2 Samuel 9:1-11:27, John 15:1-27, Psalms 119:49-64, Proverbs 16:1-3
Today is the 26th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today and every day. Great to be here with you for another day and another step forward on the adventure that we embarked on all these months ago. Doesn’t seem like that long ago but we’re approaching the end of our fifth month together. So, it’s been a while and we’ve covered a lot of ground together and we have so much yet in front of us. And, so, let’s dive in for today. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week and we move ourselves back into the book of second Samuel. Today, chapters 9, 10, and 11.
Commentary:
Okay. We met David when he was a shepherd boy, and we followed his life all the way until he is now the King of Israel. We met him in first Samuel. We’re following along with his life and reign as king in second Samuel. And if we look back at the trajectory, David has been a humble person well aware of his utter dependence upon God. He has had to be a fugitive. He’s had to be on the run. He’s had to grow up quick. He has had to deal with becoming a celebrity like a national hero overnight with no training for that. And he’s done well, and we began to read today that David was thinking about Saul’s family and found out that his beloved Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. And, so, he restores the lands that Saul owned to his family, to Mephibosheth and invites him around the King’s table. Everything is going well and then we turn a corner today and then things are not going well at all. And unfortunately, there never really going to go well again for David, at least in terms of his family. So, David doesn’t go to war. Sends the Army out with Joab. He gets up from a nap, looks out over the city from his palace roof, and sees Bathsheba bathing and she’s beautiful and he desires her, and he inquires about her, and he finds out who she is and she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah is one of the top warriors that David has. In fact, when we get a little bit further into the story we will see the mighty men of David, the elite heroes listed and when we read that list of names will find Uriah the Hittite. So, this isn’t just somebody David doesn’t know. This is somebody fiercely loyal to David and Uriah believes that the king is fiercely loyal to him and to God. He knows this when he calls for Bathsheba. And, of course, you don’t get summoned to the king and not go. And, so, she comes, and the result is a pregnancy which is a problem. David’s character and integrity are the things that the people have been watching and that has drawn him to them. And now this? How do you defend this? Ironically, he tried to do what still happens today, a giant cover-up, right? So, he sends for Uriah from the battle lines thinking he’ll bring him home, give him a little bit of a break, a little furlough, he can go home. He and Bathsheba can have relations together and then this whole thing can maybe go away and only he and Bathsheba know about this. It’s just that all the sudden when Uriah gets back and meets with the king Uriah starts looking more like King David than King David does. Its Uriah’s character and integrity that won’t allow him to go have the comforts of home while everybody else is sleeping on the ground and in battle. Uriah has watched this kind of behavior from his own king, the one he is loyal to, which puts David into an even worse predicament, and he makes a very evil decision. He sends Uriah back into battle and Uriah has to carry his own death warrant back to the general, back to Joab. Like, he’s carrying a letter from the King and the contents of the letter are instructions for how to get Uriah killed which Joab obeys. And Uriah is killed because he was faithful, because he had integrity, because he was loyal, and because King David needed to cover up what he had become. This is a turning point. David indeed brings Bathsheba to be his wife after Uriah the Hittite has been killed and is dead and she has mourned for him. She is pregnant. We’ll have to see about that in the coming days. But David looks more like Saul than David in this moment. And in David’s family respect is lost. Things won’t be the same in David’s family anymore and we will see that very very much unfold before us. But this is sort of the moment, at least in the scriptural account of David’s life, this is the time, the moment that things change, which doesn’t mean that all the sudden David is turned into a bad man, he’s evil now and everything that he does is evil. That’s not the case. It’s just what David is chosen to do here can certainly be forgiven, but there are certainly repercussions. And there is much for us to learn and that alone. But there is much for us to observe and learn as we go forward.
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for your word. And we reach this point. It’s kind of a down moment as we watch King David do what King David did. And as we move through the next days we’ll see the effects that this has. And as we watch this Holy Spirit, we invite you to help us self-examine. Maybe none of us have the kind of story that we’re talking about today. Very likely none of us have the kind of power to pull off what David was trying to do. Like anybody can have an adulterous affair of some sort. It’s another thing to take by force or by power another man’s wife when she very likely has no choice in the matter. It’s another thing to be conniving and try to find a way to make a cover-up that ends up resulting in like military murder. Very unlikely that any of us have that kind of power. But it’s really a matter of scale because all of these things begin in the heart before they are ever enacted with our bodies. They are decided in our thoughts and then they become our words and deeds. And we can be moving along walking a narrow path and make a decision that takes us thousands of miles away from that path. And we need your Holy Spirit’s guidance. We need your guardianship over us. We need to be protected. We need to see what’s going on before we make catastrophic mistakes in our lives as we’ve witnessed today. And, so, come Holy Spirit. We humble ourselves before you. We open ourselves to you. Our hearts and our hands, our very lives are open to you. Nothing is hidden from you, and nothing is off limits to you. Come Holy Spirit and lead us into the truth. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Ethan, Ethan in Phoenix I just listened to your call, and I know you touched so many hearts today and I just want you to know…this is One Penny Saved in southwest Missouri, and you did such an amazing thing to call in today not just for yourself but for all of us listeners. I was so touched. I have so many issues in my past. I have so many titles, you know? It doesn’t matter what the title of your so called hang up is. It is what Satan is using to destroy you. And, so, I just claim authority in the name of Jesus that whatever it is that Satan is using to destroy Ethan, I claim authority over that right now. In the name of Jesus, I claim authority over that. Ethan you just stay in the word. I have had so many of the titles to try to destroy me, but I stayed in the word through Daily Audio Bible. I have had so many titles in the past 15 years, but I am free. And you just stay absorbed in the word and you will find that freedom. I love you. I’m praying for you.
