This summer I had a memorable conversation with my Dad. He will turn 65 in a couple of months and he was talking to me about insurance options that my parents had been discussing. As we sat in that small coffee shop in Rehoboth Beach,...
David left a legacy behind him of both devotion to God and failure. As he leaves a legacy of corruption and generational disobedience for his sons in 1 Kings, he simultaneously praises the Lord and sacrifices all the resources and wealth he has left to...
1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,...
Our current community group study has me excavating the depths of my heart and taking a thorough inventory of my sin patterns and their effect on my life. It’s a dark and lonely road. I am learning how easily I gloss over, legitimize, or even...
1 O Lord, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. 2 Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free. 3 Be my rock of safety where I can always hide. Give the order to...
1 These are the last words of David: “David, the son of Jesse, speaks— David, the man who was raised up so high, David, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. 2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his words are upon...
2 Samuel 24 brings tension between our understanding of judgment and God’s perfect union of justice and mercy. God encourages David to take a census of the people, and although David’s advisors try to convince him otherwise, David follows through and tallies the people. The...
1 Then King David turned to the entire assembly and said, “My son Solomon, whom God has clearly chosen as the next king of Israel, is still young and inexperienced. The work ahead of him is enormous, for the Temple he will build is not...
1 As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. 3 Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all...
1 So Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, his father. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected. 2 The...
Absalom was known as the most cunning, handsome, and ambitious of David’s sons. The Bible describes him in 2 Samuel 14:25 saying, “Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot.” I don’t know about...
1 Then David said, “This will be the location for the Temple of the Lord God and the place of the altar for Israel’s burnt offerings!”...
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the Lord. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them. 13 Each...
In 2 Samuel 15, the consequences of David’s sin are being revealed in the rebellion of his son, Absalom. Through his own sin, David helped create the moment and opportunity of Absalom’s rebellion. Upon hearing of this rebellion, David flees Jerusalem but shows his trust...
1 Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan...
1 Once again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the Lord told him. 2 So the king said to Joab and the commanders of...
1 We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. 2 People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. 3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. 4 The Lord has made everything for his own purposes, even...
2 Samuel 12 begins, “then the Lord sent Nathan to David.” Many of us can think back to those specific moments in our life when we came face-to-face with a God-sent friend. For most of us, those moments have only happened once or twice, but...
1 David now mustered the men who were with him and appointed generals and captains to lead them. 2 He sent the troops out in three groups, placing one group under Joab, one under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and one under Ittai, the...
1 After this, Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty bodyguards to run ahead of him. 2 He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment,...
God sends Nathan to speak truth into David’s life and cast light on the darkness of David’s hidden sin. Nathan risks his life to confront King David’s sin, knowing that obeying the one true King is more important than his own fears or desires. ...
1 Joab realized how much the king longed to see Absalom. 2 So he sent for a woman from Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t put on lotions. Act...
Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her. 3 But...
9 Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. 10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11...
1 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual...