 Today we're in 2 Samuel chapter 17 and we're going to be looking at what has been referred to as Disaster on Absalom you're going to see that as we go through this passage together Because it's the Lord's intent to deal with Absalom the son of David who is attempting to destroy David his father and to and to usurp his authority He's already stolen the kingdom from his father and so Chapter 17 deals with that and so let's begin reading at verse 1 2nd Samuel 17 will read to verse 3 and get into our study Moreover a hithifal said to Absalom Now let me choose 12,000 men and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I Will come upon him while he is weary and weak and make him afraid and all the people who are with him will flee and I Will strike only the king Then I will bring back all the people to you When I'll return except the man whom you seek all the people will be at peace now as we've been going through Samuel We've discovered a few things one as we know that that king David at this point has has had to flee the city of Jerusalem because His son Absalom has made a decision that he wants to take the kingdom from his father And so Absalom has entered into the city as David has exited it Because he knew that if he were to remain David would possibly lose his life He would certainly lose the life of some of the people who were with him and Therefore he felt it wiser for him to leave the city in which he did and to travel to the east Now he didn't leave alone. He brought citizens with him. He brought his his bodyguard as well as a variety of military men and As he was going not only did they travel with him, but there were others who wanted to accompany him We we saw how the priests had wanted to come with him how that Abiathar and Zadak had wanted to come how their two sons Jonathan and and Ahimaz had wanted to come along with him it but David had said to them no you remain in the city of Jerusalem and You can actually be my eyes and my ears if you hear something's going on you can have it sent to me and And that would be of greater help if you were to remain behind then for you to travel with me then David encountered one of his friends an older man by the name of Hushai and Hushai wanted to travel with him. He's a dear friend of David been a counselor for many years to him But he was an older man and he would hinder his travel. He would have been a burden to him And so so David says to Hushai no you remain behind and and and you can once again You can become like eyes and ears and if there's anything you hear that's taking place Let me know and so that's what is taking place. He is left behind the priest He's left behind his counselor Hushai as as this is all taking place now At the same time Absalom has a counselor counselor who formerly was the counselor to David a man by the name of a hithafel a Hithafel hates David. He has a deep resentment for him because a Hithafel's granddaughter Bathsheba was the one that David had taken committed adultery with impregnated and it was her husband Uriah that David had made sure had died and and so Hithafel who at one time had been a counselor to David is now angry at him and desires him to die The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12 that hatred stirs up strife And that's exactly what is taking place in the heart of a hithafel and a hithafel begins now to instead of advised David he begins now to be an advisor to his son Absalom Now as he has advised Absalom one of the things he has told him to do is To take the wives rather the concubines of King David ten of them who are left behind when David fled Jerusalem and Directed tent on top of the house on the roof of the house So that all Israel would see when he went in and had physical relations with these concubines now He was doing that in order that he might openly declare that he was the one who was occupying the throne a Hithafel was the one who said for him to do that and during that time I hit the hithafel's advice was so good that that people would line up to receive it remember verse 23 in chapter 16 How it said the advice of a hithafel which he gave in those days was as as if one has had inquired at the Oracle of God So was all the advice of a hithafel both with David and with Absalom And so he was known for having wise counsel and he's the one who had counseled Absalom to do what he did in Order that he might he might cause The nation of Israel to know that David no longer was in charge and and that Absalom himself was and so we get into chapter 17 and now as we enter into chapter 17 a hithafel is given advice and notice with me in verse 1 The advice he begins to give it says here in chapter 17 verse 1 a hithafel said to Absalom now Let me choose 12,000 men and I will arise and pursue David tonight And so basically what he's saying is this one I I want to be appointed a general in your army I want you to give to me 12,000 Soldiers whom I can lead and and as I take them and I lead them what we're going to do is We're going to go and we're going to take care of the business that needs to be taken care of now The bottom line is is he wants something to be done quickly because it may be that he's afraid that that Absalom if given too much time Might not want to kill his father Then he might not want to take care of business with his father You see a hithafel wants David dead and Absalom at this time is doing everything he can to consolidate his