Whom Can I Trust?

In my continued reading through 2 Samuel, I came to the passages which clearly prove the prophet Nathan's words to David to be true. The 12th chapter records Nathan's words of rebuke to David for his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Urriah, one of David's faithful commanders. Nathan gave David the Word of God concerning his sin, and the consequential sin of murder. David had sent Urriah back to the front with a closed message to Joab, telling Joab to put Urriah into the most dangerous part of the battlefield. David's plot was to rid himself of Urriah so that he might then have Bathsheba for his wife. The plot was successful, but David did not get away with what he had done. The Lord did forgive and put away the king's sin, but Nathan announced to him that the sword would never depart from his house, (12:10). This meant that there would be continuous disorder in his family for the rest of his life.

David eventually discovered this truth with the coming up of his son Amnon, Tamar, his daughter, and Absalom, another of his sons. I could never understand what appeal TV soaps have had to so many women through the fifty some-odd years they have been on the air. There is enough of that sort of thing one may read in God's Word. But I do not mean in any way to compare the problems David had with members of his family and court with the pitiful lifestyles Hollywood loves to portray. For one thing, the Bible gives details such as these, not to entertain, but to teach very important lessons on how we should live in this present fallen world. Soap operas, so called, teach us nothing. Sorry, ladies! What you watch on the screen while you eat your salad during your break on the job, or at home, if you keep house, will teach you only how to be and live wickedly like that crowd of "beautiful people." There is nothing entertaining or charming about sin. And sin is what is promoted and glamorized daily on such programing.

Now, it is here that I need to get down to the heart of what I am led to share here today. David soon found himself being forced to leave his home in Jerusalem. He took along his wives and others whom he felt necessary to protect him from his enemies. The truth of the matter is that he arrived at the point in which he did not really know whom to trust. Earlier, he had vowed that he would not allow himself to be overly reliant upon Joab, especially after Joab had murdered one of Jonathan's sons. Yet, he realized that under his present predicament, he had to rely on someone. Joab was by no means a man of impeccable morals and character. He even put a woman from nearby Tekoah up to going to David with a lie, saying that one of her sons had killed her other son, and that she pleaded for the king to allow him to return unharmed and to be pardoned for his deed. This lie was told in order for David to fall for the scheme, conceived by Joab, to allow his son Absalom to return to Jerusalem after he had been sent into exile for killing his brother Amnon years earlier.

David was able to see through this obvious fabrication, and he asked the woman if Joab had something to do with all this, (14:19). David, nonetheless, conceded, and allowed Absalom to return, but he told Joab that Absalom was not to come near him. This resulted in Absalom's eventual revolt against his father. Absalom was finally allowed to see his father for one last time, then he left in order to start for himself a political campaign against his father.

This gets even more complicated, as Absalom succeeds in gaining the love and devotion of many in Israel. And to make matters worse for David, One of David's most trusted servants, whose name is Ahithophel, runs off to Absalom to tell of how he could succeed in destroying his father and return to Jerusalem to claim his father's throne. It is here that a verse from Psalm 41:9 comes to my mind:

"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat
of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."

This verse is widely accepted among Bible scholars, to be a reference to Ahithophel and his betrayal. It is also a verse which is to be fulfilled on the night our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, (John 13:18).

Of course, Ahithophel's advice to Absalom was rejected in favor of the advice given by another of David's trusted servants, Hushai. Ahithophel, when he learned his counsel was overturned, went to his house, put it all in order, and, like Judas centuries later, went out and hanged himself.

Hushai was what I have come to regard as a person who holds his allegiance and fidelity to whoever appears to be gaining the upper hand. This means that he never really holds to any position, but stands ready to shift his position to wherever he sees he can gain advantage for himself. He is the sort of fellow no boss with integrity needs to have on his work team. He rather reminds me of a football fan who cheers his team as long as he sees they are the ones scoring the touchdowns. But let the opposing team make a sudden comeback and catch up with his team, or pull ahead, then you will find him sneaking over to the other side of the stadium rooting for that team. At first Hushai was in support of Absalom when he saw that Absalom was gaining the peoples' favor. Now that he saw Absalom might be losing his influence, and had received word that the people were turning back towards David, he wasted no time to let David know what was planned against him by his son. What were his motives? I cannot at all believe he did this because he loved his king. If he truly was devoted to his king, and wanted him to flourish as God's undershepherd, then I feel sure he would never have taken up with the likes of Absalom in the first place.

