Luke told us that during one of his briefings a couple years ago when getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan that one soldier’s wife said that when her husband deployed—she put pictures of him all over the house so their children would see his face everywhere no matter where they were looking.
She also made sure that when he did have a chance to call home that the phone was on “speaker mode” so that the kids could hear his voice.
She said, that at the end of the deployment, she would know that she did her job when she saw their children run to their dad because they still knew Him.
And you know, as Luke shared that with us—he made the point that this is really why pastors should teach believers over and over about the love of God for them and keep His glorious face before them and share His Word with them so that when they finally get to glory—they won’t shy away from God but will run directly to Him—because they know Him and know how much He loves them.
If I have done my job, when we all get to Heaven—I will see you running to Him because you know His heart toward you.
And that is why I want to share this story from the Old Testament with you—a story which reveals God’s heart toward you the believer and everyone who will ever become a believer.
It’s found in 2 Samuel 13:14.
David had many wives and thus many children. One of his sons—Amnon raped his step-sister—Tamar—who was the full-sister of Absalom—another one of David’s sons.
In revenge Absalom had his step-brother Amnon murdered for the rape of his sister Tamar and then he in fear for his own life became a fugitive outside of Israel for three years.
During this time King David longed to see and be reunited to his son, but given the crime Absalom had committed, David did not feel it would be right to restore his son to himself and to grant him a pardon.
Apparently, David felt that if he were to bring Absalom back from his exile and restore him to his place as a son of the king—he would be showing favoritism and this—he could not bring himself to do.
So, whereas, on the one hand, he desired with all his heart to forgive, restore, and reinstate his son Absalom to fellowship with himself and to his position as a son of the king--
On the other hand, he could not allow himself to be seen as one who would show such mercy, grace, and really favoritism to one of his own.
David felt this would appear dishonorable and therefore weaken his position as king and cause the people he ruled to lose their respect for him. . . . so he simply chose to do nothing to restore his son.
Then Joab, David's senior military commander, knowing David's internal agony at having to put his sense of honor and duty above his love for his son—came up with a plan by which to show the king that he wouldn't sacrifice his honor and his reputation as a good king before his people in forgiving and restoring his son.
Joab commissioned a woman with a reputation for wisdom to go to the king and tell him a story about her own son who was in hiding for his life because he too had killed his brother in a fit of passion when they got in a fight out in the field where they were working.
She told him that since her husband was dead and her other son was dead, that this surviving son was all she had left and she wanted to protect him from those who were calling out for his execution.
As David listened to her story, he felt compassion for her and for her son's plight and out of mercy—he granted her son clemency for his crime as well as protection from anyone desiring to harm or kill him for what he had done.
And he did this so that this woman's son could be safely restored to his mother.
Then the woman asked David if she could petition him for one more request to which David consented.
She then asked David what at first appeared to be a strange question--”Why don't you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me? You have convicted yourself in making this decision because you have refused to bring home your own banished son.”
Now, remember—this woman was simply telling and acting out a story that Joab had concocted as a means of helping the king understand that showing mercy and grace to his own banished son would not be seen as dishonorable and a sign of weakness to the people of Israel but actually as a sign that their king was compassionate, approachable, merciful, and willing to suffer reproach and criticism in order to forgive and be merciful to one who needed forgiveness, mercy, and restoration.
Story telling in a middle-eastern context, even today, is a means of helping people to see things from differing perspectives.
In a sense, the woman called David on his own hypocrisy which he was revealing by his willingness to forgive and show mercy to her son but not his own.
And often, this is the case for us as parents--isn't it? We feel that it would be a sign of great weakness to show mercy and grace to our kids when they have sinned and especially sinned publicly.
Well, the woman wasn't done yet. She then went on in 2 Samuel 14:14 to remind the king that showing mercy, compassion, and grace to others who have sinned is not a sign of dishonor but of great honor because this is how God acts toward those who have sinned against Him.
Look at what she says—it is wonderful.
“For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from Him.” (NASV)
Listen to how the New Living Translation renders it:
“All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, He devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from Him.”
Listen to how the NIV translates it:
“Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.”
And finally, the NKJV reads:
For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.
Now, whereas, she wanted to simply help David see that there was nothing wrong or dishonorable in forgiving and restoring his son Absalom to himself--God had a bigger audience and a much greater point in mind in placing this story in His written Word.
You see, the reason why this story is in the Bible and why God the Holy Spirit included this woman’s words to King David in the inspired record of Scripture is to help us catch a glimpse into the heart of God when it comes to Him going to any and every length—including the killing of His own Son to keep unsaved, unredeemed, unreconciled, banished, and estranged sinners from being permanently expelled from His presence.
You see, when it came to you—the believer—the one who has placed saving faith in Jesus Christ—the one who has repented of his or her sins and turned to Christ for salvation—the one who believes in Jesus and trusts in Jesus and has found life in Jesus—when it came to you—
God was unwilling to take or cast away your life. He was unwilling as Peter says—that you should perish.
