K Love

A woman's heart should be so hidden in God, that a man would have to seek Him just to find her.*Thoughts and verses from the NLT. Footnotes and thoughts from the NKJV are also indicated for the week of 9/02/2007 - 9/09/2007*This devotion goes through the book of 2Samuel chapters 14,15,16 and 21.-This life on earth is not forever.Spend it wisely- All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. That is why God tries to bring us back when we have been separated from Him. He does not sweep away the lives of those He cares about...and neither should you!- 2Samuel 14:14 -Absalom's rebellion-After this, Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty footmen to run ahead of him. He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for a judgment, Absalom would ask where they were from, and they would tell him their tribe. Then Absalom would say, "You've really got a strong case here! It's too bad the king doesn't have anyone to hear it. I wish I were the judge. Then people could bring their problems to me, and I would give them justice!" And when people tried to bow before him, Absalom wouldn't let them. Instead he took them by the hand and embraced them. So in this way, Absalom stole the hearts of all the people of Israel. After four years, Absalom said to the king, "Let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the Lord in fulfillment of a vow I made to him. For while I was at Geshur, I promised to sacrifice to him in Hebron if he would bring me back to Jerusalem." "All right," the king told him. "Go and fulfill your vow." So Absalom went to Hebron. But while he was there, he sent secret messengers to every part of Israel to stir up rebellion against the king. "As soon as you hear the trumpets," his message read, "you will know that Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron." He took two hundred men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions. While he was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David's counselor's who lived in Giloh. Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum.-2Samuel 15:1-12 *A thought about conflict- Absalom wanted to be king. The only way he could do that was to take the kingdom away from his father, David. Conflict usually begins when we don't get what we want. It almost always begins with selfish motives. You probably don't want to rule a country, but how often do you find yourself wanting to rule over people's lives, desiring your way over theirs, wanting something they have (a good job, marriage, friendship, or even something as mundane as a part in the church choir)? You know you are in conflict when your daydreaming for something you want (a thing, a position, a viewpoint, ect.) is always connected to feelings of animosity toward a certain person. How should we handle these selfish feelings? We can start by learning to be content with what we have. Decide that you will work toward earning the things you want and not simply take them. -Shimei curses David- "The Lord is paying you back for murdering Saul and his family. You stole his throne, and now the Lord has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, you murderer!" "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?" Abishai son of Zeruiah demanded. "Let me go over and cut off his head!" "No!" the king said. "What am I going to do with you sons of Zeruiah! If the Lord has told him to curse me, who am I to stop him?" Then David said to Abishai and the other officers, "My own son is trying to kill me. Shouldn't this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses."-2Samuel 16:8-12 *Footnote on 2Samuel 16:8-12- Shimei, who was related to Saul, obviously found pleasure in the fall of a king who had taken the place of his family on the throne. In calling David a bloodthirsty man, he made him responsible for the murder of Abner and Ishbosheth. This accusation would apply more justly to the death of Uriah. David recognized that beyond the curse of an angry man, he was perhaps hearing the voice of God. He submitted to the correction he deserved, yet hoped in the mercy and goodness of God for the future. -David Avenges the Gibeonites- There was a famine during David's reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the Lord about it. And the Lord said,"The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites." So King David summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal, had tried to wipe them out. David asked them, "What can I do for you to make amends? Tell me so that the Lord will bless His people again." "Well, money won't do it," the Gibeonites replied. "And we don't want to see the Israelites executed in revenge." "What can I do then?" David asked. "Just tell me and I will do it for you." Then they replied, "It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in Israel. So let seven of Saul's sons or grandsons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord at Gibeon, on the mountain of the Lord." "All right," the king said, "I will do it." David spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, who was Saul's grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord. But he gave them Saul's two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah. The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the Lord. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest. Then Rizpah, the mother of two of the men, spread sackcloth on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented vultures from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night.-2Samuel 21:1-10 *Footnote on 2Samuel 21:1-10- The Gibeonites were foreigners who were allowed to live in Israel but were restricted to menial labor, following a special treaty with Joshua. Though the Gibeonites had obtained this treaty by deceiving the Israelites, Saul was wrong to break the promise made to them. In trying to destroy them, he had been guilty of murder. When a crime goes unpunished, the land is polluted. God brought this injustice to David's attention by sending three years of famine. Under normal circumstances, Saul's children should not have been punished for their father's crime. However, men were not the judges here. God Himself had intervened, calling Saul's entire house blood-thirsty. Seemingly Saul's children had followed in his footsteps and also deserved punishment. This episode shows God's concern that justice be done to every man, even citizens like the Gibeonites. When a man was put to death, his body was to be buried the same day. However, no one assumed responsibility when Saul's seven sons were hung by the Gibeonites. Rizpah, Saul's concubine, made a tent of sackcloth to protect their corpses from wild animals. She watched over them from April or early May, when barley was harvested until rain fell again. Perhaps this refers to the autumn showers, which normally occur in October or November, but here vigil may have been much shorter if God sent rain out of season. Rain indicated that the curse on the land was lifted and crops would begin to grow again. David honored the memory of Saul and Jonathan by taking their remains along with the bones of Saul's seven descendants, to their family tomb. In this way, he was also showing that the execution of these men had not been dictated by revenge. *A thought about the death of a child- The death of a child is a heartbreak to the parents, engulfing them in a flood of grief and blame. Only someone who has this experience can fully understand the anguish of losing a child. The bereaved mother may well hold her dying child, crying in disbelief, feeling that somehow this death is her fault. Rizpah's sons were killed because of the sins of Saul and the evil he brought on his entire family. Even after the seven sons were sacrificed, Rizpah spread sackcloth on a rock beside their bodies to protect them from being ravaged by birds and wild animals. Surely she must have wondered what she had done to deserve such a tragedy! When Jesus, the prophesied son of God, was born of Mary, she became his devoted mother. Imagine the anguish Mary felt as she stood by the cruel Cross and saw her son crucified. Only a parent in pain can know her grief; yet we all can have her hope. The woman who has lost a child or is facing the death of a loved one has the eternal hope that her child's life is not over. She has the assurance that for those who die in the Lord or those who have not yet reached the age of accountability the Lord transforms "our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body"Phil.3:21). A woman can go through this experience triumphantly with the God of all comfort(2Cor. 1:3,4).