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2 Samuel 21 (Part 1) Bible Study (David Avenges the Gibeonites) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Do you have your Bibles with you?
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  I hope you have the word of God with you, and if you do, please
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  meet me in Second Samuel chapter 21.
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  I'm not sure if you realize, but there are three chapters left to
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  the study, 3 chapters. Left until we pause and pray and
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  consider where the Lord will take us next.
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  But when you come to chapter 21, we're not going to read right
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  away, because I want you to see something quite interesting.
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  Within these three chapters, you actually have three sets of
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  three different themes. And so the best way to really
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  show it to you is to have you follow along with me.
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  Look at chapter 21 very briefly. What you'll notice in the 1st 14
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  verses is the theme of divine discipline.
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  And then you go to chapter 24 and what will you see?
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  David census his error in doing so.
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  And we're going to explore that in great detail.
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  Why was that? God brought about judgment for
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  his senses. But again, we have the theme of
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  divine discipline on the outskirts of these three
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  chapters. And then you come to the second
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  part of chapter 21, and what will you notice here in verse
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  15, down to the completion of this chapter?
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  You will have a brief tribute of some of the soldiers in David's
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  army. What will you notice in chapter
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  23? You'll notice there in the
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  second part. A tribute to some of David's
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  mighty men. So on the outskirts you have the
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  theme of divine discipline. You come closer, you have the
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  theme of tribute to David soldiers.
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  And then you come to the you come to the source there in the
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  core. And what do you have?
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  Well, look here at Chapter 22 in the first part, and you have
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  David's song of deliverance. And what do you see there in the
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  first part of chapter 23? Yet another song.
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  Yet another song. Again, the outskirts, divine
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  discipline. Following that, you have a
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  tribute to some of David's men. And then at the core you have
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  two of David's psalms living side by side.
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  What are we to make of this? A simple observation of the
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  beauty of God's word. This is just symmetrical art.
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  The Bible is not just random information being stuffed
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  together. There was thought behind this,
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  and more importantly, it's divine authorship.
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  And so we even see a beauty in this final collection of
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  chapters in our study. But what's more beautiful is the
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  substance, what it is that we are going to read today as we
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  deal with the first part at the end of this book.
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  And what we will face. Today's is a heavy text, but
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  nonetheless a very crucial and important text.
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  Many lessons to learn in this example of divine discipline.
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  And so let's read together in the first few verses of chapter
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  21. Now there was a famine in the
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  days of David for three years, year after year.
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  And David sought the face of the Lord.
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  And the Lord said there is blood guilt on Saul and on his house,
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  because he put the Gibianites to death.
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  So the king called the Gibianites and spoke to them.
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  Now the Gibianites were not of the people of Israel, but of
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  the. Remnant of the Emirates.
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  Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul
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  had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of
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  Israel. And Judah and David said to the
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  Gibianites, What shall I do for you, and how shall I make
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  atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?
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  The Gibianites said to him, It is not a matter of silver or
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  gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it for us to
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  put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What do you say
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  that I shall do for you? They said to the king, the man
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  who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should
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  have no place in all the territory of Israel.
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  Let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them
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  before the Lord at Gibia of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.
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  And the king said, I will give. Them Lord, we ask that you would
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  give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
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  In light of this specific text, may there be no confusion.
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  May there be no intrusive thoughts that would rob us of
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  the treasures that you have for us in every line of this
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  chapter. May we become more acquainted
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  with your ways. May this chapter pull us closer
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  into intimacy with your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  And as our sister prayed, may there be a special grace and
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  empowerment. In the delivery and the
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  reception of this word, your word says that the anointing
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  that abides in us teaches us, and we want to know what that
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  anointing can offer us, that anointing that has been
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  purchased by Christ and made available to all of his
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  children. We give you glory and honor and
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  thanks for the study in advance. And the precious name of Christ
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  we pray. Amen.
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  Amen. Now there was a famine in the
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  days of David for three years. A famine.
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  That we are not sure when exactly took place, but it was a
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  famine that for three consecutive years happened.
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  And what we see here right from the beginning is that David
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  seeks God in prayer. He realizes what's happening in
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  the nation and his response seems noble.
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  He pauses, he pulls away, he comes to meet before God and he
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  says, what is this all about? Is this something to praise in
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  David? You can say yes, but I would say
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  yes and no. David does the right thing in
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  praying. But consider and read carefully
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  of when he chooses to pray. When does he choose to pray?
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  After how long? Three years?
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  After three years of famine? He then chooses.
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  To seek the face of God. Now, some attempt to justify
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  David's lack of praying here or delay and praying by saying that
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  he was simply waiting and and trying to discern whether this
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  is a natural cause or there's a spiritual implication behind it.
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  But when you when you take David's behavior here and you
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  put it on the backdrop of of Scripture, namely the Law.
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  You would realize that there is no weight in justification for
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  David's lack of praying or delay in praying.
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  Let me prove that to you very quickly.
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  Go to Deuteronomy 11 and I want you to see a couple of verses in
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  verse 13. This is one of God's promises,
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  his conditional promises to the people before they entered into
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  the very land that experienced this famine centuries later.
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  The Lord is speaking here in Deuteronomy 11 and notice what
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  he says in verse 13. And if you will indeed obey my
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  commandments, that I command you today to love the Lord your God,
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  and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, He
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  will give rain for your land in its season, the early rain, and
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  the later rain that you may gather in your grain, and your
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  wine and your oil. There is a connection here
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  between God's pleasure over His people and their experience of.
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  Economic prosperity. That was the unique relationship
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  that Israel had with God at this time.
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  And so there is no question that there's a spiritual implication
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  behind this famine. This famine is indicative of
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  some kind of violation that took place between the covenant that
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  God had made with this people and David, who was a king, not
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  just the king of king, instructed in the same book,
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  Deuteronomy 17 to know the law to have a copy of in his own
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  hands. And to read it day and night, he
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  should have known that the fact that we have not seen rain means
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  that something has gone wrong on our part.
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  God is obviously trying to get our attention, and we failed to
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  take heed. David, as a leader, failed to do
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  so. And and this teaching goes
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  beyond being acquainted with the word of God, right?
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  You have the full copy of God's revelation.
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  You must seek to master His Word from cover to cover.
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  But there's another lesson here, and it's a reflection of our
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  human nature. There are some people who, by
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  the grace of God, know how to abide in the place of prayer
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  when all things go well, right? There are others who only visit
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  the closet when things don't go their way.
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  And then there are others who only pray when things go very
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  bad. Very bad, because some people
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  think they're smart. Some people think they're clever
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  when things kind of take a different turn or turbulence
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  comes. They think they're in their own
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  wisdom and strength, that they can deal with it.
