Your COMPASS for the Journey on the PATH of Discipleship: August 14-20, 2011
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Compass, Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation
Your COMPASS for the Journey on the PATH of Discipleship is a daily resource designed to help you find direction in your walk with Christ. It includes a ‘Compass’ (a daily reading), a ‘Map’ (a brief comment to aid your understanding of the reading), and an application section called ‘Journey.’
Sunday, August 14, 2011 THE DEFEAT OF EVIL
Compass:
2 Samuel 17:14 ‘…The Lord had ordained to defeat the…counsel of Ahithophel.’
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.’ For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.
Map:
King David’s son, Absalom, engineered a takeover of his father’s kingdom, forcing David and those who were with him to flee Jerusalem. Ahithophel (rhymes with ‘a myth o’ fell’) counseled Absalom to let him pursue and kill David. Absalom considered his offer, but he also wanted to hear from Hushai (pronounced ‘hush eye’). What Absalom did not know was that Hushai was a double agent. He claimed to be loyal to Absalom, but his heart was actually with David. Hushai appealed to Absalom’s vanity and persuaded him to go into battle himself. His victory, Hushai told him, would boost his ratings with the people. Absalom liked the sound of that and decided to employ Hushai’s plan. Hushai then warned David through a covert network of informants, and David was able to prepare for the confrontation.
Journey:
Our verse for today says that ‘the Lord had ordained to defeat the…counsel of Ahithophel.’ Hushai’s skill in protecting King David and his courage in countering the favored Ahithophel’s advice are, no doubt, gifts from God. Therefore, it is God who, rightly, is credited with turning Absalom’s intrigue against him. All through the pages of Scripture, we see God always at work, upholding his Anointed One. Even when Jesus was on the cross and his enemies seemed to have the upper hand, God had Easter in the works. Evil will never confound God. We may take heart in knowing this. James Russell Lowell once wrote:
Though the cause of evil prosper, yet ‘tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold and upon the throne be wrong,
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.
Monday, August 15, 2011 FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST
Compass:
2 Samuel 18:5 ‘Deal gently for my sake with…Absalom’
And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.’ And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom.
Map:
Absalom was a rebel. He conspired against his father, the king, and usurped the throne of Israel. In the pursuit of his unholy agenda, he planned to murder his own father. He would seal his grasp for power with the blood of David.
For David’s part, he was ready to engage Absalom’s forces in battle. But Absalom was his son, and he wanted to show him mercy. He ‘gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom,’ that no harm was to come to him. ‘Deal gently…with the young man,’ he said.
Journey:
How like our King this is! We rebelled against our rightful Lord and designed to kill him! It was our sin, after all, that nailed Jesus to the cross. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities’ (Isaiah 53:5). But he looked upon us with mercy. Even as he hung upon the cross, with his enemies spewing their insults at him, he cried out to God: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:34). The Apostle Peter confirms this. He writes of Jesus that, ‘when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly’ (1 Peter 2:23). This is the mercy of our King. Even though we rebel, he deals with us gently for the sake of Christ.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 WHERE SIN LEADS
Compass:
2 Samuel 18:9, 14 ‘Joab…took three javelins…and thrust them into…Absalom.’
9 …Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on…. 14 Joab…took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak.
Map:
Despite David’s instruction to ‘protect the young man Absalom’ (2 Samuel 18:12), Joab, the commander of David’s army, put an end to the life of David’s son.
Journey:
This is the way of evil. It is like blood. Once spilled, it covers everything. David committed adultery with another man’s wife and then had the man murdered to cover up his sin. In the twisted reasoning of a darkened mind, one crime requires another. But, try as he might to hide his sin from others, David could not hide it from God. Nor can we. ‘Be sure your sin will find you out’ (Numbers 32:23). Of course, David confessed his sins and repented of them, but evil has consequences. In David’s case, he was driven into exile, his family and his nation fell apart, and his son, whom he loved despite his son’s scorn, was brutally murdered. When the kingdom of God comes in its fullness, there will be no more sin; in the meantime, we must rely on God’s grace to keep us from the destruction sin causes.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 THE ONE WHO DIED IN OUR PLACE
Compass:
2 Samuel 18:33 ‘ …Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son….’
And the king was deeply moved and went up gto the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’
Map:
When news of his army’s victory came to King David, all he seemed concerned about was the fate of his son. When, at last, he learned that Absalom had died in the battle, he cried out, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’
Journey:
There is little doubt that Absalom sealed his own fate. His betrayal of his father, King David, enraged those who held the king in high esteem. Joab, the commander of David’s army, and his armor-bearers struck the fatal blow. But the report of the young man’s death brought great anguish to David’s heart. ‘Would I had died instead of you,’ he cried.
