2 samuel 23: ²⁴ Other members of the Thirty included:

Asahel, Joab’s brother; Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem; ²⁵ Shammah from Harod; Elika from Harod; ²⁶ Helez from Pelon; Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa; ²⁷ Abiezer from Anathoth; Sibbecai from Hushah; ²⁸ Zalmon from Ahoah; Maharai from Netophah;
²⁹ Heled son of Baanah from Netophah; Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah (in the land of Benjamin); ³⁰ Benaiah from Pirathon; Hurai from Nahale-gaash; ³¹ Abi-albon from Arabah; Azmaveth from Bahurim; ³² Eliahba from Shaalbon; the sons of Jashen; Jonathan ³³ son of Shagee from Harar; Ahiam son of Sharar from Harar; ³⁴ Eliphelet son of Ahasbai from Maacah; Eliam son of Ahithophel from Giloh; ³⁵ Hezro from Carmel; Paarai from Arba; ³⁶ Igal son of Nathan from Zobah; Bani from Gad; ³⁷ Zelek from Ammon; Naharai from Beeroth, Joab’s armor bearer; ³⁸ Ira from Jattir; Gareb from Jattir; ³⁹ Uriah the Hittite.

There were thirty-seven in all.

 

in this chapter it talks about the special fighting men of david and the amazing feats they performed and how God helped them in battle... look at the last name... uriah the hittite... this was the husband of bathsheba... he was one of the closest men to david.. one of the inner circle... yet when david saw bathsheba.. he even asked who she was and they said she was the wife of uriah the hittite.. so david KNEW what he was doing when he called her to the palace and slept with her... he knew who he was betraying.. that this was one of his most trusted men... THEN... because she got pregnant and he couldn't get uriah to sleep with her so he could pretend the child was uriah's.. then he has him killed....

 

yet this is a man that is called a man after God's own heart....

 

what can that really mean deep down.. a man after God's own heart? and if God still felt david was so special after all the things he did... what about us... first of all.. how we judge ourselves as not being useable by God because of our previous life.. but on top of that.. look at how we look at someone else who screws up royally... we assume they can't really be in relationship with God because if they were.. wouldn't they do better... wouldn't they be righteous and holy all the time like we think we are....

 

sheesh!! we are so screwed up and judgemental... yet God overlooks these things in david.. in us.. and surely in the people we think we are judging too.... people are just people.. we will never be God.. we will continue to fall... I may not fall in the area you are falling.. and we are expected to live at a higher level.. we are expected to STRIVE daily to be more like Christ... but in being more like Christ.. we need to stop feeling like we can look at someone else's failure and decide that it is a reflection of their relationship with God.. surely it is not...

Isaiah 65: 24 ²⁴ I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

 

I can think how awesome it will be when God answers my prayers before I even pray them... then I wonder.. isn't that happening anyways? how often is it that we don't even know what to pray for and still God has worked everything out for us.. I can look back on my own life and how many times I didn't have sense and walked straight into trouble.. not asking for guidance or protection or anything at all.. sometimes even having the audacity to want God to back up and let me taste trouble just a little bit...

 

yet there He was protecting me.. saving me... caring for me... all the time.. even when I had not prayed for it...

 

I think our prayers are important... I believe we co-sign with God's ultimate will through our prayers.. or we should be anyways... and then He works with us and for us... changing us and making us new creatures in Christ with a transformed heart and mind...

 

but I am thankful still when God hears me before I cry out.. and answers me anyways...

2 samuel 18: ⁹ During the battle, Absalom happened to come upon some of David’s men. He tried to escape on his mule, but as he rode beneath the thick branches of a great tree, his hair got caught in the tree. His mule kept going and left him dangling in the air. ¹⁰ One of David’s men saw what had happened and told Joab, “I saw Absalom dangling from a great tree.”

¹¹ “What?” Joab demanded. “You saw him there and didn’t kill him? I would have rewarded you with ten pieces of silver and a hero’s belt!”
¹² “I would not kill the king’s son for even a thousand pieces of silver,” the man replied to Joab. “We all heard the king say to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake, please spare young Absalom.’ ¹³ And if I had betrayed the king by killing his son—and the king would certainly find out who did it—you yourself would be the first to abandon me.”
¹⁴ “Enough of this nonsense,” Joab said. Then he took three daggers and plunged them into Absalom’s heart as he dangled, still alive, in the great tree. ¹⁵ Ten of Joab’s young armor bearers then surrounded Absalom and killed him.
¹⁶ Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men returned from chasing the army of Israel. ¹⁷ They threw Absalom’s body into a deep pit in the forest and piled a great heap of stones over it. And all Israel fled to their homes.

