For My Deliverance

Day 61: 2 Samuel 16–20; Jeremiah 43–47; Philippians 1–2

A terrible rift has torn the kingdom of David apart.  Civil war breaks out from a rebellion lead by his son Absalom.  Absalom had lost all confidence in his father when he did nothing about the rape of Absalom's sister Tamar by David's son Amnon.  Absalom waited two years and then took his revenge killing his half brother.  Absalom fled and went into hiding.  But after three years David allowed his return to Jerusalem.  Eventually there was a reconciliation, but it was only superficial.  Absalom began to subvert David's authority and turned the hearts of the people from David toward himself.

When Absalom saw he had enough supporters he went to Hebron and had himself anointed as king.  David fled Jerusalem with his close supporters, some he left behind as spies to keep him informed.  The political intrigue is thrilling.  The sorrow in David's heart is compelling to me.  And yet he shows faith.

David accepts this rebellion against him as the fulfilment of God's curse on him for his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite.  For God had said, "the sword will never leave your house (2 Sam. 12:10)."  When Shimei shouts curses down on him and his men as he flees Jerusalem, pelting them with rocks and dirt clods, David refuses to retaliate.  Instead he accepts his punishment saying, "He curses me this way because the Lord told him, 'Curse David' (2 Sam. 16:10)."  Yet he holds out hope in God's mercy saying, "Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and restore goodness to me instead of Shimei's curses today (2 Sam. 16:12)."

God did restore goodness to David although not without the price of his son Absalom.  Joab would not let him live even though David had ordered to deal with him gently.  The news of Absalom's death and the end of the rebellion started by him was delivered from the battlefield by messenger. "May my lord the king hear the good news: today the LORD has delivered you from all those rising up against you (2 Sam. 18:31)!"

This lead David into great grief when he should've praised his soldiers and God.  They could not understand his pain or his shame.  Had he not slept with Bathsheba, killed Uriah, had he maintained integrity in his own household and allowed Amnon to be judged according to the laws of Moses for his sin, none of this would be happening.  Now his firstborn son is dead. 

His restoration as king shows the deep jealousies that exist between Judah and the 10 tribes to the north, Benjamin, Ephraim and all the rest.  Like the jealousies of Judah against Joseph under the tents of their father Jacob lead to Joseph delivered into slavery, now Joseph and his brothers turn on Judah and their king.  Civil war breaks out again under a man named Sheba.  But again the revolt is crushed.  God is giving victory to David again. But this return to goodness, this deliverance, was through the consequences of his own sin and at the loss of credibility with some of his closest friends, family and advisers.

Jeremiah finds that the leaders of the survivors left in Judah are not willing to trust God and stay in Judah as a vassal state to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  They would prefer to take refuge in Egypt.  It is through exile and a time of great difficulty that God is delivering Israel from its unfaithful leadership.  The surviving remnant unfortunately has not learned the lesson.  They argue with Jeremiah.  They do not agree that Jerusalem fell to Babylon because Yahweh was angry with them.  They rather chose to believe that they suffered this fate because they had stopped worshipping the queen of heaven (Ishtar, Istarte, Astarte, Asteroth, Artemis, Diana).   God is ready for a show down between the authority of His word and will and that of the gods of Egypt. 

How easily we forget lessons once learned.  One generation finds wisdom through trial and great challenge, the next seems not to value so much what their forebears learned.  By the third or fourth generation a people need to be taught all over again.   God showed Himself as the true and only God in the showdown with Pharaoh during the exodus.  Now the Israelites want to trust in the gods of Egypt because God handed them over to Babylon? 

God says to the stubborn Judeans,

"I am watching over them for disaster and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off. Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to live there for a while, will know whose word stands, Mine or theirs! This will be a sign to you'—[this is] the LORD's declaration (Jer. 44:27-29a).

It is hard to grasp the fact that God will work out His purposes either with us or against us.  His purpose is always to create the holy life giving community where His name is glorified by His people who worship and serve Him through righteousness and justice.  This community becomes the source of all blessing on earth for God dwells among them. 

How hard it is for me to accept suffering as a means to holiness, a sharing in God's righteous and good nature. The writer of Hebrews makes the point about the redemptive nature of suffering in the life of Jesus.

"It was fitting, in bringing many sons to glory, that He, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings... During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Though a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 2:10; 5:7-10)."

Yet suffering can be the very thing we need to deliver us from the things that keep us in bondage to death.  Sin leads to death.  Idolatry does not give life...moments of pleasure perhaps, but not life.  Wealth, fame, beauty, popularity, fine possessions, leisure...none of these give life as God gives life, a spring within them welling up to eternal life (John 7:38).  Suffering can ween us away from our dependency on earthly short term fixations and connect us to the true source of life.  All other dependencies are death.

Paul wrote a wonderful letter to the church in Philippi, the first church in Europe.  He established this church under the kind hospitality of Lydia a dealer in purple cloth (Acts 16:14-15).  Now Paul is in prison writing letters to encourage the churches.  Paul is in chains writing letters to encourage others!

Paul writes from faith, a faith refined by trusting God through many perils and suffering including the immediate suffering in chains.  But the man of God can say boldly to his friends about his condition, "I will rejoice because I know this will lead to my deliverance through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death (Phil 1:19-20)."

Paul has surrendered himself to the glad calling of service to God's agenda and no one else's.  What liberty! What freedom! What joy to know that to live for God is to trust everything as good work to serve the Lord whether it cause pain and sorrow or happiness and comfort.

Paul knows that to die in Christ is gain, but to live serving others in His name is a blessing also.   Paul's heart is to be with the Lord, but to know that his ministry is needed to build up the churches, he also knows the current threat to his life will lead to his deliverance. Whether he lives of dies, he is at peace.

Lord God, help me to not fear suffering or resist Your redemptive purposes when I face the consequences of my sins. Let me never doubt Your wisdom and goodness in the face of pain and sorrow.  All is well in You!  For only You are life! Amen!