And so He planned ways or as the Hebrew text literally puts it—He devised and created the very means by which He would save you—the banished one—so that you would not be eternally expelled and cast away from Him.
But not only did He create the means by which He would save you from your sins—He created the means and the ways by which you would be brought to this saving knowledge of Himself through Christ Jesus.
And He did it—not only—willingly but with great pleasure, joy, and delight.
God only does that which brings Him the most glory and the most divine pleasure.
Ephesians 1:5 makes this clear. Now, a literal rendering of this verse would read: “He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will.”
The NKJV renders it: “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.”
The NIV puts it: “He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will.”
In other words, God saved you because it was His pleasure to save you.
And thus, it was for His glory and because it brought Him great pleasure that He put together a plan by which He could save you rather than banish you.
And furthermore, it was His delight to not only make a plan by which—through Jesus Christ—you could be saved—it brought Him great joy to also devise the means and the circumstances and the situation by which you would be brought to the point of salvation.
You see, God made a plan by which to save you—in which He was willing to do whatever it took to save you including—killing His own Son in your place.
This is the heart of God toward you the believer and the heart of God toward you the unbeliever who desires to be saved and given Christ as His savior.
Mark told us the story of what happened when he was in Iraq in February, 2009.
His unit, which was a Cavalry unit made up of strikers and new IED resistant vehicles known as MRAPs were on patrol in a village in Diyala Province.
They were given the command to search a compound that had already been searched three times because aerial observers continued to insist that insurgents were hiding there.
As the squad assigned to search the compound entered the compound’s courtyard, the interpreter assigned to the squad unintentionally caved in the dirt over a hole that insurgents were hiding in.
Immediately, they fired their automatic weapons--killing the Iraqi interpreter and critically wounding many soldiers.
The crippled squad was now pinned down and trapped in the compound unable to move.
Responding troops, with no other way to get into the compound to rescue the trapped and wounded soldiers from the kill zone—made the call to drive their armored vehicles through the compound’s wall.
And so in the face of heavy enemy fire, the remaining soldiers drove their vehicles through the wall and using grenades and all of the fire power available to them silenced the insurgents guns and rescued the cut off squad.
These brave soldiers went to every length they could to save their lost and fallen comrades from the enemy.
And this is but a very small picture of what God did for us when he put together a plan to rescue us from our enemy—the enemy of our souls.
God—chose not to cast us away but rather to make a plan by which He could rescue us and then planned how to bring us to the point of being rescued.
Such is the heart of God toward you the believer.
She also made sure that when he did have a chance to call home that the phone was on “speaker mode” so that the kids could hear his voice.
She said, that at the end of the deployment, she would know that she did her job when she saw their children run to their dad because they still knew Him.
And you know, as Luke shared that with us—he made the point that this is really why pastors should teach believers over and over about the love of God for them and keep His glorious face before them and share His Word with them so that when they finally get to glory—they won’t shy away from God but will run directly to Him—because they know Him and know how much He loves them.
If I have done my job, when we all get to Heaven—I will see you running to Him because you know His heart toward you.
And that is why I want to share this story from the Old Testament with you—a story which reveals God’s heart toward you the believer and everyone who will ever become a believer.
It’s found in 2 Samuel 13:14.
David had many wives and thus many children. One of his sons—Amnon raped his step-sister—Tamar—who was the full-sister of Absalom—another one of David’s sons.
In revenge Absalom had his step-brother Amnon murdered for the rape of his sister Tamar and then he in fear for his own life became a fugitive outside of Israel for three years.
During this time King David longed to see and be reunited to his son, but given the crime Absalom had committed, David did not feel it would be right to restore his son to himself and to grant him a pardon.
Apparently, David felt that if he were to bring Absalom back from his exile and restore him to his place as a son of the king—he would be showing favoritism and this—he could not bring himself to do.
So, whereas, on the one hand, he desired with all his heart to forgive, restore, and reinstate his son Absalom to fellowship with himself and to his position as a son of the king--
On the other hand, he could not allow himself to be seen as one who would show such mercy, grace, and really favoritism to one of his own.
David felt this would appear dishonorable and therefore weaken his position as king and cause the people he ruled to lose their respect for him. . . . so he simply chose to do nothing to restore his son.
Then Joab, David's senior military commander, knowing David's internal agony at having to put his sense of honor and duty above his love for his son—came up with a plan by which to show the king that he wouldn't sacrifice his honor and his reputation as a good king before his people in forgiving and restoring his son.
Joab commissioned a woman with a reputation for wisdom to go to the king and tell him a story about her own son who was in hiding for his life because he too had killed his brother in a fit of passion when they got in a fight out in the field where they were working.
She told him that since her husband was dead and her other son was dead, that this surviving son was all she had left and she wanted to protect him from those who were calling out for his execution.
