HOW ARE YOU INFLUENCING YOUR CHILDREN?

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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In the course of time, Amnon, son of David, fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom, son of David.

Amnon became frustrated to the point of illness on account of his sister Tamar for she was a virgin and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.

Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, son of Shimeah, David's brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me?"

Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."

"Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.' "

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, "I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight so I may eat from her hand."

David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him."

So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight, and baked it. Then she took the pan and served him the bread but he refused to eat.

"Send everyone out of here," Amnon said.

So everyone left him.

Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand."

And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, "Come to bed with me, my sister."

"Don't, my brother!" she said to him. "Don't force me. Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don't do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you."

But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.

Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, "Get up and get out!"

"No!" she said to him. "Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me."

But he refused to listen to her. He called his personal servant and said, "Get this woman out of here and bolt the door after her."

So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. She was wearing a richly ornamented robe for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore. Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.

Her brother Absalom said to her, "Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet now, my sister; he is your brother. Don't take this thing to heart."

And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman.

When King David heard all this, he was furious. Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.

Two years later, when Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king's sons to come there. Absalom went to the king and said, "Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me?"

"No, my son," the king replied. "All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you." Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing.

Then Absalom said, "If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us."

The king asked him, "Why should he go with you?" But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king's sons.

Absalom ordered his men, "Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' then kill him. Don't be afraid. Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave."

So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king's sons got up, mounted their mules, and fled.

While they were on their way, the report came to David: "Absalom has struck down all the king's sons; not one of them is left." The king stood up, tore his clothes and lay down on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

But Jonadab, son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."

Meanwhile, Absalom had fled.

Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of him, coming down the side of the hill. The watchman went and told the king, "I see men in the direction of Horonaim on the side of the hill."

Jonadab said to the king, "See, the king's sons are here; it has happened just as your servant said."

As he finished speaking, the king's sons came in wailing loudly. The king, too, and all his servants wept very bitterly.

2 Samuel 13:1-36

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When God creates children, they belong to Him from the very beginning but He entrusts them to adults here on earth to take care of and raise up so to be the people He wants them to be. Given this, parents have an incredible responsibility and obligation to take care of the Lord’s children in the best way possible…and the best way possible is to love them and care for them with the same level of love and nurturing that He Himself would provide.

Sadly, this doesn’t always happen.

You see, way too often God’s children are victims of abuse or neglect…mistreated by the very people God has entrusted them to. Still other times, as we’ll see in our scripture passage today, a parent’s sinful actions can later be modeled by their children with disastrous results.

With this, I’m reminded of a television advertisement that ran years ago where a father was confronting his son about where he had learned to do drugs. The son, now crying, told his father he had learned by watching him do it…which left the father speechless.

Indeed, parents hold an incredible power of influence…good and bad…over their children. So how are you influencing yours?

As we see in these verses from 2 Samuel 13, the lingering effects of David’s trangressive behavior ranged well beyond the immediate impact it had on Bathsheba and her murdered husband Uriah. For as we see in this chapter, his children end up committing similar sins to his own…a biblical like father, like sons scenario.

We start with David’s son, Amnon, who “fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom”, who was also a son of David. Amnon’s lustful infatuation with his half-sister was so great that he “became frustrated to the point of illness” because “Tamar…was a virgin” and it “seemed impossible for him to do anything to her”.

Unlike today where it seems that virginity is a lost virtue given the amount of illicit sexual behavior happening, in the days of the Bible, a woman’s dignity was bound to her virginity. Any woman who lost it out of wedlock would have no chance of ever marrying any Jewish man and if they were unmarried, then they were also childless which became another strike against a woman whose value was also tied to her childbearing.

In the end translation, Amnon sleeping with his sister would be almost as bad as killing her for he would be cause her to be condemned for the rest of her life within the Jewish society.

This was something that Amnon knew but his sinful passion for Tamar drove him forward, just as his father David had done prior after gazing with lust at Bathsheba. Taking advantage of the power he held as king, he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted, in this case having sex with the beautiful wife of another man. Now, Amnon wouldn’t stop until he got to have sexual relations with his beautiful half-sister.

To that end, we see where Amnon went to his “friend…Jonadab” who was described as “a very shrewd man”. Jonadab asks Amnon why he looked “so haggard morning after morning” and Amnon confessed:

“I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."

