Sun.’s Devo -David Restores His Kingdom

Read: 2 Samuel 19:11-20:13; John 21:1-25; Psalm 120:1-7; Proverbs 16:16-17
David sent a message to the palace to ask Zadok why he was the last person to bring the king back to his palace. David told him to tell Amasa that he would be in charge of his army instead of Joab. Joab had killed Absalom against David’s command and
Amasa was his nephew so he was related by blood.
The palace sent back word to David to return home. He got to the Jordan and the first person he met was Shimei, who was accompanied by the men of Judah who had cursed David and his men as they had passed by days earlier. He came to ask forgiveness and plead for his life. Abishai wanted to kill Shimei for cursing God’s anointed but David didn’t want to make adversaries of them so he spared their lives.
Next he met Ziba who had lied to David about Mephibosheth. He was there with his 15 sons and 20 servants to welcome the king home.
When Mephibosheth came, he hadn’t shaved or washed his clothes since David had left. David asked him why he didn’t come to him and he explained that Ziba had lied about him and with his disability, he couldn’t travel. David believed him and gave half of the land he had given to Ziba back to Mephibosheth.
David wanted to make sure he didn’t lose any friends in his homecoming. He wasn’t coming to make war but to bring reconciliation and peace. He made that clear in how he came back.
He couldn’t keep the peace between Judah and Israel. Israel had followed after Absalom and Judah had followed David. When the men of Judah brought David back, there was a big argument between them. They fought over who had more rights to David’s favor.
Sheba, a Benjamin saw this as a great opportunity to promote himself so he blew a trumpet and called all of Israel to himself. Judah clung to David. David came home to a divided kingdom. He took his concubines who were suppose to have remained faithful to him but didn’t and put them in a separate room where they lived apart from him. Then, David gave Judah three days to assemble an army to pursue Sheba and his army.
David’s army met and Joab killed Amasa to become the uncontested army commander.
In John, Jesus appeared to the disciples again while they were fishing. He told them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. Even though they didn’t know who he was then, they obeyed and it yielded so many fish they could hardly lift it. John, then. knew it was Jesus.
When they got to the shore, Jesus was cooking fish and bread on a fire, but he didn’t look like himself. The disciples were afraid to ask him if he was Jesus but they knew inside that he was. Mary hadn’t recognized Jesus in the garden either. She had thought he was the gardener. The body of the resurrected Jesus was different than the one they had walked with on earth.
Jesus appears on earth in so many forms. He comes in the forms of people who embody his presence. He tried to get this point over to Peter when he told him three times to feed his sheep. He wanted Peter to see that he was to go and do the same things he had seen Jesus did. He wants us to do the same.
Lord, may we embody your spirit and do the things that you did on earth until you come or until we die and come to you.