2 Samuel 19:9-10 – Saying Nothing About The King
What is our greatest need as a nation at this moment? Surely it’s the same as it was for the nation of Israel in 2nd Samuel 19. And that is to bring the king back. To realise that our experiment of appointing leaders who tell us what we want to hear has failed, and to bring back the true king – Jesus Christ.
God’s people in this part of 2nd Samuel had been facing what we could call a leadership contest. Will David be king, or would it be Absalom? This leadership contest led to a literal civil war, a battle where, in the last chapter, 20,000 people were killed, including Absalom himself. Of course, the obvious thing to do now is to bring David back as king. But it hasn’t happened yet. Instead we find the tribes of Israel hesitating and debating. Some of them recognise in verse 9 that David is the one who has saved them from their enemies in the past. And now the king they appointed is dead. He wasn’t the better king they had thought he would be. The glorious reign he had promised hadn’t come to fruition. The people had been bewitched by a handsome flatterer, but some of them have now come to their senses. And so they ask: ‘Why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?’
And is that not God’s question to Scotland? Our nation has tried putting a rival king in the place of Jesus Christ. The king of self. But how has that worked out for us? Are people happy? Are they flourishing? The family structure has broken down. Children are brought up without discipline, and are soon out of control. There’s an epidemic of loneliness. Alcohol and drugs slay their thousands and their tens of thousands. There is moral confusion as to what is right and wrong, true or false, on a massive scale. For many people in Scotland their life, or rather their existence, consists in sitting in front of the TV, medicated to the eyeballs, whether legally or illegally. And at the other end of society people may be working long hours, they may be materially rich, but they’re relationally poor. They’re not happy. They’re looking for meaning in life, in work, or family, or some political cause, but not finding it. Yet we as a nation refuse to acknowledge what the problem is. The national church has long since given up on the Bible. And the question comes: ‘Why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?’
Question
- What is the question of these verses?
Prayer Points
- Pray that our nation would bring the King back?
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.