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  But when things increasingly become worse and all your ideas
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  and plans don't seem to go forward, then you hit the ground
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  praying. And that's what David is
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  demonstrating here. It's not until three years past
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  where he begins to seek the Lord.
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  And that's unfortunate because that is not the way to utilize
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  the gift of prayer. You see here, by the grace of
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  God, that even after three years the Lord answers.
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  Think about that. You allowed an interval of three
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  years, and the moment you choose to humble yourself and to see
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  God, he still is willing to hear you and answer you.
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  That's the grace of God. It's never too late to restart.
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  It's never too late to take your spiritual disciplines seriously.
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  It's never too late. It's been three years, 10 years,
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  6 conferences, 11,000 Sunday services, 10,000 Bible studies,
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  and you still haven't changed. When you change, God is ready to
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  receive you. Three years go by and this man
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  prays and God will say where you been for the past three years?
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  You know what? Why don't I wait three weeks and
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  then I'll get back to you. Let's Let's be fair here.
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  No, He answers him right away. And yet it makes you wonder, if
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  God was willing to answer him after three years, wouldn't he
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  have answered him if he prayed in year one?
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  And if that is true, then how much trauma, loss, pain,
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  suffering, affliction? David could have been preserved
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  from if he had chosen to simply pray, to seek God.
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  Remaining in prayer assures us safety from unnecessary trials
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  and self-inflicted pain that famous him right.
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  And so we see here that David unfortunately prays.
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  Too late. But the fortunate thing is that
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  he prays nonetheless. And I can't help but think of 1
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  specific exhortation in a New Testament where we are.
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  Promised that if you are enduring something and you pray,
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  God will give you the wisdom you need to know how to navigate
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  through it. Do you know which reference?
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  I'm Speaking of James 1/5. What is the command and the
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  promise in James 15, if any right, if any of you lacks
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  wisdom? Let him ask God, who gives
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  generously to all without reproach.
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  That's wonderful, because there are some people don't feel
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  worthy to come to God and to ask him to receive something.
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  And James assures you, he gives to all without reproach, without
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  reproach, and it will be given him.
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  Now we take that verse out of its context, and we just
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  rehearse it and quote it and preach it, and it's a wonderful
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  principle. But it's a principle tied to a
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  specific context. In what context is James saying,
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  if you ask God for wisdom, he'll.
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  Give it to you. Good, you said it.
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  And you're right. When you meet trials of various
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  kinds, so the understanding there is when you meet trials,
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  your reflex must be I must meet with God.
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  I must meet with God, because one of the pains of trials.
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  Is that it comes with difficulty and cause us to wonder, how do I
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  handle this? And James by the Spirit assures
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  you, if you do know how to pray in those moments, God will give
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  you His mind and how to understand the nature of this
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  trial and how to most redemptively make the best of
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  this trial. And I've seen that in so many
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  scenarios. I've talked to mothers who have
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  children who go in and out of jail, who want to come back home
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  and they say, brother, what do I do?
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  And James would say seek God for wisdom.
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  Every case is different and there are people in ministries,
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  and I can attest to this, that deal with issues that I'm
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  telling you seminary and no theological book can prepare you
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  for. Our sinful nature is very
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  creative and coming up with issues.
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  Where do I go? James says seek God for wisdom,
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  and he will give it to you. He'll deposit it in your mind.
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  He'll put something in you that you can't find on your bookshelf
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  that you can't get from your professor, that even perhaps
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  your pastor might not be able to guide you in, but God will.
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  Don't doubt it. Come to him.
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  That's exactly what David does. He doesn't understand what's
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  going on here. Is this a test?
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  That God wants me to endure? Or is this something that I must
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  combat with my faith and overcome it with my trust in the
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  Lord? He seeks the Lord he should have
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  known better, but he seeks the Lord.
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  He at least does that, and God answers him and God tells him
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  What is the reason for this famine says that here there's
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  blood. Guilt on that.
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  On Saul and on his house. We haven't heard from Saul for a
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  while. Right?
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  Here he is again. What's happening here is because
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  of what Saul has done at some point in his life, and what Saul
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  has done is that he put to death some of the Gibianites.
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  Now, if you're a student of the Old Testament, you should be.
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  Concerned. In fact, you should be shocked.
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  When were the Gibianites introduced to us in the Old
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  Testament? Who remembers?
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  Very good Joshua. Now let me take it to the next
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  step. What chapter in Joshua?
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  Oh, very good. Somebody prepared for this Bible
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  study? Yes.
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  Any teacher will be thrilled to know that the people that he's
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  teaching no Joshua Chapter 9 and the story is very familiar to
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  us. I hope, Josh, when the
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  Israelites come in their campaign to take over the land
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  of Canaan because it was a promised land and these
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  Gibianites have studied what's happening here.
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  These are people of a connection to the true.
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  Living God and wherever they go they succeed.
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  We have no chance. And these Gibianites were
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  numbered among the Canaanites, and so they were also.
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  Call to face the same faith of absolute eradication.
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  And they did not want that. And So what do they do?
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  They come to Joshua and the leaders, and they tricked them.
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  They tricked them and make them believe that they were from a
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  distant country, distant land, and they want to come into
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  covenant with them. And after some clever
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  presentation, Joshua and the leaders were told, did not seek
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  the Lord. And so they were deceived and
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  that they didn't make a covenant with these people and that
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  covenant entailed. That these Gibbonites would live
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  among them and would be untouched for the rest of their
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  days. And that obviously went against
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  what God intended for the Canaanites, but the covenant was
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  so binding that it was to remain forever.
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  Even in the days of David. And what you have with Saul
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  instead is that for centuries this was honored, The Gibbonites
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  were at peace. And live peaceably among the
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  Israelites. And then Saul became king.
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  Saul becomes king, and he attempts to.
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  Absolutely rid these people from the land.
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  This guy bugs me for different reasons.
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  It really just shows how twisted and gross his disobedience was.
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  I mean, it was bad enough from what we saw in First Samuel.
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  Then you come to Second Samuel. And you get just another insight
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  of just how rebellious he really was.
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  When God told Saul kill all the Amalekites, did he obey?
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  No, he didn't. He kept some.
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  And when it came to the people that through covenant were
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  protected, Saul tries to kill them all.
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  What's wrong with you? And we look at this and we think
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  to ourselves, there's obviously something twisted about this
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  man, and that is true. But this says also something
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  about the Lord, because the Lord here shows just how much he
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  takes seriously the principle of covenant.
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  This promise was made hundreds of years before Saul's day, and
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  any oath, any agreement, any promise that was made, matters
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  to the Lord. So what do we learn from this
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  concerning God? He takes our words seriously.