Now any real friend would have rebuked Amnon for having such thoughts but Jonadab doesn’t do that. Instead, he becomes a willing accomplice, using his shrewdness to help Amnon craft a plan to violate Tamar. Their contrived plot involved Amnon going to bed and faking an illness that would lead to David visiting. When that happened, Amnon would request that Tamar come and prepare something for him to eat in his sight so he could “watch her and then eat it from her hand”.

Of course, we know that the only thing that Amnon wished to consume was Tamar and her dignity.

We should note here how Amnon was further mimicking his father’s sinfulness. For after David slept with Bathsheba and she became pregnant, David came up with three deceitful schemes to try and make it appear that the child Bathsheba was carrying was Uriah’s when it was really his.

Now, we see Amnon devilishly scheming to try and have sex with Tamar.

Again, like father, like son.

Back to the scriptures now where we see that “Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill” just as Joanadab and he had planned…and when David came to see him, Amnon made his rehearsed request saying:

“I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight so I may eat from her hand."

And so David, not sensing the evil within the request, “sent word to Tamar at the palace”:

"Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him."

We read where Tamar did as her father requested, going to “the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down” and once there, “she took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight, and baked it” before taking the pan to him to serve him. In what must have surprised her, Amnon refused to eat. Instead, he ordered everyone to leave the room and then said this to Tamar:

“Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand."

And so Tamar, not even thinking for a minute that she had anything to be afraid of, “took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom”. And when she did, Amnon showed his true intent, grabbing Tamar while demanding:

“Come to bed with me, my sister."

Immediately, Tamar now knew what Amnon’s true intentions were and pleaded for him to stop saying:

“Don't, my brother!…Don't force me. Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don't do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you."

Note the main points found in Tamar’s attempt to talk Amnon from taking away her virginity.

First, she told Amnon that what he was trying to do was wicked and should not be done in Israel…a land that was under the Lord’s care and guidance.

She then appealed for him to consider what would happen to her if he did force himself on her. His actions would bring her a disgrace that she would never be able to get rid of.

Next, she tries to remind him that he was one of the king’s sons. As royalty, he could possibly one day ascend to the throne but if he violated her, he would only become like one of the “wicked fools in Israel”.

Finally, Tamar stated that she would even be willing to marry Amnon and that he should ask his father, the king, for permission. If she was married and had sex with Amnon, then it would be acceptable within the Jewish cultural standards.

With all this, we see where Tamar did everything she could do to try and get Amnon to reconsider what he was trying to do but unfortunately the scriptures tell us that “he refused to listen” before he overpowered Tamar and “raped her”.

Now, this was bad enough but what Amnon did next was just as evil for we read where he “hated her with intense hatred”…”more than he had loved her” and gave Tamar the following order:

“Get up and get out!"

At this point, Amnon had stolen away every part of Tamar’s honor and now was inhumanely discarding her as if she was a piece of trash…something he used and then threw away.

The impact on Tamar was devastating. She responds to Amnon out of her immense anguish, saying:

“No!…Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me."

But Amnon “refused to listen to her”, calling his personal servant and telling him to remove Tamar from his chambers before bolting the door. This isolated Amnon, bow bearing the sin he committed, from his sister who was now cast off into the world wearing her “richly ornamented robe…the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore”. Now betrayed and violated, we read where she “put ashes on her head, tore the ornamented robe she was wearing, and put her hand on her head as she “went away weeping aloud”, deeply mourning her circumstances.

Lust, deceit, and abuse or power.

These were all sins that David had committed before…sins now repeated by Amnon. The father had an adverse influence on his son and that influence ended up victimizing his own daughter. But we’re about to see where the influences of David’s sin would range even further.

For we see where Tamar goes to her brother Absalom who, after seeing her with the ashes on her head and the torn robe, asks:

“Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you?”

Sensing that this is what has happened, he then tells her:

“Be quiet now, my sister; he is your brother. Don't take this thing to heart”.

Put yourself in Tamar’s place for a moment and think about how those words would have made you feel. I guess it would be easy for Absalom to be so insensitive, especially since he wasn’t the one who was raped and robbed of his dignity and value. Still, Tamar listened to him and remained living in his house where she existed as a “desolate woman”.

The bottom line is that Amnon’s lustful moment of pleasure resulted in a lifetime of shame and disgrace for Tamar. As we saw in yesterday’s message, there is an incredible cost associated with sin.

