Show Notes
2 Samuel 15:13-16:14
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Let's pray.
[00:00:04] Our Heavenly Father, how grateful we are that we have you to be our refuge, that you are our foundation, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[00:00:18] We are so grateful for this, in part because there is so much toil and tribulation and tumult around us in our own lives, in our community, in our world.
[00:00:31] It seems sometimes that peace is entirely unattainable, that it is so difficult to stay focused on the right things in our own hearts, that the war between the flesh and the spirit within us is so strong and sometimes it feels like it will never end.
[00:00:54] But Lord, you promised to us that it will end and that we have a measure of rest here and now, of peace and joy here and now, and that these things will be brought into completion and perfection when you come again.
[00:01:12] You promised to us that the trials of this life, the suffering that we endure is not the end of our story, but in fact you are using this to perfect and establish and strengthen us more and more in Christ.
[00:01:28] So we ask that you would help us to understand these things in our Savior.
[00:01:33] Especially now as we come to the reading and preaching of your word.
[00:01:36] We also pray for other churches, Lord, throughout Tucson, Southern Arizona and throughout the world. We ask, Lord, that the Gospel will be proclaimed in many places and that hearts would be changed, that people who are dead in their trespasses and sins would be brought to life in Christ, that more and more would rejoice in the hope of knowing you in the joys of salvation, in the good news of sinners rescued out of the slavery of sin and death.
[00:02:11] Lord, we love you in the and we ask that you would help us to pay attention and hear your word, to apply it to our lives. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:02:22] And please be seated and turn your attention to 2 Samuel, chapter 15, verse 13. 2 Samuel 15:13.
[00:02:54] So I'm going to read about a chapter's length of Scripture, but we're starting in the middle of 15 and we'll end in the middle of 16 as this this little section tells us what happens in the initial events as David FL Jerusalem so if you were here last time, you will remember that last time we heard about how David's son Absalom sought to overthrow God's anointed king, namely his father David.
[00:03:26] A great conspiracy. It was effective. It was working. Well, what happens in our passage is David hears that it's all about to go down and he gets out of town, he gets his servants, he flees for his Life.
[00:03:43] And on the way out, he has five different meetings or conversations.
[00:03:49] Each of these things reveal something and share something about the character of David, but more importantly, the work of God.
[00:03:59] What God is doing in this moment of difficulty and of trial as his anointed king is fleeing his throne.
[00:04:10] So that's what we'll pay attention to today.
[00:04:13] And before I lead, I'll give you some of the names of these people that we're going to be introduced to.
[00:04:20] So the first is Ittai. Itai is a leader of David's Philistine bodyguard. And I will ask you a question now. Who does he sound like to you when you hear about Ittai? The second are loyal priests, Abiathar and Zadok.
[00:04:40] Next is Hushai. These three will become kind of like informants for David. You'll see that then we are reintroduced in number four to Ziba.
[00:04:51] If you remember, Ziba is the caretaker steward for Saul's grandson named Mephibosheth.
[00:05:00] Right. Mephibosheth was one that David sought to show mercy to, and did.
[00:05:04] And he put Ziba, this man, in charge of taking care of Mephibosheth and all the property and these kinds of things, because Mephibosheth had some disabilities that made it so he wasn't able to do this himself. And so Ziba has been commanded to do this.
[00:05:22] You. We will see, though, that Ziba tricks David. It doesn't say it here, but we find out later Ziba is lying to David and does something really awful.
[00:05:32] And then last, we are introduced to another one of Saul's, someone who's connected to Saul Shimei, who is throwing rocks and cursing and yelling and making him embarrassed and feel bad as he's leaving as David leaves.
[00:05:52] All right, so those are these different scenes, these different conversations that happen along the way. Let's give our attention to the word of God, 2nd Samuel 15, verse 13.
[00:06:05] And a messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.
[00:06:12] Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom.
[00:06:20] Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.
[00:06:27] And the king's servants said to the king, behold, your servants are ready to do whatever the Lord the king decides.
[00:06:34] So the king went out and all his household after him. And the king left 10 concubines to keep the house. And the king went out and all the people after him, and they halted at the last house.
[00:06:46] And all his servants passed by him. All the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all the 600 Gittites who had followed him from Gath passed on before the king.
