Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 19:5 – 20:36
Joab often has wise advice for David and he certainly remained faithful to David in his life-time (if I remember correctly) and basically his advice which I need to hear some times in my life – “Don’t be so wrapped up in yourself, that you forget to appreciate what others do for you. Erica shared with us an important thing a couple of weeks ago – “Don’t forget to EXPRESS your appreciation for what folks do for you, or else that becomes ingraditude expressed!” (or some such saying!). So David comes out and all the people gather to him in the gate!
Amid the plans to receive David back into his kingdom, it’s interesting to watch the first rush of people forward to meet him. Shimei moves forward with the urgent need to be forgiven (when isn’t forgiveness an urgent thing?!) and I feel the need in my life to be like David. I need in my life to have the characteristic that revenge is not an important thing. In actual fact, God forbids the desire for it, comforting me by reminding me that He will take care of it (in a fairer way than I ever could do it with!). And there is Ziba with his sons and servants who had spread the false rumour about Mephibosheth, and Ziba must keep up the show of loyalty or lose all, as far as Ziba knows!
What can one say about Mephibosheth? His loving loyalty moves me to tears as I think about him! He must have “stood out like a sore thumb” after David left, never taking care of his feet or trimming his mustache or washing his clothes from the day David, his king, left to the day David safely returned! Did no one understand what Mephibosheth was doing? He used to sit at the king’s table! And what sorrow filled his life for him to take such drastic action, but the absence of his beloved king? Not sure if this behaviour even exposed him to danger from the new king if anyone understood what he was doing, but his loyalty shines like a bright beautiful star in a darkened summer night and beckons me to the same love and loyalty for our King of Kings, our precious Lord Jesus.
Barzillai, another loyal follower is now too old to serve David, but not too old to love and care for the King. He dedicates a son to the king. Is this a son who might have taken care of Barzillai in his old age?
And so we follow the sad story of killing, as Joab and the Lord, fight David’s battles and restore the kingdom to David once again. The head of Sheba, the troublemaker, who has taken advantage of fights between brothers and sisters (how disastrous have I experienced those to be!) – has his head thrown over the wall, at the advice of a wise woman who knows the danger of mindless fights, and again Joab has the wisdom to blow the trumpet and step away from needless killing, and return home to his king and master! Sometimes my weary heart, just wants the fighting to stop, so I can return to my Master and Lord! But the battle on earth will end at “the shout of our Lord Jesus as He descends, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and at that very moment the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we will all be caught up TOGETHER to meet the Lord in the air, and THUS WE shall always be with the Lord! – 1 Thess. 4:16-17.
And then follows in the reading a summary of those who served David and what their service was! I wonder what is my place of service for Him?