Journey Thru The Bible! (2 Samuel 22 - 24)

Click on the above Scripture to read today's Bible text!

Here are few things you can learn from today's text...

1) God responds to us in the way we respond to Him and to others! Listen to what David learned about the Lord as he writes it in his song in chapter 22:26-28, "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to those with integrity you show integrity. To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the wicked you show yourself hostile. You rescue the humble, but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them." If you want God to be faithful to you, be faithful to Him and to others! If you want God reveal more of Himself to you, live a pure life before Him and others! It's as simple as that!

2) God blesses us in spite of ourselves! In chapter 22:22-25, David says something that seems awfully strange! He seems to bragging on his absolute holy life. However, that's NOT what David is doing. He is fully aware of his flaws! He is simply speaking in generalities. He says in 22:21-25 - "I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow evil. I have followed all his regulations; I haver never abandoned his decrees. I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin. The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence." This is simply a "general" statement about his life. He is not denying his sin with Bathsheba or his murder of Uriah. In fact, in chapter 23, he confesses his sin in taking the census. But, what he is saying is "For most of my life, I've tried to live for God and I've not abandoned Him like so many people I know!" That's why he says, "I have never abandoned his decrees." Yes, he has sinned, but he has NEVER abandoned God or the tenets of the Mosaic law! And, it's true!

3) God can use a nation's leader to bring judgment against a nation! Chapter 24 begins with a stunning statement, "Once again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and caused David to harm them by taking a census." Some people wonder "What's wrong with taking a census? Don't we do that in America to find out exactly how many people we've got?" Yes, but God gave Moses a strict command that only He was to command a census, and if a census was taken, a sacrifice was to be made! In reality, it was NOT God who actually caused David to sin, it was God who allowed Satan to stir David's heart and make him sin - I Chronicles 21:1 says - "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel." We see God doing the same thing in the case of Job in Job 1:6-12 where He allowed Satan to tempt and test Job.

God allows David to be tempted by Satan to issue a census, but His purpose is to punish Israel for their disobedience to Him!

Make sure you attend a good, Bible-teaching church tomorrow! God bless!