25May 2011 2Samuel 24:17

²⁴But the king replied to Araunuh, “No, I insist on paying for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Part of the definition of a sacrifice is that it costs you something. It is not a personal sacrifice to give away your neighbor’s car to a poor family. It cost you nothing. It might be a sacrifice to your neighbor! King David understood this principle. The people were in trouble because he made a mistake. He sinned, and the people were getting the negative consequences. He repents and wants to sacrifice to the Lord. He ends up buying what he needs. It becomes a sacrifice at that point. What would a sacrifice look like in your life? There is an old expression, “Give ‘til it hurts.” How much would you have to give in order for it to alter your way of life? How much would it take in order for you to have to trust the Lord with your present and your future? I believe the richer you are the more you have the ability to give, and therefore the more you are responsible to give. Sacrificing means some pain will be present. Some of the questions, like, “how are we going to make ends meet?” will be asked by you, rather than by the person to whom you are giving. Sacrifice shifts the burden from someone else to you. Are you willing to learn to sacrifice?

24May 2011 2Samuel 22:2

²He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;”

One thing that English speakers and readers often overlook is the distinction between “Lord” and “the LORD.” I won’t go into the history of English translations, but I will say this. Every time you see the word “the LORD,” you are seeing God’s proper name. The Hebrew for LORD is the four letters YHWH in Hebrew, the Name God revealed to Moses. Hebrew is a language that does not require vowels in order to understand it and read it. So, when people began translating God’s proper Name, they had to figure out how to write it. Late in the history of writing Hebrew, they added the vowels in order to keep from losing the proper pronunciation. When they did that, to keep from misusing God’s sacred Name, the writers put in the vowels for the word Lord, creating a word that could not be pronounced.  When a Jewish reader would see this strange word, they saw it as a signal to say Lord instead. When later translators, especially those for the King James Version of the Bible, saw the vowels, they incorporated them into the translation and made up the Name Jehovah. But a better pronunciation of the Name LORD is probably Yahweh (Ya Way). So why am I talking about this today? When I read the words “the LORD” I say “Yahweh” as a way to remind myself that this is God’s personal Name being used in the text, not the word meaning master. Yahweh is the Name God uses when He enters into a personal, covenant relationship with His people. His personal Name is written, and I want to be personal with Him. I want Him to call me “Stan.”

23May 2011 2Samuel 20:19

¹⁹“We are the peaceful and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”

It only takes one wise person to save a city. The whole city is under attack because they are harboring one man who is guilty of rising up against King David. He has escaped to this city and David’s troops have come to capture and kill him. This wise woman stops the battle and makes a proposal to the commander of David’s forces: we will kill the man and hand over his head to you, if you will stop attacking our city. In essence she says, you are after that one man, so we will give him to you in order to spare all our lives. If this woman had not spoken up, the whole city would have been destroyed. Sometimes we must surrender what is not important in order to gain what is. Are there unimportant things in your life over which you are fighting and losing? Maybe we need to give up the unimportant, stop the battle and refocus. In couple, we often fight over small things because it is too hard to say, “I feel alone and unimportant, and I don’t feel like you are here for me.” So we hide our weakness and fight about what is unimportant. Maybe it is time to get some wisdom. Give up what is unimportant in order to gain what is important.

22May 2011 2Samuel 19:43

⁴³Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king; so we have a greater claim on David than you have. Why then do you treat us with contempt? Weren’t we the first to speak of bringing back our king?”  But the men of Judah pressed their claims even more forcefully than the men of Israel.

Jealousy and envy can cause great troubles for any people. These two sides of the previous battles are trying to figure out how to reconcile, and it is a hard process. I notice it in couples when they have been fighting. Because of the hurt, neither side wants to compromise. To do so, would be declaring defeat, and that is not an acceptable position! I often counsel couples to not try to resolve all the differences until they have reestablished a safe place between them. If there is no safety, then the possibility of further injury is almost assured. One misspoken word sets off a cascade of hurt and pain. It can be very difficult to hear correctly the intent of words when emotions are high. Often emotions may not be expressed on the outside, but instead are bubbling and brewing on the inside. Then, “all of a sudden” they burst forth, seemingly out of nowhere. In our text we hear the two sides battling for their right to be included in this new kingdom. Each has legitimate claims, but neither hears the other’s claims. There is still too much hurt and resentment. These have to quiet down before reconciliation can take place.

21May 2011 2Samuel 16:12

¹²“It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.”

One of the hardest things to endure is having your character maligned. Every fiber of your being wants to jump and defend yourself against the false charges. David’s son is trying to steal the kingdom from his father. David could resist. He is a better warrior than his son. His troops are seasoned veterans. They can surely defeat this young upstart. But that would mean David would be going after his own son to kill him. What a choice! Kill my son, or be killed by him. Defend myself or run. So David runs away rather than kill his son. As David flees some disgruntled friends of Saul, the former king, take this opportunity to express their long-held resentment toward David. David could easily shut him up. He does, after all, have his fighters with him. But he doesn’t. He resists reacting negatively. David exercises restraint. He trusts the LORD to do justice. He is willing to wait for justice to happen. I don’t know about you, but I want justice right now! I don’t want to have to wait. But David is willing to wait. He also recognizes that he is not in charge. The LORD has a plan that might exclude him at this point. Are you willing to wait for the Lord to bring justice?

20May 2011 2Samuel 14:14

¹⁴Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

I love that last phrase. The LORD is about reconnection! David’s son Absalom and his father are at odds and have not spoken since Absalom killed his brother Amnon because Amnon raped his sister. Are you lost yet? It is not good for families to be split. Sometimes we have to separate ourselves from our families because they are simply unhealthy, and we don’t have the ability to not get sucked into the old role we used to fill in that dysfunctional family structure. But the LORD wants connection in families. Families were never designed to be fractured. But the Fall happened, and now we have broken families. But in a greater sense, the LORD took care of this in Jesus. In Jesus even a banished person can be reconnected. Our sin does not have to prevent connection. Jesus created a way for us to not remain estranged from God. In Jesus we can come home. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden following their rebellion. God now invites us back into the Garden to enjoy its benefits. Are you going to accept His invitation?