Trust God's Promises Amid Human Failure

Good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're going to be looking at 2 Samuel chapter 3, the first 21 verses.

About, well, maybe it's like a Benedict Arnold situation. This Abner dude who was with Ish-bosheth, now he's going to go with David.

Let's find out how this goes. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.

Let's pray. Father, you are a good God, a wonderful King, a Savior, a Sovereign.

We pray that your Spirit would be with us this morning.

As we read your Word, we pray that we would understand it.

We pray that you would apply it to our hearts.

Let's live it out in our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Here we go.

First, or sorry, 2 Samuel chapter 3.

Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David.

But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.

Sons were born to David in Hebron.

His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess.

His second, Chaliab, by Abigail, the widow of Nabal, the Carmelite.

The third, Absalom, the son of Mechah, the daughter of Talmi, king of Geshur.

The fourth, Adonijah, the son of Hagith.

The fifth, Sephathiah, the son of Abaitah.

And the sixth, Ithrium, by David's wife, Eglah.

These were born to David in Hebron.

Now it was so.

While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David,

that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul.

And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Ayah.

So Ish-bosheth said to Abner,

Why have you gone into my father's concubine?

Then Abner became very angry at the words of Ish-bosheth and said,

Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah?

Today I show loyalty to the house of Saul, your father, to his brothers and to his friends,

and have not delivered you into the hand of David?

And you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman?

May God do so to Abner, and more also,

if I do not for David, as the Lord has sworn to him,

to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul,

and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah,

from Dan to Beersheba.

And he could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.

Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to David, saying,

Who is the land?

Saying also,

Make your covenant with me, and indeed my hand shall be with you,

to bring all Israel to you.

And David said,

Good, I will make a covenant with you.

But one thing I require of you,

you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michael,

Saul's daughter,

when you come to see my face.

So David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth,

Saul's son, saying,

Give me my wife, Michael,

whom I betrothed to myself,

for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.

And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband,

from Paltiel,

the son of Laish.

Then her husband went along with her to Bovrim,

weeping behind her.

So Abner said to him,

Go return!

And he returned.

Now Abner had communicated with the elders of Israel,

saying,

In times past,

you were seeking for David to be king over you.

Now then do it!

For Jehovah has spoken of David,

saying,

By the hand of my servant David,

I will save my people Israel

from the hand of the Philistines

and from the hand of all their enemies.

And Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin.

Then Abner also went to speak

in the hearing of David in Hebron,

all that seemed good to Israel

and the whole house of Benjamin.

So Abner and twenty men with him

came to David at Hebron,

and David made a feast for Abner

and the men who were with him.

Then Abner said to David,

I will arise and go

and gather all Israel to my lord, the king,

that they may make a covenant with you

and that you may reign over all

that your heart desires.

So David sent Abner away

and he went in peace.

Oh, we need to ask ourselves

our three questions.

A, what's this about?

B, what's the best verse to summarize this?

And C, what are we called to do?

So A, what's this about?

You got a lot of honor-shame stuff

happening here, right?

I mean, Abner,

he's faithful to Ish-bosheth,

he's faithful to the,

but he's powerful.

He's powerful

and he's been shown himself faithful

to Benjamin

and yet he goes

and he goes after Saul's concubines.

Now, there's a thing here

with David as well

I've got to point out

that's wrong, right?

Deuteronomy,

when it talks about

the law of the kings,

says that the king's

not to multiply wives

and here, what do we find?

David's got a whole bunch of wives

from a whole bunch of women.

One of the worst ones

is the king of Geshur.

David is making

political alliances, right?

We think of love marriages

is what they'll call them

in a lot of countries,

what the West does,

but there's an arranged marriage,

a political marriage, right?

David is starting down a path

that some of his sons,

especially Solomon,

are going to go down.

That's just wrong.

But here,

here the story is saying,

right,

the house of David

is increasing

and the house of Saul

is decreasing.

It seems like Abner

might understand,

be able to read

the temperature in the room

and he takes

one of Saul's concubines,

which is a power move

and Ish-bosheth

does what is actually

the reasonable thing.

Hey, what are you doing this?

But the problem is,

Ish-bosheth isn't as strong

as Abner

and Abner sees

his honor go away

and is shamed

and he says,

forget it, man.

You've doubted me?

I'm out of here.

I'm going to David.

I know what the Lord

has said to David.

I'm going to take

everyone with me.

