Bring home the banished Monday June 6, 2011

Today's treasure:  2 Samuel 14:14

Read 2 Samuel 13:23-39. 
Reflect on previous lesson.  Two years had passed since Amnon's crime against Tamar.  

  What do you think might have been going ob during those years in the minds of Tamar, Amnon, Absalom, David?  
  What evidence could you offer to support the idea that Absalom was counting on his father's unwillingness to attend his celebration?
  Did you note the false first report David received and that Jonadab was the one who told the king not to be concerned?  How do you suppose Jonadab knew that only Amnon was dead?
  How was Jonadab identified in 2 Samuel 13:3?
  Based on verse 32, why do you think the 'shrewd' Jonadab might have played both sides of the conflict between Amnon and Absalom?
  When they returned, what was the condition of David's sons? 


  Two years passed.  Bitterness multiplied in Absalom's heart.  That's the nature of bitterness, it never stays in its cage.  Absalom must have watched and waited to see if his father would call Amnon to account for his crime.  His father didn't.
  Absalom waited for an opportunity.  He devised an elaborate scheme to summon Amnon to his house.  The time of sheep shearing was a festive occasion with huge family celebration.  Absalom seized the opportunity, counting on his father to continue in distancing himself from family obligations and celebrations.  When David refused to come, Absalom requested Amnon's presence in his place, assuming no one would be suspicious.  Customarily, the oldest son represented his father in the father's absence.
  David may have been suspicious since he questioned Absalom's choice, but he may have concluded no grounds existed to refuse Amnon the right to attend the celebration.  David sent Amnon and the rest of his sons--never to see his eldest again.  You may have noticed Absalom did not take the sword to Amnon himself, but, like his father, involved subordinates in the crime.  
  Jonadab reared his ugly head in another scandalous scheme.  He would never have known Absalom's plans had he not become his confidant.  The tragedy ends with one son dead, one son missing, and a father grief stricken.  David had two responses toward Absalom after Amnon's death: he mourned for him and longed for him.  Remember when David became furious over Amnon's sin but did nothing?  He had the appropriate feelings but inappropriate actions.  Once again David felt the right thing and did the wrong thing
2 Samuel 14:1-33
  Why do you think Joab devised a method somewhat like  a parable to get through to David?

  Cousin Joab refused to come when Absalom finally got his attention by setting his field on fire.  


  We've seen some of the complications of family dynamics.  What in the world was David doing?  His heart was too complex for us to risk conjecture, yet one thing was obvious.  Again he refused to take action regarding his family.  
  Have you ever experienced the frustration of someone close to you refusing to take responsibility?  


  Joab had obviously witnessed David's irresponsibility toward Absalom for as long as he intended.  He devised a plan to capture David's attention.  Through a concocted story of a woman and her prodigal son, Joab convinced David to summon Absalom.  
   We sometimes resist seeing the sin in our own lives.  When the preacher uses an illustration of someone else's sin, we're often ready to judge just like David.  Then the blade of conviction slices our hearts and the Holy Spirit says, "you are that person."  Twice the method worked to penetrate David's heart.  More than twice God has used this approach to penetrate mine.  
  David granted Joab's request and let him summon Absalom.  Joab joyfully hastened to bring the young man home, no doubt picturing emotional reunion of father and son--only to be met with these words from the king:  "He must go to his own house; he must not see my face"  (v. 24)
  David did not respond like the father in Christ's parable--the father who searched the horizon daily for his son to come home.  
  Some things in life aer do-overs.  God sometimes gives us a second chance to do something right.  Some chances never come back around.  The chance for David and Absalom to be completely reunited in their hearts would not come again.  By this time David finally received Absalom, his son's heart was cold.  Do you find yourself like me, wishing God had told you more about David and Absalom's reunion?  I believe God didn't tell us more because there was nothing more to tell.  Nothing else happened.  The actions of David and his son were generated by custom, not emotion.  Fearing his son would do something more than set Joab's field on fire, David summoned Absalom to appease him, not accept him.  Absalom sought his father's face to force David to look him in the eye, not to beg forgiveness like the prodigal.  


  God is never in the wrong when He and one of His children are separated, yet He devises ways so that the banished person may not remain estranged from Him.  Never underestimate the significance of timing when it comes to mending.  You may not get another chance. 

Thursday June 2, 2011 Family secrets

Today's treasure:  2 Samuel 13:1

What would happen to David because he had despised God and taken the wife of Uriah to be his own?

