Today's Reading: 2 Samuel 13-15, Psalm 32, 51, 86, 122

Scripture Read or Referenced:

Psalm 51

Psalm 32

2 Samuel 13-15

Psalm 86:3-4

Psalm 122:1

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Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David

This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and unfortunately,

today I have bad news, more bad

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news, and even more bad news.

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As we read Second Samuel thirteen through

fifteen and Psalms thirty-two, fifty-one,

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eighty-six, and one hundred twenty-two.

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But even in the midst of all this

evil, I'm reminded that with the Lord

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and the forgiveness that He offers,

there can be healing and even joy.

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This is an episode that is

best for mom ears alone.

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In Psalm fifty-one, which David

wrote after Nathan confronted

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him about his sin with Bathsheba,

the focus is on repentance.

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" Have mercy on me, O God, according to your

steadfast love, according to your abundant

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mercy, blot out my transgressions.

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Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

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For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

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Against you, you only have I sinned,

and done what is evil in your sight,

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so that you may be justified in your

words and blameless in your judgment.

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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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Behold, you delight in truth in

the inward being, and you teach

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me wisdom in the secret heart.

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Purge me with hyssop,

and I shall be clean.

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Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

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Let me hear joy and gladness.

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Let the bones that you

have broken rejoice.

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Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquities.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

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Cast me not away from your presence

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

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Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and uphold me with a willing spirit."

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" O Lord, open my lips, and my

mouth will declare your praise.

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For you would not delight in

sacrifice, or I would give it.

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You would not be pleased

with a burnt offering.

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The sacrifices of God are a broken

spirit, and a broken and contrite

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heart, O God, you will not despise."

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When we have sinned, what we need

most is to be restored to a holy God.

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These words so appropriately express

our need for His forgiveness.

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David humbly acknowledges his sin,

but I'm always a little perplexed

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by verse four when it says, "Against

you, you only have I sinned."

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But in this context, It's talking

about God's position as judge.

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David isn't claiming that he didn't

sin against Bathsheba and Uriah.

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At the end, David is rightfully

acknowledging that the penalty

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for adultery and murder was death.

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There isn't a sacrifice

recommended in the books of the law

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but God was gracious to David,

and when he repented, God agreed

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that he would not remove the

crown from him or take his life.

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Psalm thirty-two was also written

by David at this time: Blessed

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is the one whose transgression is

forgiven, whose sin is covered.

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Blessed is the man against whom

the Lord counts no iniquity, and

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in whose spirit there is no deceit.

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For when I kept silent, my bones wasted

away, through my groaning all day long.

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For day and night your hand was

heavy upon me; my strength was

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dried up as by the heat of summer.

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I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity.

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I said, "I will confess my

transgressions to the Lord," and

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you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

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Selah.

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Therefore, let everyone who is

godly offer prayer to you at

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a time when you may be found.

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Surely, in the rush of great

waters, they shall not reach him.

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You are a hiding place for me; you

preserve me from trouble; you surround

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me with shouts of deliverance.

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Selah I will instruct you and

teach you in the way you should go.

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I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

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Be not like a horse or a mule

without understanding, which must

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be curbed with bit and bridle,

or it will not stay near you.

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Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds

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the one who trusts in the Lord.

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Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,

O righteous, and shout for

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joy, all you upright in heart.

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I wanted to read the entirety of

this psalm because it begins with

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David fully acknowledging his sinful

state, but at the end says, " Be glad.

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Are you upright in heart?"

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He acknowledges that only

God can make him upright,

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even at our lowest points, we can still

find our strength in the joy of the

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Lord and in His forgiveness toward us.

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The way that verses eight and nine refer

to instruction and teaching make me think

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of parenting, these are wonderful verses

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to remind our kids that we want them

to have a willing spirit to obey,

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believing we have their best at heart.

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We don't want them to be like

the stubborn donkey that doesn't

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obey unless it's forced to.

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Chapter thirteen is one of those

accounts that is awful on every level.

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Now Absalom, David's son, had a

beautiful sister whose name was Tamar.

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And after a time, Amnon,

David's son, loved her.

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And Amnon was so tormented that he made

himself ill because of his sister Tamar,

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for she was a virgin, and it seemed

impossible to Amnon to do anything to her.

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At this point, Jonadab, who was

David's nephew And it says he's

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crafty, like the serpent in the garden.

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Donadab conspires a plot for Amnon

to seduce his half-sister Tamar.

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Which of course, the law forbid.

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In verse eleven, she's trying to serve her

brother because he's pretending to be ill.

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He says, "Come lie with me,

my sister," which obviously is

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a truly disgusting statement.

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And she answers him in righteousness,

Giving him four reasons why this

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would be evil and violate God's law.

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But he didn't listen.

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Then Amnon hated her with very great

hatred, so that the hatred with which

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he hated her was greater than the

love with which he had loved her.

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And Amnon said to her, " Get up, go."