Good morning, everybody this is Stew from Irvine CA I’m calling to first give thanks to Brian Hardin, his entire family, and all those who work behind the scenes to make the Daily Audio Bible a part of our daily lives. It’s an incredible blessing to be able to have this presentation of God’s word each and every day and I feel very blessed to be able to partake in that with each and every one of you. I wanted to give thanks to those who also call in on regular basis, Victoria Soldier, and Blind Tony and so many others. You guys bless us with your continued prayers and your encouragement. We thank you for that. I wanted to pray this time as well and ask for prayers for Terry the Trucker and all of those who are involved in transportation of goods and services across the nation and all around the world but certainly here in America and I think that that’s something that they are encountering…they are encountering some significant challenges these days. So, we are in strength reducing times and this is a time when we can all gather and pray for one another lift one another up and encourage one another. And, so, I certainly offer my prayers to Terry and also ask for prayers for my wife who sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas the last year she started to exhibit some serious challenges and mental illness and she’s very depressed. She has been so. She’s not able to do anything with the family other than to be cared for. So, I’d ask for your prayers for her and thank you everyone for that. And I am so happy to be part of this family. Take care.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Samuel from Texas it’s Monday the 23rd and, you know, I’m reaching out. I haven’t left a prayer request since I think last summer. The past year has been a lot of trials coming, you know? I made a compromise in my recovery too choose a specific way of recovery that isn’t usually taken, you know? It involved a medication that was used as like a maintenance and currently I, after a year of just feeling empty and not feeling any emotions other than numbness and anger and losing a lot of significant things in my life I just decided I would bite the bullet and I’m seven days into a detox right now. And I’m just reaching out to my Daily Audio Bible family ‘cause y'all have been like the only consistent Christians in my life and I don’t even see y’all’s faces. And it’s so beautiful. So, I just knew that I could get on here and trust y'all. I know I could get on here and ask for prayer and I know that people all around the world would be praying. And for a long time, you know, taking these medications and calling it recovery just silenced my voice. It’s silenced my testimony. It silenced who I was. You know, it distracted me from my real purpose. And yeah, that’s why I’m here, because I know that there’s a lot more than what I’m experiencing over the past year, and I know the Lord is faithful. I love you guys. Thank you for letting me share. I’m praying for y'all. I honor y'all. And thank you Brian.
Dear DAB family this is your sister Ashley from California and My Heart Belongs to Jesus from Minnesota and Christy, the other Christy, from Kentucky you may have been responding to that beautiful nurse mom in soccer coach, her call for prayer, but you all encouraged my heart. Thank you. To that wonderful mom who is overwhelmed, has an adult child who lives with her parents and a whole circus, I just want you to know you’re not alone. Your love towards your daughter may not be appreciated now but I will say thank you for her. I will be asking God to open her eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart soften to see His goodness flowing through you. I have to tell this to myself, but this is a season, and it will pass. I’m going to pray with you. Dear Lord thank you for the DAB community. Thank you for these beautiful souls who reach out for support and those that bring it. Your faithfulness is demonstrated in their calls. Please bless my sister who is overwhelmed and give her the wisdom and peace to take things one step at a time. Remind her of the hope You offer. Help her to see a small glimpse of gratitude from those around her. Remind her she’s not alone. Lord, please bless the faithful sisters who called in on May 22nd. It’s in Jesus’ mighty name I pray. Amen. DAB family, I also need to ask you for prayer. So, not only are we working on my dad’s recovery and my grandmother being in the hospital again for her leukemia with an infection but my grandfather, my Papa Lee, is in the hospital now with pneumonia. So, please keep our family in prayer as it is really intense. But I just want to thank you all for your encouragement. I’ll talk to you soon.
Hey DAB family this is…my name is Moses I’m a long-time listener first time caller. I heard a gentleman’s call back on the 19th of May about his eye disease. I think his name was Daniel Robertson. Brother, I know exactly what you’re going through. I know exactly the anguish or the somber frustration. I have that same eye disease. I was diagnosed back in…when I was seven years old and, you know, it is…it’s kind of frustrating. I mean, you go to doctors every year, specialists who is…who tries to tell you, you know, what the limitation is, but I know I serve a limitless God. I know it’s just by His words it can all happen. You know, and there was some point in my life where I just constantly, that’s all I thought about. But I didn’t realize that every day that I wake up and every day I see my loved ones, people on the street people in the store, these are gifts, gifts of grace and mercy. I no longer pay attention to my disease. I pay attention to the beautiful things that God has surrounded me with. And that’s my advice to you. You guys stay up. Love God, love people.