2 Samuel 12:1-23 ~ may live

2 Samuel 12:1-23

12 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms,[a] and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord,^{[Dead Sea Scroll the Word of the Lord]} the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. 16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”



David acknowledges that the child was a unique person. He does not say baby; David is fully acknowledging this as a human being unique in HIS sight.

When we think of our lives, we plan out an idea of what He would have us do with our time. Surely if we are at the beginning of our lives, few of us raise our hands and say, "Oh, I'd like to be a prophet of the Lord!!"

Look at Nathan, he really worked out how he was going to plunk down this information the Lord sent to Nathan. If you look at the movie Richard Gere did on "David", you are going to see Samuel is a plotting, murdering, foaming-at-the-mouth Power Man. Hardly a prophet, Samuel is shown to be, but a king maker, a king breaker.

How did Nathan end up being a prophet of God?

2 Samuel 5:13-16
And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. 14 And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

Nathan did well in the eyes of David. Why? Nathan Loved. Loved David and David knew this.

2 Samuel 12:13
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

2 Samuel 12:24-25
24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah,^{[Beloved of the Lord]} because of the Lord.

Nathan was there when David was going to die of old age. Nathan advised David in the ways to obtain old age and stay in Salvation.


Next we are going to consider Samuel.

Samuel knows something about what the Lord desires. Notice with me, the heart of the matter.

1 Samuel 7:3
And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”


1 Samuel 16:1-2
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

Now here is job, career as prophet, a woman is not going to usually check-mark. This is a game where people get Vastly Offended. And notice with me again, Samuel has mourned Saul. How do we know? The LORD says so. Samuel is also in understanding of this is the Lord's Plan and Samuel is going to do what God has for him to do. He is not going to pull a Jonah and run.

So is this prophecy a comfy job - far from that.

1 Samuel 16:4-5
4 So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?”

5 “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.

Samuel invokes the same principal Jesus did when he said the child is sleeping, as he went to raise her from the dead. Samuel is not announcing the purposes of God, he is doing the will of his Father.


John 1:23
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.


Jonah did not love and still was compelled to do the work of the Lord. He spent time mourning the fact Nineveh  repented.

Jonah 4
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

(Surely a lot of people think Jonah is a fable. However what reason would Jonah hate the Assyrians so much? It sounds like national pride. However, I believe this to be History and would point out to you it is one of the amazing miracles of the Bible that during King Hezekiah, and Isaiah, the Assyrian Empire did not invade or compel the next door neighbor, tiny Israel, to be assumed to be other than a friend of the Assyrian Empire. Jonah has saved Israel for another Empire in time to conquer that. And Nebuchadnezzar is interested as he is compelled by Israel's bad behavior and double dealing to the Persian Empire to be lenient because Jonah's words have caught Holy Spirit Fire in the Assyrian Empire which led to Nebuchadnezzar becoming the new leader out of Assyria to form the Persian Empire.)

Its interesting to note, God did not send a hater back to Israel to become as part the Temple. End of Jonah.

We all, ultimately, hope to create a life with meaning. Samuel understood that as a small boy. Here is a heart open to the LORD.

1 Samuel 3

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

6 And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.


Father God, each day we put out our open hands to You. Let this day not merely be one day tells its tale to another. Use this day in my life to Your glory. Let me encounter the people You would call me to minister with about You. I am much more attuned to let Your love be revealed in my life without words. Should You require words, help those words be from You.

Let me be like Noah, clearly, or unclearly, let Your will be accomplished. Noah knew he was to believe You, believe Your Words were for him, and Noah swung his hammer, each day at Your task. Let my prayer, my words, my work be for You. And let one life bring His will in goodness, mercy and steadfast love. Let love, the grace of Yours, cover a multitude of sin and allow my life to be fruitful to you. I ask in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, each day. Amen. So be it.

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Matthew 6:19-23 ~ generous

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Matthew 6:19-23

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[generous] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[stingy]  your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!


Matthew 10:7
And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’

Psalm 23:6
 
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
 



Believe this - Eternity begins as we invite the Lord, God, the Almighty to move, dwell and have His Being within us.
 

As Jesus people, we are called to leave footprints saying our lives gave goodness and love.

One of life's most irritating quotes to me is Mahatma Gandhi's - "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I believe I would say -Passive Resistance and Healing Requires Two Participating Sides.

We miss a good point in the life, being busy people; True change comes first from meditation, becoming prayer. Prayer becomes a changed heart. A changed heart makes life more meaningful with Love. And character produces hope.

Real change. South Africa remains intact and prospering after the genocide was forgiven, led by the Christian Church. Rwanda the same.

The Smithsonian exhibit of The Greensboro, NC Lunch Counter Sit In, made an excellent, excellent point about civil rights leaders' determination to be non-violent. We were blessed as a nation for permanent change.

What does desegregation mean to us today? Many of us have friends with other skin colors. Leading into, we increasingly have family with different skin colors. You wouldn't want your grandchild to be told to sit at the other side of the room. 

 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11255/11255-h/11255-h.htm#BooneRevFrankT 
Guttenburg wrote A History of Slavery in the United States, from Interviews with Former Slaves assembled in 1936 by a Library of Congress Project.



Our Churches need to do this - our mission field actually is - the people we encounter in our daily lives. And in our Churches. Pew Research, and seeing young people come in to the Pregnancy Assistance Center, shows us more Christians believe "you don't need Church to be a follower of Jesus Christ." What caused the Church to grow? The word Encouragement is used fourteen times in the Scriptures - Only in the Books speaking of Church growth. Too many times Christians believe if we castigate worldly views, we've preached the gospel.

