In God's Time
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
There is an expression “Good things come to those who wait.”
That may be true, but tell that to the guy that’s having to wait, right?
We hate waiting, but the truth is, God has made us a waiting people. We are even waiting right now for Jesus’ return and the consummation of all things.
1 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.”
2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
3 And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron.
4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,”
5 David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him.
6 Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.
7 Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.
10 Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
Pray
1. God is in Control of Our History
1. God is in Control of Our History
David inquires of God before He acts
1 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.”
One might assume that David would be naturally the next leader in waiting since it seems the people knew that David had been anointed by Samuel in the place of Saul.
However, there were other agents working against David.
Abner is Saul’s cousin and was commander of his armies.
He seeks to find one of Saul’s sons to rule in place of Saul instead of David. He most likely wants to have power and influence and set up a puppet king.
Despite the best efforts from those loyal to Saul’s household, God uses the series of events that transpire to eliminate contenders to the throne that would threaten David’s rule, without David having to fight for it
1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh.
2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ ”
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
Illustration
I know that many of you love the word find puzzles that we put in the bulletin ever week. Some of you are into more elaborate puzzles.
A lot of adult activity books will have similar activities in them to those of kids, but they amp up the difficulty level. For example, coloring pages are not one big area to color, but a thousand tiny spaces.
Connect the dot puzzles for kids are so basic sometimes you can easily see the shape of what you are looking at, but adult connect the dots are a lot more difficult to see.
For example, take a look at this connect the dot and see if you can figure it out. They say it is a butterfly, but I don’t have the patience to connect the dots and confirm it.
The point here is that sometimes the events in our lives can be like these connect the dot puzzles. We cannot see how one point in our life connects to another, but to God these are like looking at a kid’s puzzle.
Application
What is the longest you have ever had to wait on God for something?
Sometimes we have to wait a while for God to do what He has promised. God is always at work, even if we cannot connect the dots
2. We Have a Sin Problem
2. We Have a Sin Problem
If there is one thing that we see pervasive in these chapters, it is killing a sin.
We see sin all around.
Notice that Israel is not seeking God’s will, though David prays and seeks God’s will.
A Puppet King
Saul’s cousin Abner sought to use Ish Bosheth as a puppet king, but an interesting thing that Matthew Henry points out in his commentary on this passage is that Ish Bosheth was not considered worthy enough to even go out to battle with his father Saul. Jonathan was the one that Saul said would inherit the throne, and if you thought they might want to keep Ish Bosheth back as a sort of “designated survivor,” then why not keep Jonathan back, who was the better candidate and send Ish Bosheth out. THe answer is that Ish Bosheth wasn’t king material.
But notice that after Ish Bosheth is installed, David’s nephew Joab and Abner have a contest.
12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you.”
13 And he said, “Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.”
14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
15 And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish.
16 But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned.
17 And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you.
This battle between two men vying for power spilled into bloodsport.
Then we see the battle continue and one of Joab’s brothers, Amasa, is killed by Abner. Later Joab would avenge his brother and kill Abner.
There feud leads to Israel having a semi-civil war break out between the two armies, but we see the previous principle in place again and God is in control leading David to grow stronger and stronger and slowly destroying Saul’s house.
Abner Defects
We see in 2 Sam. 3 Abner takes a concubine of Saul’s, which was considered to be a way of asserting power or claiming influence. This leads to a rift between Ish Bosheth and Sual.
Saul meets with David and agrees to hand over the kingdom. David wants his first wife.
David was still legally married and Michal’s new husband should have never committed to a married woman
David starts to break God’s commandments and accumulate wives
Joab Assassinates Abner (vv.26-30)
David was innocent
David made Joab mourn and then pronounces a curse on him
Abner is not recognized by David a having a legitimate right to the throne or David would not have tolerated the assassination
Ish Bosheth is Murdered
David doesn’t tolerate the assassination of Ish Bosheth
More murder and plotting
Application:
What ugly sin is hiding in your heart?
It will find a way out if we don’t learn to kill it and kill it immediately.
3. We Are in Need of King Jesus
3. We Are in Need of King Jesus
David seems to be in the background, but David makes several mistakes of his own.
David accumulates wives
David will later be brought down by his lust
David a good king, but we need a better king
