II Samuel

Today is Tuesday and I am in southern California for a conference.  I believe it will be a great day.  I was reading in II Samuel the first 20 chapters this morning, and here are just a few nuggets I thought of. 1) HARD TO HANDLE FOLLOWERS- It seems that many people want to be the leader, but a leader also has several "hard to handle followers".  David was a great king, but he too had these types of people.  In II Sam. 3:39 he says "these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me:"  Joab was one of these men and he was hard to handle.  He was a follower who had his own agenda.  A true follower has adopted the agenda of the God given leader. 2) THE NEW CART- In II Sam. 6:3, David sought to move the Ark of God with a new cart.  The problem was that it was only to be moved on the shoulders of the priest.  Where would he have gotten the idea to move the Ark another way?  He spent time with the Philistines remember, and he learned his ways.  You cannot but be affected when you spend time with the world.  This is why God's Word stresses that we are to live a separated life... not influenced or at least not controlled by this world. 3) URIAH- URIAH was Bathsheba's husband and the remarkable thing about him was his strength of character.  He was the last name mentioned in David's list of Mighty Men, but he also had more character drunk than most men have sober!!  David brought him home from the battle when he found out Bathsheba was drunk.  He had Uriah give him a report and then said to go home.  The next morning, he found Uriah had slept on the porch of the palace.  When asked why, he said that his leader Joab and his men were in the field of battle and he would not go home to be with his wife if they were in the peril of battle.  The next night, David got him drunk... but still, he did not go home!!  Amazing that he had such character.  As men, we ought to stay sober all of the time, but we should have character all of the time as well. 4) JEDIDIAH- "Beloved of the Lord".  This was the name that God gave to David and Bathsheba's second child.  The first one died because of their sin, but the second one was "beloved of the Lord".  David and Bathsheba called the child "Solomon", but God called him "Jedidiah".  We too are "beloved of the LORD"!! Well, I could write many more things that I have marked up this morning, but I just picked out a few.  May God bless you today.  Pastor Mike Mutchler