2 Samuel Series - Week 7: Sin Isn’t a Toy

  Years ago, before I came to Quartzsite, I had a dream. I’ve shared this dream before years ago. In the dream, I lived in a suburb, where the houses all matched each other. The lawns were a bright green, and they slanted up towards the homes. I had been cleaning out the garage and was now sweeping it. As I swept, I saw a rattlesnake. Instead of clearing it out, I began to poke and prod it. In that moment I understood what the dream meant. God taught me that even if everything looks good on the outside, and everything appears to be in its place, that doesn’t mean I’ve overcome sin in my life. In fact, God was teaching me that I had been playing with sin as if I could control it, but just like that snake could strike me at any moment, sin could take me down. 

After that dream, I began to take sin more seriously, because I understood it’s not something you play with.  

This concept that sins isn’t a toy, brings us back to our sermon series in Second Samuel 11, where we’re moving from the Best Days of David in section one of the book, to the Dark Days of David in section two. 

We can summarize the first section of Second Samuel with this, God raised David to be the undisputed king over Israel, yet there were seeds of sin that began flowering into full problems. We can see this rise through David’s coronation and God’s subjugation of other nations, and we can see this sin in David allowing wicked men to advise him, and his own lustful desires. It’s in the case of both of these seeds of sin that we now find David start his dark days.

So let’s read together, Chapter 11, starting in verse 1 of Second Samuel.

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. 19 And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, 20 then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

v.1-5 - We can see that in the first five verses, things are starting to unravel for David, because of his lustful desire. Let’s break down the issues in the first five verses: First, David was at home while his army was out fighting. Notice it says,“… when kings go out …(v.1)” Right after the rainy season was a time when battles happened because there was good weather, but this time, the king isn’t going out with his army. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. David had been fighting since his late teens. He’s in his mid forties now. I can understand why he’s staying home. Perhaps he’s tired, but there’s an issue, so he sends his general to do it. Except, because he’s not leading his army, he’s left to his own devices. And as the old saying goes, “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.” And as we’ve seen, that’s what happens.

The second issue is David’s lust. Men are visual creatures, we notice things, especially pretty things like women. At this time, David has at least seven wives that are explicitly named in Second Samuel (3:2-6,13), but we also know that he took on more wives and concubines while king in Jerusalem (5:13). So we know he has plenty of ladies around to satisfy his sexual desires. But that’s the problem with lust, if one is not satisfied with his wife, then there isn’t enough women to satisfy it. So David sees this woman on the roof bathing, and instead of doing the godly things an looking away, he stares and allows his lust to grow.

Which brings us to the third issue, David let’s his enthrallment to move beyond a personal sin, and seeks to have sex with this woman. There’s a moment here where David inquires about Bathsheba. Some scholars have noticed that the wording here isn’t that David is asking a servant, but rather himself, and acknowledges that this woman is the wife of one of his closest warriors. If this is the case, then it compounds the initial sin even more.

But we might be asking, why is she bathing on the roof. First, as the ESV translates it, she wasn’t necessarily on her roof, but rather from David’s roof he saw her. Second, if she was on her roof, it was evening, and the roof was probably the most secluded place for a person to bathe. The question is, why was she bathing? Well, the  most common interpretation is that Bathsheba was purifying her uncleanness, which meant that she had just had her period and would be unclean for seven days. This meant that she couldn’t lie with her husband (Lev. 15:19-24), which wouldn’t be an issue since he was away at war. I believe this is the correct translation because the same word for uncleanness here is the root for the word used in connection with a women’s menstruation in Leviticus 15. However, some have argued, that the bathing, since it is mentioned after the intercourse, means that she was cleansing herself of the act with David. If true this would shine a different light on her role in the situation. However, we’re told about her uncleanness to let us know two things: Bathsheba was not pregnant prior to David, and that David didn’t care that she might have been in a prime time to get pregnant. So I believe the traditional interpretation is the correct one. Bathsheba was bathing in response to her menstruation cycle, not from her lying with David.

The fourth issue is that of the willingness of Bathsheba. As far as we can see from the text, there doesn’t seem to be any push back on her part, making this seem like a mutual adultery. Some might say that since David was the king, he forced himself on her and she was a unwilling bystander, but there is no indication that is true. If it were, we know that the writer of Second Samuel has no qualms about writing about things like rape, as we’ll see in Chapter 13 with Tamar. So it seems, like Bathsheba might have been as willing as David was in this moment. That doesn’t mean that she might not have regretted it later, as she did mourn at her husband’s passing. But she also quickly went to become David’s wife soon after that mourning period.

