Sat, 23 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 19:1-8

¹ It was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” ² So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.” ³ And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. ⁴ The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” ⁵ Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “You have today covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines, ⁶ because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. ⁷ Now therefore arise, go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the LORD, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.” ⁸ Then the king arose and took his seat in the gate. And the people were all told, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” And all the people came before the king.

We are now coming to the conclusion of the sad results of David’s sin with Bathsheba. Absalom is dead, and victory goes to David’s forces. But David is in mourning over the loss of his son. Joab has to intervene to break David out of his mourning before he loses the entire kingdom, and David responds as he must to return to the kingship.

But yet we see that David is torn apart by the events that have just occurred. David knows that his own sin is the ultimate cause of his son’s death, and so he mourns.

What do we learn from this?

We don’t always see such obvious linkage between our own sin and the suffering that is caused in the people around us. But it does happen. Our sin can cause hardship in our family and in our friends. We can sometimes trace a line between our own actions and the pain and difficulty in ourselves and others. In those situations, we mourn for our sin.

But even if we can’t see the direct results of our sin, we still should mourn for it, and repent of it. Our sin is terrible. It is a great offense before God. Even if we don’t see chaos and pain as a result from our sin, and so might not see the need to mourn and repent, we still should mourn for our sin and repent of it. Just the fact that God hates the sin we commit should be enough to cause us to mourn and repent, for it should be the deepest desire of our hearts to please God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

When we mourn for our sin, repent of it, and turn to God in faith, we find forgiveness for our sins. Our mourning is turned to dancing, as we leave behind the guilt of our sins and take up the joy of the Lord. There will still be consequences. David’s son was still dead and there will be much work to do to reunite the fractured kingdom. But because God has taken away the guilt of our sins, a huge burden has been removed, and we can have joy again.

The forgiveness and joy we find comes to us because of the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. He has paid the price for our sins, and gives us His righteousness, so that we can now find the joy of a relationship with God.