Happy Easter!!!

Now don't get me wrong! I love Tina dearly, but in all honesty, cherishing her when she's crabby and moody can be a little bit difficult. I'm sure she could counter that statement with a few about me, so I won't go too far! To be fair, though, she has mentioned my snoring a couple times. If we, as a married couple, didn't have any faults, there would be no need for marital vows. Faithfulness wouldn't be a big part of our marriage.

Throughout our reading, we've seen examples of God's faithfulness. If I were in charge, I would have left those Israelites in the desert and started over with Moses. It's doubtful that Abraham would have continued as the beginning of the chosen people also, due to the faithlessness of so many of his decisions. I'm not God, though. God is infinitely more faithful than anybody on this earth. He is watching over each of us with his undying love and he refuses to let anybody fall through the cracks, no matter how much they snore!

p.s. I looked at the Bible Gateway web site a bit closer and found that a better solution to the "short reading" situation I was running into was right in front of me all along! I hope these links are to your liking. If you want to discuss this, or any other matter, I'm always available by e-mail.

Faithfully Yours,

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Here's another impressive fact about David: He was able to learn from the past and not make the same mistakes that had been made before. Having the Levites carry the ark in the prescribed manner was a sure sign of wisdom. And what a joyous celebration! The song sung to God must have been beautiful, for David had a beautiful singing voice. All of this marked the coming of a king who would lead the Israelites back to God, for they hadn't been doing well before. A king that would start with a glorious celebration to honor God is OK in my book!

Day 2

Wow, that is what I call an awesome promise! I wonder if God had a dual meaning in that, though. I mean, David did have sons who ruled over Israel, but not quite forever. Jesus, on the other hand, was of the house and lineage of David. The kingdom He established is you and me! I told you from the start that I'm not a great theologian, but I wonder if that was what he was suggesting.

Either way, David remained humble over it all, with a reminder that he came from nothing and became one of the most famous historical figures of all time due to God's grace. He was the greatest warrior of all time. Napoleon who? Ghengis Khan who? David was the man when it came to war because God brought him victory wherever he went. He didn't try to conquer the world, he was just defending God's chosen people, giving God the credit every step of the way.

Day 3

I mentioned earlier that David was merciful to Saul and to his family. This is a contrast to many of the "regime changes" in history, where all remnants of a former ruler's family would be destroyed to avoid any uprising. In fact, Mephibosheth was taken care of for the remainder of his years, even his inheritance was given to him.

Here's an example of leadership acting on partial information. The Ammonites had a new king and David sent a delegation to express his sympathies for the passing of the earlier king and the Ammonites humiliated the delegation. The resulting battle was about as one-sided as it gets! When God is with you, who can be against you?

Day 4

Up until this point, David had been taking a more active role in the military, often leading the armies himself. By now, though, I imagine he was aging a bit and had all of the possessions he wanted. He had wives and children and a kingdom that was becoming a superpower. David had it made!

Yeah, I'm going somewhere with this.

David was out walking the roof of his palace one evening, minding his own business, when he looked down and saw a beautiful woman bathing naked. The right thing to do would be to avert his eyes and walk elsewhere... at least on the other side of the roof! But this was the king, the master of all he saw, and he saw something that he wanted. Never mind the fact that he had other wives who had borne children for him. He wanted what he saw. And he took her and slept with her, resulting in her pregnancy.

The right thing to do at this point would have been to own up to his sin before God and the husband of this woman and make amends. Unfortunately, this was not in David's thoughts. He sent for the husband of the woman, plucked him from the front lines of battle, and tried to get him to have sex with her to cover his act.

Uriah (the husband I mentioned) was a better soldier than that, though. As long as his comrades were at war away from their families, he refused to allow himself the comforts of home and didn't sleep with his wife. Even drunkenness couldn't persuade him to break the trust of his fellow soldiers. David must have been frantic. The situation wasn't taking care of itself and the embarrassment of a godly king being guilty of such an act would be too much of a P.R. nightmare. So he looked for a shortcut on his life's path and sent Uriah back to the battle with his own death warrant. A sin that started out as the lust of another man's wife had grown like a weed within David and finalized itself as murder. That's what happens when you don't take care of a sin early on.

The penalty for this sin? The loss of his son. Here's an unusual thought that may comfort any of you who have lost a loved one in the recent past. David said, "My son will never return to me, but one day I will return to him." That is a reminder to us all that nothing on this earth is forever, but God's will is everlasting. Our God is a perfect God, and only He is blameless enough to judge our transgressions.

And only He can wash away our sins.

Day 5

1 Chronicles 20:2-3 David took the crown from the head of their king-its weight was found to be a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones-and it was placed on David's head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

That Amnon was one sick puppy. He referred to Tamar as his brother's sister and wouldn't even acknowledge her as his own sister, even after raping her. That is beyond wrong! I'm surprised David didn't do something about this when he learned about the incident. It appears that his parenting skills were lacking. He was a great man, and able to admit his wrongdoing once it was made clear that God sees all, but when his sons did evil, he did nothing.

Absalom, another of David's sons, waited two years to make Amnon pay for this deed, then fled for his life. David didn't seek him out, he just grieved the situation. Is this the same proactive David I remember? Joab had to send a woman to him to play a ruse, just to talk some sense back into him. If you recall the parable that Nathan told to David, it makes me think that David was well-versed in the ways of God, but not very good at realizing that they applied to his life as well.

I pray that my own tunnel vision should be removed that I may be a better person every day. Once you realize that you have done wrong, and that God is the one to make it right, you have attained true wisdom.

Day 6

It was a sad day in Israel. David's son Absalom had gained the hearts of the people and began to proclaim himself king once his popularity was high enough. Fearing for his life, David fled the country, but God remained with him. You may be thinking that the reading of the last two days would be enough to turn God's favor away from David, but this is not so. Psalm 51 from the reading two day's age chronicles David's repentance regarding the Bathsheba incident(s). God was punishing David for this, even though he was truly sorry for his earlier actions.

Sometimes that's the way it goes. You do something stupid. You regret it. You have to live with the consequences for a while. That's life! My most recent stupid action involves cappuccino. I'll talk about it in a couple weeks when we discuss self-control.

Day 7

Let me get the water from my ears. I think I heard David command his men to be gentle with Absalom, didn't I? I'm sure Joab heard it also. He had David's son alive, but incapacitated in that tree and he killed him. Murdered him is more like it! I know there was no Geneva Convention in those days, but this was just plain wrong.

Even though Absalom's treachery had brought about civil war and unrest, David still mourned him. I wonder if he mourned the loss of his son or the curse of Nathan coming to another fruition more. It must be the loss of his son. David wished he could have been the one taken, rather than Absalom. That is not the act of a man who wishes his punishment could be lifted. That is the sound of a truly remorseful man who wishes he could take the punishment for his own actions without that punishment affecting anyone else. Most sins will affect more than the person committing them. Many will destroy a family. This one surely was doing just that. Thankfully, David was keeping himself right with God during this time.

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