Finally, the last issue is, that once Bathsheba tells David she’s pregnant, David is put in a situation where now there is a child and he has to find a way to “fix” the situation. We need to notice that abortion never enters his mind. Instead, he has another idea.

v.6-13 - To fix the situation, David has the idea to bring Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from the battle and have him sleep with her. This way, it will seem like Uriah impregnated her. David encourages him to “… wash his feet …(v.8),” a Hebrew idiom that’s not a subtle way of telling Uriah to go sleep with his wife. David even gives a present to him, which is most likely something to make sure their union happens.

However, Uriah, whose name means “Yahweh is my Light,” even while drunk, did not want to be treated any different than the other men who had gone out to battle. The fact that he is a Hittite is important, because it shows that non-Israelite people could act in righteous ways and that Israelites, even the king, were not above falling to temptation. Uriah acted honorably, wanting to return to the battle, unlike David who stayed away from it.

v.14-27 - Since David’s first plan didn’t work, he chose to employ Joab to help him kill Uriah. Here’s the connection to Chapter 3, where I emphasized before that there would be a fallout for David keeping Joab around, even knowing that he was a wicked man. David knows that Joab is wicked because he took vengeance on Abner, even though David had made peace with the man. But, instead of punishing Joab then, David allowed him to continue in his role, because Joab was family, and a skilled general. However, in God’s economy, surrounding ourselves with wicked people, only allows wickedness a foothold in our lives. It is possible that if David would have dealt with Joab before, then he would have to face the problem without killing Uriah, because he wouldn’t have a willing partner in the crime. 

Instead, when David needs a wicked thing done, he has an ally in Joab, and Joab is willing to help. Uriah gets “killed” in battle, and no one is the wiser as to why. Only David and Joab know the truth.

The chapter ends with the words, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. (v.27)” 

From this I find myself asking, ‘What particular thing? Was it the lust of the eyes? The act of adultery? The cover up? The murder? The conspiracy?’ And the answer is, all of it. It is multiple sins compounded into one horrible situation.

How easy it is for us, even to be in the best place in our walk with God, to have one sin cascade into a massive destruction of lives. But this is the reality of sin. Sin doesn’t just say one move away from God is good. It wants us as far as it can get us from the One who created us for righteousness. Sin craves for us to indulge our wicked desires so that it can take us into greater wickedness. Was David’s intention to kill Uriah? Probably not, because Uriah was one of David’s thirty greatest warriors (1 Chron. 11:41). But his lustful desires, something that God had already warned the kings of Israel about, led to the death of a man trying to live his life in righteousness under the God of Israel.

It makes more sense then why Jesus uses such harsh words about sin in places like Matthew 5:27-30, where he zeroes in on the sin of lust. Jesus say, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

Think about the imagery. It’s better to brutally maimed, with eyes gouged out, and hands cut off, than to allow sin to lead us into separation from God in hell. Now Jesus’ isn’t saying to go and gouge out eyes out, or cut off our hands. He’s invoking visceral imagery, that makes us think about the horrid nature of sin, and to take it seriously. David’s lust over Bathsheba, leads to the death of Uriah and other Israelite men not even connected to the situation, and we’ll later find out, the death of a child. It leads to a deeper association with Joab, giving a wicked man more dirt on the king. Sin isn’t something to wag our finger at, but a serpent among the bushes, a wolf among the sheep. We need to take it seriously, because its consequences are serious.

God is calling us away from all sin, even if it seems innocent. I’m sure it was innocent for David to let his eyes linger just a little longer on Bathsheba than he should. But that innocent sin, led to greater acts of sin. I’ve shared that one of the things I do to avoid allowing my eyes to rest on lustful things, is that when I’m in a store, and there’s a woman in an isle alone, and I’m alone, I go to another spot. A couple of months ago, we were shopping in Ross, and I sat down on one of the chairs in the back, which was at the back end of the woman’s clothing. A lady came up and was looking at some clothes and then turned her backside to me, so I just got up and left. I don’t know if she intentionally did that or not, but I didn’t want to sit around and find out.

Sin isn’t to play with, but when we fall to its temptation, we confess it and seek the Holy Spirit. But if we’re not willing to do the work of getting up and moving out of sin’s temptation, it will lead to greater acts of sin, and we’ll eventually find ourselves in a place where we’re doing things we never thought of. And it all started because we lingered too long in a place we should not have been.