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  He does any commitment. Anything that you sign on a
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  dotted line, anything that you. Confess with your mouth anything
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  that you say, do perform. That comes with your word, your
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  yes or your no. It really matters to God.
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  And so this is really a warning to us.
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  We may forget, we may ignore, we may neglect, we may dishonor.
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  God doesn't. But with this warning, you have
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  a word of comfort, deep comfort. Think about it.
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  If this is how God upholds covenant, then you have no
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  reason to fear concerning your assurance in Christ Jesus.
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  Absolutely no reason to doubt that if Christ comes tomorrow or
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  500 years from now, he will not forget.
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  Nor will he dishonor his promise concerning you because of his
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  faithfulness. Yes, Hallelujah.
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  Indeed, I don't have to lose one wink of sleep.
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  Wondering if God is going to change His mind.
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  I can be sound in my sleep. I can be sound in my mind.
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  I can be filled with worship and praise every second of my
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  existence for one sole reason God keeps.
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  His word, when he says it, he means it.
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  But man is so different. And though we don't understand
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  the clear motives of Saul and going after the Gibianites, we
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  get a little hint. I don't know if you caught it,
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  but come here quickly with me. At the end of verse two says
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  although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul
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  sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of
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  Israel and Judah in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.
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  Now remember what was Saul's excuse and First Samuel 15 when
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  the prophet confronted him about his disobedience concerning the
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  Amalekites. Here's one of his.
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  Excuses. I listened to the people.
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  I listened to the people. The people convinced me.
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  Keep the sheep, keep a gag as a trophy and all will be well.
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  And he did. And he paid for it.
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  And what was his reason? And coming after the Gibianites?
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  The same reason to impress the people.
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  His zeal for the people caused. Them.
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  To violate a covenant, an ancient one, and it would cost
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  the nation living for the opinions of men is a sure method
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  of spiritual suicide. You live for people.
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  You have a passion for what people have to say about you or
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  don't say about you. Disobedience is inevitable.
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  See, Saul's problem was that his zeal wasn't for God.
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  If his zeal was for God, then he would have punished the
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  Malachites and protected the Gibianites at all.
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  This is yet another reminder of how deceptive our emotions can
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  be. He was enthusiastic, he was
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  passionate about this cause, and he interpreted his feelings and
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  allowed it to filter to determine what was right and
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  what was wrong. Emotions can do that.
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  And it doesn't matter how emotionally invested you are in
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  a person or in a thought or a conviction or an idea, your
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  emotions do not validate the cause.
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  They don't. And how important is this in
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  light of our day, where we are now in a culture that is pushing
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  for this notion that if you feel strongly about it, that it must
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  be right? As long as you feel strongly
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  about it, then we will accept it and we will.
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  That's the path that we're on. Thank God we still have some
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  same people, but the trajectory is proving otherwise.
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  We're losing a grip on simple, right and wrong.
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  But let's let's let's take it beyond just just that.
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  Let's, let's zoom in here. How true is Saul's attitude in
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  day-to-day things? day-to-day things, we commit to
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  a ministry. And then you no longer feel
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  passionate about the ministry, and so you just pick up and move
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  on. You were so in love with her,
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  right? And your ceremony was so
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  spiritual, and it was so Spurgeon asked.
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  When you made your vows beautiful, people were crying
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  and it looks so awesome and it sounded so romantic, but you
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  just don't feel like you're in love anymore.
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  And so divorce is very attractive now.
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  She Saw's problem was his feelings completely ignored the
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  principle of covenant. And people are doing the same
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  today, whether the zeal is there or the absence of zeal, and that
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  determines what you do with your.
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  Promises. That's contrary to the nature of
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  God. That's contrary to the calling
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  of the people of God. That your yes be yes and your no
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  be no. I thought about that Jesus.
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  What Jesus? Meant by that is you don't need
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  to attach with your with your yes and yes.
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  I promise I'll do it. I promise I won't do it.
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  Your yes should be enough. Your no should be enough.
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  That should be the level of integrity that we should strive
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  for in the Spirit. So Saul had a zeal, and that
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  zeal let him in the wrong direction, but he justified it
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  because it just was so there, present and powerful.
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  And it let him into disobedience.
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  Your feelings can do that. And so we come here and what do
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  we see? David confronts to give you
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  nights. He calls them over and he asked
• 22:42
  them, OK, this has been made known to me.
• 22:45
  What do we do about it? And before we look at this
• 22:48
  interaction. Did anybody think to themselves,
• 22:52
  where were the Gibianites to begin with?
• 22:55
  What I mean by that is, why didn't the Gibianites initiate
• 22:59
  this case for retribution? Where were they for all this
• 23:02
  time? Saul had long passed.
• 23:06
  David was king for quite some time.
• 23:08
  You would think that once David took his place that they would
• 23:10
  have been there in line to say, hey David, I'm not sure if you
• 23:14
  realize what Saul had done, but we have a problem here.
• 23:17
  Can you help us? None of that happened.
• 23:21
  David is the one initiating it, David is the one approaching
• 23:23
  them, and the Gibby Night seem to have just held their peace
• 23:27
  for all this time. And there is no explanation for
• 23:31
  their silence. But it makes you wonder, based
• 23:35
  on what you see about their character in this interaction,
• 23:38
  if they had just paused and waited and trusted in the
• 23:42
  sovereignty of God, I wonder. This is just speculation.
• 23:46
  This isn't dogmatic, but I wonder.
• 23:48
  If they give you nice just allowed God to deal with their
• 23:52
  offense, Maybe they cried out to him.
• 23:54
  It's not indicated. They trusted in God's vengeance
• 23:58
  for sure. And God did come to their aid.
• 24:02
  He brought a famine. He brought a famine and it got
• 24:05
  the people's attention. And again, look here at their
• 24:08
  character when the opportunity comes their way, look what they
• 24:13
  said in verse 4. The giving night said to him it
• 24:17
  is not a matter of silver or gold between us and salt or his
• 24:20
  house. Neither is it for us to put any
• 24:22
  man to death in Israel. There's two things that are
• 24:24
  being said here. Look, you can't give us any
• 24:26
  amount of money to make up for this and we're not looking to
• 24:28
  make any money out of this. Secondly, we recognize our place
• 24:34
  in this nation because remember. When they made that treaty with
• 24:37
  Israel, they didn't have the same status as the people of
• 24:40
  Israel. They were servants.
• 24:42
  They carried water and they cut wood.
• 24:46
  We have no civil rights in this. We can't put anyone to death.