power there in Jerusalem and so if a hithafel can take 12,000 men a large force of military might and Attack David in a surprise fashion and make sure David is dead Then he's going to be able to get his vengeance on David because a hithafel wants David dead And he's afraid that it's possible that that Absalom might show mercy and that's why he's giving him this advice He wants to take care of business and he's afraid that David might show mercy around the David might find mercy from Absalom If he doesn't deal with them quickly bottom line is that that time has a tendency of healing all wounds as they say And and if you give this enough time Absalom may lose the fire in his heart against his father and in doing so David may find mercy at the hands of Absalom. It's better to take care of business now than later on now So what he says to him is he says let me do that notice in verse 2 He says I'll come upon him while he is weary and weak and make him afraid and so listen David is tired because of the energy expended in leading the people out of the city and Fatigue has a tendency of leading to despair and sorrow and grief and and and if David is in sorrow and grief and despair Then David may lose his resolve if he loses his resolve. He'll be easier to take. He's tired right now Just give me opportunity to come upon him and his anxiety is surely going to overcome any resolve you might have It's interesting how Proverbs 12 25 says anxiety in the heart of man causes depression When people are under a lot of stress and strain and David indeed was It's it's possible for them to not think clearly and and a hit the fell knows that and so he's simply saying to Absalom Don't give him time to rest and recuperate You need to act quickly deal with it now and allow me to take these 12,000 men and we'll take care of business immediately Not only that he's saying when David is is killed It will demoralize all those who are following after him why because they'll no longer have a leader and without a leader They'll simply lose heart. They'll have nobody to direct them. It's like Zechariah 13 7 says strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered If you give me an opportunity, I'll go in I'll take David It'll demoralize Israel and Israel will become yours even in a greater way and notice in verse 2 How he says I will strike down only the king in other words I'm the one who's going to do it Absalom. You're not the one who's going to be responsible for the killing of your father I'll do it and I'll take responsibility for it now This is going to provide an excuse for Absalom's conscience because it's a horrible thing for a son to kill a father and Then he goes on in verse 3 and says and I'll bring back all the people to you When I'll return except the man whom you seek in other words, they're going to return to you and consider you to be king and that's going to happen because The man whom you seek will be dead now. I want you to see this real quickly here Notice he speaks of David as the man whom you seek He doesn't call David his father Because that might make Absalom have second thoughts He doesn't want to take he doesn't want to say I'll go and kill your father because it'll make Absalom start thinking about the fact that David indeed is his father When I was in the military many years ago in the Civil War When I was in the in the military The our drill sergeants and those who trained us and I have veterans in here and perhaps is still true I'm certain that it is Those who were training us would use words to describe the enemy That were words that were racial slights. They were racial slights. They called them names Seeing that we were at war with the Vietnamese at that time the Vietnamese were given names Because it's a it's a it's a tactic that has been used. I guess in every every war that's ever been fought is the enemy is Dehumanized they're given a different name because if you give them a different name then something inside of your mind psychologically Responds to the name and not to the fact that this is a person with a family and a history and in dreams and desires But when he's simply called this name you have a tendency I think of just forgetting that you're killing a person and so that's how it works in war It has always been that way I hit the fell doesn't want to say your father's gonna die Because if he says your father's gonna die that could cause absalom to begin to consider the fact that is my father How can I go about killing my own father? But if he says to him well that man whom you seek it depersonalizes the whole thing It's just a guy that needs to die and so he's saying to him look It will take care of this and the result will be the nation will be in peace and the nation will be in peace because people forget quickly They're gonna forget how much they love the king David they will forget because people have a tendency of doing that We know that to be true to this day, don't we you know? Somebody who's a hero today is tomorrow's villain the person that everybody thinks and admires and looks at Today it thinks is wonderful today as somebody that tomorrow they may forget immediately just think about it It's true in all of our public life Think about the music that you listen to today and think about the music that you might have listened to 10 years or 15 years ago Or whatever your age may be and and things change over the years There are a lot of things