[00:06:59] Then the king said to Ittai, the Gittite, why do you also go with us?
[00:07:05] Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home.
[00:07:11] You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us? Since I go, I know not where.
[00:07:18] Go back. Take your brothers with you. And may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you.
[00:07:24] But Ittai answered the king, as the Lord lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.
[00:07:39] And David said to Ittai, go, then, pass on.
[00:07:42] So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by. And the king crossed the brook Kidron and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.
[00:07:58] And Abiathar came up and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites, bearing the Ark of the Covenant of God.
[00:08:06] And they set down the Ark of God until all the people had passed out of the city.
[00:08:11] Then the king said to Zadok, carry the Ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, I have no pleasure in you, behold, here I am. Let him do to me what seems good to him.
[00:08:31] The king also said to Zadok, the priest, are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace with your two sons and Ahimaaz, your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until the word comes from you to inform me. So Zadok and Abiathar carried the Ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.
[00:08:53] But David went up the But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went barefoot with his head covered.
[00:09:03] And all the people who were with him covered their heads. And they went up weeping as they went.
[00:09:09] And it was told, david, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, oh, Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
[00:09:21] While David was coming into the summit Where God was worshipped. Behold, Hushai the archite came to meet him and his coat torn and dirt on his head.
[00:09:30] David said to him, if you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king, as I have been your father's servant in time past, so now I will be your servant. Then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. Are not Xadok and Abiathar, the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king's house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests.
[00:09:56] Behold, their two sons are with them there. Ahima Oz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son. And by them you shall send to me everything you hear.
[00:10:06] So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
[00:10:14] When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, came.
[00:10:19] Met him with a couple donkeys saddled bearing 200 loaves of bread and a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine.
[00:10:29] And the king said to Ziba, why have you brought these?
[00:10:32] Ziba answered, the donkeys are for the king's household to ride on. The bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat and the wine for those faint in the wilderness to drink.
[00:10:43] And the king said, and where is your master's son?
[00:10:47] Ziba said to the king, behold, he remains in Jerusalem.
[00:10:51] For he said, today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.
[00:10:58] Then the king said to Ziba, behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours. And Ziba said, I pay homage.
[00:11:07] Let me ever find favor in your sight. My lord the king.
[00:11:13] When King David came to Bahrain, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera.
[00:11:21] And as he came, he cursed continually.
[00:11:24] And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And Shimei said, as he cursed, get out. Get out, you man of blood. You worthless man.
[00:11:38] The Lord has avenged on you. All the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you have reigned. And the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.
[00:11:54] Then Abishai, the Son of Zerariah said to the king, why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over there and take off his head.
[00:12:02] But the king said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, curse David, who then shall say, why have you done so?
[00:12:13] And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, behold, my own son seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjaminite leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.
[00:12:26] It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.
[00:12:34] So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along the hill opposite him and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him and flung dust.
[00:12:43] And the king and all the people who were with him arrived weary at the Jordan, and there he refreshed himself.
[00:12:50] May God bless his word to us.
[00:12:58] So I hope with the introduction and with the clarity in the scriptures themselves, you understand the situation that's going on. You have the established king of Israel, God's king David, God's anointed king, who is now fleeing Jerusalem.
[00:13:18] God's king fleeing. If you think about the geography, I find it is helpful and interesting.
[00:13:26] Jerusalem is up on this mount. And then as you go down, you go down toward the Mount of Olives, which you can see from Jerusalem, right? It's about a bow shot away.
[00:13:40] You go down, down pretty steep, into a valley, the valley Kidron. Sometimes you may have heard of the Brook of Kidron, because runs the water runs down that valley. So you go out of Jerusalem, you go down in the valley, then back up the Mount of Olives. And then when you go back down the other side, you head on to Jordan. And that's his path.
[00:13:59] So he's leaving Jerusalem, he's going down into this valley, he's going up to the summit, he's going back down to Jordan. And this path is a difficult path.
[00:14:12] First of all, he knows his son is after him.
[00:14:16] We've read throughout Paul, many places throughout this chapter, that he's crying and he's mourning. He's even wearing the clothes of mourning. His head is covered, his.
[00:14:28] He's not wearing shoes.