• 24:51
  And So what I take from that is these people did not exploit the
• 24:55
  situation. They didn't say, oh, this is our
• 24:57
  chance to get money, this is our chance to get rich, this is our
• 25:00
  chance to get some revenge, to give them a taste of their own
• 25:03
  medicine and put some of their own to death.
• 25:05
  No, these were people who had integrity and we're not
• 25:09
  vengeful, nor were they greedy. They said we're not looking to
• 25:13
  take advantage of this time. So that says something about
• 25:16
  their nature, that says something about their heart
• 25:18
  posture. But then David asked then what
• 25:21
  do you want? And this is what they asked.
• 25:24
  Give us seven of Saul's sons. Let us hang them.
• 25:30
  Let us hang them. Now that.
• 25:33
  Further confirms something about their wisdom, One they asked for
• 25:41
  Saul's sons. To be hung by their own hands.
• 25:47
  I think that's a detail that we can't miss, because I think they
• 25:50
  had this understanding that if David were to perform this, that
• 25:54
  it could have added more fuel to the fire between the feud of the
• 25:57
  dynasty of Saul and David's dynasty.
• 25:59
  And they didn't want that. We'll take care of it.
• 26:02
  There's wisdom there. Secondly, these Gibianites,
• 26:07
  though, not Israelites. We're among the people of Israel
• 26:11
  long enough, I believe, to be familiar with some of God's law.
• 26:16
  Let's hang them. Now, why that form of execution
• 26:21
  out of many forms of execution that were available in that
• 26:24
  time? Any idea?
• 26:27
  Yes, that's right. Somebody said it.
• 26:29
  And Deuteronomy 21, we're told in verse 22 that if anyone
• 26:33
  committed a crime that was worthy of death, they were to be
• 26:36
  hung before the Lord. And in that hanging.
• 26:40
  There would be a display demonstration of divine
• 26:43
  displeasure. This person has been cursed by
• 26:45
  God, and the people understood that by doing this they were not
• 26:52
  only seeking some kind of retribution for themselves, but
• 26:55
  they were going to satisfy God's justice, and so they wanted to
• 27:00
  perform this particular legislation, this particular
• 27:04
  punishment. And David understood what they
• 27:08
  were saying. He says.
• 27:08
  You know what? It's yours.
• 27:09
  But here's what we might consider a philosophical debate,
• 27:12
  or theological one, although there is such an obvious array
• 27:18
  of wisdom and fairness and grace.
• 27:21
  Is it just for Saul's? Sons to receive capital
• 27:27
  punishment for Saul's sin. Because there are some who go to
• 27:33
  the extent of saying that this story is really about how David
• 27:36
  was in the wrong and instead of seeking God, he sought the
• 27:41
  council of these Gibianites. And in doing so he killed
• 27:45
  innocent men. Because the sons are not
• 27:48
  supposed to pay for the sins of their father, right?
• 27:52
  That is in Deuteronomy. So what do we have here?
• 27:55
  Do we have David who is mistaken or do we have something else?
• 27:59
  Any ideas? Was it right for Saul sons to
• 28:05
  undergo this punishment? Yes.
• 28:18
  Right. So there are consequences of
• 28:21
  sins from especially parents, anybody in authority?
• 28:24
  Yes, absolutely. There is that principle of
• 28:26
  consequences going beyond your own life.
• 28:30
  That's. Throughout the Word of God, yes.
• 28:47
  OK, so verse 14, how the people prayed.
• 28:50
  And so you're saying that it wasn't necessarily David's
• 28:53
  dealing with the Gibby Knights, but the people's prayers that
• 28:56
  brought about OK Was it right for Saul's sons to receive
• 29:02
  punishment for what happened? What seems to be Saul's sin?
• 29:22
  OK. So there's something about God's
• 29:24
  approval of what taken place that seems to validate what
• 29:27
  happened. OK, I understand your answer and
• 29:29
  that's a good point. That's a good observation
• 29:30
  because if God did end up giving rain, then there's no error
• 29:35
  here, right? Let's see.
• 29:38
  Yes, yes, seven is a significant number, number of completion.
• 29:57
  It gets into the OK, so you're talking about the glory of God,
• 30:09
  where it's told that those who hate him, they will be visited
• 30:13
  in the 3rd and 4th generation. Is that you're speaking about
• 30:16
  Yes. Yes.
• 30:22
  Yeah, that's that's that's one answer that people would allude
• 30:25
  to that God's. Recognition of Saul's hatred
• 30:29
  again back to our sister point. Affected generations after.
• 30:32
  Yes, you have one more answer. Maybe 2.
• 30:34
  And then we'll move forward. Yes.
• 30:48
  Blood guilt. So life and life, right?
• 31:01
  Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot.
• 31:11
  OK. So the nation is that guilt
• 31:13
  here. It's not necessarily a
• 31:14
  particular person. OK, one more and then we're
• 31:17
  going to have to move forward. Brother George, did you have
• 31:19
  something or were you scratching your neck earlier?
• 31:22
  No answer. OK, we'll take it for Lori.
• 31:32
  Very good and perfect segue. How do we know that it wasn't
• 31:38
  just Saul? What we do know and that, and I
• 31:43
  think it's just careful reading that eliminates philosophical
• 31:45
  debate and speculation and more than that, even wrong
• 31:49
  interpretation. Go back to verse one.
• 31:52
  Read it carefully now. There was a famine in the days
• 31:55
  of David for three years, year after year, and David sought the
• 31:58
  face of the Lord and the Lord said There is blood guilt on
• 32:01
  Saul. And who?
• 32:05
  And on his house, not just Saul, but it's household, you see now
• 32:15
  careful reading. And on his house the sons of
• 32:20
  Saul were not guilty merely by association, but because of
• 32:23
  participation. On some level they were agents
• 32:27
  of destruction against the Gibianites, at least in part.
• 32:32
  And David here, receiving this proposal is not just
• 32:36
  subjectively trying to deal with this issue.
• 32:40
  I believe, at least in this part, he is in perfect alignment
• 32:43
  with the law and another law. So let me read this to you.
• 32:46
  And if you're writing notes, you can write down this reference in
• 32:48
  numbers 35 and Numbers 35 we read here.
• 32:52
  In verse 33, the Lord speaks you shall not pollute the land in
• 32:56
  which you live in Numbers 3533, for blood pollutes the land.
• 33:01
  And no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is
• 33:05
  shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
• 33:10
  So there is no violation of the law.
• 33:13
  There is no contradiction. There is no neglect.
• 33:17
  There is perfect alignment, Saul and his household.
• 33:22
  There's blood, guilt on them. And because the land has been
• 33:25
  polluted by blood, it demanded the lives of those.