that remain the same but a lot changes and the people that were so cool and so great And the styles that were so cool and great look at them now You know like the hippies that the hippie garb is is making a comeback But the 80s stuff, you know the orange pants and the you know those those pants that hammer used to wear I Hope they never come back man They were ugly and orange and and all of that you know But you see it and at one time you you just had to have that you had to have that clothing or you had to Have that song or that person was the greatest thing in the box office great hero, you know and all that's just the way It is that's just how it is for us. We forget quickly You know in a couple weeks. We're gonna have a national holiday It's it's Easter Christmas and Super Bowl Sunday in the United States and we it's a religious holiday We have all of our friends over we even have communion chips and salsa I mean that's what happens on Super Bowl Sunday, right and your neighborhood is gonna be filled with people watching the game That's what happens. It's on Sunday and people who show up and and that's how it works And and there are a lot of people are very devoted to that. They love that game They love getting together and it's really in a time that they look forward to and they will tell you all All about it. They love it the commercials and everything else. They enjoy it very much But the interesting thing about that is they forget because if you ask a person who's really into it I'm not saying somebody who's an expert who makes a living about speaking of this I'm saying somebody who really likes them and enjoys going to the Super Bowl parties and all of that if you ask them Who was a Super Bowl champion 18 years ago? What was the score? What were the teams that played? Who was the MVP? Well, most people don't know that Because immediately you start thinking 18 years ago. I don't remember who what that's just the way it was That's the way it is with us. Most people can't do that Most people don't remember who even last year won that's just wait is because last year is so last year What we're looking for is this year. Who's gonna win this year? That's what people are and so David was a hero of Israel But Absalom has taken over and if you can have David kill the hith fellah saying if he can be put to death The people will forget quickly who he was they'll return to you and you're gonna be the king and all of this Is his plan because he wants David to die Now notice verse 4 the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel This council advising Absalom as they're listening to the advice of a hith fell are all pleased with it because they see This has been a good plan No, it's interesting because what you're seeing here is a plan to basically surprise the king at night and kill him It's one of these plans where you seize the moment instead of waiting simply and To wait instead of waiting and that made sense And and also he would be reminding day Absalom David was a decisive leader When something was in front of David his history was that he would respond to it Quickly and so he's basically saying listen Absalom your father is decisive Seize the moment But one of the things that he is not presenting and this is very important When David made decisions remember as you've studied with me through first and second Samuel David had a tendency of inquiring of the Lord first He prayed first. He didn't just go out and make decisions normally David normally especially in areas of battle would first seek the Lord in prayer I want you to notice that a hith fell is not saying that you need to inquire of the Lord whether this is good or not He wants to usurp the authority of God as he gives this advice to Absalom now Why would he do that? He hated David Why would Absalom be in favor of that? Because he was angry at his father. They both had something in common and that was a bitterness towards David both of them Listen, this isn't something that just came up in the life of Absalom and certainly something that didn't just come up in the life of a hith fell The bottom line is years have passed and It took years for this anger to build up And I want to speak to you about something that I think is very practical at this moment something that I think that all of us if we listen can actually learn from We need to remember something about David We need to remember that David was a just king and That David was a loving though ineffective father Nobody would argue that in the history of David that David didn't try and rule righteously because he did and Nobody would argue that David didn't love his children because David did David loved his kids and he loved his nation but the problem was is that David though is a loving father was ineffective and so Absalom was angry Over his father's actions that dated back with his half-brother Amnon and his sister Tamar because when Amnon raped Absalom's full sister Tamar his father David didn't do anything about it and That is something that remained stuck in the heart of Absalom a Hithafal had been carrying anger towards David for years Because David had committed adultery with the Hithafal's granddaughter Bathsheba and as I've said earlier Worked in in such a way that a raya her husband had died And that is something that has been in his heart for some time when you think about it when David fell with Bathsheba it took her nine months