There is much more here, but I think I have received from the Lord what is sufficient. The lesson is this: that while it might be all right to believe in people closest to us, it is clearly wrong to believe in them as much as we believe in our God. This, of course, cannot be possible, as we cannot say we wholly rely upon our heavenly Father who is always worthy of our trust, and at the same time wholly rely upon sinful human flesh, who will inevitably disappoint us sooner or later. Jeremiah 17:5 says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm."
Another verse warns that trusting in Egypt is the same as leaning against a wall and his arm goes through it to be bitten by a serpent.

I believe the Lord had allowed David, the man after God's own heart, to go through all He went through here, and even later in his life, in order that he might never forget the One always worthy of his trust and devotion.

I have been disappointed several times by those whom I thought were with me on certain issues, only to discover that when the day of reckoning finally arrived, they were taking sides with the opposing party. It happens in business. Here is a supervisor who has just implemented a plan for his department. He appears to have gained full confidence in this plan from his staff. But one of his staffers hopes to get in good with higher level management. So he goes up to the next higher floor and tells that fellow what his supervisor has been working on, and further explains why he does not think it will be good for the company's interest. What has he done? He has demonstrated he cannot be trusted by anyone at all, not even the ones he has sold out to. Perhaps that is not the worthiest illustration, but I have actually observed this sort of thing.

So then, whom can I trust? Whom can you trust? Really trust? David learned more and more in his walk with His Lord that he both could and should, always trust in Him above all else. Sometime after the king's trial here had ended, and he was able to return to Jerusalem, he penned these words:

"The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer. The God
of my rock; In Him will I trust: He is my Shield,, and the Horn of my
salvation, my High Tower, and my Refuge, my Savior; Thou savest me
from violence." (22:2 & 3)

Even the Lord Himself, while He walked this earth, knew that it was futile to trust in man.The Apostle John left us with this testimony, recorded in John 2:23-25:

"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day,
many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He
did. But Jesus DID NOT commit Himself unto them, because He knew
all men. And needed not that any would testify of man: for He knew
what was in man."

The truth is, we are all untrustworthy. We are so, as Paul wrote even of himself (Romans 7:18), because "in us dwelleth no good thing." We cannot even trust in ourselves, let alone in others. This above all else applies to our total depraved condition. Without Christ, without God, who is forever worthy of our trust, we cannot save ourselves. If I trust in my own goodness to make me acceptable to a holy, righteous God, I will fail the test, and end up paying for my sins in the lake of fire, forever. That is why God sent His Son Jesus to suffer and die and rise again from the dead, so that" whosoever believeth on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God's Unmerited Favor: 2 Samuel 9:13

Tonight I felt led to tell about a totally worthy heavenly Father and a worthy Savior, who showed unmerited favor to a very unworthy son of earth. But before I do that , I think it good to offer a wonderful insight the Lord gave to me earlier today. It struck me in such a way that I just had to share it here this evening. In my daily study of God's Word, the 9th chapter of 2 Samuel, verse 13, blazed with heavenly light right in front of me. It reads:

So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually
at the King's (David's) table; and he was lame on both his feet."

Here was David, now Israel's second king. That in itself was a work of God's grace and mercy, especially since Saul's own biological son Jonathan should have been the logical heir to his father's throne. But the Lord's ways are not man's ways, for His long range purpose, and eternal purpose was to be brought about through a young shepherd lad named David. David himself came up in a family of eight brothers, the youngest of them all.

Now, after several years of faith testing by his faithful God, David finally was recognized as Israel's king. Earlier there developed a close friendship between David and Jonathan, Saul's son.
Jonathan knew that David, and not he, would be the next king after his father died. Both Jonathan and his father Saul were killed in battle against the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa. This account is recorded in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. Before Jonathan's death, he asked David to show mercy to his father's house. David, being a man of integrity and strong faith in God, did not forget the promise he made to his friend.

