Running

It has been noted that among all of the greats in the Bible, there’s something interesting in the marquee features of their lives. There seems to be a duality to it: what makes a man great proves to be a man’s downfall. That chief feature of a man that makes him unique from other men— that thing that provides the caricature of a man’s whole being— has two extremes.

Peter- his mouth

Matthew 16:16–18 “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Matthew 16:21-23- From that time forth began Jesus gto shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan!

Moses-

David- passion & pursuit- running!

1 Samuel 17:48 “And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:51 “Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.”

Psalm 119:32: “I will run the way of thy commandments, When thou shalt enlarge my heart.” Even in times of trouble when dealing with the threats of Saul, David ran! Someone noted that For David to mature, he had to learn how to live under pressure. David certainly passed that test. Between the slaying of Goliath and the gregarious chants of the Hebrew women, Saul hath slain his thousands but David his ten thousands, to his ultimate taking of the throne of Israel, David is recorded to have run to 14 different locations.

He runs! He runs at lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my! He runs at giants…kills them with his sling…then runs and stands upon Goliath’s lifeless body, severing his ogre head from his 10’ tall body. He runs to the commandments of the Lord! He runs to please God. He runs to the cave or Adullam…runs to the cave at En-gedi…runs to the king of Gath....he runs.

But we all know the story of David— he made a critical error in judgment and in passion violated his covenant to God and lay with Bathsheba. He orders Uriah to come home— makes him drunk— can’t get Uriah to lie with his wife— and sends him back to the battle to face a sure death.

we now know

the baby born of adultery dies

but God is gracious

Solomon born, call him Jedidiah- beloved of God-

and it seems as if all would be well.

2 Samuel 13:1–3 “And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.”

1 Chronicles 3:1–9 “Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron; the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess: The third, Absalom the son of Maachah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur: the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith: The fifth, Shephatiah of Abital: the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife. These six were born unto him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years. And these were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel: Ibhar also, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, And Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. These were all the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines, and Tamar their sister.”

I wondered, what are you running towards today? Are you running to God or are you, like David in our text, running from the calamitous events in your life?

He runs from responsibility-

allowing Absalom a full two years to vent; a full two years for Tamar to feel unloved and unprotected

Certainly, the David who dispatched Goliath, slew his tens of thousands, took the foreskins of two hundred Philistines, conquered the Ammonites,… would muster some pointed response to an act of brutality within his own household. But it was not to be…

He runs from reconciliation

allowing Absalom a full two years to proselyte, gaining the hearts of the people; in Absalom you see a little boy wanting the validation, love, and fellowship of his father— you see him desiring relationship but getting rejection—

I just want to remind you that his troubles are not going to disappear; rather, they are going to get worse— and the only hope he has is to run to God and to gain wisdom to deal with them— but instead, he runs and ruins his family.

He eventually runs from ruin

zsa