  Read 2 Samuel 13:1-22
Identify the children of David listed in verses 1 and 2 and any information you learn.
  What can you learn about Amnon by looking at his friend Jonadab?
  why do you think Amnon's love turned so quickly to hate?
  Why was Tamar wearing a richly ornamented robe? 
  Describe the reactions of  Tamar, Absalom, David to the crime against Tamar in verses 19-22.
  
  These verses are replete with tragedy.  The focus was a beautiful young virgin daughter of the king, no doubt awaiting the man she would one day marry.  The events in chapter 13 are scandalous even by today's standards and as painful as the descriptions of rapes we read in a big city newspaper.  
  The richly ornamented robe was her cloak of dignity and honor.  She ripped the fabric of her robe as surely as Amnon had ripped the fabric of her honor.  
  Our first reaction is to assign appropriate responsibility.  All wrong, fault and blame for the rape belongs to the perpetrator--Amnon.  Tamar also fell victim to all three men surrounding this event.  
  Amnon was David's firstborn.  His name means trustworthy and faithful.  We see the immediate evidence of a father's influence on his son.  In a nation where polygamy was forbidden, Amnon had watched his father take one wife after another.  Bathsheba and Tamar were described by the same adjective in our first introductions to each of them.  (2 Sam. 11:2, 13:1)


  Like his father, Amnon saw something beautiful and determined to have it.  He gave no consideration to the other party involved.  He literally became sin-sick to the point of stopping at nothing to satisfy his appetite. 
  
  We humans often practice a kind of blame shifting.  When we have done something sinful and shameful, we blame out actions on someone else--often the victim of our behavior.  
  God was faithful to Tamar as she mourned before Him, completely innocent of any sin.  Tamar lived the rest of her life in desolation, but God will replace her tattered robe and cover her with finest white linen, and she will stand before Him once again the virgin daughter of the king.
  We can also be assured that God will deal with Amnon.  We see no sign of repentance.   
  Absalom was Tamar's brother.  Both Absalom and David reacted inappropriately toward Tamar and the crime she suffered.  Absalom obviously discovered his sister in extreme distress.  He guess the nature of the crime against here from the tearing of the virgin's robe.  No one can doubt Absalom's love for his sister, but his reaction to her could only have added further injury.  
  Absalom's advice to Tamar was to keep the secret and pretend nothing happened.  He took his own advice and never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad.  But his hatred would finally cause him to lose control.  Overwhelming feelings cannot be stuffed, they will turn inward and take the person prisoner.
  David was Tamar's father.  Absalom's immediate assumption of Amnon's guilt speaks volumes.  Amnon's lack of character was common knowledge.  David should have dealt with Amnon before disaster struck.  Then after the crime, David still refused to do anything.  If only David had applied the wisdom of Psalm 39 to this tragedy, things would have been different.


  Why didn't David take control of his family tragedy?  Satan uses sin and failure against us so that even after sincere repentace we often remain disabled.  
  Two wrongs don't make a right.  Restoration does not mean you can no longer stand for the truth because you fell.  
  David allowed his failure to disable him to lead his household in righteousness.  He had been forgiven by God but he chose not to live like a forgiven person.  
  David needed to channel his anger and respond to the crime committed in his household.  No weaker house exists than one that lacks appropriate authority.  This is a breeding ground for untold recklessness and sin. 


  Allow God to bring you to victory in vulnerable areas.  God is faithful!!!

Wednesday JUNE 1st, 2011 No relief like repentance

Today's treasure:  Psalm 51: 7-8

  Between confronting sin and  restoring fellowship must come the bridge between those two vital works--contrite confession.  We have the blueprint for the bridge of confession fresh from the heart of a grieving king.  

  What were the six requests David made in verses 10-12 ?
  Why do you think the two results listed in verse 13 were dependent on God's granting David's six requests?
  This psalm invites the vilest of sinners to drink from the fountains of forgiveness.  
 "Have mercy upon ne, O God."  So great was David's nee for cleansing, he began his prayer with no introduction and no high praises.

  What does Isaiah 59: 1-2 tell you that sin can cause?


  "According to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion."  
  David knew his God was complex and multifaceted.  But at that moment, David called on the God of love and compassion.  Only on the basis of covenant love could David dare ask for mercy.
  "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."  Don't miss the most important emphasis in this statement of the word ALL.  The mercy of God is enough to cover all our sins.  
  "For I know my transgressions."  Psalm 51:3 proves  David could not ignore his sins.  Satan screams: To give it up will be far more painful than living with the guilt..Refuse to hear satan's lies.  Relief awaits.  
  "Against you, you only have I sinned".  The biggest heartbreak over sin is the realization that we have offended Him.  When we don't confess, we scoff at the cross.


