2 Samuel 8:1-2 – Spared to Serve
What about you? Do you realise that all of history is moving towards the moment when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD? Have you bowed the knee to him? Have you acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Lord of all? Or are you still fighting against him? If so, be warned, that in the words of the Apostle Paul, there is a day coming when the ‘Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus’.
In many ways, the Moabites in v2 are a picture of everyone who has ever lived – these defeated Moabites who David lines up in two lines. There are only two types of people in the world. Not good people and bad people, because we’re all bad people. We all deserve death. In v2 you have one group who receives the penalty they deserve for rebelling against God’s king. But you also have a second group who’re spared. But the group who are spared – do they just do their own thing? No, they become servants to David and bring him tribute.
It is a glorious thing to be a servant of the Lord Jesus! We’re not saved to do our own thing. God grants his people freedom – but not independence. Anyway to try and live for our own little kingdom would be both pathetic and futile. We know where history’s heading. It’s moving towards the moment when the Lord Jesus will be recognised by everyone for who he truly is – by some reluctantly and others gladly. The moment when we as his people will be openly acknowledged and acquitted, and when we can take our seats at the wedding supper of the lamb. So will we not live for that day? If you knew for sure that a company was going to quadruple in value over the next year – would you not invest in it if you had some spare cash? But we know for certain that God’s kingdom is going to topple every other kingdom there is. Will we not invest in his kingdom? As individuals, as families, as a church? Or will we be like the rich fool trying to store up for ourselves treasure on earth?
Question
- What did David do to the Moabites?
Prayer Points
- Pray that you would be a joyful servant of Christ.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.