Well, the scriptures show us that Amnon’s act didn’t stay concealed because word of it got to David who was furious, although there is zero indication that he did anything to address it. I mean, as the king you would have thought he would impose a harsh penalty on his son in response to his heinous actions but he didn’t. Perhaps he (David) was disempowered by his own sinfulness, afraid to act at the expense of seeming hypocritical.

On the other hand, we see where Absalom certainly didn’t forget what his brother had done, refusing to say a word to Amnon and hating him “because he had disgraced his sister Tamar”. This hatred festered for two years until Absalom decided to take matters into his own hands.

And so as “Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim”, he “invited all the king's sons to come there” as well as his father but David declined giving Absalom his blessing. Accepting this, we see where Absalom asked his father of he would permit Amnon to come and David, although leery of doing it, sent him with the rest of his sons.

Now we know that there was a plan behind Absalom’s request…a plan to exact revenge on Amnon for what he had done to Tamar and this sinful planning mimicked the actions of David when he set up Uriah to be killed in battle. For we know that Absalom had no real intention of having Amnon come to the sheep shearing for the sheep. Rather, he only wished to lure Amnon to the event so to kill him, willing to deceive his own father, the king of Israel, to do so.

Fast forward now to the sheep shearing and as Amnon and the rest of the king’s sons were approaching, we read where Absalom gave his men the following orders:

"Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' then kill him. Don't be afraid. Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave."

And with that, “Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered”, killing him while the rest of the king’s sons “got up, mounted their mules and fled”. Before they returned home, we read where David received a false report that Absalom had killed all of his sons which led him to stand up, tear his clothes, and lay down on the ground in mourning. His servants also tore their clothes but Jonadab…yes, the same shrewd friend of Amnon…came to David in the midst of his mourning and said:

“My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead."

Jonadab was right for none of David’s other sons had died except for Amnon who was murdered by order of his brother Absalom who now fled.

Deceitful plotting and murder.

Absalom had done no differently that his father David had done before. Sin begat sin. Like father, like son,

Friends, can we see in today’s scripture passage how a parent (or parents) can adversely impact their children if they’re not careful how we act in their presence?

There’s no question that the unchecked sinfulness of parents, left unchecked, can infect the hearts and minds of their young…and lead to sinful manifestations within their own behavior. We need to remember that children are always watching and listening, ready to model the things they see others do.

Children that grow up in abusive households often become abusers as adults.

Children who are raised in environments where their parents always got drunk or were high on drugs often become alcoholics or drug addicts when they reach adulthood.

The children of parents who committed crimes and got locked up often become criminals when they get older.

The time is now for parents to stop ruining the children God has placed in their care. We have far too many Amnon’s and Absalom’s running around today, the offshoots of too many David’s. And in the wake of the sins of these children who are adults and carrying on the actions of their parents, there are many Tamar’s who are violated and destroyed in their wake.  

How many more generations are we willing to ruin?

How many more times will we dishonor our Lord who brings these children into His creation and entrusts them to the care of human parents…only to see them destroy the future He is trying to establish?

It’s well beyond time that we start influencing our children properly and if that influence isn’t pointing them to be like Christ Jesus, then we’re missing the mark.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE COST OF SIN...THE POWER OF GRACE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David.

When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house.

When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"

Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"

Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him and David made him drunk. But in the evening, Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home.

In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."

So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king's anger may flare up and he may ask you, 'Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelech, son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, 'Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'"

The messenger set out and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."

David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: 'Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage Joab."

When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.”

"Now a traveler came to the rich man but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over because he did such a thing and had no pity."

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'”

"This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes, I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'"

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."

Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."

After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

On the seventh day, the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."

David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked.

"Yes," they replied, "he is dead."

Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions, and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house and at his request they served him food, and he ate.

His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"

He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him but he will not return to me."

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.

Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, "I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me."

So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah and attacked and captured it. He took the crown from the head of their king — its weight was a talent of gold and it was set with precious stones — and it was placed on David's head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes and he made them work at brickmaking. He did this to all the Ammonite towns.

Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 11 and 12

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Up to this point in the scriptures, we have watched David ascend to the highest heights of leadership, first anointed and then led by the Lord to become king over Israel, Judah, and their surrounding territories. No one had more power and authority because no one had the Lord on their side as David did. Once a mere young shepherd boy, now David was on top of the world.

But there was one problem.