• 33:27
  Who shed that blood? And that is what we have up to
• 33:30
  this point. So we addressed briefly the
• 33:32
  silence of the Gibianites. But there is another silence
• 33:37
  that we have to address. We talked about why it took
• 33:40
  David to come to the Gibianites for this to happen.
• 33:44
  But here's another question. Why did God wait so long?
• 33:49
  Why did God wait so long? Why didn't he make this known?
• 33:54
  Why didn't he let a famine happen in the days of Saul?
• 33:59
  Why at this point? With David at this time, with
• 34:02
  the nation at this point in history, why?
• 34:06
  Any idea? And listen before you answer
• 34:08
  that you can think about it and apply it in your own life, in
• 34:10
  your own observation. How is this person committing
• 34:13
  such evil and they still get away with it?
• 34:15
  How are they still prospering? How is that ministry still
• 34:18
  standing? How are their doors still open?
• 34:21
  And there's so much false doctrine, there's so much sexual
• 34:25
  sin, there's so much meddling with the funds.
• 34:28
  How? How are they still standing?
• 34:30
  How can a nation still be a nation, still be in the top
• 34:34
  three super powers of the world and legalize and promote such
• 34:39
  perversion and push God out of their schools and push God out
• 34:43
  of their government? How?
• 34:44
  How? Any idea?
• 34:49
  I'll give you what I believe. It's a hint there in the Book of
• 34:52
  Revelation. It's in chapter 2 when the Lord
• 34:55
  speaks to one church, and in that address you have.
• 35:00
  And insight about how God deals with man's sin.
• 35:03
  Look there in chapter 2, verse 20.
• 35:06
  There is a woman in this church and she's referred to as
• 35:08
  Jezebel. Not the Jezebel that you read in
• 35:10
  Kings, but one who imitates Jezebel and her rebellion
• 35:16
  against authority in her attempt to be authoritative and to lead
• 35:19
  people into sin. And the Lord speaks.
• 35:21
  He writes a letter to this church and he says there are 220
• 35:25
  revelation. But I have this against you.
• 35:27
  That you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a
• 35:30
  prophet test and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice
• 35:34
  sexual morality and to eat food, sacrifice to idols.
• 35:37
  Look at verse 21, the first few words.
• 35:39
  I gave her time to repent. I gave her time to repent.
• 35:48
  Why does the Lord allow this prophet test to preach this
• 35:53
  false teaching and to lead people into sin?
• 35:56
  Why didn't God just strike her down right away?
• 35:58
  Why didn't God close the church down?
• 36:00
  Because I gave her time to repent.
• 36:05
  Why didn't God strike Saul down? Why didn't he bring a famine and
• 36:08
  days of Saul? I believe because he gave the
• 36:11
  household of Saul. He gave the nation of Israel
• 36:15
  time to repent and they didn't take advantage of that time.
• 36:19
  Just like sinners today, sinners take that silence from heaven
• 36:23
  and allow it to just feel them to sin even more.
• 36:27
  It's unfortunate, isn't it? But here it is.
• 36:31
  God finally brings discipline because again, he doesn't
• 36:34
  forget. Man may forget and the time is
• 36:38
  up, and time will come up for every single person.
• 36:41
  And so we see here that once David deals with the Gibianites,
• 36:44
  and we just settled the matter that this is not any
• 36:47
  confliction, there's no any confliction with the word of
• 36:50
  God. We move forward in the selection
• 36:51
  of the men. Look here in verse 7, verse six
• 36:55
  rather. He says I will give them verse
• 37:00
  7. But the king spared
• 37:02
  Mephebisheth, the son of Saul, son Jonathan, because of the
• 37:08
  oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and
• 37:10
  Jonathan the son of Saul. Isn't that wonderful?
• 37:15
  What a contrast between these two leaders.
• 37:17
  You have Saul, who had no regard for a promise, and then yet you
• 37:20
  have David, who kept his from Mephebisheath.
• 37:25
  Covenant with Jonathan that his descendants would not be hurt,
• 37:28
  they would not be touched. And when it came to the
• 37:31
  selection, when it came to possible judgment coming to this
• 37:34
  household, the Fed Bechet was spared.
• 37:36
  We were told here that he would evade judgment.
• 37:40
  You have a shadow of the gospel here.
• 37:41
  Is it not clear? the Fed bechet was associated
• 37:45
  with a guilty family and because of an oath that he had this only
• 37:50
  covenant that would have spared him because that covenant was
• 37:53
  made. He was able to escape the
• 37:55
  judgment that finally came. It's no different than you and
• 37:57
  I. You and I are associated with a
• 37:59
  guilty family, the human race, son and daughter of that rebel
• 38:04
  Adam. But because of your covenant,
• 38:07
  not with David, but the son of David, you will be spared.
• 38:12
  And what I love about this picture of Mephebuscheth is that
• 38:15
  the scene before this, that the last time we see Mephebuscheth
• 38:18
  and David, David and Mephebuscheth had an encounter.
• 38:21
  Mefebachev was accused by Ziba for being disloyal to David.
• 38:26
  He was a traitor, apparently, according to Ziba's words, he
• 38:31
  betrayed you. And yet, despite the
• 38:34
  accusations, his status remained the same.
• 38:38
  David did not change his promise to Mefebachev, though there was
• 38:42
  an accuser that convinced them otherwise.
• 38:45
  It is the same for you and I in Christ.
• 38:47
  Satan will accuse you. Do you realize right now that
• 38:50
  one of the things that Satan is doing while you're doing your
• 38:52
  own thing is trying to convince God the Father that you're not
• 38:55
  worthy to be saved day and night, He accuses the brethren.
• 39:04
  That person got baptized, and he promised to never watch
• 39:09
  pornography again. And there he is.
• 39:12
  He. He's your son, Huh?
• 39:15
  You're going to let him in? Is that really how your justice
• 39:20
  works? And then Satan comes to you and
• 39:25
  he tries to convince you something wrong about the
• 39:27
  Father, like he's such a liar. Look at you.
• 39:30
  You think God's going to love you?
• 39:32
  I think God's going to hold on to you.
• 39:35
  You're a mess. How many times are you going to
• 39:38
  pray about this? You realize how holy he is.
• 39:41
  You realize he's not going to really tolerate this.
• 39:46
  But the picture we have. Here is, despite the accusation,
• 39:49
  despite the demand for your life, his word remains it will
• 39:55
  prevail, and that's the comfort you and I have.
• 40:00
  But unfortunately, not everybody lived under that blessing.
• 40:02
  And so you read in verse eight of the victims.
• 40:05
  Not really victims of the ones who deserve to be punished.
• 40:08
  The king took two sons of Rispa, the daughter of Aya.