  "Surely I was sinful at birth."  David recognized something of the depth of his inclination to sin.  
  "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts."  God is our one and only source of transforming truth.  Virtually every external sin results from the internal practice of believing a deceitful heart.  Only God can sow truth in our heart; only we can let Him.  
  "You teach me wisdom in the inmost place."  The inmost place is where experience turns into wisdom.  Wisdom is knowledge applied.  Truth stamped on the heart makes one wise.  
  "Cleanse me with hyssop." people of the Old Testament thought hyssop carried a powerful ritual and symbolic message.  


  "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow."  Satan tried to convince us that we are covered by guilty stains even though we have repented.  
  "Let the bones you have crushed rejoice."  David mixed the pain of confessing and turning from sin with the pleasure of restored fellowship.  God sometimes uses circumstances and discipline to figuratively break our legs from continuing on the path of sin.  
  "Hide your face from my sins."  With a sudden realization of his own depravity, David could not bear for God to look.  He was filled with shame, Satan's signature of approval.  Allowing God to open our eyes to sin is not only painful but embarrassing.  
 "Create in me a pure heart."  The Hebrew word for create is  bara.  Pure hearts never come naturally.  
  "Do not..take your Holy Spirit from me."  To David, the removal of God's spirit was a fate worse than death.  
  Based on his experience  with Saul, why do you think David pleaded with God not to remove His Spirit?
  
 "Restore to me the joy of your salvation."  Sometimes our prayers seem to go unanswered because in our misery, we beg for our joy to be restored without the obedience of fully turning from our sin.  Read John 15:10-11
  "Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you."  No more willing and effective evangelist and teacher exists than one who is humbled, cleansed, renewed and restored.  


  David's entire purpose in writing Psalm 51 was to ask for mercy.  Did God grant his request?

Tuesday May 31, 2011 Painful pleas

Today's treasure:  2 Samuel 12:24

Read 2 Samuel 12:15-25

  In what ways did David respond to his child's sudden illness?
Read David's immediate response in verse 20.
  What was God's attitude toward David and Bathsheba's second child?  

  Nathan had hardly turned the doorknob to leave before David's child fell ill.  David had been warned that his son would die, and still he "pleaded with God for the child" for seven days.  When the child died, the servants were terrified David would do something desperate.  They were stunned when David received the news, got up, washed his face, changed clothes and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

  Did David waster his time pleading with God over the life of the child?  After all, God's message through Nathan was painfully clear.  As we attempt to determine whether David's efforts were wasted, we have the privilege to peek at just a little of the intense intimacy David shared with God.  When he fell on his face before God, the prodigal returned home to the place he belonged.  He was bankrupt in soul, demoralized, and terrified, but he was back.  Too many months had passed since he had last entered into God's presence.  

  Through David's crisis, he was reminded of all he knew of God's ways.  David did not plead with God out of ignorance but out of his intimate knowledge of God.  God does indeed hear our prayers and reserves the right to relent if the change does not compromise an eternal necessity.  

  David knew something about his God that we need to realize as well.  God did not create man in His own image to be unaffected by Him.  We are products of His heart.  The God of Scripture is One who feels.
  Unlike us, God is never compromised by His feelings, but He does care.  

  David's painful please forced him back to a crucial place of depending on God.  David had mistaken the power of God as his own.  He had so often been told he could do anything, he started to believe it.  God demands we depend on Him because only He can keep us safe.  When we seek security in other places, He is obligated to turn us back toward home.  Tragedy caused David to depend on God.  God's judgment seems harsh until we reconsider David's many transgressions.  

  David's pleas would satisfy his spirit in the many months of mourning to come.  As he grieved the loss, he needed to know he had done everything he could to prevent the child's death.  David did not want his child to die because he did not ask God. (See Jas. 4:2)
 In our relationship with God, we must feel freedom to bring the desires of our heart to Him in prayer.

  David's please ultimately ensured his survival through the tragedy he and his wife would suffer.  The return positioned him to make it through such loss with victory.  When tragedy hits, if we cast ourselves on the Savior and rely on Him for the very breath we draw, we will one day get up again. 

  Do you remember ever returning to the Lord in worship after a painful loss you believe He could have stopped?