Till she finally gave birth and some commentators say that the child was already two or three months old when the child died So that could be as much as a year out of a life of Bathsheba That would be included in the anger of a Hithafal We know that the child died when the baby was around a year old and then a year after that Solomon was born now after that Tamar was raped and Absalom her brother waited for two years and then he killed Amnon then he fled for three Then he returned to two years of isolation in Jerusalem It could have been in the case of Bathsheba and a Hithafal that around ten years have passed and In the life of Absalom several years have passed so what you have here in a practical way is Anger that is unresolved that is bitterness that is Causing them to say the only solution is the death of David That's what bitterness does in a person's heart You see Absalom and a Hithafal are motivated by anger and an unforgiving heart And it's all coming from the inside of them somebody once said nothing External to you has any power over you. This is all coming from inside. This is all what's taking place within them When Jesus was speaking on one occasion, it's found in Mark chapter 7 verses 21 through 23 Jesus said from within out of men's hearts come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery greed malice deceit lewdness envy slander arrogance and folly all these evils come from inside and Make a man unclean. It's what's inside of us. It's what comes out of us It's not what's coming on towards us It's what's coming from us and from these people from Absalom and a bimlich there is this rather a Bimlich and a Hithafal what you have here is an anger of the heart that is causing them To to plan the death of a man who was a loving father, but ineffective and a good king Listen, if we don't deal with the anger that we carry sometimes within us We're capable of doing almost anything bottom line If we don't deal with the bitterness that some of us if you have right now We've been experiencing for some time then the end result in our life is going to be nothing but pain bottom line That's how it works. You know, some of us are like debt collectors. We you know somebody has hurt us and we basically keep that debt in the back of our mind and And whenever we have future dealings with them The only thing that we can remember is what they did to us Even if it was three years five years ten years or 20 years ago It stays with us. We don't let it go We hold on to it and and a lot of the times the ones who have hurt us don't even remember what they did It is us who keeps that flame that fire burning It's it is us. It's within us that keeps that desire for revenge. I'm gonna get even I'm gonna get my pound of flesh There's something gonna have to be done and that bitterness that can go on inside of us guys It will eat us alive. It will destroy us. We have to release it We have to let it go because if we don't it will consume us and in the life of a Hithafel and Absalom There were years of holding to this anger to the degree that they finally were in agreement that David needed to die Well When this plan has been made and it brings pleasure to Absalom and all the elders to hear it notice verse 5 Absalom said Now call who shy the archite also and and let us hear what he says To now who shy was David's dear friend, but he wasn't part of the council that advised Absalom So he's inquired of now. He's called in and and they want to see whether or not he approves a Hithafel's advice It's possible that they think that who shy is going to confirm the council of a Hithafel And so they bring him in and what they do is they begin to speak to him notice verse 6 when who shy came to Absalom Absalom spoke to him saying a Hithafel has spoken in this manner Shall we do as he says if not speak up? He made a mistake here and And obviously the mistake was of the Lord because I want you to see verse 14 It says the advice of who shy the archite is better than the advice of a Hithafel for the Lord had proposed to defeat the good advice of A Hithafel to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom Bottom line was that a Hithafel's advice was good, but I want you to see what he did what he did is when Absalom is Speaking to who shy Absalom tells him everything that a Hithafel had said and in telling him everything He's giving to who shy the opportunity to debate it He's giving him opportunity to hear what his plan is so that he can formulate Something that is contrary to that because that's what who shy is going to do see who shy is going to give advice to save David's life a wiser thing Would have been if a Hithafel would have called or rather Absalom would have called who shy in and Would have said to him I need some advice on how to to take out David Tell me what you think it would have been a better a smarter thing to do that But he betrayed he gave away his cards He showed him what he was holding and in doing so he actually gives it to who shy the opportunity to one know the plan and Two to countermand it When I would I do ministry very often what I'll do is if I'm looking for advice on on something is I will ask somebody what would you do about that or how would you handle this and I listen to him And I want to know everything and I'll ask him questions as they begin to speak so I can hear their plan and Then later on if I speak to somebody else, I'll ask the same question