David was a sinner like any other person…and in chapter 11 of 2nd Samuel, we’re reminded that anyone, no matter their status, can easily be taken down by sin if they allow it to take root in our lives.

In David’s case, we read where he eyes a beautiful woman bathing from the roof of his palace and immediately lusts for her, sending “someone to find out about her”. And after finding out she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, he sent messengers to bring her to him.

Now, of interest, David had sent “Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army” and “they destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah”. The scriptures tell us that this time of year was when kings went with their armies but David decided to remain in Jerusalem. Had he been where he typically would have been, maybe he would have avoided the sinful infidelity he engaged in. Nonetheless, we get a sense from these chapters that David had a weakness grounded in beautiful women and this sinful lusting is what got him into trouble.

And so while Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, was off in battle with Joab, David took advantage of his wife being left alone and slept with her before sending her back home. I’m pretty sure that in his mind David saw this as a one off…a one time affair or “hook up” as we might call it today…but it didn’t take long for things to become complicated when Bathsheba “sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant.’" Further, we read where Bathsheba had just gotten over her menstrual period so that there would be no doubt that the child developing within her belonged to David. David and Bathsheba’s sinful adultery had now resulted in an impregnated Bathsheba and Israel’s king was in a real predicament.

Now, you would think that at this point that a man who had been known as being after God’s own heart might turn to Him, repent, and seek forgiveness and guidance.

But that’s not what David did. Instead, he allowed sin to continue to rule over him which led him into even deeper trouble. For we read where David concocted a plan to try and cover up the fact that he had gotten Bathsheba pregnant. He would summon Uriah back from the battlefield and get him to sleep with his wife so that her pregnancy could be tied to him. And so David did just that, sending word to Joab to send him Uriah.

When Uriah came back, we read where David asked “how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going” before telling Uriah to go home and wash his feet. And so Uriah left the palace and David was sure that he would return home and have sex with Bathsheba but that’s not what happened at all. For “Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house”.

Well, David was told about this and asked Uriah:

“Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"

To which Uriah replied:

“The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"

We get a sense of Uriah’s loyalty in his words…a loyalty that David was sorely lacking.

Well, David’s first plan had not gone as expected but we see where he wasn’t ready to give up yet for he had Uriah stay one more day, inviting him to eat and drink with him. David thought that if he could get Uriah drunk then surely he would go back to his home and lay with Bathsheba so the child could be pinned on him.

And so Uriah “ate and drank” with David and became drunk but again after he left David’s company, “Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants” and “did not go home”.

Once more, David’s sinful plan had failed so what would he do now?

Unfortunately, he decided to take his sin to the highest extreme, choosing to get rid of Uriah. Since he couldn’t place Bathsheba’s pregnancy on Uriah while he was alive, David comes to the conclusion that killing him would give him the same result. For if Uriah died, there would be no way he could dispute being the father of his wife’s child and if Bathsheba confessed, it would end up being her word against the king’s...and we know how that would have turned out given how the testimony of women was disregarded in biblical times.

And so David wrote a letter to Joab saying:

“Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die”.

Ironically, Uriah then carried the letter to Joab, essentially delivering his very own death warrant.

Well, after Joab received the letter, he followed its orders putting “Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were” and it was there that he died as “the men of the city came out and fought against Joab”.

This time, David’s plan had succeeded.

We read where Joab sent word back to David about what had happened, thinking he would be angry because of all the other men who had died along with Uriah in the battle. But David obviously took the news well and sent encouraging orders back to Joab saying:

“Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.”

And Joab did just that fighting “against Rabbah of the Ammonites” and capturing the royal citadel.

Meanwhile, Bathsheba “heard that her husband was dead” and “she mourned for him”. The scriptures tell us that “after the time of mourning was over”, David “brought her to his house” where “she became his wife and bore him a son”. At this time, all seemed well again for David who had finally pulled off his plan and, in his mind, had gotten away with his sinful actions.

But he hadn’t really because he forgot one very important thing. For the Lord sees everything and so He clearly knew everything that had transpired with David, behavior that we read displeased Him.

You know, we need to keep this in mind as well in our lives. One sin is unacceptable enough to God…but sin added to sin added to sin added to sin infuriates Him. In David’s case, adultery led to an attempted deceitful cover up which led to murder. And in this story, we’re reminded that no one ever gets away with sin. There is always a cost that is paid.

In David’s case, we see where God sent the prophet Nathan to David who shares the following parable:

"There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.”