My challenge for you this week is to think of those areas your most susceptible to sin. For most guys, it’s lust. For most women pride, envy, and control are said to be the areas women struggle the most in. This week I want you to take that area of your life, and every day bring it before the Lord, seeking him to make you aware of the situations that allow you indulge that sin. For guys it might be getting rid of that calendar in our shops, or no longer watching that movie we like. Ladies, it might be a person you listen to, or a person you don’t like. Seek the Lord to make you aware of the temptation, and give you to strength to get out of it.

God is calling all his people to view sin as he sees it, and a devastating disease that needs to be eradicated, not a toy to be played with. Let us be a people who turn from our sin, to God’s righteousness. Amen.

2 Samuel Series - Week 6: Hearts Aligned With God’s Plans

  As my family was preparing to go back to Virginia, we decided to visit Washington, DC, because our thought was, ‘When will we ever be back there again?’ Some people go their whole lives and never visit the nation’s capital, and so far, neither had we. So, ninety-days out from our trip, I contacted our congressman’s office to see if we could get a tour of the White House. They replied fairly quickly and we got our tour times for the White House and the Capitol Building. Since our tour for the Capitol Building was going to be on a Monday, and the White House on Tuesday, we got a hotel in DC for the night between the two. We planed out the rest of our visit to DC based on these two tours. Our schedule was going to be, fly into Virginia on Wednesday, go to Lynchburg for the graduation on Thursday, have a day off on Friday to look around Williamsburg, have a tour of DC on Saturday, rest on Sunday, and have our two days in DC Monday and Tuesday. 

Well, about a month and a half goes by and I received an email from the White House letting me know that they had canceled our tour. I quickly contacted our congressman’s office and they were able to change our White House tour to Friday. We were relieved because we still got to go to the White House, but now, we lost a rest day. Looking back, I’m glad that we were able to go, even though the commute was stressful and by the end of the week I was exhausted. It was neat to visit the sights, but we didn’t get to all of it, and even missed standing next to the Washington Monument, and I think that if we hadn’t gained that extra day in DC, we would have seen even less than we did. So it was a good thing our plans had to change. But that’s the way life goes, and sometimes when our plans change, it brings greater things.

It’s this idea of plans changing that brings us back to our summer series in the book of Second Samuel, where we’ll be picking it back up in Chapter 7, starting in verse 1, and going all the way through Chapter 10. But, we’re not going to read every verse today, in fact we’re rally only focusing on Chapter 7, so your homework is to read through chapters 7-10 this week. But as we jump back into Second Samuel 7, let’s refresh our memories on where we are in the book, since we’ve taken three weeks off from it.

In our first week, we saw how David, in Chapters 1, 4, and 9 looked for the good of Saul’s family, even though the family was out to destroy him. David honored Saul and his son, Ish-bosheth, after their deaths, and cared for Saul’s grandson, who was physically disabled. From this, we walked away with the understanding that, God is calling us to be people seeking the good for others, even when they seek our harm. This is one of the hardest callings of God on the Christian’s life, yet it reflects the very redemptive work of Jesus on the cross.

Following our first week, we briefly looked at the actions of Abner. Who, for what we saw, tried to act righteously in supporting the heir to the throne of Saul, and avoiding unneeded killing. Yet, even though he tried to act righteously, wickedness came against him, which led to his death. We walked away from Abner with the understanding that, wickedness will come against God’s people, but he calls us to trust in his faithfulness, when the wickedness comes against us. Because of sin, wickedness is a part of this world, but with Jesus we can withstand it.

In our third week, we then saw the culmination of decades of anticipation of David becoming king. We saw his coronation and his victories. Yet within the celebration, we saw seeds of sin that hadn’t been taken care of before, begin to flower. And we noticed that though David loved God and even wrote songs to and about him, he didn’t put in place the antidote to sin, which was writing down God’s word for himself. We walked away from David’s rise to the crown with the understanding that, we are to starve our sinful desires by making God’s word a priority in our lives.

Then in our fourth week, we saw how David desired to bring the ark of the covenant to the City of David. Yet, because they were treating it like a trophy and not with the respect God had decreed it to have, David and the people experienced the holiness of God on full display. Because of this they walked away with a more reverent fear of God, the type of respect all of us should show the Creator and Sustainer of All Things. We walked away from the fourth week, with the understanding that, we need to remember that God is holy, and through his holiness, he has bought us salvation. We can talk about the love of God, but because of his holiness, sin has to be dealt with on the cross and everyday in our lives. So we need to be respectful of the God who has worked to save us.