to them. I'm considering doing this this What do you think about it? How would you go about it? I don't say oh, I was speaking to so-and-so And he said we should do this we should do this we should do this we should do this What do you think is he right? I don't do that what I'll say is I want to do something What do you think give me your advice and then I compare the advice that I get Because somewhere in the middle there's going to be good advice and sometimes I'll take something here and something from here And I'll combine them and produce something that feels consistent with what I feel the Lord is leading us in what happened here Is that the advice of a hithafel was given completely to who shy? Absalom tells him and it gives to to who shy the opportunity to hear the advice and To to actually counter it and that's what he's about to do here Shall we do as he says if not speak up verse 7 so who shy said to absalom? The advice that a hithafel has given is not good at this time For said who shy you know your father and his men That they are mighty men and they are enraged in their minds like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field Your father's a man of war will not camp with the people Surely by now he's hidden in some pit or in some other place It will be when when some of them are overthrown at the first that whoever hears it will say there's a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom and even he who is valiant whose heart is like the heart of a lion will melt completely For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men Therefore I advise that all Israel be gathered to you from Dan, which is the north to bear sheba Which is south like the sand that is by the sea from multitude and that you go to battle in person So we will come upon him in some place where he may be found We will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground and of him and all the men who are with him There shall not be left so much as one Moreover if he has withdrawn into a city then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city And we will pull it into the river until there is not one small stone found there So Absalom and all the men of Israel said the advice of Hushai the archite is better than the advice of a hithafel For the Lord had purpose to defeat the good advice of a hithafel to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom let's see what he says. Let's see how he deals with this The first thing I want you to see in verse 7 is he didn't say it wasn't good advice Notice that the advice that a hithafel has given is not good. He says at this time So instead of saying it's wrong He acknowledges that it's a good advice, but he doesn't agree with it in other words It's a diplomatic way of making a point without an immediate negative response You see direct confrontation often makes people defensive. We know this if somebody's done something That is wrong or you have a question about or you just disagree with and you directly confront them They don't necessarily tell you how happy they are that you're disagreeing with them Anybody who's married knows that I Mean if your wife says something to you you don't turn to her and say that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you don't do that if you want to eat you don't do that You you don't do that you don't say that at all I mean you learn how to to hear them out you learn how to communicate you learn how to Disagree in an agreeable fashion and that's what he's doing here. He's basically saying this is good advice But not for the moment. This is good advice, but not at this time Because a hither fell is standing there and if he says that's just terrible advice Then you're gonna have to debate point by point with a hither fell So he says it's good advice when he says it's good advice a hither fell is is basically Not being called into question. He's not being confronted It's his advice that's being spoken about at this time and as a result of that He's gonna remain silent as who shy begins to speak and so it's a diplomatic way of making a point without an immediate negative response He goes on in verse 8 and he says, you know your father and his men they're mighty men So by comparison he now reminds Absalom that David is a battle-tried warrior and Absalom is not And he's saying you know your father at least I do I know him from personal experience Your father and you need to know what your father does when he's cornered your father fights your father's not weary your father is not weak and he certainly is not afraid and Anyway as a battle-hardened veteran. He is not amongst the people right now. He's hidden in some pit. He's in some other place So if you send your forces into the camp, he's not even gonna be there. He's in hiding How can a hither fell kill someone who isn't even there? Not only that, but the troops are gonna be enraged and They're gonna end up slaughtering a hither fell's troops because David's troops are inspired So instead of taking David by surprise a hither fell himself and his troops could end up dead That's gonna that's gonna upset your army and many of them may defect He goes on to say in verse 10 and even he was valiant whose heart is like the heart of a lion will melt completely When your men are routed, it'll cause even the most brave to become afraid and Your father will receive greater glory than he already has and you will look