[00:14:30] They're moving slow. Probably even as there's a dangerous situation, the king is being driven out. He's confused, he's embarrassed, and all along the way he has some people who are coming out with him and others who weren't with him. When he left, but still belong to Jerusalem, whom he meets on the way, like Hushai, for example, who, coming from somewhere, meets him on the way and he sees him.
[00:14:57] And then with each of these different encounters, you can imagine the question David has in his head, Is this guy for me or against me?
[00:15:06] Who's loyal, who's not? What's going on?
[00:15:10] It's all very confusing, maybe embarrassing.
[00:15:14] And in the middle of all, of course, he, like anyone else, could ask, what is God doing?
[00:15:21] Did not God take me from the sheep to make me the shepherd of the people of Israel?
[00:15:28] Has the rejection of David as God's king is his ejection and evacuation as the king? Is this showing that God is failing?
[00:15:39] Is God failing to uphold his promises?
[00:15:45] It can be very difficult sometimes to see that God is keeping his promises. When there's a lot of suffering, when God promises us peace and joy, when God promises us protection and safety, and we find ourselves barefoot and crying and on the run, it can be easy to ask, is God failing in the middle of my suffering, in the middle of my difficulty, is God keeping his promises on top of all that? Usually in moments like this, we have evil men like Shimei who are hurling rocks, hurling insults, hurling bad theology and false accusations trying to get us to believe something that's not true.
[00:16:27] All that Shimei says is all these things that you could imagine would hit David right in the sensitive parts of his heart.
[00:16:37] Lies that could easily be believed, lies that could lead to discouragement, lies that could lead to frustration or anger, or a big thumbs up to Abishai when he says, take his head, I want to take his head off. Yeah, just go ahead and do it. That's not what David says.
[00:16:54] David resists that temptation and many others in this hard moment.
[00:17:02] One interesting thing to think about when we think about this moment, in comparison to some of the things that have happened recently, a lot of the recent events, there's been very little mention the Lord, particularly from David's perspective. Worship, prayer, seeking his counsel, all these kinds of things, pretty much nothing.
[00:17:23] This moment seems to be changing David's heart.
[00:17:27] Now we're hearing expressions of David's theology and Good's theology, his confession about who God is. He's thinking about what's happening in light of who God is, in light of his plans and other things.
[00:17:40] And that's one of the things we'll think about. In these moments of suffering, it can be hard to see that God is keeping his plan. But this rejection of the king at this moment is not God's. Failure.
[00:17:51] God is at work.
[00:17:53] I want you to see that in three things this morning on the shaping of the king's character, the preserving of the king's life, and the beginning of the overthrow of the king's enemies.
[00:18:08] So first, the shaping of the character of the king.
[00:18:14] What do we see happening in this moment?
[00:18:17] As I said, he is barefoot, he is crying, he is mourning, but he is also doing some other things that we haven't seen in a while.
[00:18:25] He's submitting to God, he's waiting on the Lord.
[00:18:31] And you see good examples of this.
[00:18:34] One example of this, of David's reaction and some of the things God is doing in his heart is with response to the Ark, right? So as they leave, one of the things that happens, we'll come back to this is he has this conversation with Ittai and we'll skip that for the now, for the moment. And as they come to the last house of, of this area that they're in, perhaps the city, the last house of the city, they. He sees Abiathar and Zadok. This is verse 24, with all the Levites, and they're bringing the Ark of God.
[00:19:12] On the one hand, this is very encouraging, right? These first of all are people who are being loyal to David, being loyal to the Lord. They are leaving with him. They are not turning aside and aligning with Absalom.
[00:19:29] But David makes this decision.
[00:19:32] He makes a decision not to use the ark as a kind of superstitious power, but to leave it in the place it belongs, in Jerusalem. God hasn't said to move the ark. David says his dwelling place is here.
[00:19:49] That's what God has said. And so David sees himself as the movable one.
[00:19:54] He says, if I come back, and it is his prayer that he does, he leaves it to the Lord, but let the ark stay.
[00:20:01] This is in great contrast to some of the things we saw back in First Samuel, where the ark was carried around as a way of kind of a protection, a sort of superstitious thing. And it got captured by the Philistines as a result of that. And there was a whole huge trauma dealing with the Ark. David here rightly says to Abiathar, to Zadok, to the priests, go back to Jerusalem.