In the 9th chapter, David calls one of Saul's servants named Ziba, to find out if there was any member of his master's household to whom he could show kindness. Ziba told him about Mephibosheth, a son of David's friend Jonathan.

Now, it is here where I wish to give what the Lord showed me from this passage. Mephibosheth, as far as anyone could tell, was a man who did nothing whatsoever to merit David's favor. In fact, he might well have felt that David summoned him because he was of the house of his enemy Saul, and that David was planning to have him put to death. It might have been that Mephibosheth knew about several member of Saul's family who had been executed after David came to power in Israel. So, it would seem logical that he feared appearing before David. When Mephibosheth came into the king's house, "he fell on his face, and did reverence," ( verse 6).

What a surprise this fellow might have felt when he heard David say to him, {verse 7), "Fear not; for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually."

And what Mephibosheth said to David is what really took hold of my heart: "And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dog as I am?"

David then said to the Ziba the servant, "As for Mephibosheth, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons."

As I already said, there is not a single trait found in Jonathan's son, other than the fact that he was Jonathan's son, that made him a deserving recipient of King David's show of kindness and mercy. But mercy was shown. And not only was mercy shown, but Mephibosheth openly acknowledged his unworthiness of David's mercy and kindness. An entire lifetime of generosity, bestowed on one who really did not deserve it.

And that is my own testimony, dear reader. If you have bothered to read this far, it is my hope you will be interested enough to continue. For it is here that you might hopefully discover for your own life, a work of grace you will never find anywhere else. That grace can be found only in Jesus Christ. You see, on September 10th of this year, I celebrated my thirtieth year as a recipient of that very grace. It is a grace I do not, never did, nor never will, deserve. And what is grace? I am referring to the grace of God. It is, as my present posting is entitled, unmerited favor. Just as Kind David had shown mercy and kindness to a man who did not deserve that kindness, God my heavenly Father through faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ, showed me that wonderful mercy in a much more wondrous way, even far beyond that which David, an earthly potentate, had shown to an unworthy earthling.

I wanted to write this tonight because it may be that someone out there may be like Mephibosheth. Like this man, who was lame, and might well have been considerably incapacitated due to his crippled condition, we are all unable to do anything to deserve or earn a place at the King's table. Paul's words come to mind here:

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)

There is much I could continue with here, especially with regard to use of further Scripture, but I trust that for you, as it has been for me these past thirty years, you can say with confidence that you are eating from the Bread of Life, God's Son Jesus Christ. I hope you rejoice in that fact that even though you had once been an undeserving, hell-bound sinner the same as I had been, now you can say you are a forgiven, saved, mercy-shown, heaven-bound child of the King.

Kindness was clearly shown by David to Mephibosheth, but it could never be the everlasting kindness that Christ shows to men, women, and young persons. He already showed that kindness when He hung on a cross on a hill called Golgotha. His blood He freely shed for us all. And He will gladly forgive and pardon forever anyone who will fall down before Him and say, "Lord, I am no better than a dead dog. I am a sinner. I deserve nothing better than eternal separation from you in a place called hell. But I know now that you died for me, a sinner, so that I could live with You, and eat at Your table forever.

If you have never prayed that prayer, or at least expressed this in your own words, then you will never be allowed to sit with Christ when He comes in His glory and sits down with His saints at the great supper. It is my hope that you will do this while there is time. If time stops for you, it will be too late. Time stops for those who die. And not one of us knows when that time will come. Eternity begins right after one dies, and where you and I spend that eternity, will be determined by whether or not we trusted Him to be our Lord and Savior.

I will end tonight with these words of Christ, recorded in Revelation 3:20:

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will
hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he with Me."

The Cost of Discipleship

It has been a few months since my last posting. I offer no apologies for this, only to say that I will not post anything unless I believe it is from God. Today, I felt the need to express my thoughts concerning the Christian's daily walk. Walking with God faithfully means a great deal more than merely saying with my lips "I am a follower of Jesus Christ," or, "I am a Christian."