Finally, in our fifth week, we saw David dance before the ark as it came to the city. From David’s praise of God, there was outflowing of generosity to the people, and everyone joined in the celebration of what God had done for the nation of Israel. Everyone except Michal, David’s first wife. She chastised himself, because he had lowered himself from a kingly position to that of a manic commoner. Yet, David understood his position. He wasn’t really the king of Israel, he was a servant of the king, and so he rejoiced at what the true King of Israel had done. We walked away from that week, with the understanding that, through understanding God’s holiness, we cannot hold back and must express it in true worship. Worship isn’t about us, it’s about what God has done, so we need to stop raising ourselves over God, and express to him what he is deserving, which is all of our praise.

These last five weeks, and today’s sixth week, is the first section of Second Samuel, the section I am calling the ‘Best Years.” These are David’s best years, where he’s on top of every thing. Though he struggles with sin, like we all do, his family is doing well, the nation is doing well, and his relationship with God is on track. However next week, is where we enter section two where it all starts falling apart.

But before we get into the weeks and weeks of bad things, let’s spend one more on the good ol’ days of David. Let’s read together, starting in Chapter 7, verse 1.

1 Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” 3 And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. 7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ 8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

v.7:1-3 - Let’s stop there for a moment. David has some good intention here. The ark of the covenant is currently in a tent outside the City of David. It’s not in the grand movable tabernacle which was created during Moses’ time and by God’s command; that’s actually in a another city. So David wants to give it a place, a temple, that is worthy of God. Remember, David just learned the lesson of God’s holiness, so David doesn’t want to treat the ark in an unholy manner. 

And the prophet Nathan is onboard with this idea and tells David, ‘Go ahead.’ The reason why is because, “… do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. (v.3)” Except Nathan oversteps his authority here. We learn later, that God doesn’t want David to build him a temple. There’s something to be said here about following your heart. To often, though we might have good intentions, that doesn’t mean that it’s what God wants. We might have a feeling of what’s right, but we shouldn’t just go with it. Instead, Nathan should have said, ‘Let me check with God before moving forward here.’ But he didn’t and God took the initiative to speak to Nathan.

v.4-17 - To stop the temple’s construction before it happens, God sends a ‘FULL STOP’ message to Nathan that he’s to relay to David. God first explains that he has never needed a place to dwell. Instead he has always moved about with his people. There’s no need for him to build God a temple. Yet, even though God will have someone eventually build it, that’s not his plan for David. God had specific plans for David, and God is accomplishing those plans. This is a good reminder that there is a lot of work to do, but God calls us to the work he has for us. 

Several years back, in the mind 2010s, we were discussing with the pastors in town how to create a Christian school. We knew that the town needed one, but how could you financially support such a thing? Eventually we had to abandon the idea. But then God moved in Arizona and opened up the ESA to be used at religious schools. Then God put the desire of a Christian school on Jeff Saxon’s heart over at the Southern Baptist, and now we have a Christian school in town. 

There was also a need we saw for a Celebrate Recovery program here in town, but we couldn’t fulfill that need. Yet now, the First Baptist are walking in that place. Being in Quartzsite so long, we have seen many needs and wanted to meet them all, but for whatever reason, God has confined us to the work he has always intended for this ministry. 

Sometimes, though we may see something that needs to happen, God has intended it for someone else. To know if we are to walk in an area, we need to seek him. We might have a desire, but we need to match that desire with the work God has called us to. When we do, not only are we fulfilled, but others can participate in the work of God.

It’s after Nathan shares that God has intended someone else to build his temple that David responds. Let’s pick the Scriptures back up in verse 18.

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! 20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! 21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? 24 And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. 25 And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. 26 And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. 27 For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. 29 Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

v.18-29 - David accepts God’s pronouncement and is in awe that God would use someone like him, and the people of Israel, to make God’s name great to the world. In this moment, David accepts that he would not have his heart’s desire of building God a great temple fulfilled. Though it is a good desire, and God doesn’t chastise him for that desire, it still isn’t for him, and David accepts it. Instead, David walks away in awe of God.

David knows he’s not worthy of all that God has accomplished in him. And he’s in awe that God is going to establish his kingdom forever. This is eventually achieved and will be achieved through the work of Jesus. David then ends his response with fully ready to walk in the plans God has for him, even if those plans do not include fulfilling this desire of David. 