"Now a traveler came to the rich man but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."

Note the meaning of the parable.

The rich man who had everything took the one and only treasure that the poor man had…just as David had taken the one thing that his poor servant Uriah had in his wife Bathsheba, represented by the “little ewe lamb”.

Back to the scriptures where we find David burning “with anger against the man” in the parable saying to Nathan:

“As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over because he did such a thing and had no pity."

And with that, Nathan delivers the news that David is the rich man in the parable before giving him the following message:

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'”

"This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes, I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'"

David had thought he had gotten away with murder but the Lord saw it all and showed Israel’s king that there are penalties…severe costs…for sinful behavior, a truth we need to take note of as well.

In David’s case, the Lord vowed that members of his family would also be murdered and his wives would be taken from him and given to others for sexual relations…all this done in broad daylight and clear sight…not in secrecy and darkness as David had done. Essentially, David’s sinful actions against others would be brought against him but not without his knowledge of it.

Yes, sin has a definite cost in consequences from an almighty, infinitely powerful God but we also learn something else in these two chapters play out in our lives as well, For we see that there is a just as much a power in the grace that we experience from the Lord as there is in punishment.

For after hearing the word of the Lord from Nathan, we find David simply confessing:

“I have sinned against the Lord."

And it was immediately after this confession that we find Nathan telling David:

“The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.”

Here we see that through the power of God’s grace David would be spared but note that the power of God’s consequence would not be taken away. Because David’s actions had “made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt”, the Lord tells him that “the son born to you will die."

And so after Nathan departed, the “Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife (Bathsheba) had borne to David” and the child became ill. We read where “David pleaded with God for the child”, fasting and spending his “nights lying on the ground” refusing to get up but his actions were of no use for “on the seventh day the child died”. We see where the king’s servants were afraid to tell him because they didn’t want him to do something desperate but David heard them whispering and, fearing the worst, asks them if his child was dead…which they confirm.

Well, with this news, we read where David gets up, washes himself, puts on lotions, and changes his clothes before going to the “house of the Lord” to worship. It’s so interesting that David’s first act after experiencing the power of God’s judgment and grace was to go before Him and worship.

This is something we can learn from for when we have committed wrongs and then repented, we need to return to the Lord and draw ever nearer to Him. For even though He disciplines us as any father would out of love for his children, so too does God bring us back to Himself out of love and a desire to continue making us to be the people He wants us to be…to teach us how to live right each and every day.

Going back to our passage, we see that David goes home after worship where he finally breaks his fast and eats. Confused by his behavior, the servants asked:

“Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"

To which David replied:

“While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."

David’s words revealed a renewed sense of trust and hope in what the Lord might do. He stayed steadfast in his repentant prayers and fasting before the Lord hoping the Lord might graciously change His mind and spare the child born out of adultery. But after the child died, David realized that the cost had been paid for his sinfulness and it was time to move forward because nothing he could do would bring the child back.

It’s at this point we see the steep cost of sin that fell on David as he lost the son produced from infidelity with Bathsheba. And it was after this debt was paid that we see the equally powerful nature of God’s grace for we read that as “David comforted his wife Bathsheba”, he lay with her and “she gave birth to a son” who they named Solomon…the son we know will succeed David as king. And the scriptures tell us that “the Lord loved him”.

In David, we see a lot of ourselves. Yes, I know that we aren’t kings and rulers over vast territories and peoples but that’s not my point. For it’s not our position or stature that' matters as much as it is how we live our lives in whatever place or position the Lord has us.

David just so happened to be king of Israel and Judah. When I was in the Navy, I had the privilege to serve in the highest position of senior enlisted leadership as a Command Master Chief. You are working as a (fill in the blank). The point is that we all have different jobs that the Lord puts us in but we all share one thing in common. We’re all sinners who run the risk of seeing sin take over if we allow ourselves to get away from the Lord and His Spirit within us.

David did that and allowed lust to lead to adultery…adultery to lead to deceitful scheming…and deceitful scheming to lead to murder. The same can happen to us, one sin cascading into others if we aren’t careful. We should never underestimate Satan’s ability to play on our desires so to lead us down the road of transgression.

