2 Samuel 3: First Stronger and Then Weaker

(upbeat music) - Welcome to chapter by chapter four year journey through the greatest book given to the human race, the word of God, the Bible. And we get to go through it chapter by chapter seven minutes a day and seven days a week. Join us each day and share it with others so they can join this journey that will be life changing. We'll stop at unexpected places on the journey and be challenged. Some verses will create awe and wonder. We'll have chapters that will be instructive and others will find joy and comfort. We'll occasionally be convicted and want to change but all in all the journey will be worth it. Once in a while we may take a detour on the journey and hear from some of God's servants on their favorite passages from a chapter of scripture and let them give you their insight. Every journey needs a small detour occasionally. The best way to get the most from this podcast is read the chapter we're discussing before or after it is where the transforms will find more and see more than I can ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter and today's chapter is second Samuel three, first stronger and then weaker. A few decades ago United States scientists did an experiment in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona. They dreamed up an experiment to recreate the conditions of earth for space. It was called the biosphere. The biosphere was a little world with its own deserts and rainforests whose trees grew fast and tall. But one by one, the trees within the man-made environment started to fall. And though the biosphere seemed perfect and pure, the scientists forgot one piece to flourishing and that was wind. The make-believe world lacked wind. Without fierce strong storms, the trees shut up, but the roots stayed shallow. It's the legacy of wind. The trees in the real environment all around the biosphere stand tall because storms have forced their roots to go deep. They sway in the wind as to a song. The heart of the wind blows, the deeper the roots grow. There are trial winds that as Christians, we face that make a stronger and grow deeper. But can you imagine going through what you've just gone through and coming out stronger only to meet people on the other side whose lives and choices quickly take away that strength? You just got stronger from a battle and then weakened by their foolishness. This is something David learned in 2 Samuel 3. There are battles at strength and there are people that can deplete that strength faster than you received it. David is strong when the chapter opens and weak when the chapter ends. He gets strength from facing a storm and then weakened when he deals with foolish decisions by people. Trials do make a stronger, but stubborn people can deplete us of the strength we get from the fight. This is David in 2 Samuel 3. This shocking lesson begins with strength from the first verse and ends with a weakened leader in the last verse. The first verse of the chapter says, "Now there was a long war between the House of Saul and the House of David and David grew steadily stronger, but the House of Saul grew weaker continually." The last verse of the chapter says this, "David speaks and says, 'I am weak today, though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeraya, are too difficult for me. May the Lord repay the evil doer according to his evil." Ironically, David's enemies, Abner and Ishbosheth, were strengthening David and tragically David's soldiers, Joab and Abhisheye, were taking the strength away. Ishbosheth and Abner are considered enemies and yet God uses them to make David strong. They were the wind for David's roots. Joab and Abhisheye are part of David's army and they are weakening David and wearing him down. These men were not wind for the tree's roots. Their foolishness was poison to his soul and the culture of the new kingdom. The outside battle strengthened him and the inside conflict seemed to poison him. David has a serious challenge in front of him before he assumes the role of king over a unified Israel. Will he let the palace life stay dysfunctional like Saul had it? Or will he confront the foolish decisions that weaken him and his leadership? Disfunction happens in an organization where people are siloed into their worlds and their agendas are their priorities. The big picture is not in their lens. They see their accomplishments, their advancements and only their world. They figure out ways to get more vacation time in personal days with this regard to important days for the organization. They leave gaping holes and question marks for their own fulfillment. That's how Saul operated his kingdom and that's what David is faced with. David lived for the big picture for 20 years and he is now coming to the fruition of those life choices. He will become king because he chose not to live for himself but for the purposes of God. Saul was different. He would deplete his army by 3,000 expert soldiers and take them away from their families for his personal agenda to kill David. Now we see it happening again in David's staff. Joab and Abishai have an agenda. Joab and Abishai are backsliding into Saul's dysfunction. They will kill Saul's general abner as revenge for killing their brother in the previous chapter. Instead of following the lead of David by showing mercy to your enemies, they will haphazardly do their own thing without care of what it does to their leader or the nation of Israel. Neither of these two men cared about David's strength or David's example. This is unhealthy unless it's addressed. It says this about their independent action in 2 Samuel 3.30. So Joab and Abishai's brother killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibbian. Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, tear your clothes and gird on sackcloth and lament before Abner and King David walked behind the buyer. Thus they buried Abner and Hebron and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner and all the people wept. David wept and the people wept. But I wonder if Joab and Abishai wept or if they felt fulfilled. Were there two men without tears at the funeral? Their opposite emotion in a time of weeping may be the very thing that reveals their heart. So how do you go from strength to strength and not from strength to weakness? How do you make sure you don't find yourself giving all you got in the battle against Saul's house only to find out you got blindsided by your own house? Joab and Abishai are in David's house and something has to be done or the situation won't fix itself. Joab and Abishai have to be confronted and corrected or it will persist in the palace. Solomon says this in Proverbs 98, do not approve a scoffer or he will hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man and he will increase in his learning. These two men will go in different directions as David's story continues. Abishai will see the big picture and walk with his king to the end. Joab will eventually hold to his own agenda and will end up walking away with the rebellious uprising against David in a few years. One of these men gets wiser and the other gets angrier. Jesus had a Joab and an Abishai in his 12 and his name was Peter. He would mess up and he would be confronted by Jesus every time. In fact, Jesus confronted Peter three times. When he tried to stop the cross from happening, when he boasted he would never deny Jesus and when he cut off the year of a soldier in the garden. In the first instance in Matthew 16, Peter thought he knew better than God that the cross was not needed. He faced a get behind me Satan for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's, then again in Luke 22 making public statements that are just not true that he would never deny Jesus. Jesus brings him down to earth and tells him Satan is trying to sift you, but I will pray for you, Peter. And finally in a garden, Peter thought he would help God and he was only hindering Jesus by cutting off an ear of a soldier arresting Jesus. Jesus said to him in John 1811, put the sword into the sheath, the cup, which the father has given me shall I not drink it. Seems like the three corrections got Peter back on course. It would be this man that would lead the New Jerusalem church preach the first sermon in Acts and eventually die for Jesus. Jesus and David would face their joe abs, abish eyes, and Peters and they can be helped, but they must be confronted or they have to be removed. The last thing you want to do is fight. to get to the cross and to the palace only to realize the people that are fighting are ones you know. Jesus would drink the cup of obedience and Peter would try to grab the cup. I wonder if Peter came to the end of his life thinking of how much time he caused Jesus by having to always be confronted by him. I wonder if Peter is thinking it's hard enough to fight the battles and I made Jesus' fight even greater by my selfish agenda. I believe Peter came to that realization. I think it's only fitting for Peter to come near the end of his life and remind us the importance of the battle to strengthen, especially when he was one of those end of the chapter people that would weaken the master as he approached the end of the battle. Peter says this in 1 Peter 5.10 and reminds us of the value of wind. Here it is. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. Strength after the storm is the result. Can't get rid of storms. They give you strength. You must get rid of fools. They take the strength that you just got from the storm. Keep an eye on the abysses, the Peters and the Joabs. Not all of them will change, but when they do, they cross the finish line with you. Thank you for joining chapter by chapter, every chapter from the greatest book of the Bible. The Word of God, seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.