  David's pleas touched the heart of God to respond.  God loved this man--just as He loves us.  The one He loves He must discipline (Heb 12:6) But does God's heart ache as He disciplines?  God could not give David what he asked because He had to perform an eternal work and teach an eternal lesson.  But He did something else: "Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her.  She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.  The Lord loved him, and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah" (2 Samuel 12:24-25)


  Out of grace God removed the curse on the sinful union of David and Bathsheba.  Their union had been wrong.  Their motive wrong.  Now we see them drawn together by terrible tragedy.  God removed the curse of their marriage and brought a child from the union.  Jedidiah means "beloved of the Lord"
  
  God never turns His back on us.  He will discipline but not forsake us.  He will always seek to draw us back to a place where He can bless us once more.

Monday, May 30, 2011 You are the man!! Happy Memorial Day

  Today's treasure:  2 Samuel 12:5-7

  Read 2 Samuel 12:1-14
Note that Nathan used an analogy involving sheep.

 At what point did David admit his sin?

How did Nathan respond to David with good and bad news?

  The scene unfolds with Nathan sent to confront David's sin.  We need to be careful not to confront for any other reason.  We need to resist self-appointed confrontation with a fallen brother.  Galatians 6:1 records one of those reasons.

  Nathan was God's man for the job, but he still needed the protection and leadership of God as he confronted the powerful, persuasive king.  Virtually a year had passed since David's initial sin with Bathsheba.  We know the baby had been born, but we do not know exactly how old he was.
  The time is so important because no sign of repentance had yet occurred.  David appeared to be moving on with his life as if nothing had happened, but how do you suppose his sin affected his relationship with God?  Our unwillingness to repent has internal effects. 
  Daved wrote exactly how he felt during his season of unrepentance.  Psalm 32: 3-5


  What obvious toll did David's unwillingness to repent have on him?


  Psalm 32:3-5 describes a malady we might call sin sickness.  Have you ever noticed God helps us accept His forgiveness, but He does not make us forget our sins?
  Psalm 32:3-5 teaches an important truth.  Spiritual illness (unrepentance) can lead to emotional illness (groaning, heaviness) and physical illness.  Of course not all emotional and physical illness is caused by an unrepententant heart, but a refusal to repent takes a serious emotional and physical toll.
  Nathan used a good preaching method to confront David.  He used an illustration familiar to his hearer and drove the illustration home with the Word of God.
  Sometimes the further we wander outside of God's will, the more we judge others and the less we show mercy.  David was ready to fine the man "four times over" and kill him--until he found out he was the man.  God may have wanted David to recognize the grace of God in the midst of the grave consequences of his sin.  God wanted David to recognize he deserved to die.  Bathsheba also deserved death, according to Hebrew law.  So did Joab for setting up another person's death.  God allowed David to sit as judge over his own life and pronounce a death sentence on himself so his Heavenly Father could grant him the undeserved gift of life.  David no doubt, never forgot that moment.
  David, through his behavior, wounded the heart of God by despising His Word.  David's heinous, progressive sin did a terrible thing.  It gave "great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" (v. 14, KJV)
  The word blaspheme means to 'revile, scorn, despise, reject; to condemn, to deride'.  What other nations saw in David caused them to cast their eyes on David's God.  Though many had not turned to the God of Israel, He had captured their attention and respect.  David's actions caused the nations to lose their respect for God. 
  David placed God in an excruciating position.  As God's foremost teaching instrument, even the eyes of the heathen nations were on David.  Through David's failures, God would reveal something more of Himself.  God's actions regarding David's sin teach the very foundation of salvation--God will forgive the sinner, but will still judge the sin. 

Friday May 27, 2011 Contrasts in Character

 Today's treasure:  2 Samuel 11:11

 Read 2 Samuel 11:1-27

  Why did David bring Uriah home?
 In 2 Samuel  11:1-17 a stark contrast becomes evident in the character of Uriah and David..what evidences do you find?

  Uriah:  evidences of strong character
  David:  evidences of flawed character

consider the words of verse 25 and describe David's heart at this point. 
  Imagine how the Father's heart is wounded when we behave so unlike one of His children.  Considering the 
 events, David's heart was further away from God than we imagined. 

David's faraway heart:

  1.  David resisted many opportunities to repent of his sin and lessen the charges against himself.  Most of us have been carried away by an overwhelming and sudden craving of the flesh, but we've often cried out for help before sin was heaped on sin.  Other times people can get themselves in the revolving door of sin and continue in a destructive cycle.
  After he committed the act adultery, even though the consequences of pregnancy were already at work, David could have fallen on his face before God, repented, asked for mercy and begged God to help clean up the mess. 
  David had God's Spirit in him.  David had quenched the Spirit to such a degree that he was able to resist repeated conviction. 