• 40:13
  Whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mefebachev.
• 40:16
  A different Mefebachev. And the five sons of Mira, the
• 40:19
  daughter of Saul, whom she bore to age-old, the son of Barzalai
• 40:23
  and Mihola fight. So seven were chosen. 2 of them
• 40:28
  came from a woman named Rispa. According to Second Samuel 3
• 40:33
  verse 7. Rispa was one of Saul's
• 40:35
  concubines. That's important.
• 40:39
  And then you come here and you realize that 5.
• 40:42
  Came from Mirab, the daughter of Saul.
• 40:45
  Now some of your translation might read what not Mirad,
• 40:48
  Mikhail. Now the reason why some
• 40:51
  transitions have Mirab is because there are different
• 40:53
  manuscripts that identify this person differently.
• 40:58
  Mirab is the other daughter of Saul, not the one that David
• 41:03
  married. Mikhail is the one that David
• 41:04
  married. And there is an explanation here
• 41:07
  if whether it's Mirab or Mikhail.
• 41:08
  If it is Mikhail, the problem is Mikhail could not have children.
• 41:12
  You guys remember that she could not bear children, but the
• 41:15
  transition would read that Mikhail perhaps reared she
• 41:19
  adopted the kids of her sister. Something must have.
• 41:23
  Happened to her sister Mirab, and she raised them up herself.
• 41:27
  She almost adopted them. That's if you have the Mikhail
• 41:30
  transition, right? Mirab here.
• 41:33
  They're basing it off other Hebrew manuscripts that would
• 41:36
  identify her. And that makes more sense
• 41:38
  because she was the one who was married to a Joe, the son of
• 41:41
  Berzalai. Regardless, the seven have been
• 41:44
  determined and will be executed. And that's exactly what happens.
• 41:51
  Verse 9. And he gave them into the hands
• 41:54
  of the Gibianites, and they hang them on the mountain before the
• 41:57
  Lord, and the seven of them perished together.
• 42:01
  They were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at
• 42:03
  the beginning of barley harvest. I'm surprised the chapter
• 42:09
  doesn't end there. I'm surprised the story doesn't
• 42:11
  end there. They were hung.
• 42:15
  It's over. Move on.
• 42:18
  But instead, you and I are brought into a very sad scene.
• 42:24
  It's heartbreaking. It's tragic, actually.
• 42:28
  Instead of just concluding that the Lord honored this and then
• 42:31
  he made it rain and then you move on.
• 42:35
  We have a very descriptive scene of RISPA.
• 42:40
  There have been many books written about Woman of the
• 42:43
  Bible, many blogs written. Personally, I've never
• 42:47
  encountered anything mentioning this woman and what she
• 42:53
  displayed in her character. Let's read it and you'll get how
• 43:00
  dark it is just by my simple reading.
• 43:02
  Then Rispa, the daughter of Aya, took sackcloth and spread it for
• 43:07
  herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest until rain
• 43:11
  fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds
• 43:15
  of the air to come upon them by day, or the beast of the field
• 43:19
  by night. That's a tragic sight.
• 43:25
  Here you have a mother who already lost so much of her
• 43:29
  security when Saul killed himself.
• 43:33
  Right. If there's any security left in
• 43:36
  her life, it's through her sons. And now that's taken from her.
• 43:39
  It wasn't easy to be a widow. It wasn't easy to be a widow
• 43:43
  with no one to take care of you, and the next person to take care
• 43:48
  of you would be either Redeemer or your own children.
• 43:51
  And all of that is taken from her right?
• 43:54
  And the impression that you get from this verse is that she
• 43:57
  decides to make her home at this atrocious.
• 44:01
  Despicable sight. While her sons are there
• 44:05
  technically being crucified, not in the Roman way, but hanging
• 44:09
  there day and night, she sought to preserve them from being
• 44:13
  further defiled. And so you can just imagine that
• 44:17
  she's there. Throughout the day, in the
• 44:18
  blazing Middle Eastern sun, she would stand and keep her post so
• 44:24
  that whenever any bird would fly on the shoulder of one of her
• 44:27
  sons, she would try to shoo them away.
• 44:29
  I want you to imagine and feel how she would lay on that rock
• 44:34
  in the coldness of the night while her clothing would be wet
• 44:37
  from the dew and she would be awakened midnight at the sound
• 44:42
  of dogs attempting to rip a limb off of that tree from one of her
• 44:46
  sons and her fearlessly getting up and shooing them away,
• 44:50
  chasing them off. This is the kind of life that
• 44:53
  this woman lived for. Days, weeks and some even
• 44:58
  believe. Months.
• 45:01
  You're going to find out that what was left of her son's was
• 45:05
  just bones. So they were there for some
• 45:09
  time. Their flesh rotted, their organs
• 45:14
  dissipated, and they were just left with bones.
• 45:19
  And she guarded them and she watched over them, and she was
• 45:22
  under severe surveillance night and day.
• 45:27
  And what do we make of this? Like why are we told that she
• 45:30
  did this? Why is that even important?
• 45:33
  I mean, you can just write it off and say, well, all the Holy
• 45:36
  Spirit really wants us to do is just get another glimpse of the
• 45:38
  ugliness of sin, the brokenness of our world.
• 45:42
  Here you have a mother who in a, in a sense, almost lost her mind
• 45:48
  because all her loved ones experienced these tragic deaths,
• 45:52
  the closest people to her. And here she is abandoned and
• 45:55
  alone almost in hysteria. But there must be more than
• 46:01
  that, and I believe there is more than that.
• 46:04
  I believe that the best way to look at this is to understand it
• 46:08
  again in in the light of the law of God.
• 46:12
  The law of God. Because I believe what we have
• 46:15
  here is more than just a woman who is displaying her love for
• 46:18
  her children in a very public way.
• 46:21
  I believe you have a woman here who is displaying A perseverance
• 46:24
  that proves to us that even a poor woman.
• 46:27
  Can move the hand of a king. Deuter Army 21, verse 22 tells
• 46:34
  us that if anyone commits a crime that is worthy of death,
• 46:37
  he used to be hanged on a tree, but that's not the completion of
• 46:41
  those instructions. Does anyone remember what else
• 46:44
  is to be done if someone were to be hung on a tree?
• 46:49
  Very good in Deuter Army 2123. Let me read it to you.
• 46:54
  His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall
• 46:58
  bury him the same day. For a hangman is cursed by God.
• 47:03
  You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving
• 47:06
  you for an inheritance. So yes, hang him on a tree.
• 47:12
  But in order to not defy the land even further, remove him
• 47:16
  from the tree. Is that what happened with the
• 47:19
  sons of Rispa? No.
