Friendship

2 Samuel 9 is all about David keeping his promise to Jonathan from way back in 1 Samuel 20:11-17. David made an oath in God’s name to preserve Jonathan’s bloodline. The custom in the Middle East (and we can see it throughout history in Europe also) was to eliminate competition for the throne by new, incoming kings. That usually meant killing all the offspring from the deposed king assuring that there would be no claims on the throne from those descendants. Jonathan asked David to spare his linage (which was Saul’s linage as Jonathan was Saul’s son). David said he would, but it’s been several years into David’s reign and he has not even tried to do so.

We are not told what sparked David’s sudden interest in keeping his promise to Jonathan. We are just told that, “David inquired, ‘Is there anyone still alive from the family of Saul, to whom, for Jonathan’s sake, I can show kindness” (2 Samuel 9:1 CJB). One such person was located and he happened to be the lame son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth. He was accidently made lame by his nurse dropping him as they fled what they thought would be David’s revenge on the family of Saul after Saul’s death. (David had no intention of doing that, but the nurse did not know that.)

Later in the passage (verse3), David asks the question in a slightly different way (according to the various English translations), but the meanings were the same. “The king said, ‘Is there anyone still alive from the family of Saul, to whom I can show God’s grace?’” (CJB). David’s desire was to keep his promise to his closest friend, Jonathan, and show God’s special brand of grace.

While Mephibosheth was afraid David had ill intentions lined up for him, David tells him to not be afraid (verse 7). Then David goes on to tell Mephibosheth how his grace and kindness are going to be played out. “for I am determined to be kind to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. I will restore to you all the land of Saul your [grand]father, and you will always eat at my table.” David suddenly made Mephibosheth a very rich man. David went above and beyond what Jonathan asked him to do. Due to his friendship with Jonathan – for Jonathan’s sake – David was extremely generous. (David had the right to claim all of Saul’s possessions as his as Saul didn’t appear to have any legitimate heirs.)

I thought to myself, “How good of a friend am I?” Am I generous? Would I go out of the way to help a friend’s child? At the very least, do I pray for my friends and their families? Sometimes I can say, “Yes!” to all those questions (or at least some of them). But this idea of good friendship challenges me to be more intent in praying for my friends and their families. Intentional friendship is what God calls us to.

He Is With Us Wherever We Go

Last week in 2 Samuel 7, I touched on how God is not stuck in a temple. The other nations of the Middle East thought their gods had power limited to their nation’s boundaries. If their gods were going to go with them to battle, they would have to carry a statue with them. David made some assumptions that the same is true of his God. So David desired to build a temple to “put God in.”

God corrected David by saying He was never in a temple before and that the tabernacle did not need to be present for David and his armies to be successful in battle. It seems like David may have learned something about that. We see in 2 Samuel 8 David’s conquest of many different nations. David recognizes that God went with the armies wherever they went. At the end of verse 14 it is recorded that, “ADONAI gave victory to David wherever he went” (CJB).

I found it interesting to me, during my current emotional downturn, that David traveled far and wide from Jerusalem in his war campaigns. David’s assignment from God was to physically subjugate all the original areas of the Promised Land to rule under one king. David’s objective was to create a united kingdom ruling over all the territories God promised Israel when they came to the Promised Land. And, so God was with him and working wonders in David’s life (as seen in the Psalms David wrote) and through David’s life for the benefit of all 12 tribes of Israel.

Today my battles are different. Most are tied up in my mental illness and other issues I face on a daily basis. Whether I’m sinking into a depression with the lethargy and lack of motivation, or zooming into a mania with its irrationality and irritability, I need to take the message in this chapter to heart: God is with me wherever I go. And the victory is His just as it was in David’s battles.

I need to recognize that God has already won victory for me. It says in John 16:33 (where Jesus is talking to His disciples shortly before His arrest), “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (NASB). He has overcome all the problems and situations this world can throw at me, and I may have peace as a result. Dropping everything going on in my thoughts down before Jesus, I can find that peace. It takes practice, but when I’m able to get my heart and mind into trusting Jesus, peace does come.

Hearts vs. God's Will

In Samuel 7 we see David’s good heart and desire to glorify God. But it’s misguided.

He desired to build a house for God since his own palace was so very much nicer than the tent the Ark (and supposedly, God) was in. He thought God’s house ought to be more glorious than his own. There are a couple of problems with that. When David told his friend and prophet, Nathan what he planned in his heart to do, Nathan responded, “Good, do everything that is in your heart, for ADONAI is with you” (vs. 3, CJB).

David and Nathan made an assumption that whatever was in David’s heart was okay with God. “But that same night the word of ADONAI came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David that this is what ADONAI  says:. . .” (vs. 4). God goes on to explain a myriad of things to Nathan and David, which basically says He doesn’t want David to build Him a house, even as David thought it was what God wanted. In 1 Kings 8:18 we are told a little more about this from Solomon, David’s son’s, vantage point: “but ADONAI said to David my father, ‘Although it was in your heart to build a house for my name, and you did well that it was in your heart . . .”

The caution for us: when we think we are getting some kind of message from God in our hearts we should know it can’t be trusted. Jeremiah 17:9 (and other passages tell us not to trust our hearts): “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (NASB). We should not confuse God’s will for what we feel or think in our hearts. When making decisions, we need to have much stronger backing for them than just what we feel or think. The truth we need is found in God’s revealed will – the Bible. Sometimes the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what to do, but we should still not confuse our feelings or thoughts on a matter as God’s will for us.