And that’s reality, God’s plans should replace our desire. We should seek God in what he wants, because in doing so, we actually find fulfillment. Think about this, David has had his desire struck down by God and yet, it is David who writes these words in Psalm 37, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. (v.37:3-5)”

David learned that God’s ways are truly better. When we walk the path that God lays for us, we walk the path that brings the fulfillment we thought we wanted in other things. 

And because David consigns himself to walk the path that God laid out, from chapters 8-10, God brings victory after victory to David and Israel. David’s days of triumph is summarized in Chapter 8, verse 15, “So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people.”

God wanted to do great things through David, and because David consigned himself to God’s plans, David ruled his people in a godly way. The people experienced what it meant to have a king who honored God’s ways rather than his own. And through that obedience to God’s plans, the nation of Israel found peace among the other nations.

This is lesson that Peter had to learn when Jesus said to him, “‘Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.’ 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ (v.Jn. 21:18-19)”

Luke recorded a situation in Acts 16, where Paul and his companions were directed by God, “6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (v.16:6-10)”

And Jesus himself modeled this for us in John 5:30, when he said, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

And this is what God is calling us to. We are called to have our fulfillment, not in what we think we desire, but in the plans God has for us. In fact, what we think our heart’s desires are, might actually be a determinate to us. So, whether our relationship with God is strong, or struggling, we should always seek the Holy Spirit to align our desire with God’s plans.. 

My challenge for you this week is to write down the desires of your heart. Whether for your finances, your friends, travels, the country, your family, or health. Writ them down and then talk with God about the desire. Then add this to whatever you share with him, “Lord, let my desire conform and be fulfilled in your plans.” Because only in the place where God intends us, will our heart’s desire truly be fulfilled.

So let us be a people who see our heart’s desires fulfilled, because they align with our Father’s heart. Amen.

2 Samuel Series - Week 5: Don’t Hold Back Your Praise

 Have you ever had one of those songs that just gets your foot to tap? Or a one that can turn your whole day around? Some songs can just get us singing, even when we’re down in the dumps. One of those songs for me is called Glorious Day. The song is basically about the moment Jesus calls to us and brings us out of the grave and into his eternal life. It’s a foot moving, uplifting song. 

Then there’s a more quiet one called, I Saw God Today, by George Straight. Where a young man is singing about his wife giving birth, and later how he saw a flower through concrete, and in those moments, he saw God at work. 

There are songs that move us to rock out in our cars, or sing loud in our showers. Some of which we can’t help but belt them out when we hear them.

And its that idea of not holding back when our song comes on that brings us back to our summer series, where we’ll be picking it back up in Second Samuel Chapter 6, verse 13. But before we jump back into Second Samuel 6:13, let’s remind ourselves where we are in the book.

In our first week we looked at the love that David had for Saul’s family. We saw three instances of this: David’s mourning over Saul’s death, his mourning over Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth, and the taking in Saul’s grandson to take care of him. Through David’s love for Saul’s family, we understand that, God is calling us to be people seeking the good for others, even when they seek our harm. I’ve had several of you this past week tell me stories of how God is working through you in this very area. Though people may seek our downfall, we should still seek the blessings of God for them, the greatest of which is salvation through Jesus.

From the second week, we looked at the life of Abner, who, though he seemed to try to conduct himself in a righteous way, fell to the vengeance of Joab. From Abner’s life, we understood that, wickedness will come against God’s people, but he calls us to trust in his faithfulness when the wickedness comes against us. We can’t stop the wickedness of the world from coming at us, however, we can stand firm in Jesus, because he is faithful in all circumstances.

Then in our third week, we came to the moment where David is finally crowed king. God blesses him in many ways, but within that joyful moment, we saw that there were seeds of sin flowering in his life, through him being vindictive to his taking of many wives. Through God’s prescribed remedy for this, we understood that we are to starve our sinful desires by making God’s word a priority in our lives. By being in God’s word, we will be better able to stand against our sinful desires.

Finally, in our last week, we looked at a moment where God’s holiness was on display for the people. Uzzah kept the Ark of the Covenant from falling to the ground, which seems like a good thing, but God responded by striking the man down. When we examined the reasons why God did this, we could see that the people were not treating God as holy, but rather as an object for their own benefit. God’s holiness is his key attribute and by understanding that, we can better understand that reasons why God brings salvation through Jesus. Because of this, we walked away last week, with the understanding that, we need to remember that God is holy, and because of that holiness, he has bought us salvation. When we have a clear understanding of God’s holiness, we can then respond in the proper way.

