Wed.’s Devo - A New Commandment

Read: 2 Samuel 4:1-6:23; John 13:31-14:14; Psalm 119:17-32; Proverbs 15:31-32
It was obvious that Abner was Ish-Bosheth’s backbone and once he was dead, Ish-Bosheth lost courage. Two men of his special forces teamed up to kill Ish-Bosheth when they found out Saul and Jonathan had died. Jonathan had a five year old son whose life would be in danger so his nursemaid grabbed him and ran. In her haste, she fell and the boy became crippled for life. His name was Mephibosheth. Interestingly, Ish-Bosheth’s name means “man of shame” and Mephibosheth means “dispeller of the shame of worshipping Baal”. He would be Israel’s redemption.
Ishbosheth was murdered by his two fighters, Rehab and Baanah who presented his head to David for a reward and promotion. David did not see things their way. He saw that these men stepped in and played God instead of letting God bring revenge and justice. He had the two men killed, cut their hands and feet off and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron. He took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb. David was anointed king over Israel and Judah at Hebron.
David was 30 years old when he began his reign which was the same age of Jesus when he began his earthly ministry. David ruled in Jerusalem for 33 years which was the age of Jesus when Israel rejected him and he went to be with his father in heaven.
God helped David take Jerusalem from the Jebusites. He built himself a house in Jerusalem and it became known as the city of David. There he built up his family.
It was now time to bring the ark to Jerusalem. All was going well until the oxen stumbled and Uzzah, the priest steadied it with his hand. God did not appreciate the help of man to steady his presence so he killed him. The fear of God fell on all the people and the procession stopped right there. They put the ark in the closest house which was Obed-edom’s. After three months, the blessing of God was evident on Obed-edom so David felt it was safe to bring it home. He did with much praise and pomp. His wife, Micah looked out her window and saw David praising God with only a linen garment on and rebuked him. David let her have it and told her he would never be ashamed to praise the Lord. She was barren from that moment on. Stopping the praise of God or making light of any of his worshippers will cause death and judgment to fall on that person. They will become spiritually barren and not able to produce fruit.
In John, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment. Before, he had told the people to love God with all their hearts and to love their neighbor as they loved themselves. Now it was to love others as he loved them. That was definitely a notch up. The only way they would be able to do that would be through the spirit of God. Which is why they would need the Holy Spirit. He told them that He was the way the truth and the life. He was the way to God; he and God were one.
Lord, help us to let you have your way instead of interfering with your plan to get what we want faster. Your ways are always higher and more perfect. Help us to love other people like you loved people when you walked on the earth.