[00:20:29] We see in this David's lack of superstition and his trust in the Lord.
[00:20:36] We also see his trust in the providences of God, right? He decides to lean.
[00:20:43] Lean on this. So for example, in 25, when he says, carry the Ark of God back into the city, if I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place.
[00:20:56] So that's option one, option two, verse 26. But if he says to me, that is God, I have no pleasure with you, Behold, here I am. Let him do good to me what seems good to him.
[00:21:11] If you wanted to memorize something or if you're looking for a tattoo idea, this might be a good one.
[00:21:18] Let him do good to me what seems good to him, right? It's an expression of faith.
[00:21:27] It's an expression of trust, it's an expression of obedience, and it's an expression of humility, saying, I don't know what's going on, I don't know what God will do, but I don't have to know the future and in order to be okay, I don't have to know the future in order to trust in the Lord and to trust that what he does is good.
[00:21:49] David, of course, wants to come back. And you can imagine David thinking about the promises that he had made. How will God keep his promises if he doesn't come back?
[00:21:59] He doesn't worry about that right now.
[00:22:02] Right now he just focuses on trusting the Lord. And this is a beautiful expression of it.
[00:22:08] He has not fallen into despair. He wants to come back. He prays to come back. But at the same time he puts his trust in the Lord. And we see that then in those actions as well.
[00:22:21] Another way we see God at work in David's heart is with regard to Shimei, right?
[00:22:28] As we talked about earlier, Abishai, this is verse nine. Wants to take his head off.
[00:22:36] Why should this dead dog curse my Lord the King? Dogs. I love dogs. You probably love dogs, most of you anyway. We love dogs. They're not always loved everywhere. In a lot of places they're seen as garbage, eating pests that roam around and cause a lot of problems, right? So in this instance, he's not just calling Shimei a dog, but. But a dead dog, right? This worthless, worthless person.
[00:23:07] And Abishai, in loyalty and in over aggressiveness, says, I'll take his head off.
[00:23:14] David pushes him aside, not literally, rhetorically. He holds him back, as he has done in other instances, Remember with Saul, other times when David has restrained his men and he says this amazing thing, right? Here's a guy who's got his head on straight. Verse 11.
[00:23:33] Some perspective, Abishai. Behold, my own son seeks my life.
[00:23:39] How many, how much more? Now may this Benjaminite leave him alone and let him curse.
[00:23:46] For the Lord has told him To I think David's not saying that he has some particular insight into a sort of direct command from the Lord to Shimei, because he expresses some lack of knowledge on that. But he has in mind the providence of God. He says, this is happening according to God's will. Let it be.
[00:24:09] And again, sort of like we saw before, a few options, verse 12. It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me. He recognizes it as wrong, and the Lord will repay me with good for this cursing today, or leave it alone.
[00:24:28] And so David goes along.
[00:24:31] What do we see here? We see David trusting the Lord. We see him accepting the Lord's discipline. He sees this is partly a recognition of his own failures, that things are going poorly, and that his life is in God's hands.
[00:24:48] All that to say, again that God is at work. We're seeing things here in David that we have not seen for a while. David has been absent. David has been kind of hands off. David has been falling into sin.
[00:25:03] David is now going, though, under the discipline of the Lord and trusting the Lord and praying. And as we saw, or as we read, going to worship the Lord.
[00:25:17] The second thing we see when we see God at work in the midst of this suffering is his preserving the life of the king.
[00:25:24] Think about all of these amazing events that are happening as this happens. First of all, David gets the message in time.
[00:25:33] Right from the very beginning of our reading, a messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.
[00:25:40] David then says, arise, let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.
[00:25:53] This, by the way, is another aspect of David's heart. He's not only concerned about himself, but he's concerned about the city, the people, his servants and others.
[00:26:04] David's being a good king here, but anyway, God is preserving the life of the king and that this message comes at the perfect time in order to get out. And. And as we see later in the chapter, Absalom does indeed arrive at Jerusalem just as others are returning whom David sends back.
[00:26:23] Another way we see God providing for David is in all of these servants who are going with him. David's not alone. He's got hundreds, maybe thousands of people with him who are leaving Jerusalem right at this time. And one of them, one of the best parts of this whole story, is of course, Ittai, who sounds like who?