• 47:22
  Weeks go by and they're they're rotting, and I wonder why.
• 47:27
  I'm under the persuasion that the Gibianites didn't really
• 47:29
  know any better. Remember, David handed them off
• 47:32
  to them. They hung them and they kept
• 47:35
  them. But Rispa knew better.
• 47:41
  And so this woman, I believe, comes to this place and she
• 47:46
  desperately seeks to protect her children in order.
• 47:51
  To honor them the way God would have honored them in that sense
• 47:56
  and honored the land she defends, She protects, she
• 48:02
  overseas and she was powerless. I mean, who is this woman to
• 48:07
  remove them from the tree? Who is this woman to to to make
• 48:11
  this happen? And so she does the best that
• 48:13
  she can and she just chases away the animals.
• 48:19
  That would try to bring about more dishonor to these precious
• 48:23
  boys of hers. And her commitment to that, more
• 48:29
  than just grief, her commitment to that was so obvious, was so
• 48:34
  persistent, was so unbroken that it came to David's attention.
• 48:40
  And when David learned about what risk I was doing, he
• 48:43
  realized what they had not done. And he makes it a mission of his
• 48:48
  to not only take the bones of Rispa's sons, but to go after
• 48:52
  Saul and Jonathan's bones and to give them a proper burial.
• 48:57
  Why, as an expression of honor in that culture, more than that,
• 49:00
  to be in alignment with God's heart and will and law.
• 49:05
  I look at this woman and I think to myself, if the perseverance
• 49:09
  of this woman was able to stir a forgetful.
• 49:15
  Inattentive, sinful king, How much can you and I expect from a
• 49:20
  God who is perfect in all of his ways?
• 49:26
  You know, there's some people who pray, There's some people
• 49:29
  who walk in faithfulness, and they wonder how long will this
• 49:33
  take before I get God's attention?
• 49:37
  God, if you can only tell me how much of prayer, how much of
• 49:41
  obedience, how much of my participation?
• 49:44
  We'll finally get you to look at my situation and to bestow favor
• 49:48
  upon me. You have some people who think
• 49:49
  like that. They think like the pagans.
• 49:52
  That's how Pagans think. Let let's beat our chest.
• 49:56
  Let's bruise ourselves, let's starve ourselves until we
• 49:59
  finally get Bow's attention right.
• 50:02
  That's what the face off on Mount Carmel was all about.
• 50:07
  And Elijah's like. Maybe your God is sleeping.
• 50:08
  Maybe he's on the toilet. He said that, not me.
• 50:13
  And unfortunately, we can translate paganism into our
• 50:16
  theology because it's human nature.
• 50:21
  And this woman here displays such brilliance in her
• 50:28
  perseverance, and it encouraged us to do the same.
• 50:32
  But not to expect what she finally realized that, oh oh,
• 50:37
  really? Rispa is doing that?
• 50:38
  Well, we got to do something. I can't believe it.
• 50:40
  We How did we miss that? That's not how God works.
• 50:42
  There are so many examples I I can point to This one example
• 50:47
  came to mind, and I'm not biased.
• 50:48
  His name is Daniel, and there's one little insight in Daniel's
• 50:53
  prayer life that touched me so deeply because it helped me
• 50:57
  realize how prayer works or how God hears prayer.
• 51:02
  There was a point in Daniel's life where we're told that he
• 51:04
  prayed for three weeks, he fastened and prayed for three
• 51:07
  long weeks, and at the end of three weeks an Angel appears
• 51:11
  with a revelation. That would actually give him
• 51:13
  insight into the last days. But when the Angel appears, he
• 51:17
  says something that was not just true for Daniel, it is true for
• 51:22
  the prayerful St. of this hour. Now I want to show it to you so
• 51:25
  that you'll never forget it, so that you'll never pray the same.
• 51:28
  You'll never think about prayer the same way again.
• 51:30
  It's in Daniel chapter 10 and it's found there in verse 12.
• 51:35
  And notice what is said to him. Daniel 1012.
• 51:48
  Then he said to me, Daniel writes.
• 51:51
  Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your
• 51:57
  heart to understand. And humbled yourself before your
• 52:00
  God. Your words have been heard from
• 52:03
  the first day heaven heard you. But when was his prayer
• 52:09
  answered? 3 weeks later.
• 52:13
  But from the first day, he was heard.
• 52:15
  Can you imagine that? Think about that.
• 52:18
  If that wasn't there, we would have thought that after three
• 52:21
  weeks, finally Daniel was able to break through and get this
• 52:27
  busy God's attention and to get a appointment with his ear.
• 52:32
  That's how we think about God. No, we're told through this the
• 52:36
  moment that you set your heart to humble yourself and to seek.
• 52:41
  My face, I heard you. I heard you.
• 52:44
  And in my wisdom, I don't answer right away because there's a
• 52:47
  development of your faith in this.
• 52:49
  But in this context, it wasn't because of that necessarily.
• 52:52
  It's because of the warfare that took place, Satan trying to
• 52:56
  interfere with the revelation that was trying to come to
• 52:59
  Daniel. But I pray that you would never
• 53:02
  forget that truth. From the moment that you set
• 53:05
  your face to seek his, God hears, there's no doubt.
• 53:10
  How comforting is that? That it's not prayer attempt 96
• 53:15
  that's going to grow through as though some divine lottery that
• 53:18
  we just throw things in the air and one thing will be caught by
• 53:21
  the Lord eventually. If I keep doing it, that's not
• 53:22
  how it worked. From the first moment I can, I
• 53:25
  can be so at peace knowing, Lord, I know I might be at at a
• 53:28
  while doing this. I know that I might be.
• 53:31
  Here seeking unite after night. But one thing I am comforted by
• 53:35
  is that you know. You see, you hear?
• 53:37
  You've already taken into consideration from the first
• 53:39
  time, the first time. What kind of God is this?
• 53:45
  It's our God. What kind of king is this?
• 53:48
  It's our king. Not like David, who learned from
• 53:51
  some messenger that Rispa was there indirectly protesting what
• 53:55
  is taking place is injustice and wanting her sons to be buried
• 53:59
  properly. He sees right away.
• 54:04
  And so finally. We won't read it.
• 54:08
  Why not? Verse 11.
• 54:11
  When David was told what Rispa, the daughter of a I, the
• 54:15
  concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of
• 54:18
  Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jay
• 54:20
  Besh Gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth
• 54:24
  Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day of the
• 54:28
  Philistines killed Saul and Gilboa.
• 54:30
  And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of
• 54:33
  his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those.