weak Therefore, I advise that you simply gather all of Israel together from the north to the south Because it's wiser to take the time to gather your forces from throughout Israel in order to be prepared This is also going to unify the nation to oppose David and you will be greatly respected It will also buy time for David And he's going to be able to rest and be prepared for such an encounter now as all of this is going down Verse 14 they like the advice of Hushai now. Why did they receive it? It's because he says God determined to undermine the counsel of a hither fell Even though it hit the fells advice was very good in the book of Job in chapter 5 verse 12 It says that God frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot carry out their plans And that's what we see take place here the psalmist in Psalm 71 and 2 said and make haste Oh God to deliver me make haste to help me. Oh Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life Let them be turned back and confused who desire my heart and that's what the Lord does He confounds the advice he has purpose to defeat the good advice of a hither fell to the intent that the Lord might bring Disaster on Absalom and that's what's happening Absalom is going to be destroyed Now verse 15 Hushai said is the dock and Abiath are the priests Thus and so a hither fell advised Absalom and the elders of Israel and thus and so I have Advised now therefore send quickly and tell David saying do not spend this night in the plains of the wilderness But speedily cross over lest the king and all the people who are with them be swallowed up And so David's original purpose and leaving them behind is now fulfilled so they can bring information to him now verse 17 Jonathan and Ahimaz Stayed at Enragal for they dared not be seen coming into the city So a female servant would come and tell them and they would go and tell King David nevertheless Aladdin saw them and told Absalom But both of them went away quickly and came to a man's house in Bahurim Who had a well in his court and they went down into it Then the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and spread around and spread ground grain on it And the thing was not known and when Absalom servants came to the woman at the house They said where are Ahimaz and Jonathan so the women said to them They've gone over the waterbrook and when they had searched and could not find them. They returned to Jerusalem Now it came to pass after they had departed that they came up out of the well Went told King David said to David arise cross over the water quickly for for thus has a hither fell advised against you So David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan by morning light Not one of them was left who had not gone over the Jordan now When a hither fell saw that his advice was not followed Saddle the donkey and arose and went home to his house to his city Then he put his household in order and hanged himself and died And he was buried in his father's tomb Why did he kill himself? I want to spend some time looking at this with you. Why did he kill himself? Well, the easy answer would be because he was angry that his advice was rejected There's truth to that Hushai Had given contrary advice a hither fell being a proud man would have been upset that his advice was not taken in a certain degree of Pride involved in that But is that why he would kill himself the answer has to be no why would you kill yourself because your advice was rejected? Has to go a little deeper How about this? How about the fact that he knows that Hushai's advice is going to lead to David's victory over Absalom? and That ultimately when David has victory over Absalom David's going to start coming looking for those who betrayed him and How about the fact that a hither fell is the one who was advising? Absalom concerning what to do and therefore would be concerned that David upon Capturing a hither fell would put him to death It would seem to me that the reason he goes out to kill himself Found its basis in the fact that he did not trust in the mercy that David might have shown him and in that I think he could have made a large mistake because David as much as as a warrior as he is and as as great as a general as he is is also known as a man of compassion David had been broken David had been broken over his sin with Bathsheba and Uraya David knew that he was bearing the Result of that because of God's word to him through Nathan the prophet David knew even when he was fleeing and shimei was there cursing him and throwing dirt in the air and throwing rocks at him David said perhaps his curses have been ordered of the Lord and maybe God will show me mercy as a result of this David had a humility of heart And here's where the mistake could have been made by by by by a hit the fell and that is It is possible that a hit the fell could have trusted that David might show him mercy and he did not have to go out and kill himself Because David was a man who was broken Men who are broken have a tendency of showing mercy to other men who are broken As I've said with you before when you're a young person you may think that you've got it all hammered down You've got it all down You you haven't failed in some ways. You're still young. You haven't had life opportunities You haven't had the greater temptations before you circumstances haven't surrounded you that make it seem easier to compromise than to speak the truth