[00:26:42] Naomi and Ruth, right?
[00:26:45] I Am your servant. I you are my king. I will go where you go.
[00:26:53] It's amazing moment. And what's particularly amazing is like Ruth does with Naomi, he doesn't belong to Israel.
[00:27:02] He's a Philistine.
[00:27:04] He's one of these people who came into contact with David and left the Philistines, left his own people to unite himself with God's anointed king.
[00:27:17] Just like us Gentiles, people from not of Israel, people who have come from around the world and have seen the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God's anointed king, the son of David, and said, I'm following him.
[00:27:32] More than family, more than country, more than origin, more than anything else following him, he's my king.
[00:27:41] You can imagine this would have been a potentially stressful moment for it. I. He's surrounded by all of these foreign warriors, right, who are leaving out with him. Right.
[00:27:53] Are they going to be loyal? These are potentially the least loyal people who have no connection with him in. In the normal ways with regard to blood and family and these kinds of things.
[00:28:05] But he turns to Ittai, and Ittai makes this great confession of his faith in David and his loyalty to him. And of course, that's ultimately to the Lord. He even swears by the name of yahweh in verse 21. As Yahweh lives and as my Lord the King lives, wherever my Lord the king shall be, whether for death or life, there also will be your servant man. That an encouraging moment. Right. And how did that happen again? By the marvelous hand of the Lord. Partly from events that had happened long ago up until this moment. And so Ittai, with all his family and all these little ones and the other Philistines, they go with David. It's one of the ways in which God is preserving the life of his king.
[00:28:57] We also see it with Zadok and Abiathar. And then.
[00:29:02] And then this other man who comes, Hushe or Hushai, he comes and he sees David. He's a friend of David's, a counselor to David, and he's gonna go with him. But it seems like he's a little bit weak. He's disheveled for some reason. We're not given an explanation why.
[00:29:20] Probably coming back from a long journey, something like that. David says, don't come with me. Instead, go back to Jerusalem. And I want you to undo the counsel of Ahithophel.
[00:29:33] Notice that this is a. This is a response, God's response to David's prayer that the council of Ahithophel would be Undone. And then all of a sudden there's Hushai.
[00:29:44] Amazing the ways that God is preserving the life of his king even in the midst of all this suffering.
[00:29:50] So Hushai, the plan is Hushai is going to go back, he's going to pretend to pledge his loyalty to Absalom, and he'll be in the presence of the king, hearing stuff and then passing that information on to Zadok, to Abiathar, whose sons will then transfer that information to David.
[00:30:11] One of the interesting. Just a quick sidebar if you ever want to do something fun.
[00:30:16] There's an interesting thing throughout first and Second Samuel about the spread of information and all kinds of networks and people and passing things. And there's interesting things going on there anyway. We see God establishing people who are loyal, systems for information transfer, servants all around.
[00:30:39] And then finally I'll add one more way God preserves the life of his kingdom is by restraining him from foolishness.
[00:30:46] I'm thinking about Shimei, I'm thinking about Nabal, thinking about other moments in David's life, in my life, your life, when the pressure is on and we act stupid, we act rashly, we react foolishly, we get scared and we try to control or over control our situations and do really foolish things.
[00:31:09] But David here is calm.
[00:31:12] David here acts with authority and he has presence of mind. And he doesn't go after Shimei.
[00:31:21] Instead he lets him throw his rocks, he lets him throw his curses and persevere on.
[00:31:32] There's all kinds of ways, other ways in which we can see interesting things, various providence going on together.
[00:31:39] In all of it we see God is preserving the life of his king. God has not rejected David. God has not lifted his hand from David. David is suffering. David is under a trial. But David still belongs to the Lord.
[00:31:53] And the last point we'll see God's work in all this is that he is beginning to overthrow his enemies.
[00:32:01] We see that in the way that Hushai is sent back. We see it in the priests that are sent back. We see it in the beginnings of these movements in which indeed all of these things will be undone.
[00:32:14] These the overthrow of God's enemies.
[00:32:19] The overthrow of God's enemies. It does not always obvious right away.
