To God Be The Glory - 2 Samuel 8
Prayer: God, I thank you that you can take a passage that on the surface doesn't look particularly interesting & bring it to life through the power of your Holy Spirit. I thank you that you did that with this passage for me, and I pray that through this study you continue to bring it to life by your power & to your glory. Amen!
Quickly Form Groups:
1. Briefly have each person share something God is doing through their life, say a brief prayer of praise for what God is doing.
Where we left off: David is now King of Israel, he's established himself in Jerusalem, he's brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem & restored Jewish worship practices. David would have liked to build a Temple for God, but God said no; however, God promised David an amazing legacy in the form of the Davidic Covenant.
When I first looked at today's passage I wasn't sure how to approach it, it seemed just like a list of accomplishments & not very interesting. So I put the passage aside and prayed about it. I don't know about you, but I'm not good at feeling defeated, so it colored my whole day gray. That evening (Wed) at choir practice my friend Bev & I were praying together for some spoken requests, and without knowing it she prayed for my specific need - Praise God!! The next day, still not sure how God was going to direct me, I decided to see if one of my devotional books had something on this passage - and one did (thank you Beth Moore), and it showed me some beautiful things in this passage.
This passage in my various Bibles is titled something on the order of "David's Victories", but in reality this passage is about God & His victories - so I've titled this lesson "To God Be The Glory".
I'm going to have us step back to a small scripture from our last lesson to get us into the right mindset. 2 Samuel 7:10-11 - God promises David, as part of the Davidic Covenant, that He will provide a home for His people Israel & that they would have rest from their enemies. We see a promise like this & might think "ok, I've got it easy, I can just sit back & let God work". That's not how God works! God can work despite His people, but God prefers to work through His people, and in this case (in this chapter) we see God working through David. I don't know about you, but I feel much more blessed seeing God work when I see Him work through me rather than just around me. There's something so special knowing He cares enough about me to include me in what He's doing.
2 Samuel 8:1 - Over time God works through David to defeat & subdue their old enemies the Philistines. Notice this doesn't happen instantly, and that David is cooperating with God to see God's plan fulfilled.
David was called by God to do battle for God & for God's nation Israel, David answered God's call - demonstrating a spirit of obedience & cooperation.
2 Samuel 8:2 - God continues to work through David, this time defeating the Moabites. These are the descendants of Lot, another ancient enemy of Israel. There is what sounds like a gruesome process David goes through with this group, he makes them lie down, measures them off, and kills off 2/3 of the people. Let's take a look at this from the viewpoint of the common practices of the day, the common practice would be to annihilate the entire population of your enemy (leave no one to take revenge). So David's act demonstrates Mercy & gives Hope to the Moabite people. Just as David measured the Moabites to determine who would be granted life, God also measures people according to His standard - determining who will be granted eternal life.
2 Samuel 8:3-4 - David continues to defeat yet another enemy, this time fulfilling a promise to Abraham to extend the borders of Israel as far North as the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18).
Why do you think David hamstrung the horses? When God set His law in place through Moses He knew there would eventually be kings over Israel, so He created laws for kings way before Israel had a king. This is a 1/2 verse from those laws: Deuteronomy 17:16a, David was obeying God's law. Another interesting thing about kings & horses: a king who rode in on a horse was considered a king of war, but a king who rode in on a donkey was considered a king of peace. David's reign would eventually bring God's people into a time of peace & rest.
2 Samuel 8:5-14 - More battles, more victories, and I found it interesting that the same phrase is used in verses 6 & 14 "The Lord gave David victory wherever he went." At this point in history David was walking with God & living an undefeated life, a life marked by excellence.
One evidence of his walk with God is what David did with the plunder from all these victories. David took the plunder and dedicated it to God. David demonstrated his dedication to God by repeatedly giving glory to God. David knew that God was the source of his accomplishments, and his actions demonstrate a heart attitude of humility & devotion to God.
2 Samuel 8:15 - David was a good king, he reigned over the people of Israel but didn't "lord it over" the people of Israel. David displayed a desire for justice, and a love for his people.
2 Samuel 8:16-18 - Israel is becoming settled and growing strong, so David delegated work to trusted followers, setting up a government to govern over the various aspects of the life of the people of Israel. This allowed David to continue to do with excellence the things God had called him to without being distracted by things that could be handled by others, demonstrating wisdom regarding the affairs of man.
Do you remember who the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7) would ultimately be fulfilled through? Look at the traits of David that we've seen in this passage, who do they remind you of?
- demonstrating a spirit of obedience & cooperation
- demonstrates Mercy & gives Hope
- reign would eventually bring God's people into a time of peace & rest
- walking with God & living an undefeated life, a life marked by excellence
- demonstrated his dedication to God by repeatedly giving glory to God
- actions demonstrate a heart attitude of humility & devotion to God
- displayed a desire for justice, and a love for his people
- delegated work to trusted followers
- demonstrating wisdom regarding the affairs of man
No wonder he's called a man after God's own heart!!
Closing Prayer: Lord, I am humbled by the traits I see listed, and I very much desire to have these same traits demonstrated in my life. Lord, I pray that you would be at work in and through each of us, making us men & women after your own heart. Amen!
Quickly Form Groups Again:
2. God is calling you to cooperate with Him in doing His will. What has God called you to? Where do you see God at work & how might you join God in getting His work done?
3. Which trait of David inspires you? Which trait do you most want God to develop in you?
No comments:
Post a Comment