Thurs.’s Devo - David’s Transgression

Read: 2 Samuel 9:1-11:27; John 15:1-27; Psalm 119:49-64; Proverbs 16:1-3 David searched for any survivors of Jonathan’s family that he could show kindness to because of his love and the covenant he had made with Jonathan. Ziba had been a servant of Saul’s who knew of a survivor. His name was Mephibosheth. He was the little boy who had been dropped by his nurse while fleeing the palace. He was a cripple. David called in Mephibosheth and told him that he was giving him the land that his grandfather, Saul had owned but he would eat at his table every meal. He then put Ziba and his family in charge of working the land and taking care of Mephibosheth. Ziba had 15 sons. In the international news, King Nahash of the Ammonites died. His son Hanun became their king. David wanted to show kindness to him because his father had been a good ally, so he sent some of his elite warriors to offer condolences. Hanun’s commanders were suspicious and thought they were spies sent to spy out their army. They shaved their heads and cut off their robes. The men came home in shame so David had them stay in Jericho until their beards grew back. The Ammonite army realized how offended David was so they hired 33,000 soldiers from the Arameans, the king of Maacah and from the land of Tob. David sent his whole army against them and had to fight in the fields and in the cities. Joab divided his army into two groups to fight on both fronts. The Arameans realized they were no match for the Israelite army and fled. Hadadezer surrendered to Israel and they became their subjects. They vowed never to help the Ammonites against Israel again. In the spring of the year, David decided to stay home and not go to war with his army. He was walking on his rooftop terrace when he saw a very beautiful woman bathing. He found out that she was Bathsheba who was married to Uriah. David ended up sleeping with her and she became pregnant. David tried everything he could do to hide his sin. He tried different strategies to encourage Uriah to go home and have sex with his wife so he would think the child was his own. Uriah was a soldier to the core and refused to go home. David had to find a way to murder him so he sent word by Uriah’s own hand to Joab. The letter said to have Uriah put in a place where he would surely be killed. Uriah was killed. David thought he had hid his sin, but God saw everything and he was not pleased. In John, Jesus was intimately talking to his disciples before he leaves them. He told them that he is the true vine. His followers are his branches. If they don’t produce fruit, they are cut off. If they do produce fruit they are pruned so they will produce even more fruit. The ones that didn’t produce fruit will be burned as waste but his true disciples will remain on the vine and remain in his love. If we remain in his love then we will love one another. The world will hate Jesus’ followers like they hated him but the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit will testify about Jesus. He is the one we listen to. Lord, thank you for the spirit of truth that helps us remain in the Father. Thank you that we can produce fruit through love.