[00:32:26] Sometimes the beginning of what. Sometimes what God is doing in his work is he's laying foundations, he's laying the pieces, he's setting up the dominoes. Whatever analogy you want to use in which in his proper time and in his proper way and for his glory and his own good reasons, he will start that chain of events and things will fall out according to his perfect plan.
[00:32:49] These events, these beginning things that are being set up would not only result in David's return in the fall of Absalom, but but one, two, skip a few to Christ himself.
[00:33:02] These events leading to more events, leading to more events, all within the sovereign control of God, who has not given up and who will not give up until the promises are fulfilled. And the same thing happens in the ministry of Christ Jesus, the anointed Son of God, as we read in Acts 10, this one who is the anointed king, this one who is the promised Son of David, he comes and he experiences similar things that David experiences here.
[00:33:32] He is rejected, he's betrayed, he has to leave at various times, he's on the run as various people try to overtake him and even kill him.
[00:33:43] And eventually they do.
[00:33:45] And the perfect timing of God, God finally allows the the our Lord and Savior to be delivered over unto death.
[00:33:55] And even there, God has not rejected the king.
[00:34:01] He has not rejected him in a way that undoes our salvation or leaves us with no hope, or leaves us with no reason for our suffering and our difficulties.
[00:34:11] Because all throughout his life we see the beginnings of the overthrow evil.
[00:34:18] We see miracles being done, we see demons being cast out, we see people being healed, we see the apostles being gathered together.
[00:34:28] We see all of these things working together according to God's plan. So that even when Jesus is lifted up on the cross, it's not a failure.
[00:34:38] In that moment, the anointed king becomes a perfect sacrifice, establishing and providing salvation for all of his people.
[00:34:49] The king becomes the victor even in his death and a victory which is marked and vindicated and proven, of course, by his resurrection from the dead. The king comes back, the king returns, the king ascends into heaven and now rules, now rules with authority and power over all his people and all their suffering.
[00:35:14] God has not rejected his anointed king.
[00:35:18] God used these moments with David to lead up to Jesus, who now rules us and defends us. And one day is coming again and will bring all things to perfect completion.
[00:35:32] And because we belong to him, because we are under the authority and under the headship of the Son of God, the Son of David, God's anointed victorious king. The sufferings that we have in this life cannot undo us because God is present in them, doing the same things he did with David, working in his heart, shaping his character, giving him perseverance and one day even eternal life.
[00:36:08] So when David walks barefoot out of Jerusalem, down that valley, up that hill, up to the Mount of Olives to worship. And he's humiliated and he's weeping and he's being cursed.
[00:36:22] It does not mean that God is absent.
[00:36:27] And the same is true in our lives.
[00:36:29] If we remember the work not only with God's King here, but the final king and our Savior, our King Jesus, we can remember that we are being shaped by him and preserved by him.
[00:36:44] It's tempting sometimes to think that in the midst of suffering that God is absent, but he's not.
[00:36:53] God did not abandon David when he fled.
[00:36:56] God did not abandon Christ when he was on the cross.
[00:37:00] And God's providence is not failing us now.
[00:37:05] He's ruling us, he's defending us. And he's giving us victory and life in the victorious one, our Savior.
[00:37:14] Let's pray.
[00:37:16] Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would teach us as we meditate on the work, the works of your hands and the establishment of your king, first David, then others, and finally Jesus, that you would give us confidence and joy in your protection and care.
[00:37:38] And Lord, we are thankful that even as your judgment rained down on Jesus a judgment for our sin, even as he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:37:54] As judgment and wrath was poured out on him, that according to his divinity, according to your great plan, even this could not be stopped, but that his life and his perfection and the grace that would be poured out through him would come for the forgiveness of sins, for everlasting life and the rejoicing of all your people, both Jew and Gentile.
[00:38:24] We ask, Lord, that in the trials and tumults and difficulties of our lives, that you would help us to remember who our King is, what you've done through him, and what you are doing in our lives. Help us not to despair, help us not to lose heart, but instead, Lord, shape our character to so that even in the times of most difficult suffering, we find ourselves becoming more and more like you, more and more at peace and knowing you and loving you, in being with you and watching and trusting you as you work and do what is good as you see fit.
[00:39:00] Lord, we praise you for your awesome power, for your marvelous grace, and for all your goodness to us cause us to stand in Christ in the ups and downs of life. We pray this in his name. Amen.