As you're growing older you find yourself in different situations different places and different hard decisions to make And sometimes we're not always successful In and holding fast to what we know is true and sometimes we can fail When you're first married you you're in your honeymoon phase and and everything seems to be good the first year or so You think everything's going fine After a while you begin to have children after a while you start to have more little more problems You start going through financial situations You start discovering things about one another that you didn't know when you were dating You didn't know some of the things that about that woman or that man when you were dating that come out once they're married Once that rings on their finger. I got you and this is who I really am You know when marie and I were dating and everything everything she liked. I liked too Everything kind of food. Do you like well? I like spaghetti. Oh man. I love spaghetti You know what kind of music do you like? I like western music hot dogs. So do I? I hate it I hate that kind of music She found out But you know what? I mean you find these things out I mean you go through life experiences with one another and you begin to discover things and and after a while you begin to realize That you really don't know all about that person that you thought you knew and you don't know all about life The way you thought you did and as you're growing older and older and older you have more opportunities than experiences to grow in maturity And by that you begin to if you're walking with the lord you begin to have more humility Because you begin to look back in the past and realize that how arrogant or obnoxious or self centered or self righteous You were how opinionate you were Because you were young you knew it all You knew everything when I was 20 years old. I knew everything I knew much more at 20 than I do now at 59 I knew everything. You know just ask me. You don't even have to ask me. I'll tell you just give me a few minutes As you grow older You begin to see your own words as you grow older You begin to realize that you're not quite what you wanted to be and that instead of causing you to become depressed That causes you to become humble and as you keep walking with the lord And you begin to see jesus more clearly for what he is you cannot help but see yourself for who you are You see the closer you get to jesus christ in your walk with god The more you see of yourself that is not like him So rather than you having the self righteous judgmental arrogance and attitude towards other people you begin to be broken david was broken David at one time was the hero of israel. He was handsome. He was a songwriter He could sing like an angel. He was intellectual He was everything that a man would like to be a hero above all heroes But david blew it with that sheba and god broke him through nathan the prophet And he was a broken man And I do have a suspicion That a hithafel just didn't know the kind of man david had become You might have some people in your life you haven't seen for 10 years You go to the 10-year reunion or whatever You haven't seen him in 10 years And they think you're the same person you were 10 years ago They do they think you're the same person some of them are There's hardly anything sadder than seeing an old man like me trying to be cool Come on groundpaw stop that Or an old woman who thinks she's sexy. Please help me Don't do that Get on your walker and get out of here I shouldn't say that But I do They don't change some people don't But you did You got saved And you're not the same person you were at 17 at that 10-year reunion you're a 27-year-old individual who's matured You're now married you've got kids you're serving the lord your life has changed And you've grown Some haven't You go to the 20 year as I have And they're still trying to act cool But now they can put their beers on their potbellies Still trying to be cool still trying to act cool still trying to dress cool Still acting like they're in high school And it's sad And you look at them and you say, oh god help me Help me to grow up And you do You grow up in the things of the lord You have decisions you make And you begin to discover that things aren't as easy as they seemed at first There are battles that I have to fight sometimes every day sometimes they last for years They have a way of worrying away that pride And it's replaced by by patience and long suffering and the fruit of spirit and grace and mercy and Understanding and depth You see David had been broken I hit the fell Well, his granddaughter had fallen with David probably at least 10 years before And David had been broken I hit the fell Instead of Falling on his face before David saying be merciful to me I have been behind the plans to put you to death because I have been so angry and hurt at you Over what happened with bashiva that I haven't been able to have one night of sleep since And I have been plotting and plotting ways to see you die and suffer and I have to tell you I have to cast myself on the mercy of god and you And I'm asking you to show me mercy a hit the fell I think could have done that but it didn't for him The only answer I'm gonna kill myself I'll kill myself You see that's where that'll take you Bitterness is the road to death in one way or another Oh, you might live 50 years bitter, but you're just as good as dead. There's