¹⁸ During his lifetime, Absalom had built a monument to himself in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and it is known as Absalom’s Monument to this day.

 

absalom got killed by his hair of all things.. much like samson in some respects...

and one of the soldiers refused to kill him because he was the king's son... I am with him on that one...

 

 

at the end it states that absalom had built a monument to himself... he had no son to carry on his name.. but does that make a good reason to be building ourself up? I don't think so... our pride is often our downfall it is often what gets us trapped... and surely it is the truth for david's son... he tried to take his father's position.. which was given to him by God... and he was destroyed by his selfish desires to raise himself up...

 

 

I think we all need to be very careful not to think ourselves great and wonderful... and if we are to be raised up.. let God do the raising..

2 samuel 15: ⁵ As King David came to Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei son of Gera, from the same clan as Saul’s family. ⁶ He threw stones at the king and the king’s officers and all the mighty warriors who surrounded him. ⁷ “Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!” he shouted at David. ⁸ “The Lord is paying you back for all the bloodshed in Saul’s clan. You stole his throne, and now the Lord has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, for you are a murderer!”

⁹ “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?” Abishai son of Zeruiah demanded. “Let me go over and cut off his head!”
¹⁰ “No!” the king said. “Who asked your opinion, you sons of Zeruiah! If the Lord has told him to curse me, who are you to stop him?”

¹¹ Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. ¹² And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.” ¹³ So David and his men continued down the road, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air.

 

this is really just a continuation of yesterday. david amazes me.. he looks at even the negative things happening in his life and realizes that possibly they are coming from God.. how often do we try to determine that everything that doesn't go our way is from the enemy... and while it is true that the enemy is out here seeking to steal kill and destroy... he couldn't do anything without permission from God.. so ulitmately... even the unpleasant things.. even the negative people we encounter are coming from God in the long run... or at least allowed by Him...  

 

his only response is.. perhaps the Lord will see I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses...  

 

you don't hear him being angry of vengeful toward the one coming against him... I need a little more of this in my own spirit...

2 samuel 15: ²⁴ Zadok and all the Levites also came along, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. They set down the Ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until everyone had passed out of the city.

²⁵ Then the king instructed Zadok to take the Ark of God back into the city. “If the Lord sees fit,” David said, “he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle again. ²⁶ But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him.”

in this scripture.. david is leaving jerusalem because his son absalom has decided to overthrow his father as king... he has support and an army... so david is fleeing the city with his household...
 

david.. amazingly to me... rather than act like he is owed the kingdom.. like his son is oh so wrong for what he is doing... david turns the whole thing over to God... and states.. if it is God's will... then I will be back.. but if He is through with me.. then let Him do what He sees as best...
 

I don't know about you but I have never been a big enough person to say " if God is through with me " yet I wonder how often that might be the right response... we have such a hard time walking away from things... letting go of anything that we see as 'ours'.. yet really.. nothing belongs to us.. everything we have.. belongs to God.. so if He decides to end it... we should be willing to accept it and believe He must be walking us in another direction.. giving us something else...
 

in the case of david being king.. God was not done with him.. and absalom was overthrown and killed.. but I think it was a very wise man who was willing to realize that the decision of whether or not he remained king was completely up to God...

Ephesians 5: Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. ² Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

 

This is my new motto..

I desire to do all things in love... I desire to be a reflection of Christ at all times... somehow... I am going to lay down my feelings... and just live as God would have me live...

 

as I feel I have been knocking on death's door... LOL.... it is funny that all other things cease to matter... when we are at the end of the line.. and we have nothing but our breath.... then it seems God is enough... but when things are good (term used loosely) and we are thinking constantly about all that we think we need.... all that we want... then we are so unsatisfied....

  

I am satisfied I am decided... I am thankful just to be in the number of God's chosen ones... I am thankful that He still chooses to look in my direction! I am happy!!

psalms 11: ¹ I trust in the Lord for protection. So why do you say to me, “Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety! ² The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right.
³ The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”

⁴ But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth. ⁵ The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence. ⁶ He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds. ⁷ For the righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face.


I wonder.. do we realize how much God protects us from... how much He watches over us... drives our car... watches while we sleep... protects our house... I am thankful today for the protection of God over me..