Again, we see the love of a father for an errant child. The most noble portrayal of such love is that of God for sinners. ‘Would that I had died instead of you’ translates into the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. As the religious leaders of Jesus’ day conspired against our Lord and plotted to take his life, it was the high priest, Caiaphas, who said, ‘It is better…that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish’ (John 11:50). The Gospel account goes on to tell us that ‘he did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad’ (John 11:51f.). Christ not only yearned to die in our place; he actually did so.
Thursday, August 18, 2011 THE MERCY OF GOD
Compass:
2 Samuel 19:22-23 ‘…The king gave him his oath.’
22 …David said, ‘What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?’ 23 And the king said to Shimei, ‘You shall not die.’ And the king gave him his oath.
Map:
When King David fled Jerusalem and abdicated his throne to Absalom, a man named Shimei (rhymes with ‘Jim eye’) met him on the way and cursed him and even threw rocks at him (2 Samuel 16:5-8). At that time, one of David’s officers, a son of Zeruiah (pronounced ‘zee-roo-yah’), offered to ‘take off his head’ (2 Samuel 16:9). But David rebuked him. Now, as David is coming back to Jerusalem to assume the throne again, Shimei, chastened by the outcome of events, approaches David and humbly asks his pardon. Again, Zeruiah’s son wants to put Shimei to death (2 Samuel 19:21), and, again, David rebukes him. ‘Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day?’ David says. ‘For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?’
Journey:
David’s mercy reflects our Lord’s mercy. Our sin condemns us, and our adversary calls for judgment to fall upon our heads. Revelation 12:10 says, ‘The accuser of our brothers…accuses them day and night before our God.’ But we have been spared by the mercy of God. Scripture says, ‘Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us’ (Romans 8:33f.). Indeed, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1).
Friday, August 19, 2011 MOTIVES FOR FOLLOWING
Compass:
2 Samuel 19:41-43 ‘Why then are you angry over this matter?’
41 Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?” 42 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?” 43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
Map:
The rebellion of Absalom has been crushed, and David is making his way back to Jerusalem to take his rightful crown once again. What should be an occasion of heightened celebration disintegrates into a petty argument over who has a better claim on David, the people of Judah or those who belong to the other tribes (collectively referred to as Israel). The people of Judah claimed the privilege of being David’s ‘close relative.’ The people representing the ten tribes of Israel claimed that they were more representative of the nation as a whole and that, therefore, they had a larger interest in David.
Journey:
This bickering is reminiscent of another quarrel recounted in the pages of Scripture. It, too, took place on the road to Jerusalem. In this case, it was the disciples who argued among themselves as they traveled with Jesus to the Holy City, where he would be crucified. The substance of their argument? Mark 9:34 says that, ‘on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.’ In both cases — the argument between the people of Judah and the Israelites on the one hand and the argument among the disciples of Jesus on the other — the concern had to do with who had the right to benefit most from their connection to the one they were following. This is a sad inversion of what ought to be our true priorities. The ancient people of Judah and Israel should have been serving David not because of the benefit to them but because he was the Lord’s anointed. Likewise, the disciples should have been following Jesus not because of the importance that accrued to them as a result but because he was the Lord’s Anointed (the Messiah). We should examine our own hearts to discover the motives that compel us in our relationship to Christ.
Saturday, August 20, 2011 SACRIFICIAL DRINK
Compass:
2 Samuel 23:14-17 ‘…He would not drink it.’
14 David was…in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. 15 And David said longingly, ‘Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!’ 16 Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord 17 and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it.
Map:
Although this passage occurs near the end of 2 Samuel, it is actually a ‘flashback’ to an earlier time, when Israel was at war with the Philistines. David and his men had taken a position outside Bethlehem, where the Philistines were lodging. Bethlehem, remember, was David’s hometown, and he recalled the sweet taste of the water from the well by the gate. In an unguarded moment, he voiced a wish that someone would bring him a drink from that well. Without his knowledge, three of his ‘mighty men,’ as they were called, risked their lives to get David that drink of water. When they returned with it, he didn’t even drink it. He poured it out ‘to the Lord’ and declared that drinking that water would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives for it.
Journey:
Centuries later, our Lord would be gathered with his men in a secret place, and he would be the one to offer drink. In this case, it was a cup filled with wine, and he described it as ‘my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’ (Matthew 26:28).
The three ‘mighty men’ of David were willing to sacrifice their lives so that David might have a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem’s gate. The Son of Man, our Lord Jesus, did sacrifice his life, so that we all might drink from the water of life. Let us always give thanks to him for this.
Photo Credit: Michelangelo’s David by Robert Scarth