And so he goes.

Ish-bosheth,

can't say anything.

Mouth is shut.

What's he going to do?

He's not powerful enough

to do anything.

And his number one general,

his dad's right-hand man

outside of his sons,

is taking the army with him.

This is a coup.

This is a Benedict Arnold

type situation.

And there's a story here,

by the way,

that's just disturbing,

difficult, right?

David is making

political moves, right?

We looked at this

in 1 Samuel

when Saul had given

David, Michael,

his son,

that this was a

political type thing.

And then he tries

to kill David,

but Michael protected him.

Well, Michael's been

given to another man,

to Paltiel.

And now David

wants her back.

Essentially,

he's claiming

his dominion

over Israel,

that he's

the rightful king.

And here's the

previous king's daughter.

he was lawfully

married.

He bought her

at the price

of the Philistines,

104 skins.

We remember

that whole story.

So there's a lot

of politicking

happening here.

Abner goes

and he comes

into covenant

with David.

So it seems like

this is what's going on.

Abner promises

in the world, right?

Dan,

way up north,

Beersheba,

all the way down

to the south.

North to south,

it's all yours, man.

I'm with you now.

That's weird.

So this is about

marriage,

intrigue,

political games,

honor,

shame,

Abner defecting

to Judah,

David breaking

God's law.

There's a lot here.

So what's the best

verse to summarize

all of this?

Ooh,

that's going to be

a hard one.

But in my mind

it's actually verse 1.

Now there was

a long war

between the house

of David

and the house

of Saul,

but David grew

stronger and stronger

and the house

of Saul grew

weaker and weaker.

So that's what

I would underline.

But maybe you would

underline something else

and that's fine.

It's your Bible.

Break out your

highlighter and do

what you want.

Let me know

in the comments

or shoot me an email

if you want to

argue with me

about it.

That's okay.

That's last seat

calling.

What are we called

to do?

I'm not telling you

you should go

kill a hundred

Philistines

and take their

foreskins

and go try to

get the prince's

daughter.

That's not what

I'm trying to

tell you to do.

I'm not trying

to tell you

you should go

defect to the

enemy army

and forsake

because you're

more powerful

than the king

and have a

coup d'etat.

I don't think

that's what

God is

all throughout

this covenant

of grace.

God is sovereign

and he's working

through sinful

people

and he's

accomplishing

his purpose.

What is his

purpose?

That promise

he made

in Genesis

chapter 3

15.

He was

going to

as part of

the curse

upon the

serpent

raise up

the seed

of the woman

that was

going to

break his

head

or crush

his head

or bruise

his head

even though

he would

bruise his

heel

and that

seed is

Jesus.

That seed

of Abraham

would

ultimately

be

Jesus.

The seed

of David

would be

Jesus.

But God

uses

imperfect

people

throughout

history

to

accomplish

his

perfect

purposes.

And so

I don't

know what's

going on

in your

life.

Maybe

you think

everything's

just going

wrong.

It's

understandable.

Maybe

people

are stronger

than other

people.

You have

more influence

but for

some reason

people are

distrusting

you and

talking bad

about you.

Maybe

you're

actually the

most valuable

person at

your company

but your

boss always

looks at

you

suspiciously

and doesn't

care for

you.

Even then

do you

trust God's

promises?

Do you

go in

his ways?

But I do

want to say

the morals

still do here

matter.

What David

is doing

is wrong.

What Saul

did with

Michael

is wrong.

Women

shouldn't be

treated this

way.

We shouldn't

go against

God's law

this way.

And any

time that

this type

of stuff

happens,

yeah,

God's going

to bring

about his

promises

through this

but it

doesn't look

like it's

going to be

pleasant for

people.

Actually,

he's going

to cause

a lot

of problems.

We even

hear about

one of

them,

his third

son,

Absalom.

That name

is going

to haunt

David later,

a son

that he

desperately

loves.

Let's

pray.

Father,

we pray

that you

would teach

us to

love you

and to

follow in

your ways,

to walk

in your

paths.

Lord,

we pray

that you

would please

give us

hope and

confidence

even when

things seem

to be

going awry

and wrong.

Lord,

we pray

that we

would trust

you,

follow after

you,

love you.

For you

indeed are

a wonderful

and good

God.

In Jesus'

name.

Amen.

May God

bless you.

May you

walk in

the peace

that comes

from Jesus

Christ.

I'll see

you next

time.

Bye.