2 Samuel 15:1-17 – What Defines You?
Who are your true friends? They are those who are there for you in trouble, aren’t they? In 2 Samuel 15 and 16, David is in trouble. It’s when he’s in trouble that we see who his true friends are – and who his enemies are. The first thing we have to remember when we come to all this is that David isn’t just anybody. David is God’s chosen king. So to rebel against David and his kingdom is to rebel against the LORD and his kingdom. That doesn’t mean that David is perfect. In fact his suffering in these chapters is the direct result of his own sin. But unlike with Saul, God has not rejected David as king. God is the one who has put David in place. So to rebel against him is to rebel against God.
Something else to notice is that what defines all these characters in chapters 15 and 16 is how they respond to David. Just as the one thing that will define us forever won’t be what we achieve in life, but how we respond to Jesus Christ, because he too is God’s anointed king. And it’s not just what we do with Jesus in general, but what we do with him when the majority of people are against him, and his cause looks weak. But that is where faith comes in – to believe that Jesus really is who he says he is, and to believe that one day every other kingdom will crumble, and his kingdom will be seen to be supreme.
For David’s friends in this chapter to be loyal to him would mean leaving their homes and their comfortable lives and living by faith that his cause was right and one day God would vindicate it. It’s the same for us. Peter in his letter writes to Christians to tell them how to conduct themselves during the time of their ‘exile’. (1 Peter 1:17) He writes: ‘Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul’. Why does Peter describe his readers as elect exiles? Not because war or persecution has forced them to leave their homes, but because they’re Christians. So this world is no longer their home. From now on they are going to live like people whose true home is elsewhere. Count the cost before you say yes to following God’s chosen Messiah. Because it will mean living as an exile, for the rest of your time on earth, even as those around you settle down and try to find heaven here and now.
Question
- What defines the characters in this chapter?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would be faithful even when God’s cause looks weak.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.