  2.  David was unmoved by Uriah's integrity.  His faraway heart was unaffected by an encounter with authentic integrity.
  How had David once shepherded his people (Ps. 78:72)

  Uriah's integrity should have spurred such a sense of loss in David that he could not bear to remain so far from the Father.  David surely recognized integrity.  
  If Uriah were on trial for integrity, there would be ample evidence to convict him.  

  3.  David tried to cover his own sins.  
  Who is blessed according to Psalm 32:1 ?
  Whom did God inspire to write that Psalm?

  The word covered in original Hebrew is kasah: to cover, conceal, hide, to keep secret, wrap oneself up..
When we try to cover up our sinful ways, we are bound for disaster as sin perpetuates.  Only through repentance will God cover and clothe us with His loving forgiveness.  

  4.  He involved many others in his sin.  David never stopped to consider the position in which he was placing others.  We can be too self absorbed  that we do not care what we are asking from others.  Intense selfishness accompanies a faraway heart.  We can measure intimacy with God as a heart near God is characterized by the marked selflessness of Christ .

  David navigated his way to the negative extreme of this spectrum.  In David's selfishness, he involved a servant in his plans,; he invited Bathsheba to a season of guilt and grief; he attempted to entice Uriah to compromise his values; he involved Joab in his sin, and had Uriah killed, and most importantly displeased God.
  
 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 gives us several reasons why God has given us accounts like David's.

 

Thursday May 26, 2011 Up on a rooftop

Today's treasure:  2 Samuel 11: 2-3

Read 2 Samuel 11: 1-5

  What was David supposed to be doing in the spring?
  The sin between David and Bathsheba had numerous repercussions.  What was the first result according to verse 5?

  We too could be persons of character and integrity yet destroy our ministries and ourselves through the choice to gratify our sudden lusts.  In our culture we justify immoral behavior with the excuse that two people were "in love" .
David and Bathsheba were not in love.  They simply chose to act in a dishonorable and destructive way.  
  In the gap between wanting and getting we must flex the muscle of self-control to protect ourselves.  David rose to a position where his every wish was someone else's command. He ceased to hear a very important word--one without which integrity cannot be maintained.  The word is NO.

  Like most of us, David probably could say no rather easily to some things but had great difficulty saying no to others.  
  In the midst of all his integrity in the other areas of his life.  (2 Sam 5:13).  God clearly stated the consequences of multiplying wives in Deut. 17:17
  Just as God warned, David's heart had gone astray.  For a season the heart so much like God's wandered to an abyss of no resemblance.  The Word of God makes over 500 references to the heart, but in 2 the words "above all".
  David, the man of God, the Lord's anointed who enjoyed God's complete provision, took what did not belong to him and cast himself headlong into scandal.  The threatened institution of marriage in our day, beckons us to confront the actions of King David.  
  David was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  David had been an effective administrator and delegator, but he had exceeded the wise bounds of delegation.  He left himself with little responsibility and idle hands.  
  David failed to protect himself with a network of accountability.  At one time David had been sensitive to the thought of offending God.  He sought the counsel of prophets and allowed himself to be held accountable.  All of us need to be surrounded by people who are invited to hold us accountable and question the questionable.
  David grew accustomed to wanting and getting.  This time he went too far.  David was lonely.  He allowed himself to be placed so high on the throne that he found himself all alone.  (2 Sam 9:1)
  Be careful to fulfill the responsibilities God has given.
  Deliberately set up a network of accountability partners.
  Avoid lengthy periods of isolation.
  Be aware of the progressive nature of sin. 

  David sinned in thought.  David saw the woman bathing and concluded she was beautiful.  Sight turned into desire.  If the sin of the mind is not confessed and repented, it virtually always gives birth to the next stage. 

  David sinned in word.  God knows that our meditations of our hearts.  Think how often sin not squelched in the mind makes its way to the mouth.  
  David sinned in deed.  He flirted with adultery in thought and word, stopping at neither to repent and ask God for help.  Action followed.  We must learn to allow God to halt sin in the place it begins--the thoughts.  We're wise to aggressively confess the sins of our thoughts.  
  A heightened awareness  of wrong thoughts will work greatly to our advantage.  Getting in the habit of confessing sin in the thought life is reminding us what victors we are. 
  Scriptures to remind us through purity of thought, word and deed before God: 

  Psalm 139:23-24  thoughts
  Psalm 19:14  words
  Psalm  12:1-2  deeds
  
  The greatest danger are those who think they could never be tempted and those presently being tempted.  May we cast ourselves on the mercy of God and find help in the time of trouble.