Posted in A Father's Love, Devotions, Holiness, spiritual warfare, wisdom, worship

2 Samuel 16–Trials Bring Out the Best and the Worst

David was fleeing for his life.  His son was out to kill him and take the kingdom. David was in deep pain and feeling very alone.  Then Jonathan’s son’s steward met David on the road.  He provided food, drink, and transportation for David and his people. David was amazed and asked Ziba, why are you doing this? Ziba replied because you needed it.  Then David asked if Mephibosheth sent him and Ziba said NO, He is in the city hoping to regain the throne for his family.  
 
David had lifted Saul’s grandson from poverty and restored him to wealth.  He let him eat at the king’s table and assigned him a personal staff. So to have Mephibosheth betray him was very sad.  So, David gave his position and possessions to Ziba, the steward. Then another of Saul’s relatives chased the group cursing and harassing David. David’s men wanted to kill him. David protected his attacker,  saying–“If God is allowing him to live then the Lord must think this is ok!
 
In difficult times, true friends and enemies are often revealed. Some we expect, others really are surprising and disheartening. We should employ David’s strategy–Bless those that are friends and allow God to deal with those that we find are our enemies.  We need not take time to be bitter or vengeful. Instead, we simply keep moving forward and allow God to complete His plan.  Then, in the end, we will be safe and will know who our true friends and allies are and we can bless them as they blessed us!
 
God Bless You

 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.

The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?”

Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.”

The king then asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?”

Ziba said to him, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’”

Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.”

“I humbly bow,” Ziba said. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.”

Shimei Curses David

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!”

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”

10 But the king said, “What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’”

11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lordhas told him to. 12 It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.”

Author:

This is an amazing Journey. I hope you will hear from the Lord, as you seek Him with your heart. Matthew 6:33

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s