BOLD Daily Devotional: In the Midst of the Mess

All right, so we're talking about 2 Samuel chapter 17.

2 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

I actually want to start with the end of chapter 16.

Um, it says in verse 21, and Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go into your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father.

Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.

So they pitched the tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.

Now the advice of Ahitophil, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God.

So was all the advice of Ahitophel, both with David and with Absalom.

Reason why I started that um at the end of that chapter is to kind of give a little flow over into chapter 17, because the way chapter 17 starts with in verse 1 is with the word more over, and then also the end of that um chapter is a fulfillment of prophecy that was well actually a prophecy of judgment that was spoken over David from when he had that affair with Bathsheba and did what he did to try to co-conspire and cover up the iniquity that he had done when he got her pregnant, killed Uriah.

Um, and of course, God saw that, so he called him out on it and told him as a result, these things would take place.

So now he is in this um situation with Absalom and all the things that are happening as a result of the judgment that came upon him from something that he did, right?

Isn't that kind of run crazy?

Like you really have to be very discerning, you have to be very careful, you have to, you know, walk according to the word, you have to walk according to what God said, you have to um listen, you have to obey because your steps, what you are doing, the way you are walking, the way you carry yourself, the way um you move, not only affects you, it affects your bloodline that is attached to you.

Absalom is his child, and as a result of what David did, the ripple effect of what happened is being seen in multiple ways.

Like for instance, with Bathsheba, you know, and David with that child that he um they had um created at that time, that child did not survive, and then now with Absalom, this uh whole situation is happening in real time because of a past indiscretion.

So going into chapter 17, it says, Now let me choose 12,000 men.

This is uh hittophil giving advice to Absalom, and I will arise and pursue David tonight.

I will come upon him while he is weary and weak and make him afraid, and all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king.

Then I will bring back all the people to you, and when all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.

And it says uh sounded good to Absalom, but then he was like, You know what?

I'm gonna seek um wise counsel in the um mouth of more than just one witness.

I'm gonna get somebody else to come in here and give me some advice as well.

See what that um advice sounds like.

So he went to um who shai and he called him in, who shai the architect, and he said, Let me see what you have to say.

So he came to him and he said, Um, Ahithophel told me what to do, like in this way.

What you what do you say?

So he said, The advice of Ahithophel has uh given is not good at this time.

Who shai, you know, your father and his men, he told him they're mighty men, you know.

They um they're enraged, they're like a bear robbed to their cubs.

You know, had he is a man of war.

Um, he won't camp with the people, he's probably already hidden in some pit, some other place.

And when you come out looking for him, you won't find him, like he is saying, you won't be able to just pursue him easily and come to him, right?

Because you know you're getting daddy, you know he's a man of war, he knows he's a man of valor, and he's already got a plan together.

So after he hears the this advice from Hushai, um, he says, You know what?

I like your advice better.

So I'm gonna follow your advice um from Hushai or Archite, right?

So the Lord had did that, put that word out there because he purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahittophel to in the intent that the Lord might bring disaster upon Absalom, right?

So then, you know, Hushai went to Zadek and Abbey after the priest, and he told them what happened, and they uh quickly went to tell David what to do from there.

So they're giving wise counsel to David in the midst of everything that is happening.

So Hushai is infiltrated into uh Absalom and into his kingdom to make him feel like he is an ally to him and that he has defected from David, but he actually has not defected, he is still feeding information to David to keep him safe in this time, even in the midst of the mess, even in the midst of the muck, even in the midst of running from your son, running from for your life.

God is still looking out for David, God is still taking care of David, God is still prospering him and keeping him safe from the hurt, harm, or danger that is trying to take him down.

So um, then after that, we're going down, says verse 19 woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, spread and ground grain on it.

So the thing was not known.

Absalom's servants came to the woman's house.

They was asking about uh Ahimeaz and Jonathan because they were there as well, but they had already fleed and went away.

So the woman told them they have gone over the water brook, and they searched, they couldn't find them, and they returned to Jerusalem, Absalom and his people, because they couldn't find Ahimeaz and on Jonathan.

Came to pass after they had departed, they came upon the well uh and went and told King David.

And David said, Arise and cross over the water quickly, for thus has Ahittophel advised against you.

So David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan, still God protecting them by morning light.

Not one of them who had left, who had gone over on the joy, what's left who had gone over on the Jordan.

And Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed.

He saddled his donkey, arose went to his house, to a city, he put his household in order, hanged himself, and died.

Now, I in the last part of this on chapter 16, it said that Ahitophel's advice was like an oracle from God.

So when he saw that his advice was not taken, was not heeded, he went and ended his own life, which was actually kind of strange to me, just reading that.

That you okay, they don't take your advice, and then that's got to be the end for you.

But I guess apparently it impacted him so much that he has been thought of as an oracle from God, and an oracle is like somebody who is like if you hear from this person, then you know that God is speaking through him, you know that God is speaking through her, you know that that word that they um are speaking is something that is destined to come to pass because you know God does not miss when they speak through this person, and his advice was not taken as such because God was working in that situation behind the scenes, but it caused him and the grief, I guess, and uh he felt just caused him to take his own life after that, right?

So then he was buried, and then you know, David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed over the Jordan, and all his men was Israel with him.

Absalom made Amas uh captain uh of the army instead of Joab, and then Amasa on was the son of a man whose name was Jethra, was an Israelite, and he had gone into Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zariah, Joab's mother.

So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

And when that happened, um David came to Mahanim that Shobi, the son of Nahash, and Rabbah of the people of Ammon, Makir, the son of Amiel of from Lodabar and Barzili, the Gileadite from Rogella, and they brought beds and basins, earth and vessels and wheat, barley and flour, parts, grain, and um beans, lentils, parts, seeds, honey, and curds, sheep, and the cheese of the herd for David and for the people who were with them to eat.

And they said, The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.

While they are fleeing, they still are being provided for.

They're being given food, they're being given provisions, they're being given wheat, barley, flour, they're being taken care of in the midst of their storm.

So, uh just to close this out, what we can take, we can take a lot of things from this.

Like in the middle of a bad situation, in the middle of a judgment that is coming upon David, coming to come fund his family, because of the past indiscretion that he did, because of the evil that he did in the Lord's sight, God is still good and his mercy endures forever.

He is being merciful to David, even in the midst of this situation, and he is making sure that he is provided for, he is making sure that he is taken care of, he is making sure that he is watching over him and taking care of him.

So even when we slip up and we mess up, or if God tells us to do something and we don't exactly follow that directive, but we come back and we repent and we get ourselves together and we get ourselves right, we can trust and believe that God will be true to his word.

He watches over his word to perform it, and we are so thankful and grateful that in this new covenant dispensation that we live in, this covenant of grace, this time of grace that we are in because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can trust and assure and believe that God um is watching over us even better than he did the people in the old covenant, because we have a better covenant with better promises, and because of what Jesus did for us, that sacrifice that he did for us, gave for us, and he's seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us, because of that of what Jesus did, we are not guilty in God's sight.

So we can trust and believe and just hold fast and be assured that even in our worst situations, even if we cause them, God is still there taking care of us.

We can stand on that, we can believe that, and we can trust that.

And with that, I will yield.