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But she said to him, "No, my brother, for

this wrong in sending me away is greater

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than the other that you did to me."

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But he would not listen to her.

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He called the young man who served him

and said, "Put this woman out of my

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presence and bolt the door after her."

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Now she was wearing a long robe with

sleeves, for thus were the virgin

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daughters of the king dressed.

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So the servant put her out

and bolted the door after her.

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And Tamar put ashes on her head and

tore the long robe that she wore,

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and she laid her hand on her head and

went away, crying aloud as she went.

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Instead of Amnon being fulfilled by

following his sexual desires, the

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disgust and the abomination of the act

overtakes him, and now he hates her.

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Clearly, he never loved her.

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It was lust.

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And this is a great training verse

as well to warn our kids about

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following through with sexual sin.

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When it's not done in the context

of marriage, God will not bless sex,

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and there are many consequences.

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I'm sure Tamar would not want

to marry someone who treated her

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this way, but she knows that God's

law requires you to be married if

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you've had a sexual relationship.

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So she begs to not be shamed

and humiliated in this way

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the details of the door being bolted

and her leaving in her grief, shame,

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and humiliation are heart-wrenching.

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And when Absalom, her full brother,

finds out, he suspects Amnon's

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guilt and tries to comfort her.

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He has righteous anger, but he chooses

not to do anything for several years.

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And to top off all of this abominable

sin, verse twenty-one is one

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of the hardest for me to read.

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" When King David heard of all

these things, he was very angry."

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But that's it.

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He did nothing.

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Not only should David have handled the

sin to honor and protect his daughter, he

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was the king and the judge of the land.

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It was his job to punish sin.

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He should have forced Amnon to

marry her, or he should have

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had him killed, but he didn't.

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And Most believe it was because of

David's conviction over his own sin with

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Bathsheba that perhaps he felt like he

couldn't judge his son for his wickedness.

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This is a lie that the enemy often

entraps Christian parents with.

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Your sin does not disqualify

you from instructing your

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children in righteousness.

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Often it qualifies you to understand

and to warn them regarding the

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horrible consequences of sin.

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Our kids don't have to know every detail

of our story, But still need training.

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So press into God for your forgiveness,

and when you've received His

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mercy, Be intentional to equip and

bless your kids with the wisdom

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they need to flee temptation.

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Now that Absalom hates Amnon for what

he did to his sister, and he sees

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that David does nothing, after two

years, he has his brother murdered.

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Now, Amnon would've been the

first in line to the throne.

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We don't know what happened to Abigail's

son, because he's never mentioned again.

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So Absalom is now heir to the

throne, but now he's a murderer.

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Righteous anger, unrighteous actions.

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Absalom flees for protection from his

maternal grandfather for several years,

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and then Joab has a plot to convince David

to let Absalom come back to Jerusalem.

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But still, David chooses not to see him.

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It's five years after Absalom murders

Amnon that they finally see each other.

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They hug and are somewhat restored.

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But Absalom is planning to take over the

throne, and later he comes into Jerusalem

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with horses and chariots and 50 men,

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he's handsome, and it sounds

like his head of hair could

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have made even Samson jealous.

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And he's been engaging in a

public relations strategy for

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years, counseling the people so

that their hearts were with him.

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By the end of chapter 15, David is fleeing

Jerusalem, and he learns that some of his

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most trusted advisors have betrayed him.

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One of these is especially important.

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Ahithophel was one of David's key

advisors, and his betrayal is fascinating

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because he was Bathsheba's grandfather.

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It's possible he did this because

of David's sin with Bathsheba.

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After all of this, our hearts

might be heavy, and that's why

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I'm so thankful for Psalm 86.

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" Be gracious to me, O Lord, for

to You do I cry all the day.

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Gladden the soul of Your servant, for

to You, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

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For You, O Lord, are good and

forgiving, abounding in steadfast

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love to all who call upon You."

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God longs to give us joy and

gladness, no matter the circumstances.

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And lastly for today, Psalm 122 begins,

" I was glad when they said to me, 'Let

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us go to the house of the Lord.'"

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This is a great verse to memorize with

your kids and To quote on a Sunday

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morning when everyone's tired and

just wants to stay in their pajamas.

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We can rejoice in worshiping a God

that has forgiven us of so much.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, please protect

us from looking at all of the sin

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in these chapters and forgetting

our own fallenness before You.

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We know our hearts are wicked

and desperately sinful, and we

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ask for Your loving and gentle

conviction draw us back to You.

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Gladden our hearts as we rejoice

in the forgiveness we find in You.

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I pray You would help us to discipline our

kids in a way that would help them cast

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off their sin, but also truly understand

the depth of the joy that can come from

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knowing You have paid for our sins.

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May we equip our kids to walk in

integrity and purity before You.

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And train them that even when we have

righteous anger, that we can patiently

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trust in You to make all things right.

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Give us joy in Your presence, in

Your church, and with Your people.

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It's in Your name we pray, Jesus, amen