• 54:35
  Who were hanged. And they buried the bones of
• 54:38
  solemn his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin and Zela in the
• 54:40
  tomb of Kish, his father. And they did all that the king
• 54:44
  commanded. And after that God responded to
• 54:48
  the plea for the land. There's something about that
• 54:52
  last phrase that's worthy of meditation.
• 54:57
  In this concluding sentence you have a very another very
• 55:00
  important truth about how prayer works in the economy of our God.
• 55:06
  And after that, God responded to the plea for the land.
• 55:11
  There was a plea for the land that God did not respond to
• 55:17
  until something took place, namely the dealing with Saul Sin
• 55:23
  along with his household God. Would not recognize the plea
• 55:29
  until the sin was dealt with. When sin is tolerated, prayer is
• 55:37
  obstructed. When sin is tolerated, prayer is
• 55:42
  obstructed, the Psalmist said. If I had cherished iniquity in
• 55:46
  my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
• 55:50
  If I cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have
• 55:53
  listened. And so yeah.
• 55:56
  In Daniel's case, you see that he sought the face of God, and
• 55:59
  the first moment he did, God hurt him.
• 56:01
  But if you want one way for God not to hear your prayer, not
• 56:04
  that he can't hear, but that he chooses not to recognize, it's
• 56:07
  to lovingly hold on to sin and expect the privilege of prayer
• 56:11
  at the same time. Just won't happen.
• 56:15
  And in this case, here we see a very important, timeless truth.
• 56:21
  As long as sin is ignored, as long as sin is tolerated, you
• 56:25
  will not know prayer. And here's how I'm going to
• 56:26
  conclude the Bible today. I hope you didn't fall asleep.
• 56:28
  I know it's late. But let me give you a pressing
• 56:32
  question in in pressing love. And I thought about this in
• 56:36
  meditation. I looked at it, and this went
• 56:39
  through my mind. What do I believe about prayer?
• 56:48
  What do I believe about prayer that would make the possibility
• 56:51
  of not experiencing its promises a great enough motivation for me
• 56:56
  to forsake sin? Does that make sense, or was
• 57:00
  that a mouthful? What do I personally, through I
• 57:04
  hope the Word of God, believe about prayer that the
• 57:08
  possibility of not experiencing its promises would be enough of
• 57:13
  a motivation to forsake sin? Or is prayer in the peripheral
• 57:24
  of my reality? That the threat of God
• 57:28
  confiscating the promises tied to it not bother me?
• 57:33
  That makes sense. A good father.
• 57:37
  A good mother. And one of the ways that they
• 57:38
  would discipline their children would see something that that
• 57:42
  child might enjoy in light of disobedience in order to teach
• 57:46
  them something about the consequences of disobedience.
• 57:52
  Now if my father told me, son, because of your attitude on the
• 57:55
  dinner table, there's no dessert for you, that would upset me.
• 57:59
  It would upset me, especially if I had to sit in another room and
• 58:03
  see my siblings devouring chocolate fudge sundae.
• 58:08
  But if my father came to me and said, son, because of your
• 58:11
  disobedience, you're not going to have broccoli tonight, all
• 58:15
  right? Woe is me.
• 58:19
  No broccoli tonight. It's a very silly analogy, all
• 58:25
  right, but sometimes simplicity helps.
• 58:28
  You have some people who view prayer as a chocolate fudge
• 58:31
  sundae. You have others who see prayer
• 58:33
  as cold broccoli, and so they're able to live without it.
• 58:45
  My friend, if you're able to live without prayer, I have many
• 58:47
  questions for you. Serious questions, but one thing
• 58:51
  I am convinced of. Of a person who can consistently
• 58:56
  go without knowing the promises and pleading with the Lord is
• 58:59
  that you don't know what prayer is all about.
• 59:05
  What what what? We're in your history with the
• 59:07
  Lord. What is it about your life that
• 59:10
  you can say if it wasn't for prayer, if it wasn't for prayer,
• 59:16
  then if it's not prayer for today?
• 59:18
  These things would change. This is what would change about
• 59:22
  me, certainly. So the Lord, as a loving father,
• 59:28
  would not respond to their plea until that sin was dealt with.
• 59:33
  And once that sin was dealt with, the heavens opened again
• 59:37
  and He was willing to heal their land.
• 59:41
  I hope that you would live in such a way where prayer as Cory
• 59:47
  Tanboom would say. Prayer is either the steering
• 59:51
  wheel of your life or it is a spare tire.
• 1:00:00
  It's the last resort. It's your emergency call.
• 1:00:08
  But for some, it's the very thing that helps you, guides
• 1:00:12
  you, directs you, leads you, empowers you, strengthens you.
• 1:00:17
  There's so much more to say in these verses, right?
• 1:00:20
  But we will have to wait till next week.
• 1:00:22
  If the Lord wills, let's pause our hearts again and pray.
• 1:00:51
  Lord, tonight we thank you that even in a very dark chapter in
• 1:00:58
  David's life and the life of the nation of Israel, we have felt
• 1:01:04
  the warmth of your rays of wisdom, truths about your
• 1:01:09
  nature. And Lord, we just ask that our
• 1:01:13
  hearts, as our brother open the surface with our hearts would be
• 1:01:16
  softened even more. And we ask, oh God, that
• 1:01:22
  whatever point resonated with us would not be ignored, but it
• 1:01:27
  would be applied. Father, we pray that you would
• 1:01:29
  receive the necessary worship as a response.
• 1:01:34
  More than just a song, more than just emotions being stirred.
• 1:01:39
  Help us be a people who keep their promises.
• 1:01:42
  Help us in days where we doubt where we stand with you, your
• 1:01:47
  promises. We remember that you were not a
• 1:01:50
  forgetful king. Lord, we look at Rispa and we
• 1:02:01
  see a woman who is willing to fight and stay until what she
• 1:02:08
  believed to be true would come to pass.
• 1:02:10
  And it did. And Lord, we just even lift up
• 1:02:15
  parents. Now who would apply the same
• 1:02:19
  tenacity of this woman, not for the dead, but for the living,
• 1:02:22
  spiritually speaking, the vultures and the creatures of
• 1:02:26
  the night that seek to defile our children?
• 1:02:28
  May you give mothers and fathers the stamina and the insight and
• 1:02:35
  the grace to shield their little ones.
• 1:02:41
  And Lord, we just want to give you glory tonight.
• 1:02:44
  We want to extol you and exalt you.
• 1:02:47
  Every word in this book has been given, Lord, for our
• 1:02:54
  sanctification, and we felt it tonight.
• 1:02:57
  And we want to thank you for it. In Christ's name.
• 1:03:00
  Amen. Amen.
• 1:03:02
  Why don't we do that? Why don't we worship the Lord?
• 1:03:05
  Give him glory.