Also, David had come to believe that, just like the other Middle Eastern nations, God was actually living in that tent – that He was confined to the tent. David missed the point that He was everywhere and could move about as He wished, but God reviewed that truth with David in verses 5-7:

Go and tell my servant David that this is what ADONAI says: “You are going to build me a house to live in? Since the day I brought the people of Isra’el out of Egypt until today, I never lived in a house; rather, I traveled in a tent and a tabernacle. Every where I traveled with all the people of Isra’el, did I ever speak a word to any of the tribes of Isra’el, whom I ordered to shepherd my people Isra’el, asking ‘Why haven’t you built me a cedar-wood house?’”

We, likewise, need to know our God is not confined to a building, a place, or to one nation. He can be everywhere at once. He goes with us wherever we go. Psalm 139:5 tells us, “You have hemmed me in both behind and in front and laid your hand on me.” He’s not confined to church on Sundays. We need to remember He is with us and act as His emissaries throughout the week wherever we are.

Respectful Awe vs. Comfortable Familiarity

I had a second thought from 2 Samuel 6 I want to share. This is quite tricky because we need to have a balance. We cannot be so cavalier as to think God is there only for our benefit. And we cannot view God as so distant that He has nothing to do with us. In fact, He wants us to be completely satisfied by His entirety.

What do I mean? Let’s look at 2 Samuel 6:5 in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB).

David and the whole house of Isra’el celebrated in the presence of ADONAI with all kinds of musical instruments made of cypress-wood, including lyres, lutes, tambourines, rattles and cymbals.

At first glance, what happened may seem like a good occurrence; however, the key to understanding what David and the rest of Israel did wrong is found in the Hebrew word translated “celebrate.” The word written in English is “sachaq.” It has the connotations of laughter, mocking, making merry, jesting, and joking all in a frivolous manner. This is not the attitude God desires of us when we approach Him or desire to worship Him.

How is this different than what David and the people did later? The second half of verse 12 says,

So David went and joyously brought the ark of God up from the house of ‘Oved-Edom into the City of David (CJB).

Isn’t celebrating the same as being joyous. After all later in the chapter we see David and the people dancing and playing the shofar (a kind of horn made from a ram’s horn). This time we look at the Hebrew word for “joyous.” It is “simchah” and means inner joy and gladness of heart. It’s not an outward or showy celebration that focuses on the happiness of the participants.

What this all means for me is that we need to be careful not to lower our standards of worship to a raucous party-like atmosphere. While dancing and singing and playing of instruments are not wrong in and of themselves, it’s the condition of our hearts that God is looking for. He wants us to approach Him with a sense of awe and wonder. He wants us to have inner joy and a deep gladness in our hearts. And, he does want us to come to Him with our problems, concerns and joys. It’s a balance between respectful awe and comfortable familiarity.

Making Decisions

Recently I had the thought to revamp my weekly schedule. I came up with a “brilliant” idea all by myself. The goal was to make more time for writing. As I mapped out in my head what I was going to do, I made assumptions based on my superior intellect. I assumed I’d be stellar in my writing performance without the activities I was cutting out. One was an AA meeting at 8:15 on Monday mornings, and the other was my volunteer work at a mission in my town on Thursday mornings. As I said, I had it all mapped out in my head.

As I said last week, last Tuesday I spent some extended time with God, reading His Word and asking for guidance. I also said that a key thing I received from that time was ideas about how, when, and who to be praying (basically it was before, during, and after I write). The other main lesson was that I should make writing (God’s calling on my life) a priority in my schedule. So I decided to schedule writing time into the time slots I freed up by skipping the meeting and volunteering. I should’ve prayed some more . . .

In 2 Samuel 6 we have the story of David moving the ark of God to Jerusalem. David also made some assumptions about how things should be done. He decided to move the ark the way the Philistines had returned it to Israel (that account is found in 1 Samuel 6). David did not even consider searching the Scriptures or asking the priests to examine the Scriptures to see if God had given any instructions in how to move the ark. As a result, tragedy struck and one of the attendants tried to steady the ark as the oxcart it was in looked like it was going to turn over. That attendant, Uzzah, died immediately upon touching the ark.

David decided to leave the ark in a nearby lodging of some Levites and go back to Jerusalem without the ark. The passage in 2 Samuel 6 says David was upset and frightened of God that day (vs. 8-9). He was afraid of what trouble the ark of God might cause for him and he didn’t want it in or near his capital city. After three months everyone was talking about how the people the ark was left with were prospering above and beyond what was normal. So David decided to move it again.

This time he must have studied the Scriptures and found the passages that explain how God’s ark is to be handled . . . using rods through the designed rings on the ark and having the Levite clan of Korhath bear the ark on their shoulders. It doesn’t say in the text that David did his research and/or consulted wise counsel, but he must have because he knew how to move the ark this time.

Back to my story. My scheduling plan was to take action without consulting God or wise counsel. But I paused – probably the Holy Spirit’s nudging – and sought counsel. My therapist and AA sponsor both told me the same things. Start with every other week so I can keep my accountability in AA and continue to serve world missions by the volunteer work. With further counsel and much more specific prayer, I freed up one day a week to devote to writing by going to the meeting and the volunteering opposite every other weeks. A much healthier plan than I thought should be done.

Are there areas or decisions or actions on which you need to be consulting God? I know there are many other situations in my life where I try to make the decisions for myself and the results do not work out as well as I thought. My goal is to seek God’s Scripture wisdom before I act.