Should be pretty good reading conditions this week. A few familiar passages and some beautiful Psalms. It’s especially nice when we can read about “the spring of the year” in the spring of the year.
We keep with our slower pace this week as we look at a few key events just after David is established as king. We’ll see the covenant promises God makes to David, David’s continued effort to establish the kingdom from outside threats, and one major mistake. Find it encouraging that even the “best and most important” people in the Bible are so obviously imperfect. It leaves us looking for Someone better who is coming.
It’s nearly impossible to make too much of God’s covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7. Read these passages carefully because from this point forward this is one of the orienting promises that drives the biblical storyline forward. The promise that he will have a descendant on the throne forever is a mind-blowing promise that is left unfulfilled in the Old Testament, so it’s pretty amazing when Jesus emerges onto the scene in the Gospels talking about the kingdom of God and then to see him seated on the throne in Revelation 4-5. Notice how David responds to God’s remarkable promise.
These Psalms give another glimpse of what David meditated on as king: The word of the Lord, his steadfast love, the brevity of life, the depths of sin in the human heart, the strength and beauty and glory of God. I once heard a pastor say of a men’s Bible study: “Theology is the kingliest use of a man’s mind.” This goes for all of us – let us think big thoughts of God and be humbled in light of his majesty.
After David begins to reign, he establishes the kingdom and gives the land rest from all its enemies. Yet, even in his success, he remembers his promise to Jonathan. Just when you may think Saul’s family might finally be defeated as one of David’s “enemies,” kindness is extended. Great acts of mercy are the foundation for humility. Mephibosheth recognizes his unworthiness in 9:8 just like David did after God’s covenant in 7:18.
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; the one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” Let’s offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving as we love the Lord and walk in his ways.
The combination of these stories with Psalm 20 is very helpful context. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. “May the Lord do what seems good to him.” I want that perspective all the time. I want to walk in obedience and in support of Christ the King, trusting that God will do what seems good to him.
These Psalms help us observe the deeds of the Lord, his salvation, and his deliverance. Throughout the Psalms, I’m seeing a trend that the Lord delights more in praise and thanksgiving than in the sacrifices of oxen and bulls. Let’s pay attention to how this continues to work itself out throughout the rest of the storyline.
We know this story. David and Bathsheba. A holy moment of ritual cleansing abused for personal pleasure, exacerbated by a cover-up murder. It’s a grievous sin. Yet, the Lord pursues David (reminiscent of the Garden of Eden) by sending Nathan, who offers him an opportunity to confess and repent. Unlike Adam and Eve, David repents. But the consequences remain. Our whole lives are lived before God’s face. Nothing escapes his gaze.