2 Samuel 13-15

Today's passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20samuel%2013-15&version=NIV

I just had the honor of watching over one hundred fifty high school seniors receive multiple awards and scholarships in our annual awards ceremony. I wiped a few tears as I watched the proud and joyful parents sitting in the front section, taking pictures and hugging their children after they received their awards. What a contrast to poor David, whose heart is breaking in chapters 13-15 as he watches Nathan’s prophesy come true. Pride in his son is absent as he learns that Amnon has committed rape and incest with Tamar. Joy is nonexistent when he realizes that Absalom has committed vengeful murder and conspires to take the throne from David. Instead of a proud papa, he probably feels like a failure of a father. Here’s what Bob Deffinbaugh says about these feelings of guilt:

When our children fail, as they will, we should not heap all kinds of blame
and guilt upon ourselves, as though we were entirely the cause of it all. Look
at the sons of David we have seen thus far. Amnon was a worthless fellow, a
fool. Solomon will be the wisest man who ever lived. Adonijah will seek to usurp
the throne from his brother. Absalom will thwart justice, murder his brother,
and turn against his father. I am sure that in the case of Absalom, David's
failures adversely affected this son. Having said this, I do not believe that
our text was written to show us how bad a father David was, but rather to show
us how disobedient a son Absalom was. This disobedience was due to the choices
Absalom himself made. And this disobedience was used of God to discipline David,
to make him a man more after His own heart.

At the end of the day, no matter how perfect we are at parenting, our children will make mistakes. On the other hand, the worst parent can raise up a perfectly successful child. The choices that our children make are their choices. Either way, our amazing and sovereign God can use those choices to his glory. In this case, he uses them to discipline David.

So why didn’t David intervene with his children? Perhaps he felt he had lost his credibility due to his own sin. But here’s the thing…you are not a hypocrite if you try to steer your children away from the mistakes that you made in your past. Our children should learn from our experience. It’s up to us to guide them down the right path, even if we chose the wrong path.

On another note, as we see the fulfillment of God’s words regarding the turmoil in David’s house, it is also important to remember God did not tempt Absalom and Amnon. He hates sin and did not desire that David’s sons would fall. He did not make Absalom and Amnon sin so that David could be punished. He does however, allow them to be brought into the presence of tests & temptations and he will use their choices to draw David closer to Him. A few words from John Piper on that point follow:

James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). That’s true. But the Bible also says, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). So God does not do the tempting—he does not put evil desires in our hearts (for he can have no evil desires in his heart)—but he does bring us into the presence of many tests and temptations. “A man’s steps are from the Lord” (Proverbs 20:24). In fact, every step we take is a step into the presence of temptation. There is no moment of your life that is not a moment of temptation—a moment when unbelief and disobedience is not a possibility. Today I will stand before innumerable temptations. That’s what life is: endless choices between belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. But, O mighty God, forbid that I would yield. Hold me back from stepping inside the temptation.

God knew the choices that David’s sons would make and He would use their sins to refine David’s faith as had the opportunity to see his own sins from a different perspective. He felt for himself the pain that God our father feels when his children are rebellious and sinful. This experience built in David a heart of repentance. Through it all, David would press on, and in humility and he accepts the consequences of his own sin. He doesn’t walk away from God or rebel over God’s discipline. He doesn’t shut down or shut God out; instead, we will see him continue to pursue God’s heart.

Today's blog submitted by Kelly Coxe