In the end, David learned that there is a cost to be paid for sinful behavior. In his case, it cost him a son and we too should realize that there are harsh consequences for sinful behavior, hopefully using this truth as a deterrent in our own decision making. For as we get set to do wrong, we need to remember that the Lord is watching and always convicting us, something we refer to as a conscious. At that point of conviction, we need to condition ourselves to stop and consider whether we’re prepared to face God’s punishment for our sinfulness because rest assures it will come.

Sin never happens without an associated cost to pay.

We also need to learn from these chapters that there is equal, if not more power found in God’s grace for us.

In David’s case, he did lose a son but also gained one as well…one that God accepted and loved…one that would ascend to the throne of Israel and build the Lord’s temple. In granting this blessing, we see God’s beautiful and mighty grace revealed as he moved David and Bathsheba forward, moving them beyond their sin towards becoming better than they were…to become the people He wanted them to be.

Today, God’s grace extends just as powerfully to you and me…for just by me writing this today and you reading it, we should rejoice in the blessing of life…that despite our sinfulness, the Lord has found it fit to bring us into another day…another day where He can mold and shape us into becoming the kind of people He wants us to be…a people who live each and every day in the spirit of righteousness and holiness.

Before I close, I want to touch on one last point to put an exclamation point on this very important message. For if you don’t believe there’s a heavy cost associated with sin, then you haven’t looked at the cross lately. There, God’s one and only Son…our Savior, Jesus Christ…was crucified, the unblemished Lamb who purchased our pardon while serving as the final sin sacrifice that would ever be needed.

And so next time we have as decision to make that involves right or wrong, let us look to the cross and remember the penalty of sin covered by our dying Savior…and while doing so, also remember the incredible, amazing power of grace and love that God showed when He gave His only Son to die in the place of sinners so to bring salvation to anyone who would simply believe in Him (John 3:16).

Indeed my brothers and sisters, the cost of sin and the power of grace are fully displayed in one place…the cross of Calvary, a truth that should always lead us to ponder:

Where would we be without Jesus?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

WHAT WILL THE LORD DO?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. David thought, "I will show kindness to Hanun, son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me."

So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David's men came to the land of the Ammonites, the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?"

So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half of each man's beard, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.

When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, "Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown and then come back."

When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David's nostrils, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.

On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai, his brother, and deployed them against the Ammonites. Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in His sight."

Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans and they fled before him. When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the River; they went to Helam with Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them.

When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. But they fled before Israel and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach, the commander of their army, and he died there. When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.

So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

2 Samuel 10

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In chapter 8 of 2nd Samuel, we read about the many victories that the Lord blessed David with as he conquered nations that bordered Israel and Judah, expanding territorial boundaries to match up with what the Lord had promised to provide.

At the end of the fighting, you’ll remember that the Lord vowed to give David peace from his enemies and we get a sense that this happened at least for some time because as chapter 10 of this book opens, we read that “in the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died” with his son Hanun succeeding him as king. The scriptures tell us that the deceased Ammonite king had sown kindness to David during his reign so David decided to return the favor and “show kindness to Hanun”, sending a “delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father”.

Well, as the delegation “came to the land of the Ammonites”, we see where the nobles there became suspicious of their motives, saying to Hanun:

“Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?"

Unfortunately, their words influenced Hanun to believe that David had sent the men for nefarious reasons outside of expressing sympathy and so had them seized and “shaved off half of each man's beard” before cutting “off their garments in the middle at the buttocks” and sending them away. These actions were clearly meant to embarrass the men who were “greatly humiliated” over what had been done to them.

Well, word of what happened got back to David and he sent “messengers to meet (his) men telling them to:

“Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back."

This command was meant to ensure the men would not have to face embarrassment and ridicule in Jerusalem over what had been done to them. Through his actions, David respected and preserved the honor of the men who had gone to represent him.

Meanwhile, the Ammonites realized that David would not take what they had done lightly and would most likely come to avenge his men and so we read where they “hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob” so to construct an army they thought would be able to defeat David’s Israelite forces. As for David, he got wind about what the Ammonites had done and “sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men” in response.

A battle was soon about to take place and this is how things sized up.

The Ammonites “came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country”. Joab, seeing “there were battle lines in front of him and behind him”, chose “some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans”. He then “put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai, his brother, and deployed them against the Ammonites”. Overall, we see Joab giving the following directions to the troops saying:

“If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in His sight."

And with that, “Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans” who “fled before him”. Meanwhile, the Ammonites “saw that the Arameans were fleeing” and fled themselves, going into the city. With this, Joab “returned from fighting the Ammonites” and went back to Jerusalem.