As David listened to her story, he felt compassion for her and for her son's plight and out of mercy—he granted her son clemency for his crime as well as protection from anyone desiring to harm or kill him for what he had done.
And he did this so that this woman's son could be safely restored to his mother.
Then the woman asked David if she could petition him for one more request to which David consented.
She then asked David what at first appeared to be a strange question--”Why don't you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me? You have convicted yourself in making this decision because you have refused to bring home your own banished son.”
Now, remember—this woman was simply telling and acting out a story that Joab had concocted as a means of helping the king understand that showing mercy and grace to his own banished son would not be seen as dishonorable and a sign of weakness to the people of Israel but actually as a sign that their king was compassionate, approachable, merciful, and willing to suffer reproach and criticism in order to forgive and be merciful to one who needed forgiveness, mercy, and restoration.
Story telling in a middle-eastern context, even today, is a means of helping people to see things from differing perspectives.
In a sense, the woman called David on his own hypocrisy which he was revealing by his willingness to forgive and show mercy to her son but not his own.
And often, this is the case for us as parents--isn't it? We feel that it would be a sign of great weakness to show mercy and grace to our kids when they have sinned and especially sinned publicly.
Well, the woman wasn't done yet. She then went on in 2 Samuel 14:14 to remind the king that showing mercy, compassion, and grace to others who have sinned is not a sign of dishonor but of great honor because this is how God acts toward those who have sinned against Him.
Look at what she says—it is wonderful.
“For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from Him.” (NASV)
Listen to how the New Living Translation renders it:
“All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, He devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from Him.”
Listen to how the NIV translates it:
“Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.”
And finally, the NKJV reads:
For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.
Now, whereas, she wanted to simply help David see that there was nothing wrong or dishonorable in forgiving and restoring his son Absalom to himself--God had a bigger audience and a much greater point in mind in placing this story in His written Word.
You see, the reason why this story is in the Bible and why God the Holy Spirit included this woman’s words to King David in the inspired record of Scripture is to help us catch a glimpse into the heart of God when it comes to Him going to any and every length—including the killing of His own Son to keep unsaved, unredeemed, unreconciled, banished, and estranged sinners from being permanently expelled from His presence.
You see, when it came to you—the believer—the one who has placed saving faith in Jesus Christ—the one who has repented of his or her sins and turned to Christ for salvation—the one who believes in Jesus and trusts in Jesus and has found life in Jesus—when it came to you—
God was unwilling to take or cast away your life. He was unwilling as Peter says—that you should perish.
And so He planned ways or as the Hebrew text literally puts it—He devised and created the very means by which He would save you—the banished one—so that you would not be eternally expelled and cast away from Him.
But not only did He create the means by which He would save you from your sins—He created the means and the ways by which you would be brought to this saving knowledge of Himself through Christ Jesus.
And He did it—not only—willingly but with great pleasure, joy, and delight.
God only does that which brings Him the most glory and the most divine pleasure.
Ephesians 1:5 makes this clear. Now, a literal rendering of this verse would read: “He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will.”
The NKJV renders it: “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.”
The NIV puts it: “He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will.”
In other words, God saved you because it was His pleasure to save you.
And thus, it was for His glory and because it brought Him great pleasure that He put together a plan by which He could save you rather than banish you.
And furthermore, it was His delight to not only make a plan by which—through Jesus Christ—you could be saved—it brought Him great joy to also devise the means and the circumstances and the situation by which you would be brought to the point of salvation.
You see, God made a plan by which to save you—in which He was willing to do whatever it took to save you including—killing His own Son in your place.
This is the heart of God toward you the believer and the heart of God toward you the unbeliever who desires to be saved and given Christ as His savior.
Mark told us the story of what happened when he was in Iraq in February, 2009.
His unit, which was a Cavalry unit made up of strikers and new IED resistant vehicles known as MRAPs were on patrol in a village in Diyala Province.
They were given the command to search a compound that had already been searched three times because aerial observers continued to insist that insurgents were hiding there.
As the squad assigned to search the compound entered the compound’s courtyard, the interpreter assigned to the squad unintentionally caved in the dirt over a hole that insurgents were hiding in.
Immediately, they fired their automatic weapons--killing the Iraqi interpreter and critically wounding many soldiers.
The crippled squad was now pinned down and trapped in the compound unable to move.
Responding troops, with no other way to get into the compound to rescue the trapped and wounded soldiers from the kill zone—made the call to drive their armored vehicles through the compound’s wall.
And so in the face of heavy enemy fire, the remaining soldiers drove their vehicles through the wall and using grenades and all of the fire power available to them silenced the insurgents guns and rescued the cut off squad.
These brave soldiers went to every length they could to save their lost and fallen comrades from the enemy.
And this is but a very small picture of what God did for us when he put together a plan to rescue us from our enemy—the enemy of our souls.
God—chose not to cast us away but rather to make a plan by which He could rescue us and then planned how to bring us to the point of being rescued.
Such is the heart of God toward you the believer.
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