With that in our minds, we can now read from Second Samuel 6:13-23.

13 And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. 14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts 19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” 21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

v.13-19 -This passage takes place as David brings the Ark of the Covenant up to the City of David. We covered some of the passage last week. Where David had originally brought the Ark as a trophy, he now has a better understanding of the holy prescriptions God had laid out, and he’s now following. David’s rejoicing reaches a point where he looses his “decorum” as king and dances before the Lord and the people. 

As the men, who are now carrying the Ark, move forward, David offers offerings to the Lord. This is most likely because he’s making atonement for his and the people’s sins for treating God as unholy. Then as the Ark continues its way up to Jerusalem, David begins to dance before the the Lord as he where’s a linen ephod. There can be a misunderstanding here, that David is basically dancing before God in his underwear. But the idea here is that David has removed his royal robes, and become like a commoner. The simple linen ephod was worn by the priests as a sign of simplicity before the Lord. So here, David is making a positional statement. He is not the king of Israel, God is, and in comparison to God, David is just a commoner, and his clothes reflect it. This is actually the issue that Michal will bring up, which we’ll look at in a little bit.

But David’s ecstatic joy for God overflows to blessing the people with food and a special blessing from the king of Israel under the authority of the Lord of hosts. The title for God is important here. It’s a recognizing that it is God who is the bringer of victory. He has brought David to this point, because God has won every victory for him.

v.16, 20-23 - However, though all of Israel is praising God, David’s first wife, Michal, isn’t. She’s seething, as she watches David. We’re told that she “despised him in her heart (v.16),” and at the first opportunity, she tells him that what he is doing is vulgar. This is where people get the idea that David was in his underwear, or even that he was naked, but there seems to be a different issue. Michal’s focus is on David as king saying, “How the king of Israel honored himself today … (v.20)” Michal’s focus is how the king honors himself. Her farther Saul’s whole focus was how he presented himself and honored himself as king.However, David’s focus was on how he would honor God, the true king of Israel. In this moment there’s a heart clash. David’s heart is for God, whereas Michal’s heart is for the position. She is a queen of Israel, she is Saul’s daughter, she has status, and she’s watching her husband, now king, act as a commoner. 

There’s probably also some underlying anger towards David, because she was given to him, but then was given to another, and in the interim, he married more women, got more concubines, and eventually David had her brought back to be his wife once again. She’s probably not happy with the situation she’s in, and has allowed her heart to harden towards God and David. 

It’s because of this hard-heartedness that the passage ends with letting us know that Michal didn’t have any children. This is seen as a divine judgment against Michal, letting us know that her heart wasn’t just set against David, but God as well.

And though the bigger thought continues on for another four chapters, we’ll stop here. From this passage we can walk away with the idea that, when we understand God’s holiness, we can express true worship. True worship is a stripping of our pretenses. True worship of the Lord, is from a place where we realize that he is deserving of every ounce of our lives. There is nothing we are to hold back from God. David brought sacrifices, stripped off his royal robes, danced, and was generous to the people around him. 

True worship is rooted in the holiness of God, and springs up in a way that seems strange to the world. Yet it’s this type of worship that we are called to. 

Psalm 100:4 states, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

Isaiah 12:4, “And you will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.’”

Jesus said this in John 4:23-24, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Colossians 3:16-17 states, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

The Hebrew writer writes in Hebrews 13:15, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

And finally, in Revelation 5:9-14, we’re told, “9 And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’ 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’

14 And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

We are to be a people of praise. We cannot hold it back, we must sing it out. It’s not for us that we sing, but every once of our praise should be in recognition of the Holy God, Creator and Sustainer of all things. The one who is Alph and Omega, who is the Lord of Hosts, the Bringer of All Good Gifts, the Triune God. He is worthy of our worship and as his people we are to proclaim it boldly and to all nations. When we hold back we are like Michal, allowing our own circumstances to harden us against the Lord. Let us be like David stripping off our titles, status,  and circumstances so that the proclamation of what the Lord has done can be heard through our lives. 

Today, my challenge for us is to praise God. We’re going to sing three more songs during this worship time. I want to challenge you to take your own instruments and join us. This isn’t rehearsed, this isn’t practiced, it’s spontaneous praise. It doesn’t matter if you’re on beat, or you if you get ahead or fall behind, what matters is that the praise of the Lord, which he is deserving of, is proclaimed by his people. 

So let’s praise the Lord, that we might show his goodness through our lives. Amen.