Well, after all this you would think that the Ammonites and Arameans would just admit defeat and let things stay as they were but that didn’t happen. For “after the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped” with Hadadezer having “Arameans brought from beyond the River” and sending them “to Helam with Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them”.

Again, word got to David about the Aramean regrouping and so he “gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam to meet the Arameans who had “formed their battle lines to meet David”…and with that the battle started.

Right away, it was obvious that the Arameans made a bad decision to challenge David again because before they fled Israel, he and his men “killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers” as well as “Shobach, the commander of their army”. And when “all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel”, they decided to make “peace with the Israelites”, becoming “subject to them” and afraid to “help the Ammonites anymore”.

In the end translation, the Lord had once again delivered Israel’s enemies into their hands in battle.

Why did He do so?

We find Joab helping us find the answer in this passage when he says this to his men:

“Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in His sight.”

In other words, he assured them that they need not fear so to stay bravely focused on the battle at hand because when it came right down to it, the Lord would do “what is good in His sight”…all because He is always in control.

My friends, these words can offer us encouragement too as we go forth each day to carry out what Jesus instructed us to do…to go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all He commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). For as we go forth to do God’s will, we always seem to be up against our own enemy.

For David and his fighting men in this passage, it was the Ammonites and Arameans.

For us, it’s Satan who wants nothing more than to prevent us from doing what the Lord desires.

So how do we deal with the adversarial work of the devil in life?

We begin by going into each day unafraid while fighting bravely for the cause of Christ, knowing that we never fight alone. For not only did Jesus give us a command within His Great Commission, He also gave us the promise that He would be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20)…and we know that will perfectly fulfill everything He said He would do.

And so, if we willfully and intentionally choose to partner with Jesus every day, going to do as He demanded with His power and presence in our hearts, minds, and souls, then trust me when I say that Satan will never have victory over us…for there is no way he will ever gain victory over Jesus. In fact, he has already been defeated.

Indeed, our Lord will always do what is good and He will do it in, through, and around us.

Going back to our passage today and specifically looking at verse 12, we can find additional assurances by looking at different translations while answering the following question:

“What will the Lord do?”

1. He will do “whatever He sees need doing”. (The Message)

The Lord has a plan and that plan is going to be fulfilled. We can trust in that.

And so our Lord will do whatever He sees needs to be done in order for His plan to be carried out successfully…and often He uses us to do that and so we need to offer ourselves to Him each and every day so He can use us in any way He sees fit to accomplish His purposes.

2. He will do “what seems good to Him”. (The Amplified Bible)

In the Book of James, we read this about the Lord:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights”. (1:17)

Indeed, our Lord does whatever seems good to Him and will grant us good from above to make that happen. And since we serve a Lord who is perfectly right and just, then we can rest assured that He will always do what is perfectly good…and all His works as just that.

3. He will do “whatever pleases Him”. (The Contemporary English Version)

After all, He is the Lord…the Maker and Master of everything. And so it only makes sense that He makes everything happen in a way that is pleasing to Him.

Given this, it’s not our place to demand that He do anything because typically our petitions involve things that are pleasing to ourselves…and that might not always match with what would please the Lord so our prayer should be for the Lord to do what is pleasing in His sight because that is in fact what He will do.

His word assures us of this.

4. He will do “what He thinks is right”. (The New Century Version)

The Lord doesn’t make mistakes and so He never does wrong. We need to remember this.

So given that everything He does is right, we should praise Him for that, even when things in our lives might not seem to be working out in the way we think they should.

After all, as sinners who fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23), who are we to argue against Him?

5. He will do “His will and it will be done”. (The New Living Translation and Holman Christian Standard)

Brothers and sisters, there is no question that the Lord will do what He sees needs done…what seems good to Him…what pleases Him…and what He thinks is right. All these add up to equal His will and that will is going to be done in our life and in this world we live in, no matter what. Any fight against it being accomplished is absolutely futile because no one person is greater than the power of the Lord…a power that will ensure His will is always done.

It’s this truth that allowed Joab and his men to men to go to battle bravely and unafraid and it’s a truth that allows us to do likewise as we go through every day we’re blessed with.

So if you wonder what the Lord is doing in your life today, the answer is simple.

He’s doing what is good in His sight…just as He does each and every day.

Let’s be thankful for it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.