This study was really all about- what is our vision of God. How big is God? As the song goes “Our God is a great Big God”. - and yes He is. David shows how he thinks about God in 2 Samuel 22
If you believe God created this world then, God is bigger than the world he created. If you believe that God created this universe then surely the same must be true. But the big question is do we treat, (think about) God in this way. More on this can be found in the study notes here, which looks at the last few chapters of 2 Samuel and Psalm 103 As the study ended up reflecting- We need to take God as Lord seriously. In how we act, what we do and say. It is not a once a week Sunday activity, but an activity for everyday
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How sad it is when members of a family fall out with each other, especially a father and son. It seems even worse when this results in civil war, but this is what happened to King David and his son Absalom, as we learnt in our latest study at the Kielder Bible Study Group.
The country is in such great upheaval that the royal family has to flee from the capital for their lives, and then there follows a massive battle between sides, as can be read in 2 Samuel 18 Sadly all does not go well with the usurper and he gets his hair caught in a tree as he is trying to flee. He comes to a very gruesome end which is described in detail in Samuel. There then follows another rebellion which is detailed in 2 Samuel 20 which details the Sheba rebellion. He was a distant relative of Saul. He suggested that the nation split in two and the non Judah tribes attack David. Joab David’s commander deals with the situation ultimately getting the people who were sheltering Sheba to cut off his head and give it to Joab 2 Samuel 20 v22 So this ends the rebellions and David is reinstalled as King over the whole country. This section of 2 Samuel chapters 12 -14, along with what we are looking at next time is an area of the Bible that is not often covered in detail in sermons. Previously I have read it a couple of times once when I read the whole Bible in a year and after that when I reread the whole Bible in historical order, but this time taking three years to do so. Both were quite a challenge.
The study we looked at linked here looks at what happens to David’s family as a result of his fling with Bathsheba. Evidently his Son Amnon thinks that going after a beautiful women is OK, except that this time he goes way too far and rapes his half sister. Her brother Absalom then rightly takes offence at this and kills Amnon his half brother. Meanwhile the impression given is that David just looked on not really knowing what to do when all this trouble and strife was happening in his family. Sadly Nathan's prophecy from 2 Samuel 12 is all coming true. Eventually there is a sort of reconciliation between father and son in 2 Samuel 14 but this does not last long as will be seen in the next study. The thing to remember is Paul’s words from Galatians 6 v7-8 Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. In our latest study on David we saw how David as King just does not do things by half measures.
Firstly he falls for the temptation of laziness. Then with nothing to do one day he spy’s Bathsheba bathing naked on her roof. Now what she was doing there is another matter, knowing full well that the King could see her and her husband was away at war. Then David falls for her. They commit adultery, and surprise surprise she becomes pregnant. Then the panic stinks in – everyone will know that David the King is guilty so get the husband back from the war and he can be the father. But this does not quite work out as planned. David’s next panic reaction is that he will have to get Uriah (Bathsheba's husband) killed so he can then marry her. Which is what he does all be it at arms length, by getting him killed during one of the skirmishes that is part of the war that is going on at this time. Phew – David thinks he has got away with it as he quickly marries Bathsheba, and it is now fine that she is pregnant as she is the queen. But God sends the prophet Nathan to confront David of his crimes. Amazingly David recognises what Nathan says and accepts it, not trying to cover it up and asks God for forgiveness. This story can be found in 2 Samuel 11 and the first half of 2 Samuel 12 Another prophet Micah living between 750-700BC a few hundred years after David, gives a very good guide as to how we should try to live - Micah 6 V8 says But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously- take God seriously Quite a challenge really – What a change there would be in society if this was followed more widely. |
Tim Fuller
Dyslexic doodles on photography, food (growing, cooking & of course eating), faith and other fascinating things. This is a personal blog expressing my views. Archives
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