Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 2 Samuel 15:1-14
Set – 2 Samuel 15; Matthew 25
Go! – 2 Samuel 15-16; Psalms 32; Matthew 25
2 Samuel 15:1-14
1 After this, Absalom acquired a chariot and horses, and he hired 50 men to run ahead of him. 2 Now Absalom made it a practice to rise early and stand beside the road leading into one of Jerusalem’s gates. When someone came along who wanted to petition the king, he would ask, “What is your city?” The person would answer, “Your servant is from a certain tribe of Israel.”Absalom: 3 I’m sure your claims are truthful and have merit, but the king has not appointed anyone to hear your case. 4 If only I were appointed the authority in the land! Then anyone with a petition could come before me, and I would give him justice!
5 When people came to Absalom to show their respects, he would embrace them and kiss them. 6 Absalom did this to everyone who sought justice from the king; and in this way, he made himself the favorite of the people of Israel.
7 When four years had passed, Absalom went to his father the king.
Absalom: My king, please let me go to Hebron and satisfy the vow I made to the Eternal One. 8 I made a promise when I lived at Geshur in Aram: “If ever the Eternal will bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will go and serve Him [in Hebron.]”
David: 9 Go in peace.
So he got up and traveled to Hebron. But this was all part of Absalom’s plan to come to power. 10 He had secretly planted messengers in all the tribes of Israel with these instructions: “As soon as you hear the trumpet play, then shout that Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron.”
11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem who were ignorant of Absalom’s plan were his invited guests on the journey. 12 While Absalom was offering sacrifices to God, he sent for David’s counselor Ahithophel of Giloh. The rebellion grew in power and number, 13 and at last a messenger came to David.
Messenger: Absalom has captured the loyalty of the people of Israel.
14 David could see now that he had been outmaneuvered, so he called for his advisors in Jerusalem and instructed them.
David: Gather your things, and let’s flee from the city right now, or we won’t escape Absalom’s revolt. Hurry, or he will catch us and kill us and anyone left in the city.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
The consequences of David’s sins have matured. I forgave him, but he still suffered the consequences of his actions. David should have been out with the people, but his guilt shut him inside his palace. He feared the people saw his sins the way I did and so he hid in his palace. He should have know what his sons were doing. He should have punished Amnon for raping Tamar and Absalom for killing Amnon, but his own past haunted him and he instead he did nothing.
Word spread around the kingdom, and so, David could no longer face his subjects. He hid in the shadows of the courts. He still worshipped Me. He knew his sins were forgiven and he wrote songs about it. He led his army on occasion and met with his advisors, but grew further away from the people I called him to serve.
In fact, Absalom plotted for four years gathering the hearts of the people before launching his revolt. And David didn’t notice a thing. David lost his children. He lost the loyalty of his people. He almost lost his throne. All because of single night of indiscretion he tried to cover with more evil. The consequences of sin spread much wider than you think.
The rules haven’t changed. I gave you David’s story to teach you just how bad things can get. Look around, though, and you’ll find his example isn’t so extraordinary. The web sin weaves is always extensive. Today, the webs are just as complex and far reaching for each sin and each person as they were for David in his day. No sin goes unnoticed and no sin is executed without consequences. I forgive, but consequences can still follow. It pays to obey Me from the start and learn to walk in My ways always.
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