes.

23 How beloved and gracious were Saul and Jonathan!
They were together in life and in death.
They were swifter than eagles,
stronger than lions.

24 O women of Israel, weep for Saul,
for he dressed you in luxurious scarlet clothing,
in garments decorated with gold.

25 Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen in battle!
Jonathan lies dead on the hills.

26 How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan!
Oh, how much I loved you!
And your love for me was deep,
deeper than the love of women!

27 Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen!
Stripped of their weapons, they lie dead.

2 Samuel 1:17-27

As we read this funeral song, we don’t get any sense of hate or bitterness in David towards Saul – there’s no mention of Saul’s many faults or sins or how he wronged David. And at the same time, David’s not just making up nice things to say either – he’s actually honouring Saul for the good things that He had done as King. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s just a incredible testimony to the solid character of David. And we see even more of that solid character as David begins to rule over Israel in the next chapter. So let’s flip there now and read 2 Samuel chapter 2 – verses 1 to 4.

After this, David asked the Lord, “Should I move back to one of the towns of Judah?”

“Yes,” the Lord replied.

Then David asked, “Which town should I go to?”

“To Hebron,” the Lord answered.

2 David’s two wives were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. So David and his wives 3 and his men and their families all moved to Judah, and they settled in the villages near Hebron. 4 Then the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the people of Judah.

2 Samuel 2:1-4

There are two points in this passage that I’d like to make note of. First of all, notice that the first thing David did was to ask the Lord for direction. He asks in verse 1 – “Should I move back to one of the towns of Judah?”

Now this seems like a no-brainer! After all, Saul was dead so David no longer had any reason to live among the Philistines. Plus, as the anointed King of Israel, why wouldn’t he return home and assume the throne? The answer seems obvious!

But David doesn’t make any presumptions about the will of the Lord! As we noted back in 1 Samuel 24 when David had the opportunity to kill Saul in that cave, not every opportunity is from the Lord! God may not want us to walk through every open door.

Now in this case, the Lord did want David to return to Israel and make his home in Hebron – but the key thing here is that before assuming that, David asked God and waited for His reply.

This is another great lesson for us. I know I’m often one to assume the will of the Lord. If an opportunity comes up and it seems good and logical, I’m certainly inclined just to assume that this is God’s leading! And many times it is, but there are times when it’s not! This is why it’s so important for us to constantly bring everything to God in prayer! Even the things that we think are no-brainers!

I’m reminded of the time when Joshua was conquering the promised land and they had just defeated the stronghold of Jericho. The next little tiny town on the conquering agenda seem to be a no brainer! The little town of Ai only had a handful of people… And so Joshua sent a little group up to attack Ai without first asking God what they should do – and they were soundly defeated! Little did they know that a man named Achan had disobey God and he had to be dealt with first before God would give them any further victory over their enemies! But had Joshua asked God about this no-brainer first, I’m sure God would have communicated that to them before several men were killed in this failed attack!

As Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6…

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

And this is exactly what David did. He prayed about everything! Even the no-brainer things! What a great example for us.

And so with God’s blessing, David and his family moved to Hebron where he finally began to take hold of the throne. It says in verse 4.

4 Then the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the people of Judah.

2 Samuel 2:4

Now of course, this didn’t make David king over Israel – but rather just one tribe of Israel – the tribe of Judah. But I think it’s again telling of David’s character that He’s not the one declaring himself to be king (even though God had promised that He would be), but rather, he’s being invited by the people of Judah to be their king.

And again, I think this just speaks to David’s humble character. He was always careful not to put himself on a pedestal or claim to be someone great or to demand that people follow him. But rather, he simply followed God’s instructions and as people recognized God’s call on his life, they choose to follow him and to submit to his leadership.

Mind you, not everyone was eager to jump on the “David as King” band wagon. We continue reading in verse 4…

When David heard that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul, 5 he sent them this message: “May the Lord bless you for being so loyal to your master Saul and giving him a decent burial. 6 May the Lord be loyal to you in return and reward you with his unfailing love! And I, too, will reward you for what you have done. 7 Now that Saul is dead, I ask you to be my strong and loyal subjects like the people of Judah, who have anointed me as their new king.”

8 But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul’s son Ishbosheth. 9 There he proclaimed Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, the land of the Ashurites, and all the rest of Israel.

10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king, and he ruled from Mahanaim for two years. Meanwhile, the people of Judah remained loyal to David. 11 David made Hebron his capital, and he ruled as king of Judah for seven and a half years.

2 Samuel 2:4b-8

I find this to be pretty amazing! David has already been declared king of Judah. He is a skilled military leader and he has the military power to fight against Ishbosheth and enforce his rule over the rest of Israel, if he should chose to.

But he doesn’t do that. Just like how he had the courage to trust in the Lord and wait for God to remove Saul from the throne, here again, he trusts in the Lord and waits for God to fulfill His promise and give him the rest of the kingdom of Israel.

And as we read on through the next few chapters over these next weeks, we’ll see that this was not an easy wait. Things were going to get messy before David would be king over all of Israel.

But yet, through it all, David seems to just patiently wait for God and allowed God to do whatever God needed to do. And I think that’s a good point for us to end on today.

How many times in our lives do we just need to patiently wait for God to do whatever God needs to do?

Or maybe a better question is: how many times do we fail to patiently wait for God to do whatever God needs to do? How many times do we push ahead – doing things our own way or in our own time – when it seems that God is taking too long to keep his promise? Can I just remind and encourage you today…

14 Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

Now this isn’t a command to procrastinate. That doesn’t mean we should delay when we know God wants us to act. But rather, it means that we need to put our trust into action. It means that if God has not given us clear direction (that is, assuming that we’ve actually remembered to ask Him for direction even when it seems to be a no-brainer!) – but when God has not yet told us what to do – then we need to be brave enough just to wait. Just to trust that He’s at work and He will bring it to pass in His own good time and in His own good way.

I love the words of the old hymn ’Tis So Sweet to Trust In Jesus….

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Just to take him at his word

Just to rest upon his promise

Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!

How I’ve proved him o’er and o’er

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust him more!