This fact never before came home to my heart more than it did over the past few months of my life. The Lord has been showing me truths about Him which would doubtless have made me much the better for it, had I known about them years earlier. Today, He directed my attention to a passage found in Matthew. In the 16th chapter there is recorded a very dynamic dialogue going on between the Lord and His disciples. After their return from telling others about Him, and the responses they had received from their listeners as to who they thought He was, He then asked them, "and who do you say that I am?" Peter told Him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," (16:16).

But the same Peter who was blessed with this revelation from God, is the same man who soon after tried to set his Lord straight when Jesus told them all about what was to soon take place in His life. He told them He would soon go to Jerusalem where He would be handed over to the religious authorities there, suffer many things from them, then be killed, and then He would be raised on the third day.

This did not sit well at all with Peter. All Peter could hear was that this man whom he trusted and wanted to follow was soon going to die. He likely did not want to hear the part about Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Peter told Jesus that this would not happen to Him, that he would do all he could to prevent this from taking place. It was right then that the Lord "turned, and said unto Peter,

"Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me;
For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men."

I was right after giving Peter this very sharp but badly needed rebuke that He said to all of His followers,

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
(16:24 & 25).

Dr. Luke (he was a Greek physician whom the Lord used to write one of the gospel accounts) used the word "daily" to give even more emphasis on what the Lord meant here. "Take up your cross daily" He said.

Peter was perhaps no different from most of the other Jews who lived during that time. Their country was under Roman occupation. Oftentimes there was oppression under the Roman yoke, and what Peter, like many others wanted, was a Messiah who was not going to die but keep on living and who would set up an earthly kingdom absent of all that was unpleasant. He had thought life with Jesus would go on being like it had always been since His arrival here on the earth. He did not hear what he wanted to hear, and so he resisted.

I fear that a growing number of us in America who call ourselves Christians, might in fact be Christians in name only. But for us to say we know Christ and that we trust and believe in Him, or that we are His followers, could well be that we really have never grasped what that truly means, from God's perspective. I say this because man's perspective on spiritual matters, that is, matters concerning eternity, really do not count, unless of course they are in line with what God thinks about it. We have grown far too comfortable here. Most of us have far more than we will ever need of this world's goods. None of us, when compared with what believers are going through in other lands, have really had to go through the fires of severe persecution. Not just yet anyway. But I sincerely believe that this time is soon coming, and when it does come, it will be a time when God's true wheat will be clearly and unmistakably separated from those who have claimed they are His wheat, but in truth, are the tares.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man of God. I do not care to listen to the remarks given by the misled uninformed who like to toss him in with that crowd who banded together to assassinate Adolf Hitler. There is no substantiated evidence whatsoever that he could be implicated in that plot. On the contrary, what this man was about was to preach the love of God revealed in His blessed Son Jesus Christ, (a truth totally rejected by Hitler and his Nazi regime). There is a book Bonhoeffer wrote entitled "The Cost of Discipleship." You will not read this book as a 21st century Christian in America without feeling both convicted and humbled. I could not do it when I read it. Brother Bonhoeffer's trust in, and faithfulness to his Savior cost him his earthly life. He was arrested by the Gestapo, incarcerated in one of the Nazi prison camps, and only two days prior to the arrival of the Allied troops who liberated the camp, he was hanged. Only two days away from the day he could have been released.

Now, I am not saying that any of us might be hanged or beheaded, or shot if we hold true to the faith, but I do believe that the Lord is going to both bring about and allow things to occur in this land of the free and home of the brave that will definitely test our faith, to determine whether it be real faith or no. The truth is, and I would like to quote Brother James Knox here, that sinful men do not usually come to trust Christ when Christians living a trouble-free life tell them about Christ's love for them. But they will very likely be won by the Christian who lives his life like a Christian when things could not seem to be their worst for him or her.

He further added that a man dying of some terminal illness who is unsaved, is more likely going to listen to a Christian in the same hospital room with him who is also dying, than he will to a preacher who stands over his bed telling him about God's love for him, and he is in the best of health.

I want to say more about this in the postings which follow.