Fleeing, rejected and abused

David was coming up against hardship at every turn but he still endured all to serve God faithfully

2 Samuel 16.1-14

Reference: v. 5b-6a His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king's officials with stones…

Explore: David was not having a good time. In fact we read of three terrible things happening all at once.
1. His son had taken over Jerusalem and if David had not have fled Absalom would have killed him.
2. Jonathan's son, whom David had sought and cared for, had rejected him in the hope that Israel would return to Saul's house.
3. On top of all of this, Sheimei comes out and throws curses and stones at all of David's army.
This stage of David's life is certainly supporting the saying 'Bad things come in threes'. And yet, David seems to take it all on the chin. Even right to the final point when Abishai offers to cut off Sheimei's head for cursing them and David holds back his sword.

Application: I may not have been fleeing for my life but a few weeks ago I certainly had a terribly hard week. It seemed like I was banging my head against brick walls which ever way I turned. To top it all off an at-risk family which I had worked closely with for two years got some misleading advice and cut off all connections with me. I must say, I was not as humble and calm as David was in this passage. I was hurt and furious and once I had calmed down I decided to throw my own personal pity-party. There were lots of questions thrown at God and in the end I finished with: "What's the point? I do everything I can to help someone and it all just gets thrown back in my face." It was one of the few times I really felt that God spoke to me. He said: You didn't do it for them, you did it for Me. Well, that certainly changed my perspective. I was still hurt and fragile but at least I didn't feel all my work was meaningless and lost.
So often we seek our rewards here on earth and yet when we serve our Lord, the only applause we should be seeking is that from nail-scarred hands.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being so gracious that you would use this broken vessel to do your work. Amen.

 

2 Samuel