Pastor Marshall Ochs | September 3, 2023
In this message, Pastor Marshall teaches for 2 Samuel 10-11. These chapters pair the blessing of God on David’s life with sin in David’s heart. God blessed David with a home, a family, and a kingdom but his heart wanted more. In these chapters we see the great shepherd king of Israel overstep God’s boundaries and commit adultery and murder to satisfy his own fleshly desires. These chapters are best studied in light of 1 Corinthians 10:11-14 — if anyone things they stand, take heed lest they fall.
Watch
Listen
Reflect
In the last few chapters, we have seen David receive many blessings of success in battle and have a heart full of generosity towards others because of his mindfulness of God’s generosity towards him. Marshall pointed out to us that these two chapters we are studying this week are in great contrast to each other for a purpose. Marshall also reminded us that 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 has an important message that relates. The phrase “take heed lest he fall” in that passage is a great reminder to us! The word heed means to pay careful attention. My hope is that we will do just that.
Read 2 Samuel 10:1-5. We see David extending an act of generosity to Hanun after his father, Nahash’s death. Hanun humiliated David’s men and instead of retaliating, David was once again generous. We see God blessing David with wisdom and discernment as he continues to depend on Him. The same is true for us. When someone humiliates us or causes pain to someone we love, our reaction should be tempered with a great dependance on the Lord for our response. Otherwise, we end up making the situation worse by taking matters into our own hands and retaliating. Take heed, lest we fall.
Read 2 Samuel 10:6-19. In this passage, we see David and his men victorious in battle against the Ammonites and the Syrians because of God. When we experience great victories and successes in our lives, we should be mindful that these are because of the Lord’s favor – not because of our efforts alone. If we become arrogant or self-reliant, we have now entered into dangerous territory. We can easily fall into a place of wanting more. Once we take our eyes off of the Giver of our gifts and place them on the gifts themselves, they become idols. This creates an insatiable desire to covet what others have and even rationalize our desire for wanting it. Take heed, lest we fall.
Read 2 Samuel 11:1-13. In the spring, we see the Israelites go to war again with the Ammonites. It would be typical for David to be in battle with his men. However, he chose to stay behind. David’s blessings and victories were starting to go to his head and cloud his judgment. David makes a series of very unwise choices to not heed God’s direction and it proves to cause great consequences for David and others. David abandoned his obligation by staying home from war. He focused on his own desires. When he was tempted, he chose to give in, instead of running away from it. David chooses to have an affair with Bathsheba, and then tries to cover it up which causes more devastation. We see the stark contrast between Uriah’s virtue and David’s sin. When we choose to sin against God and follow our own desires, chaos typically ensues. The deeper the mess, the less we seem to be able to find our way out of it. The consequences are far reaching and usually affect many others. Take heed, lest we fall.
Read 2 Samuel 11:14-27. Ultimately, David sends Uriah into the front line of battle which causes his death. David’s selfish desires for what he wanted superseded his desire to follow God. Selfishness is the root of our own destruction. It never works for us, but rather against us and against God’s plan. Marshall pointed out that we are one selfish choice away from ruining relationships (i.e., marriage, children, friendships, etc.) We are one selfish choice away from shipwrecking our faith and our witness. The good news is that we have a loving, forgiving and faithful God! 1 Corinthians 10:13-14 reminds us that there is no temptation that comes our way in which God has not provided a way out. Flee from idols! Look the other way! Run in the other direction! Take heed, lest we fall!