no life There's no taste to life anymore. There's there's no joy in life anymore because of bitterness The minute bitterness that you that you harbor it It's it's kind of like a precious some kind of precious possession You have you you wrap it up and you put it in a little box and every once in a while You open up the box and unwrap it and you look at the bitterness and oh, yeah, I remember what they did to me And you close back up put it away for a while Then when you start losing some of that anger you go back and you open that box Oh, yeah, I remember what they did to me. I haven't forgotten yet wrap it back up and put it away again That's what people do with bitterness You can let it go but you don't it becomes a treasure You know where it is at any given moment and it can come out at any time It can come out in an argument. I remember what you did 15 years ago. I haven't forgotten yet I may forgive but I don't forget then you're not really forgiving Because you're holding on to something and you're using it as a wedge You're using it as a tool you're using it as a hammer a sword or an axe to take somebody's head off That's what you're doing with it and that person that you're bitter with will never ever know the joy of the forgiveness that you could have offered because you simply had a whole fast that a hithafal was willing to keep that till he killed himself over it We have to be careful about these kinds of things because they are destructive And he went on hanged himself I wonder what would have happened if a hithafal would have said I'm gonna cast myself in the mercy of david To see what david will do if I ask him to forgive me We'll never know because he killed himself Then david went to mahanim And absalom crossed over the jordan He and all the men of israel with him And absalom made amas a captain of the army instead of joab This amasa was the son of a man whose name was jithra and israelite Who had gone in to abagail the daughter of nahash the sister of zuruya joab's mother So israel and absalom encamped in the land of gilead The land of gilead is if you're looking at a map of israel you have the jordan river just over the eastern border Of the jordan there a little Region of jerusalem going up a bit is the land of gilead Now it happened when david had come to mahanim That show me the son of nahash from rawa of the people of amin mahir the The son of amiel from lodevar and brazilite The gileadite from roguelim brought beds and basins earth and vessels and wheat Barley and flour parched grain and beans lentils and parched seeds Honey and curds sheep and cheese of the herd for david and the people who are with him to eat For they said the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness two things and will close amasa is now Appointed to replace joab as general over the army And it's interesting about this is that amasa is david's nephew He was born to david's sister abigale, which made him cousin of absalom joab and abashai And so they encamp east of the jordan in a region called gilead But you also have somebody here named show me who's called the son of naash from rawa who is an aminite We'll look at that for just a moment and close david had displaced his brother hanun hanun was the one who had disgraced david's ambassadors in chapter 12 It's possible that show me had been put in power And in gratitude Cares for the needs of david It's interesting to me how it says in verse 28 That he brought beds and basins earth and vessels and wheat But he also brought him some beans man. That must have been good And they had some Kind of saw that was just great One of the things i'll close with this is this david had shown kindness to this man And in response the man showed kindness to david I've discovered that when you have a kind and generous heart towards people That people have a tendency of reciprocating they have a tendency of responding in the way that you responded to them David had been careful with this man. He had replaced hanun his brother With this man shall be and shall be shows to him his appreciation by taking care of his needs And in a way christians are very generous and we have a tendency of you see a need We have a tendency of meeting that need that's because we're children of the king and our god is generous with us So when you see a need and it's in your hand It's empower your hand to do something good for somebody you have a tendency of doing that simply because that's what we do That's what believers do is we help people But the bottom line is is we do it not to receive anything We do it because it's more blessed to give than to receive yet. I have just discovered that some people upon receiving some good It touches them to such a degree that they want to do good for somebody else and in the case Of shall we what happened is he had been placed in a position by david And now he finds that david is in need And he takes care of david in the needs that david has And that's generally how it works He has been put into power But he also has the ability to help david and out of gratitude for what david has done He responds And helps him the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness Therefore I'll help them and that's what believers do to this day We use that as an example of what we as believers ought to do if they're hungry weary and thirsty in a wilderness God has given us the ability to help them which we ought to do