Job 9:10
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Recently a client at the Pregnancy Center I volunteer in, had a homeless lady come in with her husband, heavily pregnant with her second child. She spoke of her oldest son's almost recovery from a brain tumor. The trouble with shelter housing have bedbugs and continual mental 'Drama'. The hopelessness of being so pressed and unemployed. She was a bright eyed individual - telling of real trouble with determination and verve. My heart went well out to her. Her second pregnancy was six months along and her unborn daughter had been flagged with Downs Syndrome; saying she could handle having one handicapped boy, so she had the background to handle another with love. She spoke of having a mom who was willing to help the other siblings, but not her, with some bitterness - who wouldn't be bitter?

Our Pregnancy Center offers points for goods earned by doing homework. I put my hand on her shoulder and asked her if she wouldn't mind having the Forgiveness Homework. Her reply was heartfelt as she replied she could use that. We prayed for these reasons and for her to be able to find a high risk pregnancy doctor, I could tell she was overwhelmed and under prayed for. The Prayer seemed to bounce right back from that ceiling.

God hears us. We are transparent to Him.

The next time that client came in - she brought her mother. That bright eyed woman was still bright eyed. Her mom was giving her family a brand new trailer on her mom's beautiful, treed land. The husband had found work. The high risk doctor had been found. The welcomed unborn daughter - well she does Not have Down's Syndrome.

That bright eyed young woman knows something about her Father. Forgiveness is bringing Heaven to earth.

Matthew 13:32
Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.


1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

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Psalm 81 ~ Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it

Psalm 81

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

An answer. Sometimes when reading the Psalms when it is a time for trouble and worry - it seems David complains and complains, and as the reader you are agreeing with him! That's right, tell us, tell God about it! Suddenly David does an about face .... when one is "hep up" agreeing with David .... and he says..... like in Psalm 108:

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.

Some days we feel like David. Like Jesus carrying His cross. Then David throws a curve in a verse latter in the same Psalm 108:

12 Oh grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
13 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.

Read Psalm 81 again, or just let a verse jump in your memory....

For me this Psalm hinges on:

I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I delivered you

Some days I say, please Father, help me to carry that burden..... and other days the verse puts a little jolt of "Noooo.... I want that..... more...."

Regardless, I reach the verse:

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it

And I say to Him, I can think of a whole lot of blessings!!! And I won't bow down to another god!!! Watch me, Father God!!

So what about these Davidic turn-around Psalms? David is Not window dressing, thresh David down, shake him around - David trusts God. Even when the Ziphites went to tell Saul where David was, in Psalm 54; David trusts God.

David grew up hearing, then living the mighty works of God. He heard stories about the Heavens long before his descendant Hezekiah would ask God to turn the hands of time back. David knew of Joshua:

Joshua 10:12-14
At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

Genesis 18:14 
Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Jeremiah 32:27 
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

David waited expectantly, like Paul did, to see what God would plan. David trusted God. As we can.

Catching Raindrops II, painted by Greg Ashley Cooper

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Matthew 6:7-15 ~ Do not be like Gentiles, for Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Cedar of Lebanon

Matthew 6:7-15

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed ^[holy] be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Footnotes: Some manuscripts add,

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen

I pray this Lord's Prayer a lot. I was very, very surprised after taking the class to become a Catholic, in 1994, after my first confession - we were assigned to sit in Church, be reflectively meditative, on the cross, and say the Lord's Prayer as the realignment in forgiveness. Yet these are the words of Jesus. Holy Words. Words given to us as part of the gift of forgiveness.

I say these words even when I'm angry and unforgiving. Rick Warren and, his brother-in-law, Tom Holladay discussed forgiveness, "In 40 Days of Love." Forgiveness gives up the right to hurt someone. Forgiveness gives up the right to slander someone.

The Topics
Session One: Love Matters Most
Session Two: Love is Patient, Love is Kind
Session Three: Love Speaks the Truth
Session Four: Love is Forgiving
Session Five: Love is not Selfish
Session Six: The Habits of a Loving Heart

We can provoke one another to unforgiveness. This behavior can spiral down to sadism. Relationships can become toxic. We are not in God's grace to accept the unacceptable. There is a very sound reason Jesus spoke these words.


Matthew 18:21-23
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Or seventy times seven)

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

God could have said forgive endlessly. He did not. 

Genesis 4:24
If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

We could quibble over 77 or 490, missing the Spirit.

Rick Warren spoke in the DVD about forgiveness hurting the deepest in divorce. He said forgiveness doesn't require a reconciliation. Forgiveness requires giving up the right to be grief-stricken and reconstruct the hurt. Forgiveness is the releasing of judgmental anger. This does not require forgetting, just letting go of the desire to hurt and be hurt. Rick Warren refers to wisdom as learning - the actions of the person are like the fruit identifying the tree. We learn what type of person we deal with. Forgiveness does not require the loss of wisdom.

Proverbs 16:20-24
20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
21 The wise of heart is called discerning,
and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
22 Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.
23 The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body. 

Add to the joys of forgiveness - this:
Picking up on discovering good, blessed by trusting the LORD. Being discerning.

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

We should give ourselves credit, like the Father running to his prodigal son - when we forgive with our mouths and brain, and allowing for the forgiveness fulling our hearts to be - the tree of life.  Certainly we are given grace to give complete forgiveness all at once. Sometimes the completion of forgiveness is a process.

The evil one would say - you just aren't forgiving, you don't have peace, you are a fake, they probably don't deserve forgiveness. Instead, lean on HIM and say, " Father, please. Help that forgiveness be the tree of life from You."

 Matthew 13:32
It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches

Tulla, Mexico - the tree is really that large.

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